Worshiping with Women: Beth Moore @ Wichita

     Last weekend, I attended worship with some 8,500 women from all walks of life, and IT WAS AMAZING!

I bought the book. Loving it so far!

     Sometime in the spring, a sweet friend of mine asked me and another friend if we would be interested in going with her to Wichita, Kansas in September to a Beth Moore Conference, and being a huge fan of Beth Moore's bible studies, I immediately said yes; however, months later when the time arrived, and I found myself exhausted from a week of teaching school and chasing kids and just life in general, I have to admit, I teetered on the edge of backing out and spending the weekend at home. I'm SO glad I didn't.

     The conference was a full day event on Saturday, so we drove up Friday night and stayed in a hotel. I had originally planned to bunk with my friends, but after a week of waking up to my husband glaring at me with a pillow held menacingly near my face due to a bad case of allergy induced snoring, I decided to maintain my friendships and obtain my own room. I enjoyed a fabulous night's rest with no fear of being murdered in my sleep, and woke up refreshed and ready to get into God's Word.


    We arrived at the downtown arena and with a wave of other women, and found our way to our seats.  Now let me just say, if you have never attended a large conference of Christian women, you really absolutely MUST sometime before you die. (Unless of course you are a man, and then you really might feel a little bit out of place, so I recommend you attend a large men's conference. Although having never been to one, I'm really not sure what that's like, so you need to attend one and report back to me, Mr. President. (Which for those of you who are not familiar is an FFA Opening Ceremonies reference, and it's suddenly becoming apparent that perhaps I should not be writing this at 12:53 am as I seem to be falling a bit away from my original topic.)) ANYWAY, there is just nothing quite like thousands of like minded women meeting in one place to worship and learn about Jesus.  Yes it is crowded, but there is so much kindness, so much love. Yes it is long, but you find yourself just wanting more. 

Schedule: Full and Fabulous!

    The musical worship alone would be enough to justify the drive.  I can hardly describe the connection with Christ that I encountered there in the midst of all those women as we sang praises to the Lord.  I think that being one of so many somehow allows you to be even more yourself and alone with God.  The songs were old and new, joyous and solemn, fast and slow, touching and heartfelt. There was something for everyone and everything for me.  I laughed and cried and praised with all that I had and felt God pour blessing after blessing upon me as I gave my all simply to pour my love out to Him. 

    I thought that it couldn't get any better and then my best friend Beth came out on the stage. (Now, just to clarify, we've never actually met, but she's lead me in so many biblical discoveries and personal reflections and repentances throughout the years, that I've been calling her my best friend for years, and whenever I consider that question about if you could spend one day with anyone in the world who would it be, I'm pretty sure it would be Beth....we're that close.)  Anyway, friends, if you've never done any of her bible studies or read any of her books, I highly recommend you do so. Here is a woman who has given her absolute all to Jesus, and because of her faith and obedience and LOVE of Christ, He has blessed her with the ability to abundantly bless the world. And what a blessing she brought to us in Wichita!

     The theme of the conference was Audacious, and Beth spent the day (broken into 3 sessions) teaching us about what it means to live audaciously for Jesus. She reminded us that these crazy times we live in are not the days for wimps, but that we must live with audacity, and have the guts to give God the glory! We are called to be MIGHTY women of God and it is time to Wake Up! In a world where fear is bound to go viral and manifest itself in a variety of ways, including violence, anger, insecurities, and doubt, we Christians must show ourselves to be different with courage, calmness, love, and peace in order to bring those in need of our Savior to the Jesus who loves them. She challenged us with these 6 Mighty Makers:
                           
                       1.  Have the audacity to make an unseen Savior the supreme romance of your life.
                       2.  Have the audacity to live in the tension that comes with loving in TRUTH.
                       3.  Have the audacity to pray for astonishing works of the Holy Spirit.
                       4.  Have the audacity to forgive and live forgiven.
                       5.  Have the audacity to hold tight with all your might to Romans 8:18. (Look it up!)
                       6.  Have the audacity to walk in humility.


