Tag Archives: Christianity

Church Experiences

ChurchSurfer @ Signal Mountain Presbyterian: Old Church, New Family

1 Comment

Church Experience #14 – April 10, 2011

Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church

Making the Denominational Rounds

One of my goals for the ChurchSurfer journey that I’m currently on, is to visit as many different Christian denominations as I can in the process of attending fifty different churches in 2011.  I’m now 14 weeks in and there are a few major denominations that I still haven’t visited, so this week I wanted to make sure to check one of those “majors” off the list.  I had been introduced by a mutual friend to Chris Ackerson recently because of his involvement in the Men’s Ministry Network.  I remembered Chris mentioning that he attended Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church, and Presbyterian was one of the “must visit” denominations that I hadn’t been to yet, so I decided I would drop in on him.  I looked up the Signal Mountain Presbyterian website and while browsing through Sunday School classes, I noticed that he was the leader of one of the classes.  I figured that going to Sunday School as well as the regular worship service would add an extra element to this week’s article.  We’ll see.

Signs of Spring

Signal Mtn Presbyterian spring garden
Signal Mtn Presbyterian spring garden

 Read more...

Church Experiences

ChurchSurfer @ East Lake Salvation Army: The Ones Who Need The Most

Leave a comment

Church Experience #13 – April 3, 2011

East Lake Salvation Army

A Chasm of Disparity

For this week’s church visit I decided I needed to get right into the trenches with what has become probably the most consistent topic/thought/issue of my ChurchSurfer journey so far this year.  The more I get into the Word, the more churches I visit, the more people I meet, the more time I spend in prayer…the more I get smacked in the face with the issue of money.  The haves and the have-nots, the good part of town and the bad part of town, the state-of-the-art megachurch complexes and the single-room bare bones church buildings.  The gaping chasm of financial disparity that exists in today’s society is unavoidable to some, yet all but ignored by others.  I’ve lived in the East Lake neighborhood of Chattanooga before, among other low-income areas, so I’ve always been aware of the substandard conditions that many people live in, but I’ve never regularly attended church in those areas, and I’ve never attended a Salvation Army church service before.  So in order to get a better understanding I decided to go to a worship service at East Lake Salvation Army, on the corner of 28th St and 4th Ave, just across from the East Lake housing projects.

Jesus Loves The Little Children  Read more...

Church Experiences

ChurchSurfer @ New Philadelphia M. B. Church: Outside The Bubble

4 Comments

Church Experience #11 – March 13, 2011

New Philadelphia Missionary Baptist Church, Chattanooga, TN

The Bubble

One of my sincere desires out of the ChurchSurfer journey this year is to find and experience what would be considered “fringe” churches that don’t fit into the norm of my middle class, suburban-dwelling, American bubble.  It’s not that I don’t expect to have powerful experiences or get interesting content for my blog articles from the “inside the bubble” churches, but I know that in order for me to grow, to gain understanding, to increase in wisdom, compassion, and love, I will need to venture outside the bubble.  I’ve probably already done this more than most during my life…I spent a year driving around the country with my friend Michael Cruze, living out of tents and a car, mingling with the homeless, and trying to reach out to anyone God put in our path.  I just haven’t experienced these different environments inside the local church.  I actually believe my experience as a nomad has equipped me with the ability to go into various “outside the bubble” churches and instantly relate to people in their environment (they probably struggle more to relate with me because I’m out of their norm).  So it’s a natural fit for me to explore all these various church environments and allow others to experience them with me through my writing.  You’ve probably guessed by now why I’m leading in to this week’s church experience with this intro…this is one of those “outside the bubble” church visits.

Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder  Read more...

Church Experiences

ChurchSurfer @ Bridge Christian Church: Jeans. Coffee. Elementary School. Church?

1 Comment

Church Experience #9 – Feb. 27, 2011

Bridge Christian Church, Chattanooga, TN

Networking for Church

One of the things I enjoy most in life is meeting new people.  In business, I’m an avid networker.  I seek out and get involved in various meetings, groups, organizations, social circles, etc. on a regular basis.  My opinion is that the more people I know or know of, the better.  I feel that in some way, maybe I’m increasing the odds of meeting someone who could make a substantial impact on my life (or I on theirs), that I would otherwise miss if I didn’t get out there and network.  [For all you psychologists out there, maybe that’s why I felt the need to begin the ChurchSurfer project…it’s my spiritual networking.]  This thought of increasing the odds of making a meaningful connection definitely proved to be true in the instance of discovering Bridge Christian Church…had I (and they) not been involved in networking, it may never have happened.  The Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce morning networking events I attend always include “self introduction” time where they pass the microphone around the room so everyone can announce their name and business.  At one event, I heard an introduction from someone followed by a church name…Bridge Christian Church.  I was instantly intrigued.  I had never seen a church come to a business networking event and I knew I needed to meet this person immediately.  It turns out the person was Scottie Blackburn, Community Pastor at Bridge, which is a four month old church.  Cool!  A new angle for a ChurchSurfer article…exploring the beginnings of a baby church.  Read more...

