I Love the Local Church...

I love local churches. Over the last few weeks, I have visited several churches. When I go in another church, I scope it out. I look at things that most people don't notice. I try to put myself in that congregation and see the good and at times I see some things that need a little work.

Well, today I attended a funeral service at West Acres Baptist Church in Evans, GA. One of the first people I ran into was the pastor, Larry Harmon. He is the real deal. Larry has been leading that church for 23 years and has grown a tremendous congregation in Columbia County. Not only has the membership increased, but the buildings are very well done.

So, what did I see? When I sat down, my first instinct was to count the ceiling tiles to see how large the room is? Well, they don't have ceiling tiles, so I counted the columns and the sound panels. In my non-professional estimate, the room was about 120 ft by 120 ft. I concluded that the seating capacity was around 1,400.

Soon after I sat down, the organist began to play. I enjoyed it. I have not heard an organ in a very, very long time. In fact, I thought: "My parents would love this church." You see, The Creek is a little much for my parents. They had close to 200 seats in the choir loft. I bet when those seats are full, they can "bring down the house". I thought of all of the joy that would be released in that room when the full choir hits their highest note. The organist moved to the piano and started to sing. He's good. Again, my Mom and Dad would love the "Bill Gaither-kind-of-style" he has.

As I listened to Pastor Harmon speak, I could hear the love for people coming out of his voice. So many times, I attend funerals and the preacher is awful, but not this time. Larry did a great job. He was honoring, he was Biblical, and he was encouraging to those grieving.

I noticed the flat screens scrolling announcements in the hallway. One slide mentioned that in the Spring of 2008, they owed 1.8 million dollars and the graph revealed that in the Spring of 2009, they owed 895K. How cool. In a recessionary economy, the members and friends of West Acres have been very generous.

So, here's what I have to say about West Acres Baptist: AMEN Pastor Harmon! You are a great leader.