A tale of two churches
Today I attended two churches... Mt Pleasant Presbyterian and Seacoast Church. They couldn't have been more different.
In the morning the family worshipped with Mt Pleasant Presbyterian with my sister and my parents. The visit started poorly the night before when I was told that shorts would really be underdressed. Turned out I was still slightly underdressed in slacks, a button down and sandals.
Culturally the entire experience was kind of uncomfortable. The hymns, the homogeneity of the congregation, the formal language... It all felt very uncomfortable. As we pulled into the church parking area, two neighborhood kids were walking by dribbling a basketball and i wonder how uncomfortable they would feel walking in.
All that said, the execution was good. I don't like hymns sung to organ, but they did it well. The formal prayers and liturgy was executed well, the children's sermon was good and the adult sermon was probably the best I've heard while on vacation.
The senior pastor preached from Matt. 13 the parable about the wheat and weeds. And his main point was that we all have a bit of wheat and weeds in us and with God's help in humility we should strive to be wheat and to bear good fruit in our lives. There was a secondary point that he hit a few times (which is probably the main point of the parable) that we are not the judge and should leave that to God.
He blew a great chance to really nail home a powerful application. At one point he shared a personal story of keeping quiet in the face of racism... Surely a sin struggle in a congregation like that... But he told the story, made a point and moved on without any challenge. All in all, a great sermon surrounded by an uncomfortable style for me and I suspect for most anyone not raised in church (and maybe not raised in a liturgical church). Someone to think about if they want to reach out beyond the wealthy upper classes of Mt. Pleasant.
E first thing I noticed about Seacoast was that not everyone was caucasion. Finally. Seacoast is a well know megachurch with over 10 different locations in SC, NC, and GA. I attended their evening service at the main campus.
Venue was a cheesy attempt at industrial cool. A very expensive add on to their main building, but created to look like a warehouse. The atmosphere was good though and I was excited to start worship. They sang great songs, the music leaders were good, but most of the songs fell flat. I've seen this before with the younger contemporary services were the instruments are so loud you can't hear anyone sing except the mic'd song leader. I prefer our acoustic leadership in our Sunday evening worship. In a since then it was an encouragement. The guest preacher was Steven Furtick. That was a disappointment. I've heard him before and feel the same as many of his critics. He comes off as being too confident. Actually, this was a great sermon too. He talked from 1 Kings 17 about Elijah. He talked about what a hard time Elijah had despite doing exactly what God had told him to do. In the end Steven blew it though by promising what the Bible doesn't. Steven promised that we won't die inthestruggles of life but that God will see us through to the other side.
While it's true that God never abandons us, it's not true that He always takes us through tough times into blessed times. The fact is that sometimes we do die in the hardship and the gospe, is that God is with us then to and waits with us for the resurrection and redemption of the world. It's a tough concept. Unfortunately Seacoast folks weren't invited to consider that, they were let off the hook with a false promise. Butyl until that pointitwas a masterful sermon with lots of depth.
I probably sound too critical, I actually was blessed by both services. But I do look forward to being back home next Sunday and worshipping with my brothers and sisters at Intl Church Bangkok.
In the morning the family worshipped with Mt Pleasant Presbyterian with my sister and my parents. The visit started poorly the night before when I was told that shorts would really be underdressed. Turned out I was still slightly underdressed in slacks, a button down and sandals.
Culturally the entire experience was kind of uncomfortable. The hymns, the homogeneity of the congregation, the formal language... It all felt very uncomfortable. As we pulled into the church parking area, two neighborhood kids were walking by dribbling a basketball and i wonder how uncomfortable they would feel walking in.
All that said, the execution was good. I don't like hymns sung to organ, but they did it well. The formal prayers and liturgy was executed well, the children's sermon was good and the adult sermon was probably the best I've heard while on vacation.
The senior pastor preached from Matt. 13 the parable about the wheat and weeds. And his main point was that we all have a bit of wheat and weeds in us and with God's help in humility we should strive to be wheat and to bear good fruit in our lives. There was a secondary point that he hit a few times (which is probably the main point of the parable) that we are not the judge and should leave that to God.
He blew a great chance to really nail home a powerful application. At one point he shared a personal story of keeping quiet in the face of racism... Surely a sin struggle in a congregation like that... But he told the story, made a point and moved on without any challenge. All in all, a great sermon surrounded by an uncomfortable style for me and I suspect for most anyone not raised in church (and maybe not raised in a liturgical church). Someone to think about if they want to reach out beyond the wealthy upper classes of Mt. Pleasant.
E first thing I noticed about Seacoast was that not everyone was caucasion. Finally. Seacoast is a well know megachurch with over 10 different locations in SC, NC, and GA. I attended their evening service at the main campus.
Venue was a cheesy attempt at industrial cool. A very expensive add on to their main building, but created to look like a warehouse. The atmosphere was good though and I was excited to start worship. They sang great songs, the music leaders were good, but most of the songs fell flat. I've seen this before with the younger contemporary services were the instruments are so loud you can't hear anyone sing except the mic'd song leader. I prefer our acoustic leadership in our Sunday evening worship. In a since then it was an encouragement. The guest preacher was Steven Furtick. That was a disappointment. I've heard him before and feel the same as many of his critics. He comes off as being too confident. Actually, this was a great sermon too. He talked from 1 Kings 17 about Elijah. He talked about what a hard time Elijah had despite doing exactly what God had told him to do. In the end Steven blew it though by promising what the Bible doesn't. Steven promised that we won't die inthestruggles of life but that God will see us through to the other side.
While it's true that God never abandons us, it's not true that He always takes us through tough times into blessed times. The fact is that sometimes we do die in the hardship and the gospe, is that God is with us then to and waits with us for the resurrection and redemption of the world. It's a tough concept. Unfortunately Seacoast folks weren't invited to consider that, they were let off the hook with a false promise. Butyl until that pointitwas a masterful sermon with lots of depth.
I probably sound too critical, I actually was blessed by both services. But I do look forward to being back home next Sunday and worshipping with my brothers and sisters at Intl Church Bangkok.
