We Go to Church without Even Thinking of Falling Asleep

Saints Community Church of God in Christ, Fresno
We were there for the early morning shift -- that’s what one of the worship leaders called the 8:00 am worship at Saints Community Church.  The woman offering the morning prayer gave thanks to the Lord for getting us up in the morning, because we couldn’t do it on our own -- though I had not, technically, gotten up that morning.

I’d just started working my night audit shifts at the Best Western, and I’d gotten home shortly after 6:30 am, so I was staying up rather than getting up for the service. It still seemed like the Lord’s work rather than my own. Fortunately, it was a short walk to church from our apartment. That’s sort of our theme this month: churches we can walk to. Saint’s is just a block and a half from our apartment.

We were greeted warmly by many people as we arrived. The usher made sure that we got bulletins and a packet of visitor information. (The usher also stood midway down the center aisle, facing the back of the church, for the first half of the worship service, ready to help with any needs.)

After a call for intercessory prayer, people were encouraged to divide into groups of three to five people (though our group had six) to pray. Some prayer requests were announced from the front -- members and friends of the church who were sick, hospitalized, or grieving. Within each small group, additional prayer requests were raised. In our group, we all wanted prayer for our families.

Early in the service, visitors were invited to stand, and we were greeted by everybody around us. The usher gave us the visitor packet and asked us to fill out a card, saying he’d be back for it so that we could be personally greeted by the pastor. The usher came back just before the offering, while Dr. B.E. McAlister, the church's pastor, was announcing that they were raising money for a new sanctuary -- one that would “allow us to worship more efficiently,” he said. The pastor added, “We’re not expecting all the funds to come from hot wing dinners and chitlin cook offs.” Two men stood in front of the church with gold buckets, and at the direction of more ushers, people lined up to walk forward to give their offerings.

In honor of Black History Month, a church leader read a poem his sister had written about her heritage. The poem referred to the Underground Railroad, George Washington Carver, and Brown vs. Board of Education.

As the pastor was introduced, it was noted that his picture had been in the newspaper that week. He was welcomed with applause, and verbal encouragement of the pastor continued throughout the sermon:

“Talk, Bishop!”

“Yes sir!”

“Tell it!”

The congregation continued to encourage Dr. B. E. McAlister along as he preached on a phrase from I Corinthians 7:29, “The time is short.”  The Bishop was true to his word when he said, “I’m going to talk for a few minutes about time being short.” (Which is good. There are many preachers who might take a passage about the time being short and then talk for a really long time.)

“I have attended more home goings then I ever had in a very short time,” Dr. McAllister said.  “I’ve gone to seven homegoings in the last two months, and three more are pending…This morning I want to ask ‘What if?’ What would you do if you knew you had only one year left?”

He encouraged the congregation to think about what’s really important. He said we must be determined to accept Christ. He suggested we would be amazed how many people would attend the 6:00 am prayer meeting if they knew they only had one year to live. (Saints Church has early morning prayer meetings Monday through Thursday.)

He said that if we only had a year left to live, we would right the wrongs we had done. “But we shouldn’t wait until we are sick to do this, can I have a witness? None of us knows whether we have a day left, let alone a year. Let’s make changes now!

“The Bible tries to warn us, to give us a heads up! But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! If Jesus would come now, would you be ready? We pray that our spiritual houses would be in order.”

People were invited to come down to the altar for prayer as the sermon concluded, and one man came down to pray with several who waited there.

Afterward several people invited us to coffee and snacks in the fellowship hall. One women insisted, “It’s great coffee.” Mindy appreciated the coffee (I do not), but I enjoyed the breakfast burrito. In the same area where snacks were served, groceries were available for those who needed them (a woman noticed Mindy looking at the food and invited her to fill out the paperwork required to take the food home, which we appreciated.)

We talked to Michael, a young man home from U. C. Berkeley for President’s Day weekend. He spoke with great fondness of Saint’s, but he told us he’d found a church at school and was active in CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ).

Michael was planning to be back in Fresno again the next weekend, because the church would be celebrating Super Sunday College Outreach. This is an annual event at the church, when college representatives come to the church to provide young people with information and encouragement to seek higher education. Michael’s leaders from Cru would also be coming to speak. We wished a bit that we’d be around for that Sunday service, but we liked the one we came for.

