This is it. I finally made it to the Bridge service at the Akron Baptist Temple. This time there was no "special" service or rain storm to blow this one out! I almost can't believe I'm writing this. . .
As I stated before, to find your way around this building you need a compass and a map (GPS for you non-map readers). And remember, way back when before I started this, I had been to a service here and I still couldn't find my way easily to the Bridge. However, when I asked the lady standing at the door, she was more than friendly and pointed me in the right direction.
Once we (yep, "we". My cousin Rob and my disciple, Colin, went with me) made it to the Bridge, we found a good seat and things got going.
The worship band is awesome. They rock out pretty much from start to finish. The lead singer does a great job of getting things going and leading you to worship the Lord. The whole experience is more like a rock concert. They have fancy stage lights and smoke machines that really set off that rock concert mood. They even have kids that stand up at the stage! Sadly, no moshing. Weak.
And look! They have a Youtube page! http://www.youtube.com/abtbridge
Next up, the sermon. Since they only have one preacher, they do a kind of live feed to the Bridge area and show him on the big screen. Sounds kind of weird at first but really, you never even notice it.
His message was titled Fear vs. Faith. I have to be honest, at first, I was afraid of where he was going with it. Lot's of talk about earthquakes, storms, war, etc. and how it's pointing towards the end times. . . hrm. . . whenever I hear talk of the end times, I always question it.
If you look back at every generation that ever lived, they all had a reason to think that it was the "end of days". There have always been wars, storms, pestilence, plagues, and the like and, unless I missed it, there has been no rapture yet. People tend to take situations and apply the book of Revelations too liberally.
When it's truly the end of the world, we'll know it (and I'll feel fine). Jehova's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, sorry, you're just going to have to wait until God says it's time.
But to be clear, the pastor only touched on this for the moment. His main thrust is that you shouldn't live in fear but in faith. In Christ, we have nothing to worry about. So in the end, his message was definitely more uplifting and empowering. Good stuff, Ed Holland.
As I have stated before, this is the place I'm going to be calling home for a while. There are really great people that go there and the worship is awesome. There are even these guys in a band called Chasing Chariots that go there. Check them out, they rock.
The only issues that I see is that they don't have a bible study for those people in my age group (no, I'm not quite ready for the Senior Study). However, I think that instead of doing a Bible study, I'm going to see about volunteering at a local teen hang out called First Glance. Getting my volunteer on at a Christian outreach center is sounding pretty good right now. I'll let you know how that works out.
Stay classy, Akron.
Rev.
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