My first memories of church are more like snapshots in my mind. My parents got saved, married, and pregnant with me all in the same month. So I entered the world into a new Christian home in the middle of the "70's Jesus Movement". There is a picture of me riding a pony with a big button that says "ONE WAY". My mom always laughs about the friend who embroidered "REPENT" on her newborn's outfit. When people leaned over to see the baby and say how cute she was, they got the message!
I have a little tea cup with the 23 Psalm that my pastor's wife gave me when I was very little (preschool I think). I used to call her grandma and her husband "Bunkie." He pastored an Evangelical Free Church in northern California. And their grandson went on to pastor the EV Free Church near where we live. "Bunkie" has gone to be with the Lord, but my parents have fond memories of him and are very thankful for the guidance and love he gave to them when they were young believers.
My parents moved to a different town and to a charismatic church that had no denominational ties. (I don't think it is in existence now.) They shepherded a small group. I remember running around with a dozen other kids on summer evenings picking cattails, eating plumbs till we were sick, playing Mother May I? and having a great time while dad and mom had Bible Study! We had pot lucks and Christmas parties. I saw my parents giving time and money to a single mom and showing hospitality. I have great memories of Care Group!
Doctrinally, I'm not sure what this group believed. They eventually folded having gone very astray. But at the time I remember regular Bible stories in Sunday School, but not very regular church services. People danced in the aisles and spoke in tongues all throughout the service. I remember feeling a lot of guilt over what was being taught. There was a lot of emphasis on works and not much on God's grace. I remember feeling very uncomfortable with all the emotion that was displayed in church. And I remember being pressured to speak in tongues. I was told to "practice" like any other second language. Toward the end, I remember being isolated by girls who spoke in tongues, but were disrespectful to their parents and living in rebellion. Looking back I know God protected me from a lot of worldly influences with that particular group of girls. The girl who was my best friend during those years claims to be an atheist now. A few got pregnant. Some of the boys ended up in jail. There were only 12 of us in my class.
I had been going to that church's school. I got a great academic education, very similar to a classical education with Latin and all! But, the girls had gotten openly hostile toward me since I didn't listen to the kind of music they liked or want to read "How to Loose Your Virginity by the Time You're 16." Seventh grade was a lonely year for me and one where books became my best friend. I got lost in Little Women, Swiss Family Robinson and the Secret Garden.
I was very relieved when we switched schools, and churches. My parents took us to an IFCA Bible Church. Most of the kids were in my new school, no one did interpretive dances during church ( I actually like interpretive dances in the right setting), the theology was more mainstream and things were not as chaotic. I started to learn more foundational truths. I was baptized at this church after having spent a summer hearing the same pastor give the same sermon series three times! (Once as a camper, and twice as a camp counselor!) It was on Daniel and standing up for Christ and not being ashamed to call him Lord. We were in this church until I left home and went to college.
Away from home at college, I started attending a Baptist Church. I got involved with teaching Sunday School, singing in the Choir, participating in a small group (not a college one), and playing in the hand bell choir. I enjoyed the liturgical service and the hymns. When I was stalked by a homeless person, one of my professors who was an elder in that church let me live with him and his wife for a month until the restraining order was put in place. It was also the first church where I heard about "Predestination". At that time all I had were questions, but not really any answers.
During the same time, I became involved in the campus ministry of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. I went to a Bible study in my dorm, and learned a lot about discipleship. IVCF sponsors quite a few retreats during the year to help students grow spiritually. I took advantage of as many as I could, going to Catalina Island to study the gospel of Mark, Michigan to study the book of Exodus and learn about leadership, Urbana, Illinois to learn about missions, and the yearly Camp Sugar Pine retreat. Some of the friends I made during those years are my close friends still today even though they now live far away. I met Sean during my last year in college and we were married a month after I graduated.
When Sean and I got back from our honeymoon, we moved a few towns away from the Baptist church. Right before we got married, the senior pastor left the church and divorced his wife (or the other way around) which for some reason caused a split in the church. We decided since we had moved, it was a good time to start over and look for a new church.
