So I decided to visit the church of one of my fellow AFF'ers this weekend. Bro. Tatum (ChTatum)'s church is a little over an hour to the east of me.
I tried to get my husband to come along by telling him that I was going to meet a guy named Chuck that I met on the internet. He was all
and said "I think I should come along with you". However, I finally took pity on him and told him that "Chuck" was actually a Pastor and that I was going to visit his church, at which point my husband predictably said "oh, then you can go by yourself"
So I braved the early morning hours and dragged myself out of bed. The drive was actually very peaceful and serene. I had never been that far east before, and very much enjoyed the lack of crowds and traffic.
When I got to the church, I happened to run into Bro. Tatum right away. He introduced himself and shook my hand and I gave him my full name. I was thrown off when he identified himself by the lack of the full beard that I am used to seeing in his picture here on AFF. (He currently has a goatee) And as I had never told him specifically when I was planning on visiting, my name didn't ring any bells with him.
So I tracked him down again and said 'I'm sorry but the lack of beard threw me off" At which point he was like "I'm sorry, have we met before?"
They had a very nice church, the sanctuary part is refurbished, but built in the 20's (I think he said?). The first church that I attended was in a 100 year old building, and so my first thought on walking into the sanctuary was that it "smelled like church". It always amazes me how our memories are tied to our senses.
I was very disappointed however as I did not see one woman wearing a tube top! No hotpants either! And none of them looked like Tammy Faye Bakker or Jan crouch! (Though I HAVE been sworn to secrecy regarding the color of shirt that Bro. Tatum wore under his jacket :sshhh I was asked specifically to keep this information from Bro. Epley
)
There was a wonderful move of God during the worship service, when a young man sang the Casting Crowns song "Praise you in this storm". And then Bro. Tatum preached a message on the Seeds in the various grounds (See, I EVEN listened
)
And to top it all off, during his message he even specifically mentioned baptizing a certain way, and receiving the Holy Ghost. Which blew the theory that when standards go, so does doctrine, right out of the water. (In fact, truth be told, there were some women there that not stand out at all in your average UPC church)
And then they took me for lunch, where we had some good mexican food, and gossiped, err....I mean prayerfully discussed AFF, and where I found out that Bro. Tatum is more conservative than he comes across. (A fault that I mercifully forgive him for
)
All in all, I had a very nice time, and was blessed to have been able to attend and meet the Tatums.
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