Tag Archives: Christmas service

ChurchSurfer @ Brainerd Baptist Church: A Double Dose of Christmas Cheer

Church Experience #49 – December 24, 2011

Chattanooga Convention Center – Chattanooga, TN

Church Experience #50 – December 25, 2011

Brainerd Baptist Church – Chattanooga, TN

Have you been to…?

There was one church throughout the entire year of 2011 “ChurchSurfing” that I was invited to (and asked about) more than any other.  Brainerd Baptist Church seems to be a “top of mind” church in Chattanooga.  It is definitely big.  It has a very popular community center called the BX (for Brainerd Crossroads…it’s across an intersection from the main building).  It has a young and energetic pastor, Robby Gallaty, who I heard described as a “future mega-church pastor” (used in an endearing way, of course, pointing to his charisma).  So with Brainerd Baptist being one of the most seemingly dynamic churches in Chattanooga, I should have gone to visit immediately to see for myself, right?  Not so fast.  There were obstacles in the way.  I had already visited several Baptist Churches and had a few more already penciled in on my “to visit” list.  I also visited ChristWay Community Church, which I thought, was non-denominational but turned out to be Southern Baptist also, which added another Baptist church onto my blog.  I definitely wanted the ChurchSurfer blog to feature various denominations, but with something like 60% (I might be making that up) of the churches in the Chattanooga area being Baptist, I knew I would end up visiting more Baptist churches than any other denomination.  There was nothing wrong with that, but I needed to sprinkle in the Baptist visits here and there and not let the blog become too predictable.  I knew I would end up visiting Brainerd Baptist, I just wanted to wait for the right time.  So looking ahead, I figured there was no better way to finish off my year of ChurchSurfing than to visit Brainerd Baptist for Christmas and make it the 2011 ChurchSurfer finale.  Yep, that’s exactly what I did…and here’s how it went…

ChurchSurfer @ Hamilton Life Church: Hearing and Seeing the Message

Church Experience #48 – December 18, 2011

Hamilton Life Church – Chattanooga, TN

A Turn for the Spiritual

There have been several times this year that my wife, Laura, and I have been personally invited to church by someone we know, which is always a nice gesture.  I have tried to accept these offers for the most part, aside from some random invitations I have received by letter or email from people who I don’t know who have read the blog and invited me to visit their church.  Not that this is a bad thing…I think it is great that people have heard about the ChurchSurfer blog and wanted their church to be included (which, to me demonstrates their passion).  I have just decided to keep things a little closer to home and make the blog a reflection of actual people that I was meeting in my regular, everyday life.  So recently at a Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce networking event, I was engaged in conversation with Michael and Kacey Picou, owners of a dry cleaning business called Pressed4Time, and after our conversation had taken a turn for the spiritual, they invited me to visit Hamilton Life Church with them.  With a few open weeks still remaining before the end of the 2011 ChurchSurfer journey, I gladly accepted.  It turns out that Hamilton Life Church had decided to have their Christmas service this week, so Laura and I kicked off our Christmas holiday a little early and joined in the celebration with some new friends.  Here’s how it went…

A Talkative Bunch