finding a new church--week 3

So, week 3!  (Which means that we've been here almost a month, and that tomorrow marks 1 month of not having a job....but that's not what I'm here to talk about!)

We decided this morning to make a 2nd attempt at the church we got lost trying to find last week.  (After eating dinner with some wonderful friends last night who were in town for a concert, we scouted out the church location so that we could for SURE get there this morning :))

The area where the church holds their services reminds me a lot of the Biltmore Park area in Asheville--living, shopping, eating, movies.  Very interesting little area, though it didn't look very busy when we were there.  Anyways.  The church right now meets in the movie theater (though we found out today that they're moving to a new location in the next month or two).  It's one of 3 campuses, so we had another "pastor on the screen" experience.  When we walked in, we must have looked lost because one of the pastors came to talk to us and let us know about the church, etc. 

We walked into the actual theater, the music was just getting started, which was startling because there were SO MANY PEOPLE still in the lobby of the theater.  The music was recognizable (soooo important to us) and the band was kinda small and cute, and actually quite talented.  Felt the closest to Covenant that we've found so far.  What wasn't good was the fact that people were walking in during the entire time of worship music.  (In fact, and I promise I'm not exaggerating, the last people who walked in late were 40 minutes late for a service that lasted around an hour.  Talk about rude, and almost pointless.

After 2 songs, it was sermon-on-the-screen time.  I'm honestly not sure if this sermon was broadcast live or if it was pre-recorded, but we both found it harder to get into it at this church than last week at the other church.  The head pastor was apparently out of town this week, so another pastor preached, and while he did a good job and had a good message, it just didn't convey as well as we would have wanted it to.

After the sermon, there were some announcements and they had the offering, during a slow reflective song (which was a little odd).  This time, pretty much as soon as the singing started, some people started leaving.  And again it was quite disruptive.  But, the music was good again.  As far as being recognizable and not being over-the-top, I think this week's music was the best of the 3.

At any rate.  It was an alright experience.  We said we might want to try them again once they get into their new location and when the head pastor is back (I read somewhere that he's an awesome speaker).  But, back to the drawing board again.  It's not gotten TOO frustrating yet, but I can see how it might if we're still doing this in October.

I'm letting Jeremy pick next week :)  We've both said we would like to try a church that isn't part of a "campus" system, so we might actually have a "live" pastor experience!!  :)