Church Surch, Week 10

 Church Surch, Solid Rock Church Spearfish, SD

Week 10

Jefferson greeted me as I got off the bike in their parking lot this morning, and we talked about our faith. That doesn't sound profound, but most people, even in a church setting, talk about jobs, the weather, cookie recipes, and other topics beside their faith. I know,  that's what everyone else talked about this morning. 

Solid Rock invites people for fellowship at 9:30 and worship at 10. I arrived a bit late and chatted with a few people in the overflow area and munched on a cookie. Hence, the cookie recipe talk.

At ten, I slid over to the pew for the worship service. Looked around. I'm the only one sitting! Everyone still gathered and gabbed. I moved back to the group, feeling a bit out of sorts, the outsider. At 10:10 we wandered into the church proper and got going. Maybe that's Midwest timing, but it drives me crazy. 

Great worship. The team consisted of two men (pastor on bass guitar, another guy on keyboards) and two women, one on acoustic guitar and one on drums. The Pastor's wife did the PowerPoint. What I liked about this worship service was that they lead by example instead of cheerleading like last week. We sang, "I’m Running into Your Arms" and "You're My Heart's Desire." and a couple other songs that drew us to the Lord. 

The Youth Pastor preached about baptism, shared his life story then tied it into stories about fishing and catching bluegill. While the lesson (look back to remember, live in the present) was real and personal, I felt like it had nothing to do with baptism. Since baptisms are next week, the pastor told him to preach about it this week and this was his best shot. Wish I could be there for the baptisms, in Elk Creek. Missed it by a week.

The church was nice. However, as a member or if I were the pastor, I don't want a nice church! I would want a great church. And being brutally honest, today's service, for me, was forgettable. I found myself really missing my church for the first time during the Adventure.

A good church, don't misunderstand. However, I would think it would be a much bigger and better church, in this community and at its age.

For any church people, I would say this as well. Your church should have a good Web presence. I googled 'Spearfish Churches' to find this one. Some only appear on Yellow Book or whatever. No, I want a website with service times, a map and directions. You want to reach people for Christ; you have to let them know you exist. That's why Solid Rock got the visit and not the Methodists or Presbyterians.