Statistics

Service Length: 1 hour 24 minutes

Sermon Length: 14 minutesVisitor Treatment: We were greeted frequently as we entered, during the greeting time, and after the worship service. We received a visitor packet and turned in a visitor card.

Followup by Tuesday Morning: none We got a letter from Pastor Bruce McAlister about a week after our visit.

Our Rough Count: 49

Probable Ushers’ Count: 60

Snacks: breakfast burritos, coffee, hot water for tea or hot chocolate, bagels, bananas, muffins and other pastries, juice

Musicians: organ (man)
drums (man)
tamborine (woman)
electric bass (woman)
keyboards (man)
vocals (2 women, 1 man)

Songs: "I Come to the Garden Alone"
"Walk with me, Lord"
"Glory to His Name"
"Let it Rise"
"Praise Him"
"He Brought me Out of Darkness"
"Oh, I Want to See Him"
"Come to Jesus Just Now"

Miles to Church: a block and a half or so

Church Website: http://www.saintscommunity.org

WiFi Availability: none

Tie/Suit Count: more than half the men wore suits and ties; a few also wore hats

A Dozen South Dakota Churches, 2 Chapels, and a Park

Genesis North American Lutheran,
Piedmont

Piedmont Valley Evangelical Lutheran,
Piedmont

Grace Lutheran,
Missouri Synod,
Deadwood

Saint Ambrose Catholic,
Deadwood

Christ Episcopal,
Lead

Trinity United Methodist
Lead

First Presbyterian,
Lead

Twin Cities Church of Christ,
Lead

Blessed Emmanuel Lutheran,
Missouri Synod,
Sturgis

VFW Memorial Chapel,
Sturgis

Holy Trinity Lutheran,
ELCA,
Rapid City

Faith Temple Church of God in Christ,
Rapid City 

The Travelers Chapel,
Wall Drug,
Wall

Methodist Memorial Park,
Deadwood

Fulton Pentecostal Church of God in Christ

Growing up, my postal address was Fulton, California, but we lived out in the country rather than next to the post office, couple of country stores, a gas station and houses that made up the town proper. Oh, and there was a church.

I lived in that house for about two fifths of my life and went by that church hundreds and hundreds of times. And never went inside. Many of the times we passed the church we were on the way to our church (for years at Santa Rosa First Presbyterian Church and for years at Wikiup/Santa Rosa Evangelical Free Church). This made the Fulton Pentecostal Church of God in Christ a priority for Mindy and me in our church tours.

As it turned out, this was a special but difficult day in the life of the church. Their pastor for the last 26 years, James Franklin Marchbanks, passed away May 4th, and this past week the official memorial services were held. Therefore, much of this service was a continuation of those remembrances.

Mindy had misremembered the time of the service, looking for it on the sign outside the church. She thought the worship service time was 10:00 am, but when we arrived we saw that the sign actually said Sunday School was at 10:00 am and the worship service was at 11:30 am. Mindy went inside to make sure, and was told the service time was actually noon.

So we went home and came back a bit before the service began. At a quarter to twelve there were plenty of seats in the pews to choose from, though there were some folks already there, including seniors and mothers with small children. (The little girl in the pew of front of us was occupied with her action figures: among then a Star Wars storm trooper and Batman's Bane, both capable of flight. Many of the kids in the service were occupied with their parent's phones). When the service began at noon, most seats were filled and as the service went on more people came and crammed themselves in or stood in the back of the room or on the side.

There were no screens for songs and no hymnals or song sheets. The singing was mostly done with a call and response but at times I didn't catch the words. But we could always clap. A variety of people led music through the service; a keyboard, three guitars, singers, drums and tambourines in the congregation accompanied the songs.

A young woman read Psalm 133 about the brothers living together in unity, though she didn't identify the Scripture. (Mindy said there was a program for the service that probably identified the Scripture but there weren't many copies. I never saw one.)

