One Way or the other

I really don't wabt to hurt any ones feelings but the truth is there isn't but one way. Today we want our religion non controversial and watered down, intellectually stimulating without the emotional pulls that clouds ones judgement.

Expository preaching is fine and dandy but the honest truth is a man and woman who are married and want to have a successful marriage really do want and need a relationship where the two of them are emotionally involved with each other and not one where every situation is approached from a purely logical and intellectual point of view.

I want to get excited about the man who was willing to die for me. Sure, I want to understand His teachings but I also want to know how to apply those teachings to my life. That is something that I have been missing for quite some time.

I stopped by One Way Baptist Church in Randleman last Sunday while I was on vacation and went back today-twice. It's the first time I have ever seen my wife get excited about going to church and she isn't even a Baptist.

I know the church building is a little small, looking more like a kids clubhouse than a serious place of worship and visitor late for service may be hesitant if they are a few minutes late and see a bunch of people laying on the floor near the pulpit but it is what it is.

No, this isn't the kind of church I grew up in. I attended Penelope Baptist in Longview, We had a Doctor of divinity for a preacher and over a thousand in attendance back in the fifties (the town wasn't even that big) and they were all formal and prime and proper church going people. No amens or shouting at this church-no sir!

Nor is this the kind of church my Dad pastored. He was a lot less formal than Penelope and he always started in a small building with a handful of people although his churches grew rapidly and often very large.

No, this is the kind of church that preachers used to talk about, the kind they say are dead and gone, where the prayers are effective and they people real. It's the kind of church I wished everyone could belong to.