2nd time @ Solid Rock

So we gave Solid Rock another chance last Sunday. We couldn't make it to the 9am service like we had planned cause we had company all weekend & needed the sleep, but we went super early to the 11am service and found a spot in the family parking section.

The sermon was a little more normal based on a passage from Luke. The worship was really good too. We think we have decided to squat there for a while. No church is perfect and the longer we look the more time we loose. I want to get connected, meet some people and have consistancy for Ethan.

One of the neatest things they do is a BBQ every Sunday after the 11am service. It's a neat way to fellowship & one of the perks of going to a "big box" church. They can afford to do that kind of thing.

So ya I think that we have found a church. We still need to go to an informational meeting sometime and find out more about them like if they are affiliated with a denomination. I will check out the website more too.

Stolpps signing off...

Solid Rock

This morning we went to Solid Rock. A big box church that was recommended to us by Haley & Chelsea Carlsson, Erik Harrington's folks (Kim's husband) & a couple we met at Kim's wedding. We thought that for it to be a big church they must be doing something right so we should check it out to see if we can handle it's size. We left with mixed feelings but plan to return and see if it's worth the sacrifices you make being a big box church attender. Just getting there was a little bit of a challenge. The turn lane to turn down the street the church is on was backed up to where we had to sit through about 6-8 light cycles. Then approaching the parking lot we wondered if we'd find parking. We went to the 11am service but there is a 9am service we may try next time and get there a 8:30am. They had new comer parking upfront so we took advantage of that. Walking into the building it was like a circus. Very crowded and loud, the 9am people were still leaving. We had no idea where to take Ethan so we made our way slowing through the crawling crowd to the information desk and asked. They have so many 2-3 year olds that they break them up in half by first name (a-l & m-z). The room was really cute though and Ethan ran straight for a train table like his at home. They were welcoming there and I felt like he was in good hands. After dropping Ethan off we entered the "garage" (that's what they call their sanctuary) and we were told they were all full. Feeling kinda upset that as new comers we might have to worship from the lobby or the video room, I almost walked out, but the gentleman that told us they were full found us again and had found us seats. So that made me feel a little more welcome but I still think they should reserve a small section specifically for new comers if they fill up that fast! But anyways, the worship was great, as I thought it would be and the message was good. The message was a pretty heavy subject, adultery, cause someone had leaked it to the staff that one of their own pastors was cheating on his wife, they confronted him & it was true. So that was what they had been dealing with as a pastoral team prior to this Sunday. So they announced it to the congregation and let them know he had resigned (but would have been fired), will still be attending and asks their forgiveness. The sermon actually spoke to me, not that I am cheating on my husband or anything cause I would never do that, but he talked about how our bodies are not just our own but God's and your spouses and that we should take better care of it so we stay appealing to our spouse. That it's our responsibility to help our spouse stay faithful and not look to another to fulfill things we don't provide. I thought it was a good sermon for any married couple to hear and to talk about later and learn from another person's mistakes. When the pastor came forward and admitted what he had done and asked the congregation for forgiveness and his wife & family for theirs as well he was crying, broken & vulnerable, it was pretty powerful. He made me cry. Seeing just about any man cry makes me cry but seeing him have the guts to do that, to take responsibility for his actions was moving. His wife may not have felt the same way, I'm sure it will take her a long time to forgive, it would take me a long time, if I could even forgive, but that must have been hard!

I think we will go back next Sunday!

Stolpps signing off...

