Worship at Blue Creek Baptist Church

I worshipped at Blue Creek Baptist Church this morning. I located Blue Creek on the internet and chose to worship there because it was the first Baptist church listed and they have a very nice website. You can view it here. I pulled into the parking lot about twenty minutes early (I have a hard time showing up on time). I waited just a few minutes and then made way across the parking lot to the open door. I noticed "visitor parking" places were available right up front. There were plenty of other spaces available and so I bypassed the "special" parking. No one was outside yet and so I made my way in and began looking around a bit. Without too much trouble, I found the worship center and found a good seat. There were a few people already seated and several folks came over and introduced themselves to me. I found the church to be extremely friendly. More than one person came over and began to converse with me as well as others who just said, "hello". Blue Creek has a very nice facility and it is very comfortable. My first impression was good and I'm sure that had I come in closer to ontime I would have been greeted outside as well.

The worship service was a classic traditional/contemporary blend. The style was traditional with clear breaks between every song. The hymns were sung with piano only. The contemporary selections featured the full band (They were very good). I'm not sure why the band did not play on the hymns...perhaps an attempt not to offend "hymn purists". The congregation did not really sing out as a whole and seemed more in the observing mode. Overall, it was pretty well done and I had no problem worshipping God. They used overhead projection for the song lyrics and announcements. The screen disappeared for the sermon.

Pastor Terry Hinson is a very good communicator. He spoke from John 5:16-20. The sermon was based on Henry Blackaby's, Experiencing God. Pastor Hinson is working through the 7 Realities of Experiencing God and was speaking on Reality 3--"God invites you to join Him in what He is doing". It was an excellent message!

I felt very uncomfortable twice during the service. Early on, the church had a time of greeting. I was asked to remain seated as a guest while everyone else stood to look at me. All churches should do away with this form of guest torture. I hate looking at everyone's "eye-level" behinds while they look around for these strange aliens called, "visitors". The other moment of discomfort was at the conclusion of the service when the pastor took the guest cards and read the names of the guests and asked for a hand to be raised in response. I understand the purpose--I just don't like being singled out in that fashion.

Overall--Blue Creek is a great church with their eye on the ball! They have some very innovative ministries designed to reach their community for Christ.

"For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel" (John 5:20).