Our “church search” officially began this week with a visit to First Baptist Church in Allen. Crisana attends preschool at this location, so we figured we’d begin here, just to check it out. We attended their fall carnival here on Halloween and had a great time, so we were interested to see what their Sunday services were like.
We began our day in a liesurely fashion, enjoying breakfast together – for the first time on a Sunday morning in close to 7 years. No rushing out the door for praise team rehearsal, no driving in separate cars so Matt can set up sound. It was nice! We took our time getting ready, since we didn’t have to leave for church until 10:15, and enjoyed driving as a family to church. Knowing there would be lots of traffic around the church, we gave ourselves extra time to get parked and inside. We found a parking space in a prime location – though not visitor parking – and walked up to the sanctuary to get more information. And this is where things got FUN.
As we’re walking up, I see a woman about my age walking up to church with her daughter. As she passes me, I recognize her face and my mind goes into overdrive trying to place her. And then it hits me: she and I worked together at Camp El Har 16 years ago…I was in her house party for her wedding, and she in mine. We hadn’t seen each other since I was newly pregnant with Trey, when we both attended a wedding for a mutual friend at Scofield. Wow! As we hugged and reconnected, she shared with me that they now live in Fairview (though in the Lovejoy/Allen school district)! What a small world! It was great to see her and have a few moments to reminisce and catch up.
We entered the sanctuary and were warmly greeted and well cared-for. The volunteers at the welcome table were knowledgeable and helpful, even escorting us to take Trey and Crisana to their classes (Crisana attended extended care, and Trey opted to attend second-hour Sunday school rather than big church with us) and making sure they were settled. Though there was a sign-in procedure with Crisana, we noticed that there were no security measures in place for Trey, which disheartened us some. Then it was off to church.
The ushers immediately welcomed us, though the service had already started, and made sure we found seats (off to the side, not in the center, like we had hoped). Those around us warmly welcomed us during the welcome time and made us feel very much at home. We sang familiar songs, enjoyed a wonderful choral number with an outstanding soloist, and filled our hearts and minds with solid Biblical teaching and application. Though the congregational music was, to us, disappointing, we enjoyed being part of the “crowd” rather than the “core” for a change.
The children loved their classes and had a great time. Their teachers were friendly and gracious, and seemed genuinely glad we were there. We left and enjoyed lunch at Napoli’s, a small mom-and-pop Italian restaurant near our house, and were back home by shortly after 1:00! Quite a change for us, when it’s normally well past 2 by the time we get home.
Yesterday, we received an email from the senior pastor thanking us for visiting and encouraging us to come again and try Sunday school. Though we really don’t see this as the place God has for us, it was a great way to begin our “church search”, and we’re glad we had the opportunity to see this church from the inside out.