Sunday Church Visits - May 27, 2007

Sunday Ginger and I had the opportunity to visit two churches. Jordan's junior high ensemble was playing the offertory at the First United Methodist church of Hurst www.fumchurst.org. Upon entering the worship center I told Ginger, these people are very patriotic as I noticed alot of people wearing red. Well, I'm sure they are patriotic, but the red was in honor of Pentecost Sunday, symbolizing the fire of the the Holy Spirit.

They began the service with the hymn "O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing". (I thought it was a baptist hymn!). Then an invocation

God of wind, word, and fire, we bless your name this day for sending the light and strength of your Holy Spirit. We give you thanks for all the gifts, great and small, that you have poured out upon your children. Accept us to be living praise and witness to your love throughout all the earth. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen

This was followed by a baritone solo "Lord, You are Here" written by Stan Pethel. Click here to learn more on Stan http://www.hopepublishing.com/html/main.isx?sub=27&search=188

I once commissioned Stan (a southern baptist) to compose a song for the choir at First Baptist Church of Pryor, Oklahoma.

Following the scripture reading there was a printed Congregational Call to Prayer,"Holy Spirit Come to Us". The bulletin indicated for the congregation to sing as directed. Well I didn't quite read the small print, so when the minister of music began to sing, I naturally began to sing along. Well Ginger informed me later that I was the only one singing with the minister of music the first time through. So you could say I sang a duet at the Methodist Church last Sunday.

The other hymns they sang included

"Breathe On me Breathe of God", "Doxology", "Gloria Patri", and "In Christ there is no East or West".

From there we traveled north to Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. The praiseteam started the service with "God is great" a song from Hillsongs music. Click here to see the words

http://www.lyricsdownload.com/darlene-zschech-god-is-great-lyrics.html

Following that we were led by the "The Sounds of Liberty" an auditioned group from Liberty University http://www.liberty.edu/ministryteams/index.cfm?PID=1621

This was followed by a video tribute to Jerry Falwell, with an introduction by Jack Graham. The sermon was on revival, you can listen to the sermon here once it is posted http://www.prestonwood.org/services/media/

We enjoyed the service at Prestonwood.

I'd encourage you if you get a chance to check the church out. I missed not getting to see their 500 voice choir. A church that large can be a little overwhelming, and can leave you feeling a disconnected. I believe the key to the 'mega' church surviving in the future will be its ability to break the larger group down in to manageable smaller groups.