Tualatin Foursquare Church

I will never go to another church without checking their website more thoroughly! Our friend Karen checked it out and saw a prophecy section I didn't see. Where members post their prophecies and then the elders vote on whether they are true prophecies of God. I guess some of them were interesting and this should have clued me in on this not being a church we would enjoy, but when I went on the site briefly to get the service time, I just saw some stuff about healing & channeling the spirit. Well...lets just say we will not be going back. It was so bad we had to sneak out. I left the sanctuary with Hannah, made up an excuse to get Ethan out of childcare, and Marcus met me at the car a few minutes later. If we had stayed we could have been there all day! Seriously! And hour of worship to start, lots of meditating on verses of songs for in my opinion an excessive amount of time, flags waving, spontaneous congregant prayer & outbursts, prophecies being revealed and any minute I could feel a person speaking in tongues coming on, so I needed to leave. After worship they prayed for a missionary & that took about twenty minutes and then they started worshipping again. The "teachings" hadn't even begun. We have a baby, we can't just sit in church all day. It's not that I don't believe that people can be healed in church, or that people can get visions from God or even that the holy spirit might cause a person to speak in tongues. I just didn't personally feel the presence of God with all the distractions they were creating for me. I didn't want to make them feel bad about how they seek God, so we left before I couldn't help my self from having an outburst of laughter or have a smirk on my face. It was a little out of my comfort zone. It just didn't feel authentic to me. I come from a Presbyterian church that made the transition from traditional to contemporary as I was growing up, so I occasional clap, close my eyes or sway, but I'm not much of a hand raiser, flag waver or dancer. But that's just ME. Please keep our church search in your prayers, thanks!

Stolpps signing off...

Sherwood Presbyterian

Yesterday we were invited to Sherwood Presbyterian Church by the Sesnon's, Karen & Bob. I grew up attending Bidwell Memorial Presbyterian Church in Chico, CA and I have tried several other Presbyterian churches in the cities we've moved to and never found one I enjoyed as much. A lot of Presbyterian churches have a large majority of elderly congregants and aren't contemporary enough for me to enjoy. I don't mind blended services with a few hymns, some are beautiful & fun to sing, but with a traditional service, I have found, comes a traditional message and I have to enjoy the sermon. Sherwood's service was very enjoyable and reminded me of a Vineyard service I tried in college. The church is still young and doesn't have many attendees but there are perks with that. We'd get a chance to know people better and there are a lot of people with small children. Many people came up & introduced them selves and the Sesnon's introduced us to some of their friends as well. The message was given by one of the support staff cause their senior pastor & family are on sabbatical/vacation. I took a look at his blog and up until recently it looked like they were having a wonderful time traveling through CA visiting Yosemite, the Disney Parks & Sea World, but on the way to Legoland they got news that a close relative had died and that has of course put a few things on hold for them. I look forward to his return so we can get a better feel for a normal service, but what we experienced we enjoyed. We may do a little more "church shopping" while he is gone and check out a couple of their "father churches", Lake Oswego Presbyterian and Sunset Presbyterian. We may also try some Baptist churches. The last three churches we have attended have been Baptist affiliated. So please pray that we find a church family soon so we can get connected and make some friends. Ethan would love a playdate!

Stolpps signing off...

Old friends

I mentioned in my previous blog that Kim, my best friend from college lives here, but I forgot to mention the Carlsson's and Sesnon's. Karen Sesnon, formerly Carlsson, lives here with her family. I know her and her family from BMPC, my home church in Chico. She was one of my Sunday school teachers and I babysat her kids. Now her kids are all grown up, she is remarried and she lives in Tigard. Her youngest, Haley, still lives at home but will be leaving for college in the Fall and her second youngest daughter Chelsea, is currently living with her & her husband Bob too. She is the new manager at Teavana in Clackamus but she is interviewing people at the WA Square location, so I got to see her when we all met for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Marcus, my mom & I met up with Karen & Haley for lunch back when we were still looking for a place to live. Chelsea joined us too. Karen gave us all kind of advice about the area while we were looking, had us over for dinner and has kinda taken our family under her wing. I look forward to getting to know her better now that I am an adult. I also look forward to having Haley, who I babysat, babysit for me for Kim's wedding in July. We plan to try their church, Sherwood Presbyterian, on Sunday. I will blog about that Monday maybe.

Stolpps signing off...