I don’t know whether we’ve actually made public that we’re now attending Spring Creek Church instead of First Christian Richardson. I’m hesitant to talk about it, but since our faith isn’t something that is negotiable, I guess now is the time.
After a good year as a board chair, and after five years doing the New Way message, I just felt like I’d given too much for too little in return. Several programs at FCC have ended recently… New Way, Bazaar, etc. In New Way’s case, I’m still trying to evaluate why it didn’t work. I think we tried too hard to make a show out of it instead of letting worship happen. Also, it just became too hard. Jacob grew up, and a second child really put the kibosh on Laureen’s work with the band. That and other issues left us without a leadership team, and we just ran out of steam.
And ultimately, the traditional service just wasn’t doing it for me. It’s not wrong, it’s not improper, it’s not bad in any form or fashion. It’s just not me. I wasn’t connecting to God, and ultimately, if I can’t connect to God in church, something’s gotta give. And sadly, I’m human. It isn’t all about me, but if church gets in the way of my spiritual growth, I have to do something about it.
Allen Lowe is a good man. He’s a good teacher, and a good preacher. I had a few personal quibbles about his style, but they weren’t anything major. He tries his best. The leaders of FCC are also good people. There isn’t an identifiable villain in this story; it’s not something that you point to and say, “That’s why.” There was a collection of systems that didn’t move forward, though:
- Our visioning efforts ground to a halt.
- Our evangelism turned into one- or two-person shows.
- The culture seemed to not change and grow.
- No one seemed to be able to talk about the larger issues, such as why people left.
And the final thing that pushed me toward a different church was not attending for 6 weeks, and not having anyone from church call me to see what was going on. My elders at the time had left the church as well, and there was no redistribution of people. Laureen and I never got called, except for Don Heaton’s needing some assistance setting up the projector for his financial presentation.
And then there’s me. I’m still trying to figure out God in my life. I’m still searching, questioning, looking for something that makes sense. I’m pretty liberal when it comes to Christianity and faith–arguably the most liberal one of my family. And I just got tired of trying to drive change.
So, now we’re attending Spring Creek Church, and it’s refreshing to just be an attender for a change. It’s nice to just drop off the kids, go in, and sit down and hear the message. I don’t know if it’s my final church destination, but it’s looking pretty good so far.
We had a little dedication ceremony for Jessie there, and I’m still wondering about that. I’m trying as hard as I can to pray and think about this stuff, but all I get is static.