In tribute to Pastor Marchbanks there were also two songs accompanied by dance (although I don't think it was called dance, it was called "spiritual movement" or something like that); both women who performed did so gracefully and in a true spirit of worship, with one of them wearing a choir robe.

A time was provided to share memories about Pastor Marchbanks, but people were encouraged to speak for only a couple of minutes and respect the time of others. A number of people spoke of Pastor Marchbanks and his wife, First Lady Deborah, as having welcomed them as family into their lives.

A woman came forward and introduced herself as Felicia. She spoke of Pastor Marchbanks assisting with the track and cross country teams while she attended Comstock Junior High School and Piner High School.

Sidebar - Our chosen theme for this month is rural and small town churches, but a subtheme has emerged: the first week this month, we met a friend of mine from Comstock and Piner in Nevada City where his son-in-law is pastor of a church. Last week we met a Comstock/Piner friend of mine in Ukiah and went to church. To keep up the trend, I posted a facebook request for a Piner friend to go to church with us this week, but no one responded. And then Felicia, who went to Comstock and Piner with me, spoke in front of the church. And we had a chance to chat after church. Sidebar done.

Felicia went on to say that she was a part of the local Native American community that had been welcomed into this primarily African American church. Not only did Pastor Marchbanks facilitate ministry in the Native American community, a Hispanic pastor came forward to talk about the church's ministry to his community. Through an interpreter he gave praise to the departed Pastor Marchbanks and the Lord. First Lady Deborah shared that years ago they noticed that they had Spanish speaking visitors that came for the music ministry of the church, but couldn't learn from the Word that was spoken. So they brought in someone to lead Spanish language services that continue at the church to this day.

After a number of people had a chance to share, the choir came up for a final number. Then a visiting speaker, Brother Tillis shared a short message about the encouragement he received from Pastor Marchbanks.

There's something strange about attending a memorial of someone you didn't know. I felt regret for all those years I bypassed this church and a chance to get to know this man admired by many for his godliness. On the other hand, heaven will be full of joyful meetings with people I heard about, but never go to know on earth.

Statistics: 

Service Length: 1 hour 32 minutes

Sermon Length: 10 minutes

Visitor Treatment: We were welcomed at the door and greeted by several people after we sat down. No greeting time in the service, and no method for recording visitors. There was a meal afterward that all were casually invited to.

Our Rough Count: 60

Probable Ushers' Count: 100

Snacks: meal in the kitchen, but we didn't look in

Songs: My Soul Loves Jesus

            Glory, Glory, Hallelujah since I Lay my Burdens Down

            Ain't Nobody Loves me like Jesus

            Jesus Said it

            (dance) I Can't Live without You

            (solo) What a Mighty God we Serve

            (dance) I'm Overwhelmed by You

             another song

            (choir) He Lives

Miles to place: 1.5 

Total California Miles: 7,903

-- Dean

Acts Full Gospel Church of God in Christ, Oakland

On leaving church on Sunday, our friend Tim said, "That's the friendliest church I've ever been to." His wife, Popie, agreed. And Tim and Popie have been to a lot of churches. I'm not sure I'd be quite that definitive (Mindy and I were quite impressed with the hospitality of Our Savior's Lutheran in Ferndale, for instance), but "friendly" is certainly an apt adjective for describing the Acts Full Gospel Church of God in Christ in Oakland.

We parked in the BART station parking lot, where they have begun charging for events. I thought about complaining that we were going to church, but we were planning to go to the game afterwards, so we paid and walked a few blocks to find a distinctive sign below three crosses and a large white building with blue trim.

We were impressed with the size of the sanctuary of Acts. Like the exterior, the interior is plain but welcoming. We met a gentleman who has been part of the church for thirty years. He's raised his children and now his grandchildren in the church. He participates in the churches witnessing outreaches throughout the neighborhood every 3rd Saturday (the SWAT team, they're called). He said their goal was to bring people to the Lord, rather than to the church. But if the people don't have a church, if they bring them to Acts, "And well, that's it. They stay."

We noticed red buckets some of the chairs for collecting the offering. We sat in a row behind an usher. We knew this because the seat was labeled "usher" (other aisle seats were labeled "deacon"). Under the ushers' chairs were blue buckets equipped with Kleenex, tracts, information cards and paper fans. Even as the service began we saw people snagging paper fans (and tissues) from the buckets. The ushers and most staff members wore red and white, making them easy to identify.