     By the time the conference was over, I was wrung out, filled up, renewed, and revived.  I had been touched by the Lord and once again ready to face the world with God on my side. In a world that seems so scary sometimes, I can find true joy because I know that I was made for such a time and place as this and that I was not made to live in a spirit of fear. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience once again the teachings of Beth Moore, and I'm so thankful that she doesn't sugar-coat or back down from touchy topics but challenges me to be who God created me to be and to truly KNOW the one I worship.

     What a trip!  I'm so thankful for the invitation from my friend and that God didn't let me back out when I wanted to.  This is definitely one Steeple Chase I will forever be blessed by.
 
    

Couldn't resist sharing:
This is what happens when an arena fills with women. The unused men's restrooms get converted. LOL!

5 Ways to Ensure that You Actually End Up in a Church on Sunday Morning.

1.  Pick a place to worship.
        It helps if perhaps you've even made that decision the night before and have a few plans in place to help your morning go more smoothly. Waking up Sunday morning and changing your mind 3 times before you even start getting your kids ready is really just not conducive to actually making it to any worship service.

2. Find out how many miles you'll need to travel and what time the service begins.
        If for instance, you decide on a church and head that way only to discover that it actually takes an hour to get there and you've only allowed yourself 35 minutes, it's possible that you may find yourself in another town altogether driving the streets and searching for a church to attend only to find churches with no signs or websites telling when they begin or that you happen to drive up to each and every church about 15 minutes after the starting time, and really, no one wants to enter a church for the first time 15 minutes late.

3. Feed your family first.
        If everyone is hungry as you drive around searching for a random church to attend, you're likely to find whining at a maximum and tempers flaring to the less than loving level. Then when you do discover a church that doesn't start for another 15 minutes, you're husband might insist that you run to a quick stop to get some food, and then the first one you stop at might not have a deli and he might insist  that you go to another and by the time he's happy with a meat pie in his hand, you might find that you are now late for yet another church.

4. Realize that Car Church is still Church.
         When you finally come to the realization that your lack of planning has left you without a church family to worship with, remember that your immediate family is also your church family,  and prayer, praise, and the pursuit of biblical knowledge can all be completed right there in the car together. Take some time to drive slowly along a new route and thank God for his amazing creations. Take turns choosing songs and sing to God with the enthusiasm of children. Read bible stories and favorite verses and talk about God's word with one another. Forgive one another the failings from before, and stop Chasing Steeples and simply create your own church...wherever you may be.

5. Try, try again.
      If you don't make it to an actual church one Sunday, for whatever reason, don't use that as an excuse not to attend church the next week. God's plan for each of us includes providing a church family to lean on, worship with, learn with, and live life together with. If at first you don't succeed, well....you know the saying, and so do we, so we'll just keep Chasing those Steeples and meet you back here next Sunday with a different kind of experience all together.
    

North MacArther Church of Christ

     Last Saturday evening after a week of school and work and junior high softball games and the county fair, the husband and I decided we needed to get the heck out of Dodge, so we hired a sitter and headed to the city for a night away. Thinking relaxing and low key and knowing we wouldn't encounter a loud band and flashing lights (not that we don't enjoy that as well), we decided to visit the North MacArther Church of Christ. A friend of ours recommended we attend especially to take part in the beautiful acappella worship music, and while we had never been to a Church of Christ before, we were excited for our first experience.

 

         The church building itself is a beautiful structure and the sanctuary is large and lovely. Generations of families filled the pews from grandparents to babies and every age in between. It looked much like any other traditional church we've attended except for the obvious absence of any type of musical instrument. Members of the Church of Christ are firm believers that the use of external instruments, having not been specifically stated in the New Testament as an acceptable form of worship, are therefore, a direct violation of God's Word. So, when we were asked to stand and sing the first hymn, it was with a jovial warning from the song leader for the bases and tenors to stay on beat, which sent a jolt of fear through me and made me suddenly fearful of hitting a wrong note and making a fool of myself. Anyone who's ever sat near me in a singing situation can tell you that my voice is by no means dainty, so it was with purposeful effort that I quieted my voice and worked painfully to read the music notes broken into four parts on the large screens at the front of the sanctuary. Being unfamiliar with two of the four songs, and an utter failure at ever learning to harmonize, I found listening to the beautiful hymns being sung much more satisfying than singing along. I found myself saddened that I lacked the skills to sing along with confidence and honestly,  wishing for a piano to keep me on key and cover up my mistakes.

