The Church Hopper

Springing forward is never fun for people like me who tend to always stay up late. However, knowing that I was going to get experience another new church put some much needed pep in my step!

This particular Sunday (March 13th) was going to be a busy day for me. I was going to get up and go to church and then rush to Lynchburg for lunch with my family. This had me so concerned about getting out of church by a certain time that I had not paid attention to what time this church’s service actually started.

So I pull into River Oak Church aka River Oak Church of God at 10:50am and notice that no one is arriving as late as I am. So I do what anyone else would do… I check facebook! And as soon as I go to their page, BOOM there is their LIVE facebook service that started at 10:30am… ugh! Epic fail… I am only three weeks into this church hopping thing and I have already not done the number one pre-visit assignment, finding out what time the service started. So, I found myself in a pickle… Should I go in late? Should I just go home? Should I get an early head-start to my grandma’s? Or… do I go to a church that does start at 11am? Looking at my phone I had about 3 minutes to get to another church. I had no time to go anywhere else except the church that was next store. I was going back to Crosspoint church.

Now, I know what yall are thinking. “Why are you going to write about the same church two weeks in a row?” Well, since last week was technically Forest Lawn’s last Sunday, then this Sunday would be Crosspoint’s official first Sunday. So, I drove myself next door to Crosspoint and walk in a different door – closer to the back since I knew I was walking in a few minutes late. I slide into one of the back pews and listen as Pastor Zach was finishing up some announcements. I couldn’t help but feel excited to be back… after all the last service was very rememberable. Soon the worship band began to play and yet again they were playing more of my favorite praise songs, it made my heart happy. Just as I am singing along to the chorus, the Pastor gets up to walk to the back and guess what… He remembered my name… CRAP I thought… Not only had I been here two weeks in a row, but now the Preacher knows my name. I instantly knew that I needed to reach out to him and let him know what I was doing (church-hopping that is) and why I wouldn’t be back the next week. (I did email with him later that week)

The Sermon for that week was based around the theme of communion. I thought it was perfect for the new season of that church building and Pastor Zach shared that God had put that on his heart. His message was interactive in that he had everyone stand up and say their name. NOW, do not let that stop you, dear reader, from visiting this or any other church. This kinda thing does not happen often. However, with one church passing on the deed to other church, all while most of them are continuing to worship together, it was only fitting to have this type of exercise. It also fit in well with the theme of communion and us are apart of the same body, the body of Christ. The service ended after we all partook in the communion elements together. Once again, I left feeling welcomed and blessed.

Now, maybe the next week I go church-hopping I will get my service times straight. However, maybe God guided my steps back there for a particular reason… who knows 🙂