*begin spooky twilight zone music*
We have now entered “The Church Music Zone”. Please don’t try to adjust your ipod or your praise posture. There is no subliminal message, though it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that God is trying to tell you something. But that’s beside the point. Just accept the fact that these songs will follow you wherever you go……. inside the “Church Music Zone.”
*end spooky twilight zone music*
Seriously. Charles will get a kick out of this.
11-11 Order of service for FBC Allen: “Love the Lord”, “Hungry (Falling on my Knees)”, “Knowing You”, “Joyful, Joyful”, and the choral number “My Savior’s Love”
11-18 Order of service for FBC McKinney: “Love the Lord”, “Everyday”, “My Savior’s Love” and one other that I don’t know the title of.
What had been our theme song our last 6 weeks at PCBC? “Love the Lord”. What had been the theme song for the last sermon series I had been a part of before taking my job on staff at PCBC? “Everyday”. As Matt commented, it’s either a conspiracy or the pope has taken over planning the praise and worship for the Baptist churches in our area!
Okay, getting serious here… We were absolutely overwhelmed with FBC McKinney. We knew it was a big church – the website lists a membership of 5,500, but until we drove into the parking lot and discovered they have a TRAFFIC MINISTRY (complete with t-shirts and everything), I don’t think we realized just how big this church is. The visitor parking was full, so the TRAFFIC MINISTRY volunteer directed us to park at the back of the parking lot. Never fear, they have several golf carts roaming the parking lot and we were picked up and driven right to the entrance to the children’s building. That, my friends, was a first. My kids thought that was the absolute coolest thing, to drive up to church in a golf cart. That alone was worth the price of admission.
We entered the children’s building, which was very well marked with signage and went straight to the security check-in. Two of the volunteers seemed so absorbed in their conversation that they couldn’t stop to help us, but one sweet woman greeted us warmly and helped us know what the sign-in procedures were, where to take our children, and what we needed to do to pick them up. After ensuring that we had taken them to the right places, we returned to the check-in to find out how to get to the sanctuary. Unlike last week, when we had a volunteer actually escort us to be sure we found our way around the campus, we were simply told how to navigate our way and wished well. We did get a little confused on the way, and it would have been nice to have someone there to direct us, but we did manage to get into the service on time.
Despite the large membership, the sanctuary doesn’t feel overwhelmingly big. There are 7 total services, in 3 different locations. Three services are held in the sanctuary, 2 in the gym, and 2 at a different campus in North McKinney. You can also watch a live feed online on their website. We decided to go for the service in the main worship center. We found seats near the center, right behind the youth. There was a good cross-section of ages throughout the sanctuary, and we were warmly greeted during the welcome time.
This weekend was the end of their d-now weekend, so all the youth sat front and center, with matching olive green “YouthQuake” sweatshirts. The worship time was youth-led and youth-driven with an energizing band and praise team and lots of great praise music. As disappointing as the music was last week, I felt completely AT HOME this week, able to really get into the music and praise and worship God in my own way. And to see the youth doing the same right in front of us was amazing. Watching them lift their hands as they sang about serving God with all their hearts, and love Him every day….well, it was just cool.
The service was really a service of commitment, but still full of great spiritual truths and application. The pastor seems to have a great passion for the Word and reaching people where they are. I sensed energy and love and enthusiasm as he spoke to us. While I didn’t feel as though I could participate fully in what he was sharing, due to the nature of the service, I did sense that he was really reaching out to us, trying to connect with us and connect us with God.
As the service closed, we all herded out through the sanctuary doors and trekked back over to pick up our children. Both had had a wonderful time, Crisana receiving a potted flower to take home (after learning about how God cares for the flowers and the birds in Matthew) and Trey having watched a movie and had small group discussion about John the Baptist. We felt very secure knowing that the church had provided adequate security measures for our children, and the children’s areas were bright and cheerful and fun. We rode the golf cart back to our car, which just topped off the whole experience for our children.
Though we feel like our place is at a smaller church, it’s been an eye-opening experience to see the impact and sheer scope of ministry of these large churches. And in God’s plan, there’s room for churches of all sizes to meet the needs of those around us and serve those in our world in need of His love and compassion. It was a privilege to be there today to celebrate one of those ministries and see how God is using them to be a light to McKinney.