   Throughout the offering and communion, I began to notice the joyful, and sometimes fretful, sounds of an abundance of babies in the church and I realized that in so many churches we attend, their sounds are few and muffled as most spend the service in the nursery or have their cries drowned out by the musical instruments generally played during that time. The coos and cries were a beautiful reminder of a church that is training future generations to love and worship the Lord.
   
     The church has a congregational body with elders in leadership positions, and it soon became apparent that the various elders were dispersed throughout the sanctuary in order to see to the needs of the people and welcome those of us who were new or visiting. We felt very welcomed and met not only the lady in the seat next to us but three name-tag bearing elders who made a point to come to our pew and shake our hands and get to know us a bit. The overall atmosphere of the church was very warm and welcoming.

    I very much appreciated the fact that several congregational members took part in the service through prayers, announcements, and reading of scripture. The sermon was biblically sound and well prepared, and the pastor was warm and sincere.

     We closed with a hymn I knew quite well, and I was excited to let my pipes loose and sing praises to the Lord.  The choir all about us was simply beautiful and must surely bring joy to the Lord.

       It was certainly a different type of worship service for us, and although not using instruments during service does not align with my personal beliefs, I can't help but admire members of this denomination for their determination to do what they believe to be right and pleasing to God despite a great amount of pressure to change. Their love of Jesus and of one another was most certainly apparent and after all, nothing else is greater!

       Thank you so much for joining us once again on our Steeple Chase. God bless you!

This wall symbolizes the general feeling of a church who embraces their members and reaches out in service to others.

Camp Creek Church of the Nazarene

 

     What a lovely time we spent worshiping with the congregation of Camp Creek Church of the Nazarene in basically the middle of nowhere in Western Oklahoma's Dewey County.

    In all honesty, we left the house thinking we were on our way to Leedey, Oklahoma to attend church at Harvest Fellowship (which we plan to attempt again sometime), but after following a giant snail-paced oversized load most of the way to Chester, we realized we were never going to make it on time, so we had to adjust our plans, and since Camp Creek was on our list of places to attend and landed us between our various family members to visit, we decided it was the morning to head that way, and I'm so glad we did.

    We passed through Lenora where my family was worshiping, and stopped my brother's house to drop our puppy off for a visit, and still had some time to drive past the church, wonder aimlessly for several miles, and turn back around and return in time for service to begin. It's pretty exciting to be greeted by squeals of delight from friends who have been following your blog and hoping you would stop by some day. And getting to sit in front of your childhood vocal teacher and her husband just makes for an even more special worship experience.

 

    If there's one thing I'd have to say for the congregation of Camp Creek, it's "Boy can those people sing!"  The music was simple with only a guitar as accompaniment that morning, but with my friend Abby leading the singing, and generations of her family members, along with the rest of the crowd, which must all be musically talented as well, joining in harmony, it felt like we were in the middle of a heavenly choir. The music was a mixture of traditional hymns and more contemporary choruses and lasted nearly 30 glorious minutes, and I couldn't help but wonder if previous generations of congregation members who walked from the school house to the newly built church building in 1927 singing Marching to Zion sounded just as beautiful.

    The rest of the service went pretty much as expected. There was a fantastic sharing of joys and concerns as members shared in the miracles of healing and protection in their lives and lifted up friends and family in need. We took part in the giving of our tithes and offerings and shared in Holy Communion as it was passed from person to person down the pews.

   The pastor, Reverend Ron Berkley, was very personable with an easy going preaching style that drew me in and made me want to know more. The sermon was enlightening and thought provoking, and my husband and I had much to discuss as we drove away.

     All in all, our experience at Camp Creek Church of the Nazarene was very enjoyable. It's a fantastic little country church with wonderful people, wonderful music, and a wonderful message. Praise God for opportunities like this on our Steeple Chase this year! Thanks for having us, Friends! Until we meet again!