It didn't take us long to settle in the church we have called home for the past 11 years. The day we visited, the pastor preached on the importance of having scripture be our highest authority. (This seemed to be the heart of the problem with the Baptist church. Many were appealing to the church constitution, others were saying that it didn't agree with scripture.) Sean and I liked that the pastor preached expositionally, the teens that we saw were sitting next to their parents and taking notes(!), and there was a kids choir and lots of young families.
They had just started a young married's group and we had just gotten back from our honeymoon! The elder in charge of the group had a real care and concern for all us young folks, opening up their home and their hearts to us.
Over the years the group changed as kids were added, but there was a real sense of community and we were growing though Bible studies together. Sean got involved in the worship team playing conga drums, piano, and bass guitar. The kids loved going to A.W.A.N.A groups, and I started a MOPS group.
Then things started changing. The vision for the church went in a different direction. The pastor started preaching more from "books" rather than expositionally and it appears he intentionally dumbed down his sermons. Some decisions were made by the elders that seemed to come out of left field. Sean made several attempts to talk with the elders and wrote a couple of letters. He was very discouraged with the way things were handled by the leadership. And the way that the church ministered to the kids took a dramatic turn toward entertainment and "virtues" rather than teaching the gospel and discipling in foundational truths of scripture.
So we have been looking for a new church this past year and a half. In the middle we went back to the church we used to be a part of because it seemed some of our concerns had been taken care of and the kids really missed it.
This last November we finally cut the cord. The kids were sick a lot so I didn't go to church for at least two months. But God in his goodness, led me to a church (actually in the same town as the Baptist church), where I could listen on-line. That is the one on my sidebar. The pastor has a passion for the gospel. He is a dynamic preacher and I was so blessed by his series on Jonah. It's nice too because I got to listen to the whole series. Jonah is a short book! But, the church is too far away for our family. Sean actually went to check it out and thought that musically, he would not fit in either. So I trust that God has something better for us.
For the past 2 months we have been attending an EV Free church (the same one "Bunkie's" grandson used to pastor!). The pastor there now, preached a few Sundays ago on the sovereignty of God. He is going through Titus. Verse one talks about God's elect or chosen. So he spent the entire sermon walking us through God's sovereignty as shown in all of Scripture in all areas
including salvation. I was so encouraged! Although I've read more on this since college, and come to believe "reformed" theology more, I still learned so much. Evan and Amy are learning too,about who God is, His attributes, in Sunday School.
The pastor used to fly P-3 planes in the Navy. I have no idea what that means, but my husband and son sure do and spent 30 minutes after church the first time we were there talking theology, P-3 planes, homeschool and Washington D.C.
Amy and I went to a ladies' tea there a month ago. I was so blessed! I was encouraged to keep Jesus my "best " friend. I was reminded that God is sovereign in all areas of life, including friendship. That means times when I've had no friends too! And I was urged to develop my friendship with my husband. The theme was friendship, can you tell? And you know what? The ladies there were super friendly!
So here we are now. I don't know if this will be a church that we will be able to call home. But for now, I'm thankful for their faithful teaching of God's word and the blessing that it has been for me and my family.
And if you read all of this, thanks for hanging in there!
During our visit, White House staff were busily preparing for a "State Dinner" welcoming the Queen of England. She feasted in the same dining room where we had stood only two days earlier - don't worry mom, my Queen idolatry was short lived and I have since washed the soles of my shoes.
Later, as we were driving across the Memorial Bridge from Arlington Cemetery, Marine One - the presidential helicopter, came roaring out of the Potomac River on a serpentine route to the White House. Apparently, the pilots had been skimming the surface of the river as a safety precaution for the President. Pretty quick. Fortunately, I had been looking a photos on my camera so it was in hand for this quick snap! Pretty cool.
The inner artwork on the ceiling of the rotunda depicts George Washington with 15 angels. Why, you ask?.......Good question.
We then headed to the Smithsonian Museums. First stop, the Air and Space Museum. It's amazing, breath-taking, the history hanging and parked within the walls of this museum.
Charles Linbergh's Spirit of St Louis.
PaPa posing with the actual Apollo 11 Re-entry Module. This was part of the space craft used during the first moon landing!
The Hope Diamond in the huge Gem exhibit.
Gold chunks in an alarmed display case.
Emily loved her presents. But like most two year olds, we could have simply put a plain cardboard box inside the gift bag and Emily would have thought it the greatest present!