Church Experiences

ChurchSurfer @ Abba’s House: Not Your Mama’s Baptist Church

2 Comments

Church Experience #8 – February 20, 2011

Abba’s House (a.k.a. Central Baptist Church)

Megachurch

So here I am, almost two months into ChurchSurfer and I haven’t been to a “megachurch” yet.  Shame on me.  Having just moved right next to Hixson, TN, I located the closest (there are 50 in Tennessee) mega church, Abba’s House, and decided to visit.  Laura and I showed up about 20 minutes early, as I always like to do, to give us time to explore and hopefully meet a few people to talk to and gain a little insider’s perspective into this church.  As we approached the building we were warmly welcomed by a door greeter, and I was glad to see that there was someone at each of the six or eight doors, not just one or two for the entire entrance.  We walked around the hallway, which seemed shockingly barren for a church of this size…I fully expected to be weaving and bumping shoulders through a massive crowd.  I had skipped my regular Sunday morning coffee stop, anticipating a lavish coffee and refreshment station in a church of this size, and was only slightly disappointed to find out that coffee is served in the small group Bible studies (Lifegroups) in another building.  Had I been faced with a completely caffeine-free church visit, I might have been recognizably fretful, but alas…there was a cafe/bookstore in the lobby where I was able to make a coffee purchase.  Laura and I sipped on our coffee and wandered around the lobby in search of conversation.  I’m not sure how, after being able to engage a few people in pre-church conversation almost every week, this week’s attempt was unfruitful…could be a side effect of a megachurch, or maybe just bad timing.  So I went outside and snapped a couple of photos of the front of the enormously impressive sanctuary building, and then went to the folks at the guest services desk to dig for some information.  It turns out this should have been my initial destination.  Read more...

Church Experiences

ChurchSurfer @ Calvary Chapel: Growing A Church From The Ground

1 Comment

Church Experience #7 – February 13, 2011

Calvary Chapel

Old Friends

After my wife, Laura, and I had been invited by at least 3 or 4 different people to attend Calvary Chapel on Broad Street in Chattanooga, I posted on Facebook that I was planning to attend there and received an immediate encouraging comment from an old friend.  The old friend was one of the Buntin sisters that were both in the Brainerd United Methodist youth group with me back in our high school years.  17 years later and now with the married name, Susan Potter, she informed me that her sister, now Sara Coffman, also attended there, as did our old BUMC youth pastor Bryant Black, who is now head of the history department at Chattanooga Christian School.  There was no way I could miss out on a reunion like this, so I asked Susan to meet Laura and I before the Sunday worship service so that we could sit together, and she reluctantly agreed :).

The Buntin Women
Sara Coffman, Brenda Buntin, Susan Potter

Purely Downtown Chattanooga  Read more...

Church Experiences

ChurchSurfer @ Metro Tab: Super Sunday

3 Comments

Church Experience #6 – February 6, 2011

Metro Tabernacle

No More Sporting Goods

In selecting a church to visit this week I had to take into account that it was Super Bowl Sunday…so naturally I chose Metropolitan Tabernacle (a.k.a. Metro Tab), because it is in a building that began as a sporting goods store.   I was interested to see how this former retail big box store was transitioned into a church on the inside, and what type of church service was held there.  I was assuming that it would be a pretty large congregation, because the building with its colorful banners on the side are highly visible from Highway 153, which is high traffic and prime real estate for advertising.  I guess the only reason the sporting goods store didn’t make it is because of the lack of other supporting retail stores on that particular exit, which is mainly a residential area and much better suited for a church.  After parking the car and stepping out to hold my wife Laura’s hand, I noticed a gentleman immediately zero in on us and begin to head our way.  Apparently this church takes greeting people a step further than most and instead of waiting until you get to the door, they have greeters roaming the parking lot.  I have to say it was very nice to be approached and greeted with a handshake and a warm smile so promptly, and I would imagine these people are also there to give assistance to elderly or to help people find parking spaces once it begins to fill up.  The other thing I like about greeter programs is that in addition to providing a service for the congregation, it also gives people the opportunity to serve, which I’m sure makes them feel good about contributing something and giving back to their church.  We headed on up to the entrance and were again greeted, this time by the traditional front door greeters, who handed us a bulletin with a smile and welcomed us inside.  The lobby was wide open and very spacious, with various “stations” set up with tables and attendants with information for different programs.  There was a coffee shop area off to the side, which I didn’t visit because I had just been to Dunkin’ Donuts and brought my own <insert smile here> so I browsed through each station to see what they were about.  The first table I came to had the general information about the church for visitors, so I picked up a few printed materials and moved on to another station that particularly caught my attention.  The reason for my interest was that I stumbled on what may be the 2nd best small group signup program that I’ve ever seen (take note church administrators).  A few long banquet tables were lined with clipboard signup sheets just below plexi sign holders with each one displaying an information sheet containing the small group name, topic, location, description, and the name and photo of the leader(s).  Read more...

