A Little (Or a Lot) About My Christan Background...

I somewhat grew up in a Southern Baptist church. I say somewhat because our attendance was not consistent. I remember going regularly when I was little. After that there was a period where we didn't go at all. Then a period where I rode with a neighbor. When I was in junior high and the first half of high school I was very involved in our youth group. Good times :-)

The second half of high school I was more into clubs and my boyfriend. College I moved 6 hours away. I was at a Christian college but despite being saved when I was 12, I wasn't living like I should have been. But despite everything, I never stopped praying.

I eventually came back in-state for college. I had been there a little over a month when I met my husband Jesse. He had grown up in a religion filled with rituals and was not saved but not anti-Christian. I started feeling drawn back to God and Jesse and I ended up getting involved in one of the campus ministry organizations. Jesse was saved and baptized in this time.

It was Jesse who went to church first. I wanted to go back but was not a fan of organized religion. The church I grew up in was... well... dead. Half the congregation (and choir) slept through the boring sermons. We only sang old hymns. The church did not welcome African-Americans. We were taught that dancing was not something proper Christians did. We almost had a church split because the choir wanted to clap during a song and Oh My! That's Too Much Like (Gasp!) Dancing! We were taught that speaking in tongues, etc. was not for today. Are you getting the picture here? I had the perspective that all churches were repressive. I now know different but I didn't back then.

I finally decided I wanted to return to church. So I picked up the yellow pages... Yikes! How would I ever decide where to start?! Part of me wanted to stay away from denominations altogether. Part of me wanted something that was at least somewhat familiar. The church I grew up in, despite its faults, had a biblically correct view of salvation. And that's the main thing. We prayed and finally decided to go to a Southern Baptist church. We were headed to one but ended up at another. And it was so different than what I expected! Contemporary praise and worship! And the pastor was DANCING a bit during the music?! WOWZERS... The sermon was interesting. The pastor made jokes and (gasp!) people dared to laugh! We were welcomed with open arms. It was so what I needed in a church at that time... God used that church to break down the walls I had built and to show me that the guilt I was feeling for my past behavior was condemnation and not from Him (Romans 8:1). At the time, that realization was life-changing...

We stayed at that church for a short time before being called to be part of a very small church we were also attending. It was difficult to leave the other church but we knew it was God's will for us.

It's 8 years later and we're still at that church. It's not so tiny anymore through :-) We're a Calvary Chapel member church. It's the perfect balance of being taught through the bible verse-by-verse and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead. To find out what we believe, visit www.calvarychapel.org

So that's the (relatively) condensed version of my journey.

My AP story coming soon in another post...