A couple of rows in front of us there was a very slender elderly woman with closely cropped hair and a vividly pink suit. I enjoyed watching person after person greet her with a hug and sometimes a kiss.

The service started promptly at 11:30 (four screens in the front and one in the very back of the room had the countdown to the service). The choir of about two dozen wore red and black robes. They were accompanied by drums, electric guitar, piano and organ, and they could play. Behind us, a woman sang and trilled and sang in another tongue.

There was a prayer for the usher board, the deacon board, the hospitality board, the senior pastor and the associate pastors and for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers and that Satan would be cast out from this Holy Ground.

In many churches, I've heard the congregation urged to "stand up, if you can, to sing." This was the first time I've ever heard a pastor say at the conclusion of songs, "You may sit down, if you can." At one point, Bishop Bob Jackson, the senior pastor, said he knew there were some people there that needed to get their shout out. He said "the enemy messed up letting you come today!"

Fairly early in the service, first, second and third time visitors were encouraged to stand and a "Welcome Song" was played while the congregation greeted visitors. We were greeted quite warmly by many people with handshakes and hugs. And the elderly woman in the pink dress said, "I've been waiting to give you a hug," and I could see why so many people treated her with such warmth. (Mindy had been waiting to give her a hug and was delighted to have the opportunity.)

A representative of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) was invited to give an announcement encouraging people to volunteer for various opportunities in that program. Bishop Bob, who had welcomed the visitor in Spanish, reinforced the announcement by adding, "Most of those kids are African American kids, they're our children, who are in trouble from no fault of their own and we need to help them."

There were also announcements for Souls Restaurant, for Teen Church taking place next door and Charlene's Clothes Closet ("as fine as Ross Dress for Less"), and also announcements via video for various methods of giving (website, apps and texting) that would help the church go from a "good church to a great church." There was an announcement for weigh-ins for a church fitness program (Bishop Bob would be participating), a men's Bible study, and a meeting of Women of Excellence (with a talk targeted for young women, "Keep Your Cookies in the Cookie Jar").

As Bishop Bob came to the pulpit to speak, large prop door was wheeled out to the front of the sanctuary. He encouraged people to turn in their Bibles to Exodus for he was going to be speaking on the Passover, and he waited to read until the congregation responded that they were ready to read. I appreciated that he used a fair deal of Scripture throughout his message, and it all pointed to the lamb of Passover as a shadow of the sacrifice of Jesus. He concluded the sermon by striking the door with a brush and red paint to show how the Israelites painted the door at the top and on the sides with the blood of the lamb, and how the marks at the top and sides of the door served as a symbol of Christ's blood on the cross. (I'd first seen this image in Chic comics as a kid, but it was more impressive in life rather than drawings.)

He urged the congregation again and again to not "plead the blood but apply the blood." He broke into song, urging the congregation to go out and live different lives by applying the blood. He then invited people to return that evening at 6:00 pm for a healing service, and another staff member, a woman, concluded the service with an encouragement to pray and an altar call.

The gentlemen we talked with at the beginning of the service said, for a lot of people, once they visited Acts Full Gospel Church, that was it, they were there to stay. Though Mindy and I are committed to go to a different place next week and the week after that and on, we could understand why for many, "that was it."

Statistics:

Service Length: 2 hours, 5 minutes

Sermon Length: 35 minutes

Visitor Treatment: greeted many times as we entered, all visitors invited to stand in order to receive a visitors' packet, and warmly welcomed during the "welcome song"

Our Rough Count: 1,150

Probable Ushers' Count: 1,500 at this service (there was also an earlier worship service)

Snacks: available for sale to raise money for children's choir

Songs: I Just Want to Praise You

            Lord I Love You

            I Love You More Each Day

            I Love You Lord, and I Lift my Voice

            Welcome Song

             I'm Standing on the Promise of God

            Oh Lord, We Lift You High

            When I See the Blood

Miles to place:  72 miles

Total California Miles: 6,337 miles

-- Dean