#6 Maranatha Baptist Church, Glen Allen

I am happy to report that I was able to get out of my house and to church this week! I had the pleasure of attending Maranatha Baptist Church in Glen Allen, VA which is housed inside The Comfort Inn Suites conference room on Innslake Drive.

While I was initially a bit turned off by the meeting place, it wasn't long before I grabbed my 1980's style chair and sat myself down that I realized why the people in this congregation chose to call this church home.

Some of the meaningless things that stood out to me.

1. There were 24 people there.

Because of a snow storm, the service was delayed from its regular time of 11am, to 2pm. I was told the congregation is usually larger but because of the snow, a few of the older members were not present.

2. All 24 people were white.

3. The ages ranged from 5-85

4. The dress was fairly formal.

5. It was in a conference room at the comfort suites.

6. Nobody was eating or drinking.

Some of the more important things I noticed:

1. The church's pastor is named Nate Clark and he IS incredible! I loved his enthusiasm and passion for Jesus Christ. Have you ever seen one of those people who are like goofy happy because they have the Lord? Well, this guy is just like those people. It's the kind of joy you want. The "I don't care whose lookin' because I got a friend in Jesus" joy. It's something I greatly admire. He was honest, forthright, and totally grateful for Jesus Christ. He was the greatest highlight of my afternoon.

2. You could see with your eyes the genuine love the preachers wife had for him. She sat right behind me, and continually expressed her enthusiasm during the service. Every time we made eye contact, she smiled in such a way that brought me peace. It's funny as I write these lines I feel that same peace. It's dawning on me as I sit here now that the reason I have chose to even mention the pastor's wife is because I could feel God when I was in the presence of her and her husband. What a wonderful reality that is for me. I love recognizing the Holy Spirit in my life through the people I meet.

3. Pastor Nate Clark picked up his Bible firmly and read from it with confidence.

We read from the book of Amos. The sermon was was the 3rd part of a 4 part series. The sermon was comparing the pagan ways of Israel before it's judgment to the sinful ways of today. Reverend Clark was urging us to look inside our hearts to see if we are truly living for God. Continually in the book of Amos, God is prophesying through Amos about the horrible things he will bring to their nation as a result of their sins. The underlying theme was destruction and judgment for living in darkness.

This type of sermon usually doesn't resonate with me. As mentioned before, I would like to see church's ministry base itself on the goodness that God brings to your life rather than continually focus on and warn against His wrath. I get the point and that stuff is biblicaly rooted, I just don't think, like the Mormons, it's a great sales strategy when trying to get more people to follow Jesus Christ. It's a turn off. His wrath is completely irrelevant if you find His pleasure. It's like convincing someone to lose weight. You don't show them pictures of really obese people and say "you don't want this!!! so stop eating!!!" Instead, I think a more effective method would be showing them how health and vitality FEELS and then hoping they make the right choice. I guess I want to believe people choose God because He's AMAZING not because they're afraid that they're going to suffer an awful Judgement if they don't.

Regardless of my preaching preference, the sermon was strong and the Holy Spirit was present in every nook and cranny in that conference room. I could feel the Love radiating off of everyone. It is my honest position that someone seeking to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ would find Him quite easily among this group of believers. However, if you're turned off by the fact that the church is in a hotel conference room, or that you can't drink coffee, or that every active member has an outdated sense of style, then you may want to skip it. But I think short sleeved floral dresses are a small price to pay to be one of those lucky ones with that goofy God loving smile.

If you'd like to learn more about their beliefs and their story, visit them online at www.mbaptist.com or come to the Sunday service at 11am or Wednesday service at 7pm.