Numero Uno - Lighthouse Assembly of God

The first church on my list to visit was Lighthouse Assembly of God. Located in beautiful, historic (I can’t verify that), Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. 

I discovered this church because my good friend, Pastor Phil, is the children’s pastor there (hence the name, Pastor Phil). He, his wife, and newborn son, have been there for probably at least a year now and from what he’s told me, he likes it there. 

But will the Reverend approve of it? Keep reading to find out! 

Service was at 11am. Now remember, this was my first Sunday not at my old church, so it was a little weird for me. I didn’t have to be there early. I didn’t have to prepare a lesson. I didn’t have to find out what was going on with some suchness. I was there to…worship? 

And let me tell you. They do some worshipping. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t rolling around in the aisles, shaking, or speaking in some weird tongue (lest we forget, God speaks King James English [blasphemy, I know]). But they were into it. The band was upbeat. The lead singer/pastor was guiding us along. At one point, I wanted to shake my booty a little, but resisted the urge. It was good…but it was long. Really long. 

So long, in fact, that I had to stop singing because I was out of breath. Afterwards, the pastor mentioned that last week they had announced that they were extending worship time, and if you wanted to sing or take some time out to pray, or whatever, you could. Unfortunately, he said this after the worship time. Had he said this beforehand, we would have been straight. But now I want to fight him (I kid!). 

After this was his message. And I have to say, the pastor does his thing. He spoke about a couple of things, but kind of based it all on James 1:5-8. Being confident in God and knowing that He is God and the provider and we shouldn’t doubt. Good message for our newly independent Reverend! 

As for the people, they were very friendly. I wasn’t assaulted at the door but I was approached by several people who were very friendly. Not crazy pushy and not stand-off-ish. Just right, if you ask me. 

Oh, and since I was the new guy, a very nice lady handed me a very lovely partying gift as I was leaving. It was a CD and a coffee mug stuffed with candy, wrapped in some shiny wrapping paper! Sweet! If I was rating churches strictly by their free gifts (I am) then the other churches have quite a challenge ahead of them! 

Overall, it was a nice church. Friendly people, good worship, and good message. I’m no expert but I’d say the Spirit was there. 

Until next week, 

The Wandering Reverend