I believe it would be important to state some personal background information so any reader can see where my juxtapositions between denominations derive from. I did not have a strong religious upbringing. My parents would take me to church probably once or twice every month, and as a testament to their concern and love, I believe that they wanted to make an effort to instill in me, directly or indirectly, convictions that they did not have. And I am extremely grateful for them in doing so. The idea of God never seemed crazy to me, but like any other kid I had better things to worry about, like Starfox 64. Now that I am trying to revisit my young ideologies, I realize that the reality of God seemed very definite to me, even to the point of me crying out to God angrily because I got killed in Mortal Kombat on the Gameboy. Weird memory, but I think it helps. It seems weird to me that nostlagia serves as an important factor in determining ever-changing ideas and beliefs.
Anyways. I bring my best friend, Chad VanNorman, into the picture. His dad moved here from Michigan to pursue a law degree. Mr. VanNorman, or Brent, or kitty cat (Kyle Warren), is an ordained pastor and he led a small church in Chesapeake, VA. There were about 35 people in the church, and Brent helped lead worship most of the week, which was pretty amusing. Very Amusing. Chad got his singing skills from his dad: none. The church was personal and communal, if that makes any sense. You got to know everyone because it was so small. This helped me view the church as a place not to simply sit and listen, but to be an active participator. So often in the church today do we put the pastor on a pedastool when it is clear that every vocation and position in the church serves great importance. Charisma was nothing crazy at this church, just the simple raising of the hands and the occassional awkward solo from an emotional mother or father. While the gifts were not suppressed by this particular congregation, it seemed to be a pretty traditional Protestant church. We attended this church during the middle school years, but in 8th grade we (I speak as if Chad's family was also my family) we checked out a new church, Greenbrier New Life.
This is where stuff started going down. People falling out, speaking in tongues, strangers laying hands on me to pray and freaking me out. As a 9th grade kid in high school, I had no idea what was going on. It was a much bigger church with about 500 or so members. The arts were valued highly, so some pretty popular musicians came directly from this church like Adam Cates, Sean Feucht, Jason Upton, and MAE. Overall, it was just a completely new experience. It blew my mind. People danced, jumped, shouted, and occassionally waved banners around. While all this craziness was happening my life was changing. My parents, especially my dad, are pretty reserved. They don't sing in public. If you visit my house it's a different story. But what I am saying is that I had no predisposition for this sort of environment. But it grew on me because people were filled with genuine joy. This is where my sensitivity towards different personalities grew from. I am not stating that truth can ever be substituted by strong emotions, but when truth is rooted in deep passion, there was something tangible that flowed from the source. So that was the beginning of my foundations. I came from a reserved first baptist background to a charasmatic non-denominational church that celebrated the overtly physical gifts (along with the more internal gifts) and it took a long time to get used to, and it is still something that challenges me.
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