Caution long drawn out post about CHURCH!!!

For anyone that is interested (i realize not everyone will be) we visited Pastor Mark's new church this past Sunday. For anyone that doesn't know, Pastor Mark was the lead pastor at our church back home for 19 years. Last September he felt called to a new ministry in a new area. It just so happens that 9 months later we find ourselves in the same general vicinity as him. I'm going to preface this by saying that just because we visited doesn't mean this will be our new church home. We are NOT blindly following Pastor Mark. We are going to find the place that is best for our family. We are going to visit a lot of churches and then decide where we should be. I got the impression from the church's (NBC) website that the church was enormous. First they call it a campus and then tout it's 22 acres repeatedly. I'm not sure I'm into another BIG church so this kinda made me skeptical at first. We only found the entrance to the church because there was a sheriff directing traffic in. NO KIDDING!! You can't see the church from the road...only the sign. If it wasn't for the sheriff we probably would've missed the entrance altogether. So we pull in and there are volunteers directing the traffic to the left or right side of the facility. The church itself looks huge from the outside. It was a little bit intimidating to tell you the truth. We found a parking spot right away. And it was actually right up front. The first thing I noticed is that people definitely "dress" more for church here. At FBC we wore jeans...shorts...tanks...whatever really. The ladies here had nice skirts and the men wore dress shirts and khakis. I was so glad I had insisted Maia wear a dress. She wouldn't have fit in other wise. It's not like the homemade cullotes and long hair and no makeup of another church we know, just more formal than FBC. Of course FBC's motto is come as you are. Anybody else see that billboard by wal mart? When we went inside we found a gentleman to help us get orientated. All 3 kids were in seperate rooms. Isacc's room had loud music going and a giant screen with graphics. Asher's room was next....the three's are called lion's. Asher went right in with no complaints. They had geo trax after all. I heard Ash explain to the teacher that he had just moved into a new house. Andy got Maia all settled in her room. The rooms were small and the kids were divided up much differently than at FBC. Much smaller groups instead of several grades all together. We went into the sanctuary and found a seat. The sanctuary was actually smaller than FBC's. There wasn't a balcony per se but it did look like there was an enclosed family room up there. You know so if you don't want to take your little ones to nursery you can take them to the enclosed room and still watch and hear the service. The sanctuary was not packed at all. However they do have 2 services and I have no idea how many people were at the first service. The service we attended had just the right amount of people I think. I'm also thinking the perception of mega church I got from the website is really just a testament to how active this church is. They seem to have lots of activities and ministries for everyone. I think they have at least something going on every day of the week. Whis is not a bad thing at all. FBC just didn't have that as of late. Worship was really great. It reminded me of old FBC. The songs were all centered on who Christ is. Pastor Herrell then came up to speak. Again for anybody that doesn't know-he was the lead pastor at FBC before he turned it over to Pastor Mark. He is now lead pastor at NBC. He was way before my time so this was actually my first time meeting him. He had a couple in the back stand up to be recognized. The man has been battling cancer. Not only did Pastor Herrell ask for prayers for the family he also commended the wife. Pointing out all the Godly traits she has displayed during this time of intense trial. It was really very moving. He then explained that Pastor Mark was on vacation. Of course we would visit the one Sunday he wasn't there!! Anyways Pastor Herrell wasn't as "old" as I was expecting. He seemed much younger than his 60 plus years. He was funny and self effacing and just really very enjoyable. I thought the service was good...not great but good. He told us of his upcoming series on prophecy which really caught Andy's attention. I know he won't want to miss that as it is something he really enjoys studying. The thing that surprised me most was that he didn't preach out KJV. After all the years of hearing how it's KJV or nothing and then to find out Pastor Mark is at a church that doesn't preach out of KJV threw me just a bit. I'll bet there would be some pretty upset people at FBC to learn this. After our initial confusion it didn't bother us at all. Of course we also liked Pastor Jim too. ... After the service when we went to pick up Asher, Isaac was already in the hall waiting for us. The security there is definitely not up to FBC's par. Andy was not happy that Isaac had free reign. Each of the kids gave us their synopsis: Asher liked it and he made a friend, but the teacher wouldn't let him play geo trax. Maia really liked it, although she "didn't learn anything". They just watched a video. She also commented that she was annoyed because another little girl kept following her around and wanted to stand next to her @@. I swear the nerve of that other little girl. Trying to make friends with Maia-sheeeesh. She was a little confused that they had to stand while they did their worksheets? They had chairs so I guess I'm not sure why. Isaac wasn't impressed. He said they didn't open their Bibles even one time. He proposed we just have church at home from now on:) Of course if he never had to leave the house again ever that would suit him just fine. The only thing that seemed to impress Isaac was that Pastor Herrell baptized Andy when he ws seven. Isaac has been begging to get baptized since he was 5! All in all it was a good experience for me and Andy but there might be something better out there for the kids. We will keep searching......