Friday, October 20, 2006

Worship Blitz = Frustration: Part Three

Here is my final installment of the worship blitz posts. The final church we went to on our worship blitz was First Assembly. This church is of the Pentecostal denomination. What was told was that this church speaks in tongues. So I was ready to hear some people speaking in tongues. That didn't happen which was a rip. Sure you shouldn't go there with any pre-concieved notions, but they said there was going to be some speaking in tongues.

Another thing I didn't like was how the pastor had a mohawk. I think mohawks are cool, but I feel this person only had a mowhawk because he was trying to be hip to the young people in the congregation. I should mention that Tehillah Monday is a worship gathering for teens and young adults.

The pastor called the offering bowls "gold bowls of love." I thought that is a bit odd it would be called that. Sure they were gold bowls. They should have called them offering bowls. That's essentitally what they people doing is giving and offering.

The pastor then did a sermon. He was really emotional, almost emo in his sermon. He even went as a to cry. I don't think that crying is a bad thing. I think he was being a bit fake about it. A few of the students were not trying to laugh when he started crying. I think a certain level of emotion is needed, but not so much that it becomes emo.

Another thing I hated about the sermon is how the pastor said he wasn't trying to minipulate a reaction. My friend Mark Jensen made a good point when he said that if someone went to that church for first time, then would probably be persuaded by what that pastor was talking about as truth.

The final thing about the sermon was that there was no scriputre. There should be at least one verse of scripture. A fellow student said you don't need scripture. You do need some scripture when you are doing a sermon or it is baseless.

The band was good musicians, but they were pop punk and I hate punk music in general. The bass drowned out the singers. The one singer was too punk for me because of the way he was dancing around. Don't get me wrong in that fact that he can't do that sort of thing. It's just that it didn't do nothing for me.

They have some pretty whack views of stuff in my opinion. Just look at their mission statement below.

Mission Statement: Tehillah Monday exists to destroy the works of the devil in individuals, cities and nations. (1 John 3:9)

Now tell me if it says anything about Jesus Christ. I bet you can't because it doesn't say anything at all. They are more focused on riding people of the devil. It's just so madening that they would use that as their mission statement.

Statement of Faith: We have confidence in Jesus who healed the sick, the blind, and the paralyzed. And even raised the dead. He cast out evil powers and confronted corrupt leaders. He cleansed the temple. He favored the poor. He turned water into wine, walked on water, calmed storms. He died for the sins of the world, rose from the dead, and ascended to the Father, sent the Holy Spirit. We have confidence in Jesus who taught in word and example, sign and wonder. He preached parables of the kingdom of God on hillsides, from boats, in the temple, in homes, at banquets and parties, along the road, on beaches, in towns, by day and by night. He taught the way of love for God and neighbor, for stranger and enemy, for outcast and alien.

We have confidence in Jesus, who called disciples, led them, gave them new names and new purpose and sent them out to preach good news. He washed their feet as a servant. He walked with them, ate with them, called them friends, rebuked them, encouraged them, promised to leave and then return, and promised to be with them always. He taught them to pray. He rose early to pray, stole away to desolate places, fasted and faced agonizing temptations, wept in a garden, and prayed, "Not my will but your will be done." He rejoiced, he sang, he feasted, he wept.

We have confidence in Jesus, so we follow him, learn his ways, seek to obey his teaching and live by his example. We walk with him, walk in him, abide in him, as a branch in a vine. We have not seen him, but we love him. His words are to us words of life eternal, and to know him is to know the true and living God. We do not see him now, but we have confidence in Jesus. Amen.

As you can see by their statement of faith that they are so concerned with ridding the word of evil. They don't use any scripture in their statement of faith and mission statement which is odd.

For that service was boring. I was bored. I wasn't engaged at all. I feel like I failed at worshipping God. That place seems more consumed by ridding the world of evil then they do with telling about scripture. They need more scripture. Scripture is the basis for a lot of stuff. Sure it can be taken out of context, but if the Bible isn't taken out of context then you can do a lot with the Bible.

So comes to the end of my posts on the worship blitz. Hopefully I can come to terms with what is bothering me because I let it all go on the Wednesday night service at school. I crawled the labyrinth and by the end my hands were shaking and I was crying. When Brian asked me what was wrong and I just lost it and brokedown. I just ask you pray for me. It would really mean a lot to me.

Until next time... see you on the flipside.

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