Akron Baptist Temple - Part Deux

It's been a few months since I've been to the Akron Baptist Temple and if you recall, when I was there last it was a "very special" service, with the mayor speaking and a guest preacher doing the business. My cousin, Nick, kept bugging me, "Dude, you have to come see The Bridge service. It's awesome! You just gotta go. Dude. Dude." I kind of didn't want to do a Part 2 of any church but thought, eh, since I'll be going to a different version of the service, it might be fun.

Apparently God had other plans. The big rain that we recently got did a number on the roof of the ABT. Lots of water damage and other water related issues that put The Bridge service out of service for about a month. Oh the irony of it all!

To look on the bright side, it was a good service.

Upon entering one of the many entrances to the building, a couple of very nice greeters met us at the door. We then walked through the maze that is Akron Baptist Temple. You could very easily get lost in that place! Like The Chapel in Akron, it's another one of those old churches that has been added onto about a dozen times. And I think each time they add on, they add another 5 corridors to the place. Unless I were to come in the front door (which is not convenient to get to, as it's in the front and you park in the back) you'd get lost.

We made it in and found our way to the balcony seating, where all the bourgeois sit (sans coulots sit down below).

First up was the worship service, which was good. Nothing exciting, like rock bands or DJ's, but it was done well. Band was on point, songs were oldies but goodies (one of my oldie faves, When We All Get to Heaven). They also had an older lady by the name of Rose sing, which was great.

Next was the sermon, brought to you by Ed Holland. They are currently in a sermon series that is dealing with THE END times out of Revelation. Personally, I've never liked sermons about this. For one, Revelation is soooo open to interpretation and I question anyone who reads it then says they know for sure what's going to happen. Second, it's such a divisive topic in Christianity. I'd rather we just let it lie than bring it to a boil. Can we just agree that it's very vague and when it finally does happen, we'll know it.

My personal view, which I took from an old song, is "I read the back of the book and we win!"

However, he did a nice job of balancing interpretation with insight and a lesson that we can learn from it.

After the sermon, it was over. We left and I went out in the woods and got shot by paintballs for the rest of the afternoon!

So I've made a kind-of-sort-of decision. If things with Kenmore Church of Christ don't work out, I think I might try out The Temple for an extended period of time (notice the lack of full on commitment). First, it's a nice place with lots of great programs. Second, I know a lot of people that go there and they are all really great people (except for my cousin, Nick, he's a jerk! Ha ha . . . don't worry, he doesn't read the blog but I'm sure his wife will tell him!). Third, they're local.

I don't judge anyone (to their face) that drives 20 minutes to church but in my personal view, church is a local thing. A place not only to meet and worship with fellow believers but also a place to be active and get involved in the community. A place to put your faith into action.

I'm not sure how many churches there are in Akron, but imagine if every church said to itself, "Okay, we're going to concentrate all of our efforts on the neighborhood that we sit it and meet its needs, both temporal and spiritual." Every church putting its all into one small area. What kind of difference would that make?

Anyway, it was a good Sunday and I'm glad I was able to worship with my cousin.

Peace to mah homies on the streets,

Rev.