A Refreshing Visit

So, the last couple of weekends our family has visited a new church in our area. They are a church plant and they opened their doors in Feb. 05. I got to tell you, we love it! As you know, or can tell by my posts, we have a lot of kids. Ok, well, I think 3 kids is a lot. And visiting a new church can be really detrimental to your health, well, maybe not that bad, but it's bad.

To top it off, we have a circus. I Love my kids, but they are full of energy, just like their mom (you know Tracie). Well, the church we used to attend, I will change to name to protect it's identity, but I will tell you it rhymes with ForthRidge, the children's ministry was amazing! Actually I think that was the best part of the church. It was way to boomer for me, now don't be a hater. Don't get me wrong, they do an amazing job with the production end, the 385 intelligent lights and the full choir, orchestra and band, at times it was Sweet Like Butter, but we loved the children's ministry the most.

Side note, on a couple occasions they would actually have members of the DSO play on stage and even once they had a live feed of a cello player playing somewhere and she played live with the band! From a tech person at heart, that was incredible.

Back to churches, so at ForthRidge, it was so easy, and safe, and great to leave our kids in the children's area. In the last 6 months though we have visited a lot of churches and 99 times out of 100 it is impossible to leave our kids. The people are unhelpful, the church is tough to figure out and we don't feel safe leaving them.

So, the last couple of weeks we have visited this church called 242 Community Church in Brighton, MI. Their website is great and they set up in a middle school and the atmosphere is awesome. Not only is the kid's ministry great, people are genuinely friendly and the service is great. Worship, Teaching, all great. REFRESHING is the word that comes to mind the most. I am someone who has grown up in church, always been there, my dad was my youth pastor and I became a youth pastor at 19, so I don't know not being in church.

So, why I am blogging all this, because I bummed we are not going to be able to attend this weekend. Now don't get me wrong, I get to teach on a retreat for 250 Jr. High kids, and that's just about one of the funniest and greatest moments of my year, but we will miss being at 242.