Preliminary field notes: (as entered in my PDA):

• Visited on 1/7. Dave Earley was guest speaker - from Liberty - works with Elmer Towns.
• Pastor Steve Reynolds is starting a new series "Bod 4 God'', next week.
• Ran into Steve in the foyer - single friend, now married to a woman he met here at CBC.
• Dave (the guest speaker) told me I look familiar
• Nice to see the diversity - lots of non-white faces
• I'm not a big fan of the topical sermon. D.E. Preached on "The 21 Most Dangerous Prayers of the Bible". Theologically accurate but not very intellectually satisfying.
• Hymns were anemic; sound system was stunningly average; worship leader seemed like the Good News hadn't reached him yet
• King James version in the pew rack. Hymns projected on screens up front

Lab Observations:  Rick Warren says that it is not our job as church leaders to make waves but (to extend the surfing metaphor) to recognize how God is working in the world and join Him in the endeavor. Occasionally I see a church do that and its exciting to watch. Pastor Steve Reynolds is riding a wave like that and his timing is excellent. His "Bod4God" series is getting all kinds of attention, coming as it does right at the time of year when nearly everyone's New Year's resolution is to lose weight. Like the Hair Club guy, he's practicing what he's preaching - he lost 70 pounds in the last year. When I had breakfast with him mid-week, we discussed the Washington Post article  ("Calling the Flock to God, Away from the Fridge"  that featured the series as he fielded phone calls from local television stations wanting footage.

My experience at the church was the "second verse" of a chorus God has been teaching me lately called "I'm Gonna' Blow All Your Nice, Neat Categories Cuz I Don't Live in a Box." In spite of King James Bibles in the pew rack (my preference in study and preaching is a more contemporary version) and worship that was less than contemporary (again, it's a preference), God is doing something here. And Pastor Steve is riding the wave.

This is a very conservative church with a pastor that is patiently thinking forward, a combination not normally found in nature - sort of like blue food (with blueberries being a heavenly exception). The result is a Baptist church where the first impression is not "Wow, this is a church whose mission is making the world safe for white, middle class Christians". The non-white faces made up more than a token percentage of the congregation.

I had at first thought I would give all the churches I visited a star rating, like I was rating a restaurant, but that's obviously an unhealthy view for a lot of reasons. My summary is that I'll go back again once I visit the others on my list. One "rule" of searching for a church is that you don't make a decision based on only one visit.

Other reflections: The theology of the church is sound - it is a place that hasn't embraced the faddish theology so prevalent today. "God could be saying this or He could be saying that". It sticks to the "the faith once delivered". The pastor is a true visionary - the church looks very much like the vision of the church he wanted to plant when he came here nearly 25 years ago. Though I prefer (it's a preference again) I'm certain that the pulpit is one from which I'll hear a confident "Thus saith the Lord" because Pastor Steve has a reverence for the Word and a love for the people to which he is preaching. When I asked my friend Steve (he was coming out of the previous service - I was going into the next one) what his pastor was like he replied "He'll put you to work". True to form, when we met for breakfast, he asked probing questions about my gifts and skills.