The Church Hopper

On Sunday, June 26th, I was able to finally attend a church that I had been trying to visit for a while; Truth and Worship Outreach Ministries located at 212 Murphy Cir. I had actually been in this church before, when it was under the name Stokesland United Methodist Church. During Stokesland’s last few years they would worship on Sunday mornings and Truth and Worship would come in a worship that afternoon. When Stokesland UMC had to officially close, Truth and Worship was able to purchase the church from them! Fun Fact: They kept their service at 2pm since it already worked for their members!

While I have visited churches that were somewhat diverse… I had never really visited an African American Church. Parking my car, I was a little nervous because it did seem that I would be the only white person there. However, once I walked through the doors, I felt a sense of peace. The usher, at the door, asked me to sanitize my hands and check my temperature.  Then she pointed me towards the sanctuary. Upon entering, I was immediately welcomed by members and the pastor quickly made his way over to me. He not only thanked me for visiting with them, but started a conversation with me. We spoke about the history of the church, made connections about their daycare and the one that I direct, and he even casually warned me that this service would not be like a “Methodist” service. He said that this church is what some call “radical”, but he hoped that I would be blessed for having attended.

Later, his wife and co-pastor came over to speak to me, as well as many others. The service started late (around 2:15ish) but once they started… it was on!

I thought that maybe they would start like at a level 5 and work their way up to 10. Nope! They started at like a 8.5 and shot to 10 and really never let up. When I say that I was exhausted by the time I left… I am not joking. NO, I was not running around with the others.  I was just taking it all in and I was just in amazement!

Their 2.5 hour service included announcements, songs by the praise team, youth praise dances, solos, a sermon, offering, testimonials, and what I will call Spirit led moments. The majority of the service was filled with moments where people would run in place, being taken over my the spirit, and sometime even running laps around the church. While this is not something that I am used to – nor do I 100% understand what is happening when those actions happen – I still recognized that the moment that they were having was theirs and that is not for anyone else to understand nor judge them for. And how awesome is it to be so comfortable with your community of faith that you allow yourself to be taken over by the spirit… Super cool!

The real MVP was the one lady usher! When I say that she deserves a cape, I am not kidding! She was able to make sure that people did not run into each other, she caught glasses that were falling from faces, handed out fans, rapped cloths around ladies whose dresses were riding up as they were moving in the spirit, passed out paper towels, and grabbed children from parents that were entering into their moments of worship. She was everywhere all at once and watching her is probably what wore me out, if I am being honest.

The sermon was given by their youth pastor, and it was on the parable of the prodigal son. She preached from a place of experience, as she had recently just come out of a season that reflected the points of that parable. The message itself was less than 15 minutes, but was absolutely fantastic and well delivered. 

I really enjoyed my visit at Truth and Worship Outreach Church, and plan to visit again with a pastor that I work with.

I hope that this experience inspires you to do something daring! I was walking into a place where I knew that I would stick out and not completely fit in… yet I felt totally comfortable and welcomed! Never let your fears or insecurities get in the way of something beautiful!