A Hiccup:)

So I decided to go to Saint Luke Missionary Baptist Church. They had an 8a.m. service and a 11a.m. I went there at 9:00a.m. and of course the church service had already started when I went inside. I wanted to get the total feel of the church service so I did not stay. Unfortunately I will not be going to that church this week. The World Cup Final is on today (Go Spain!) and this is a baptist church which means the service will last 3+ hours. I will make sure I will get up bright and early next Sunday to catch this service. Sorry internetz:(

West Huntsville Church of Christ

For the first church that I went to, I picked the one most closest to my place. The West Huntsville Church of Christ is located at 1303 Evangel Dr. Huntsville, AL 35816. Its is a pretty big church. At the max it probably seats 700-800 people. From my understanding is that this church is like the campus church of UA Huntsville. The church is an predominately Caucasian church. They have two church services, one at 9 a.m.(the one I went to) and a 5 p.m. service.

Welcome/Friendliness: Upon entering the church I was greeted at the door by two men. They gave me a pamphlet called, "The Messenger". It had what was going to happen during the service, weekly events, sick and shut in's, etc. The first part of the service was a welcoming of newcomers to the church. Out of the 300+ people that came to church that morning only 5 people stopped and welcomed me there. Upon leaving the church, 4 people welcomed me back. Points: 5/10

Dress Code/Attire: I came dressed some khaki's and a polo shirt. Boy, was I under-dressed! Everyone had a suit and tie on. The women wore long dresses. There isn't a "come-as-you-are" vibe about this church. Understanding the culture of the church makes the dress code sensible. They must take God very seriously here.
Points: 3/5

Things to do for the children: There was no children's story. There was no children's church. During the service you just heard 5-6 little babies cry during the service. Very distracting if you want to actually focus your mind on the service.
Points:0/15

Songs/Band/Special Music: There are no pianos, organs, band at the church. The entire congregation sang acapella. I have never been to a church that had no musical instruments. The congregation sang 6 songs. "Blessed Assurance", "Abide with Me", "Alas did My Savior Bleed", "It is Well With My Soul", "Burdens are Lifted at Calvary", and "O How I Love Jesus". Honestly, it was nice to hear a congregation sing without a piano. The bad part about that is there was this guy sitting next to me who was singing very loudly... like he wanted everyone at the church to hear his voice.
Points:15/20

Scripture Usage: Wow, the service was filled with the use of scripture. I found myself having to stop writing at jot down scripture it seemed every 3 min or so. The Scripture they used was as follows(very long list):
1 Chron. 16:18, 1 Cor. 11:23, 2 Cor. 9:6-8, Isa. 6:1-8, 2 Tim 2:1, Rom 12:1, 1 Cor. 13, Gen. 41:51, Rev. 1:5, 1 Tim 3:15, Philp. 3:13, Ps. 51:10, Ps. 127, Eph 6:5, Gal. 6:2, John 13:34, Heb. 10:35, 1 Cor 10:13, 2 Pet 1:5, John 10:10, Ps. 85:10, Gal. 5:19.
Points:20/20

Sermon: Since it was Independence Day, the minister started out with a quote by John Quincy Adams. The quote spoke of Independence Day having everything to do with religion and not really liberty at all. That was very weird I must say. The crux of the service was about Peace. There was a case study done at Duke that wanted to quantify what people found peaceful and how people can attain peace. There were 8 steps and the minister went over all 8. The are found below:

1. Got to avoid resentment & suspicion
   
2. Don't live in the past
3. Don't waste time & energy fighting conditions you cannot change
4. Force yourself to stay involved in the world
5. Refuse to indulge in self-pity when life hands you a raw deal
6. Cultivate the "old-fashioned values"
7. Do not expect too much of yourself
8. Find something bigger than yourself to believe in

I found it very interesting that the preacher talked about how his church is a "New Testament Church". Also what interested me is that after church they have their "Sunday School". Overall the sermon seemed like it was thought up probably on Saturday. To me he let Duke University Psychology dept. create his sermon.
Points:17/25

Appeal/Benediction: The Appeal to me didn't sound sincere. There wasn't a point during the service that might have led you on the path to want to become a member of the Christian faith or even a member of that church. Once again, the sermon was one a case study done at Duke. The benediction said nothing of significance due to the construction on the sermon.
Points: 2/5

Extra Credit: The Pews were very comfortable. +2 Points

Total Points: 65/100 Grade: D

It might seem like a bad score but a big deal was the lack of involvement with the children in the church. They had nothing to do but be a nuisance to their parents and the people talking. Before one of the prayers, one of the associate pastors didn't pray until a child calmed down.
*Note* This Church has communion every Sunday. They only take up one offering per service.

Posting Schedule

I will be posting my blogs every Monday. The first church I've been to is West Huntsville Church of Christ. I will be taking pictures of the church and hopefully later give some interesting facts about the churches and some directions on how to get there.

Enjoy!

Opening Words

Thank you for checking out my site! My name is Stan and I'm a self-proclaimed Atheist/Buddhist. I was sitting around with one of my Christian friends about going back to church. I thought to myself, "Wow, wouldn't it be great to tell my friends that I've tried every church in my city and none of them interested me!" During this blog, I'll be talking about my experience being a Christian for 15 years to becoming an Atheist. I have been an Atheist for around 6 years now.

Note: I am a very un-biased person and I will try my hardest to give critiques that actually people will appreciate. I am not here to slander any denomination or faith. I think it really takes a person that does not believe in a particular deity to really understand what a particular church is trying to project to the audience.

I will be grading these churches that I go to (just for fun) in an effort to help people choose the type of church they would like to go to. My grading scale will be measured like so.

• Welcome/Friendliness: 10 Points. I think it is important to feel welcome to a church. If not, you really feel like you are not welcomed there.

• Attire/Dress Code: 5 Points. This will be very subjective score.
  

• Singing/Praise Service/Band/Special Music: 20 Points. I think that this part of service would set you in the mood for having a great experience at church.

• Involvement for Children: 10 Points. Having something for the children to do is very important. Sometimes the children may not Understand the context of the sermon.

• Amount of scripture used: 20 Points. I think that this is one of the most important things about a church service. If you cannot back up what you preach with scripture then to me its pretty much just lip service. The amount of Scripture used (I will be writing down the verses in each blog) creates the experience that the preacher knows what he is talking about. *Please Note* some churches don't believe in using scripture so I will take that into account.

• Sermon/Talk: 25 Points. I think that this is the core of every church service. The minister is speaking to the masses about a topic that will have to reach everyone. The way the minister goes about this is very important.
  

• Appeal/Benediction: 10 Points. The appeal is something that will make someone feel like they want to go to the church and be a member. I'm pretty sure i'll know what the appeal score is halfway through the sermon. The Benediction sends us off for the week, keeping a mind focused on what was spoken about.

• Total: 100 Points. There will be +/- points given depending on the experience.
  

I really hope you enjoy this blog. Feel free to comment!