The Summer Church Schedule Just down the road from the congregation that cancelled their service because of their summer church schedule is Church #8. We enjoyed our visit there but later realized it was solely because of one significant interaction we had after the service. The rest of the congregation ignored us, and little else […]
A Failure to Communicate I enjoyed the worship at Church #27 and appreciated their charismatic demeanor. Yet I was also critical of most other aspects of their service. My wife said I had a bad attitude, with my perceptions tainted by a former member who had a painful experience there. He left scarred and disillusioned, […]
The Third Time is the Charm It’s Memorial Day weekend. Holidays are a bad time to visit a church. Seldom is it a representative experience. The wise decision would be to attend our own church, but I know we usually have the B team on holiday weekends. We’ve already visited this church twice and know […]
A Second Atypical Service We first visited this small Presbyterian Church several months ago. Now they have a new minister. Our first visit was on a cold winter day. Today, spring permeates the air. But I don’t need warm sunshine, blue sky, or the life-promise of burgeoning buds to bolster my expectations. I’m excited to […]
A Delayed Experience and Worth the Wait We visited this church as one of our original fifty-two, though I almost didn’t count it. On the Sunday we showed up, they cancelled their service because their minister had an emergency. With a start time of 11:30, it was too late to head anywhere else. Instead, we […]
A Holiday Weekend, Light Attendance, and a Great Time I volunteer twice a month at our local food pantry. Staffed with people from area churches and service organizations, we serve those in need in our community. One Saturday, between clients, I have an opportunity to talk with a man who attends Church #2. I ask […]
Expecting the Unexpected and Still Being Surprised When we visited Church #14, I expected more. I anticipated experiencing the movement of the Holy Spirit, prophetic words, and the possibility of people being slain in the spirit. I expected the full Pentecostal experience. I braced to hear holy laughter and the tumult of the masses simultaneously […]
Return Every Sunday for a Month to Get a More Comprehensive Understanding The goal of 52 Churches was to visit a different Christian church every Sunday for a year. As people learned about our journey, they became universally excited. Many wished they could go on their own church visiting sojourn. Some followed my blog posts […]
May We Never Become Indifferent toward Our Spiritual Practices and Faith Consider the adage that familiarity breeds contempt. While I hope that our familiarity with God will never breed contempt toward our Creator and Savior, I do wonder if our familiarity breeds complacency, that is a smug indifference or even apathy toward our faith. Recall […]
Discover How to Attract Visitors and Keep Them Coming Back On our year-long journey of visiting churches, we witnessed more than a few oversights, errors, and blunders that could turn off visitors. Sadly, many occurred more than once. Here are some tips for improvement to consider to not scare away guests. The Church Facility Realtors […]