The Church, there are so many different denominations. How do you know which one you should go to? How do you know which one is the right one?
I wasn’t raised in church. My earliest memory of the church is when as a young boy, one of my school friends would have his parents pick me up for Vacation Bible School every summer. Then there was the family in the community that would pick me and my sister and brother up on Sunday Morning for Sunday School and Church.
These were all positive interactions with what we know as the church. It was around 1980 that my family made friends with a couple that attended an Independent Baptist Church near our home. They invited me and my brother and would come and pick us up for services every Sunday Morning. I remember that the Pastor was a man who really seemed to care about the lost people in the congregation. He would stand in the pulpit and cry almost every service, begging people to come to the altar and invite Jesus into their life.
I remember that every week I would feel so convicted that I should go to the altar until finally I gave in and went to the front. I remember that day well, the people all came around the front of the church and shook hands with me and the pastor, several of them were crying tears of joy.
After that day it was like a different world. I don’t remember anyone asking me to come to Sunday School or to a Bible Study. No one took me on to mentor me and teach me how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I don’t remember a thing about another sermon after that time. After several weeks I left the church and went on with life, I thought that was all there was.
Yet, I am still thankful for that independent Baptist Church, the pastor was doing what he knew to do for the Kingdom. That was one of the spiritual markers in my life.
Ronnie