Drew and I took another opportunity to visit another church today. Last week there was no church as I was out of town on a much needed girl weekend (pictures and post to come). We talked about where we wanted to go, knowing that this might be our last week of “freedom” as far as church exploration goes. I tossed out E3, the local church that recently bought out the coffee shop that I was employed at. It was a church I had heard about for a few years and never had the chance to check out. Plus, now that they were running “my” coffee shop, I was curious to see more of their ministry. Drew had been once a couple years ago and hadn’t been so impressed, but thought we could give it a try.

Since the church is quite close to our house (like less than five minutes away) we didn’t rush through our morning. We lazily got up, had breakfast and read the paper, until we realized we needed to get moving. We ended up walking in two minutes late. That turned out to be not a bad thing, as we weren’t accosted by the welcoming committee. I stood in line at the coffee bar, where I got a free hazelnut latte. Any church that hands out free specialty drinks gets bonus points right away.

I wandered into the sanctuary, where Drew had gone to scope out seats for us. I wound my way through the maze of cafe tables and found him sitting in the back near the sound desk, in the theater style seats. Lights were dimmed and the band had just finished the opening number and announcements were being given. I sipped my latte, thinking to myself that I could make better foam. Then I reminded myself it was free and told myself to shut up.

Announcements done, the worship leader gave a typical worship leader intro, and then they were off. Guitars blared and the former restaurant turned sanctuary was filled with sound. They started off with a familiar song, and I found myself actually getting into it. The first thing I noticed was that the band was good. Really good. Full, tight sound, cool guitar parts, good vocals (only two vocalists), and I noticed later that there were no music stands in front of them. Impressive. Internalized rather than depending on the crutch of chords. Wish I could do that.

I was wondering if it was just me enjoying the sound of the band, as Drew can tend to be a bit more critical in the sound aspect, being a sound tech. I notice out of tune vocals, he notices the reverb and all that other tech stuff. Then he leaned over and said, “The band sounds really good!” Guess it wasn’t just me.

Halfway through one of the songs, the lights started; flashing blue and white. My initial reaction was, “Cool…” and then I started feeling a little turned off by it, thinking that the worship was becoming too showy. Then the internal debate raged inside me. Showy, flashy worship turns me off; yet I’m a firm believer in using all your senses to worship. Churches try to be so “trendy” somedays, and I feel like they need to focus more on being the church; and yet I believe strongly in meeting people where they are. It’s like I tugged back and forth internally all during the worship set. It took me back to the time when I thought Christian music was the coolest thing and I would go to Christian concerts and totally lose myself in the music. Then I snapped back and thought about how cheeseball some of it can be. It reminded me of how much I love to sing and how much I miss using my voice in worship. I started to tear up a bit because that passion of singing started to feel real again. And then I watched and listened to the guitar parts and realized how sucky I am at that and how much harder I should work at it. All that, and I even worshiped a bit too. The songs were good and the words were convicting.

I was pleasantly surprised at the sermon. It was entitled, “When Things Don’t Go to Plan.” The pastor was supposed to have gone to Benin, Africa that week and the trip got postponed. He talked about how sometimes things don’t work out quite as we envision them and tied in Acts 16:16-40. He talked of how Paul and Silas didn’t anticipate being arrested, stripped, beaten and put in the stocks. How it wasn’t in their plan and how much it would have sucked. Yet they went with it and in the end, God did something miraculous. Familiar story, but refreshing to take another look at it. He went through the entire passage and talked about it and related it to our lives. It was well delivered. Throughout the message, I was thinking about my plans to be working in Africa now, and how that didn’t pan out. How God gave me marriage instead.

I walked out refreshed and challenged. I feel like that’s how we’re supposed to walk out of church.