Church Experiences

ChurchSurfer @ Joyful Sound Church of God: Holy Spirit Power

1 Comment

Church Experience #5 – Jan 30, 2011

Joyful Sound Church of God

Lively Up Yourself

It’s the end of my first month on ChurchSurfer and I thought it was about time to take the blog to one of the more…how should I say it…energetic or charismatic denominations – Church of God.  We all know the stereotype that all the variations of Pentecostal have earned over the generations, and I usually recall the movie “The Apostle” with Robert Duvall as the Pentecostal preacher, scenes of the rural South, roadside tent revivals, and sermons that resemble “pep rallies” that evoke the Holy Spirit, usually climaxing with people jumping, shouting, writhing on the ground, and speaking in tongues.  I mention this not because I buy into this stereotype, but because we all know it.  I personally believe most stereotypes of this nature begin with some amount of truth, but you never know how much gets exaggerated and fabricated over time.  So I don’t believe the hype until I experience it for myself…and in this case let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed!  Not that the stereotype was confirmed, but that I discovered where the truth of it began.  So here we go…

Don’t Judge a Book…  

Joyful Sound Church of God

Church Experiences

ChurchSurfer @ St. Peter’s Episcopal: Spirituality and History

9 Comments

Church Experience #4 – Jan 23, 2011

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church

It’s Denomination Time

After spending the first few weeks of 2011 attending non-denominational churches, I knew it was time to take ChurchSurfer into the denominational world.  Although I plan on visiting all of the popular denominations sometime this year, I couldn’t see myself going to a Baptist, Methodist, or Presbyterian church this week because that’s what I’ve known for the majority of my life and I really wanted to experience something new.  So I chose an Episcopal Church, because I know very little about that denomination.  It turns out that its a very interesting denomination…the history, the rituals, and the people I met were all very enlightening to me.  One of the ways I feel like I grew this week was in expanding my awareness of church history and the responsibility of carrying on traditions from generation to generation.  So get ready to jump back in time…

Creating an Atmosphere  Read more...

Church Experiences

ChurchSurfer @ New Covenant Fellowship: A Lesson On Love

3 Comments

Church Experience #3 – Jan 16, 2011

New Covenant Fellowship Church

A Place for Every Race

With Martin Luther King, Jr. Day being celebrated the day after this week’s Sunday worship, I decided to choose a church based on the potential for insight into ethnicity and race in American Christianity.  A few weeks ago while browsing different churches online, I ran across New Covenant Fellowship, a Chattanooga church that actually brands itself as a “multi-ethnic” church.  The banner on their website proclaims “A Place 4 Every Race” with multi-color letters of blue, green, yellow, red, and purple.  I found it very interesting that a church would go out of its way to place a label on itself, and knew right then that I needed to go there at some point.  It seems that so many churches these days try to avoid any labels for fear of scaring away potential visitors, and by announcing up front that they are a multi-racial congregation, New Covenant Fellowship definitely risks exactly that.  There are probably still individuals who are very uncomfortable around large groups of people of a different ethnicity, and if you’ve never been to this church before, you have no way of knowing how balanced the representation of each race will be.  I personally could care less about a person’s race.  Other than contributing to your personality, I think race/color/ethnicity has very little consequence elsewhere in our lives.  Racism still exists in today’s world, but my experience has been that it comes from all races, not just one.  I’ve been the victim of racism…I’ve been threatened and called “cracker”, but I know that was the voice of the enemy, not of that race.  I also have lifelong friends from many different races…black, hispanic, asian, european.  People are people…period.  The only people I discriminate against are those who are filled with hate, and even though I choose to love all people, I certainly won’t call racist people my friends.  Read more...