CHURCH........

After many months of struggling with this, I have come to realize what is important is not what I want personally but what is needed spiritually. As much as I would prefer that my children and I attend the same church, what I want most for them is to know Jesus, to develop a personal relationship with Him, and that requires me to let go of my personal desire of attending church together, and just trust that God will work in each of our lives, even if our church family is not at the same place.

I feel at home at Greenhouse. I love the praise and worship and I love a pastor who preaches BIBLE, things that are applicable to my spiritual life first that inevitable positively affects my human life. I want to be somewhere that stretches me spiritually, not just
personally. My spirit feels at home there.

My daughter feels most at home at Anthem. I can see the draw, especially for young people. It provides an atmosphere for both the churched and unchurched, and although I see the need for this type of church, it just isn't where I feel at home. Andy Stanley is a wonderful speaker and his messages reach anybody, and can be relevant for the church and unchurched. I have never heard a message that when applied can be beneficial.

My son feels more at home at Canvas Church. I have quite a few family members that attend there and maybe for Nick that is the draw. Pastor Mark is an incredible and knowledgeable Pastor, his sermons are similar in style to Andy Stanley. Canvas Church is involved in the community and there are a lot of people Nick knows there.

Bottom line is that regardless of the denomination or location of a church we are all members of THE Church of GOD. The church is you and I not the building that we come to corporately. My hearts desire is for Allie and Nick to grow in their personal relationships with Jesus, that they OWN their faith, not mine, the foundation of my faith is shared so that they can establish their own foundation of faith. So if choosing to go to a church that is different from my own personal preference is what it takes to LET GO and LET GOD, then I will step out of the way and trust that God will grow them wherever they chose to go, as long as they go.

My parents forced us to go to church and many of us stopped going to church as soon as we were our from under the control of our parents. Why? It was not because we did not believe in Jesus, or did not want to be a Christian, but possibly because we lived for so long on the foundations of our parents faith that we never realized that each of us need a personal foundation from which Jesus can grow us personally. I want that for them. I want them to be more prepared spiritually than I was when I left the safety of the home net. Their relationship with Christ is far more important than 'family' church time together. God will grow us where we are planted, I just want them to want to be planted.