Eric Holen

In a previous post, I wrote how I had been away from the church for some time.  I also teased that I would write about my ideal church.

Church is such a personal commitment.  While we are giving our lives and heart to the Lord, we are giving our time and money to a church.  Yes, I know that our money is doing the Lord’s work, but it is the church that serves as the conduit for the Lord’s work.  We need to have faith in our church, its leaders and the message that they preach.

In my life, I have attended several churches.  I was baptized Catholic, went to parochial school, and served as an altar boy.  I have attended my fair share of Catholic churches.  I attended a Methodist church for several months because the girl I was dating went there.  I attended a non-denominational church while I was trying to turn my life around after some missteps.  Then I attended a Baptist church, again because the girl that I was dating attended services there.  After that, I went on a long break until Yvette and I found another non-denominational church that we fell in love with.

We attended The Connection Church for well over a year, until some missteps on my part caused us to break away.  Mind you, I didn’t do anything wrong, it was just that as I tried to get more involved in the church, I didn’t keep Yvette involved.  Once she decided to stop supporting and going to church, I quickly followed.

Lately, I have been thinking more about getting involved in the church again, really for selfish reasons.  I miss the “pump” that a good sermon gave me to kick off my week.  It didn’t hurt that attending church helped solidify, at least in my mind, that I could be a good person.  In the last couple of months, I have received two offers to attend church with different friends.  Yvette and I need just need to take them up on their offers.

So, what is my ideal church?  First, let me preface this that The Connection Church spoiled me.  They, out of all of the churches that I have ever attended, was my most ideal.  If you are ever in the Buda/Kyle/San Marcos area, I strongly recommend checking out The Connection Church.

Accept Everyone – This is probably my most important criteria.  I don’t care if you are single, married, cohabiting or gay, you should be accepted.  Everyone is a child of God.  Some churches may preach that they are open to everyone, but then they slide in those sermons that knock a lifestyle.  Yvette and I cohabited before we were married.  We were married by a justice of the peace.  Thirteen years later, we are still happily married.  It’s what’s in our hearts that matters.  God loves us and everyone else no matter what.

Preach To Me – A good bible story is just that, a story.  Take the time to translate it to me and my life.  Show me how I can take the sermon and, either that day or on Monday, translate it into my daily life.  One of my favorite sermons, that I can remember, involved Zak White, some credit cards and a blender.  Use the sermon to help me be better in my daily life.

Recognize Me – I don’t expect a pastor to know everyone by name, but it’s wonderful when they recognize you.  What’s even better is when the pastor acknowledges you before church, because all of them try to speak to you after church.  Furthermore, I want to be able to talk to the pastor, not a deacon or someone else.

Be A Big Church in a Small Church Body – Some of my favorite services occurred when The Connection Church met at an elementary school.  They had the heart of a big church wrapped up in the body of a small church.  The services were small, based on the size of the room.  It didn’t feel like a church, it felt more like a get together with God and me.  Yvette and I agree that The Connection Church lost some of that feeling when they moved to a much bigger facility.  I didn’t real pick up on it until a power failure forced us to move services off of the stage and into the lobby and it felt like a small church again.  However, they recently moved back to an elementary school which means that the small church feeling is probably back.  One of the other things that I loved about The Connection Church is that our lead pastor, Cole Phillips, was there at 6:30 AM to perform manual labor and help setup the church.  That said a lot to me about his commitment.

Music – This is something that The Connection Church excelled at, to a degree.  I have listened to more hymnals than I can remember.  The music should pump me up and prepare me for the Lord’s message.  From the very first day, The Connection Church excelled at music.  The band that they have put together, led by Micah Petrea, rocked me and God’s word.  My only comment is that the four songs that preceded the service could be a little long.

Whatever your ideal church is, I encourage you to try it out.  Don’t put it off like Yvette and I have.

This past Sunday, I attended what I thought was one of the better services that The Connection Church has held since moving to the Hays Performance Arts Center (PAC).  Several minutes before our 9:00 AM services, we lost power.  The entire team, from the pastors to the congregation (yes, they are part of our team), jumped into action to move the service to the main foyer where big windows provided enough light.  Our band, who rocks it out every Sunday, switched to an acoustical performance.  They sounded great, even if I could not sing along without knowing the lyrics.

While I like attending services at the PAC, the closeness and connection that I felt with Pastor Zak White’s sermon on debt, and everyone else that attended the service, reminded me how I felt when the church used to meet at an elementary school.  I felt like the service and sermon where directed at me versus directed at a large audience and me.  Furthermore, not having all of the visuals and distractions from a regular service helped me concentrate on Zak’s message.

Power was restored shortly into the service, and we moved the second service moved back into the auditorium.  That made it easy to compare and contrast the two services.

What I would like to see in the future is another “unplugged” performance; maybe once a year.

Today makes 42 days since my last blog post. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to blog, but with everything going on in my life over the last few weeks, blogging got left by the side. Several events and projects at work and with my volunteer fire department had me pulled in several directions and feeling very thin. There were challenges, complaints, too much work, and not enough resources, all working to wear me down. There were several nights in July when I was so exhausted getting home for work, that I crawled into bed at 8:30 PM.

Sounds a lot like out of the frying pan and into the fire. However, it was a week ago Sunday that I learned why all the pressures hadn’t broken me; God was with me in the fire.

In last week’s sermon at The Connection Church, Pastor Cole Phillips talked about how God never promises us that we won’t get burned. Instead, He promises us that He will stand by our side while we are in the fire. I knew I was in the fire, but I didn’t know, until things started getting a little better, how much God helped me.

Through my struggles, I had successes and learning opportunities, which I would not have experienced if God had pulled me out of the fire or left me alone in the fire. Pastor Phillips added that “God allows us in fiery furnaces for our good and His glory.” I am a more knowledgeable person given the challenges, and for that I have to give glory to God in thanks.

If you would like to hear it for yourself, check out the following sermon podcast, Ignite: Firestarter – Fireproof. 

We “sprung” all of our clocks foward last night; however, my internal clock did not get the message. I was supposed to be at The Connection Church by 6:30 a.m. to help with setup, but my alarm probably sounded for 40 minutes before I heard it and jumped out of bed. I managed to get there by 7:10 a.m. to help finish setup.

I found out today that Kevin McCollough, our worship leader, left to devote more time with his family and career. He will be missed. I thought that his version of “Here is Our King” was better than the David Crowder Band.

One of the great things about our church is its worship. We have a fantastic band and you can’t help but get pumped up and sing along. With Kevin gone, Micah Petrea, Pam Phillips, and a couple of others are stepping up and doing a great job with the singing.

As a follow-up, our new “used” Trailblazer and XL-7 fit in the garage, but getting to the garbage can is more difficult.