Our experience at "The Ridge"

Chris tells me that's what all the "insiders" call Chestnut Ridge Church....and that we ought to call it that as not to seem like outsiders. So there you have it.

It's definately a beautiful building. They must be doing something (okay, many things, there are lots of great things about the place) right to attract that many people. Not just that many people, but many of them who were not Christians before coming to church. It's a great thing to keep lifelong Christians happy, I'm not downplaying that. But it's a whole other thing to be able to communicate the Word of God in a way that it speaks to someone whose heart had been closed (in the past).

So we got there, take the kids to the kids area. We dropped Jordan off at his room (which was just 4th and 5th graders). He was fine, of course....he's always fine. Plus he had really been looking forward to seeing what the kid's service is like. They do a Bible lesson in small groups, then K-5th graders get together for music and drama, then back to small groups for more on the lesson. They were learning about service and how important it is. Just having Jordan be able to tell us something they learned about is in improvement in itself! He also said for snack they had grapes, cheese, and crackers. Hallelujah! A healthy snack! I'd been fighting with the children's ministry at our old church for years trying to get something other than cupcakes and Oreos fed to my kid right before lunch.

Celia also liked her room. The teacher there really know their stuff (concerning dealing with toddlers). The minute that she showed interest they wisked her right into the room and got er involved in Play-doh. She didn't fuss for one minute. I also noticed during service that of ALL those kids, they only flashed one parent page on the screen. Pretty impressive.

Chris and I made out way to the sanctuary and easily found seats. It wasn't as crowded as we thought it would be, Chris went back out and got us both drinks. They have theater style seating with cupholders (!) and encourage bringing coffee drinks to service. I noticed they had a coffee bar, but was surprised that it was free. Okay, so that was nice and all....not something I base my decision of where to go to church on, but a nice touch.

The music was really good. Everyone on the teams seemed very talented and sincere......which is nice. A little sad because I know if we stay there I'll never have a place among them (I just don't have that kind of talent)....but that may not BE my place anymore. I guess I worry about that overall....just being able to find my place there (whatever it may be) and getting involved. I'm not the kind of person who is content just to sit in a service on Sunday morning and call that Christianity. But the converse of that fear is that it's so HUGE and they have so many ministries, surely I can be used in one of them. I tend to have lots of big ideas and never the resources or support to pull them off.

Anyway, it felt a little impersonal to me.....but I think most of that is me having to adjust than anything the church is doing. I mean, it's been 3 years since Chris and I sat through a service together! That by itself is an adjustment. Plus I know no one there, so it's hard to feel that you fit in among so many people. They have a MOPS group, so I'm going to e-mail the coordinator of that and see if Celia and I can get involved there....meet a few other moms and kids.

We picked a good week to go since they are starting a 5 week series on "7 deadly sins". Today Tim Haring spoke about pride. It was quite good. Not life changing or anything....but you get out of it what you put into it. We're going to go for a couple weeks and see what we think.