Baptist Beginning

       Yesterday marked the first day of my yearlong task of finding out for myself (and others) the differences between denominations within Christianity.  I hope any individual who takes the time doesn't mind if I share some personal information along the way.  By writing hopefully I can begin to piece different experiences and aspects of my life together that I had not made connections, for who knows how much floating thoughts can exist in one's mind at one time, especially at my age when I have no idea where I am going or what I am going to do.
       Temple Baptist ended up being the first church that I will be attending for the next month.  I actually didn't know what church or denomination I was going to check out first, but the night before Sunday my girlfriend asked me if I would like to go with her and her family.  I happily jumped on board.  My family used to attend a Norfolk First Baptist Church when I was younger, although we only went every once in a while.  My mom and dad were married in this church and also were members, and I could never figure out why we always parked in the visitor's parking lot.  One sunday morning I remember hearing the pastor pleading with the members of the congregation to park in an annex parking lot so visitor's could get a first class spot upon arriving at the church.  I guess we were just members visiting...we never parked in the annex.  I guess I can begin describing Baptist churches from the vague memories I have.  Seldom did we arrive on time, but the worship was very formal, traditional, and white.  Lots of white people.  Old white people in suits.  My mom used to make me try to look my best, which usually consisted of me putting my head under the faucet for a few seconds to clean up my hair and then putting on my favorite t-shirt.  No one really moved to the music, and the congregation would all stand with their hands folded and held down.  I know Baptist churches differ in this aspect of worship, but my church matched Temple baptist.  The format was as followed:  sing several hymns, sit down and pray, listen to a couple sing a nice emotional worship song, stand back up for one more hymn, then listen to the Word.  However, I could only experience the "adult" service if my mom decided not to take me to the Sunday school class.  As a young kid, I always felt awkward going to Sunday school class because I would see the teachers and kids only once every couple months.  The kids in the class loved to color baby Jesus or the Red Sea, which usually ended up turning into the Orange Sea or Green Sea.  I also never could memorize the weekly Bible verse.  My favorite Sundays were the ones where I could be an "adult" and hang out in the big service.  Mostly because I could draw random things on the back of the offering envelope, and even play my dad in tic-tac-toe when he was feeling up for the challenge.  Baptist pastors love to talk with their hands and walk back and forth on the pulpit.  I think its also a requirement for the pastor to be funny, or at least attempt to be.  I also learned the deed of tithing through my pops, who would hand the check to me to place in the offering basket.  Honestly, there were several occasions when I wondered why I shouldn't grab some of those dollar bills sitting at the bottom of the basket.
       Over the next few weeks, I will hopefully learn a great deal about the Baptist denomination.  I am trying to schedule a meeting with the pastor of Temple Baptist to learn more about the history of the church and the schooling he received in order to lead.  This article is only the ice breaker, and I hope you enjoyed reading.  Happy Monday.

The Search for Unity

Sometimes ideas seem to come to fruition in times when one least expects it.  The first round of brainstorming for a blog idea turned out to be fairly useless, so I choose something personal that would be simple to explore and write about; surfing and snowboarding seemed like it would be an easy subject to discuss.  However, one night as I was driving home from a friend's house, an idea randomly popped into my head.  There has been a great deal of tension within my mind concerning the misunderstandings and differences within the Christian church and its denominations (although Catholicism, by definition, is the universal church).  As I was pondering this problem, I began wondering why I was not actively trying to figure out where these problems were coming from or why they existed.  Here I am, a Christian, living in one of the most diverse countries in the world, yet I have confined myself to attending only a couple different types of churches.  There is just about every type of church imaginable in the Hampton Roads area, and I have a great opportunity to get a glimpse of many differing perspectives.  In conclusion, I have decided to devote the following year to exploring the different denominations within Christianity and try to find out what separates one from the other.  Every month I will choose a different church denomination to attend. I apporach this with a lack of knowledge and understanding, but I believe my ignorance and honesty are what will make this event special for me and hopefully others as well.