World Harvest Church

Our middle daughter found out I was WAY behind on blogging and offered to help me out. I decided it would be a good experience for her, and you might enjoy the change (and I figured without some help I might never get caught up. Beginning of school and going back to teaching is eating my lunch right now!) I thought about fixing all her spelling mistakes but it was just too cute to mess with. I hope you enjoy her "speshal edicen" of Chasing Steeples 2015.

This is a speshal edicen by the middle child.  My family and I went to World Harvest Church in Enid.  It was right next to leanardoes.  The church is in a very small bilding, so they are bilding a new one. When we got there, there was no place to sit, so they brought us hard chairs. Nest time I want to get there early.

The music was very loud,we sang lots of songs, too. I liked the music. When we were singing, a lady fell down and some people helped her get up and took her out. It was nice that they helped but not that she fell down. It was kind of like she couldn't get up. (That's what my little sister said.) Maybe she fainted because the music was so loud. It kind of made me dizzy too.

 It was back to school Sunday. They intervud the super intendet and the coach. They were on a big screen. The paster prayed over all of the children and the teachers. My sisters and I and my mom went to the front to be prayed for. Then it was over.

 

It was a nice church. I want to go back when they have children's church.


Point of fact, it is a VERY NICE church. The people were extremely welcoming, the music was fantastic (if perhaps a bit on the loud side), and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit there. I loved that there was such a variety of people- ages, races, and types. I've heard really great things about their children's programs and I'm sure if we return when they have children's church, my middle child especially will love it! I sincerely hope no one takes offense to her childlike point of view because well, she IS a child. As her mom, this may be my favorite blog post on this Steeple Chase of ours. Enjoy!

Few but Faithful: Church of God 7th Day

     If you really want to confuse your children during Saturday morning cartoons, tell them to get ready for church. First they'll be confused (Wait! What day is it?), then they'll argue. (But, MOM, it's Saturday!), and finally after you've reminded them that their friends will be there, they'll reluctantly concede (Fine! But I'm not wearing a dress!). This is exactly what happened at our house a couple Saturday's ago when I told the girls we were going to go to the Church of God (Seventh day) in Fairview, Oklahoma.

 

   When I finally got them on board, and after the husband had to back out at the last minute because of calls from work, we made our way to this tiny little church on the corner of 7th and Ash.  The building is so unobtrusive that even though we've driven past it a million times, my girls claimed never to have noticed it's existence.  In fact, as we walked in to join the less than dozen faithful members in attendance, we couldn't help but wonder if perhaps the rest of the community had forgotten it's existence as well. (Which, with it's long and rich history of consistence faithfulness to faith would be an absolute shame.)

 

Youngest child kept herself busy (for the most part) taking apart and putting away this puzzle. (And spilling it with a loud crash onto the floor during the sermon. Sorry about that!)

 

    The Fairview Church of God (Seventh Day) was started way back in 1894 and is one of the oldest continually worshiping churches of this denomination in the United States. The denomination itself only started in mid-1800's with the General Conference being incorporate Missouri in 1899, 5 years after the little church in Fairview began. The denomination has some very specific beliefs about maintaining a Saturday Sabbath (which Jews and early Christians maintained until the 4th Century A.D. when the Roman emperor Constantine declared it such in order to please recent pagan converts who were used to worshiping their sun god on that day.) , as well as,  adhering to laws written in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 regarding clean and unclean animals, and denying the celebration of Christmas and Easter. In addition, they continue to observe many of the feast days of the Jewish faith and take Holy Communion only during the Passover Feast, and they have been compared in doctrine to Messianic Jews.  However, for the most part the beliefs of this congregation closely mirror those of most protestant denominations. They believe in the Holy Trinity, in salvation through the grace of God through Jesus Christ, and in the Bible as the divine Word of God.

The faithful few in fellowship!

     Therefore, as Pastor Tytus Burrell shared the word of God with this fellowship of believers and hymns were sung in worship to the Lord, we could have been in any church on a Sunday morning learning about God's word and singing praises to our King. It was a privilege to be able to share this experience in this particular church, with these particular believers, on this particular Saturday morning, and I as thought of Jesus worshiping on the Sabbath so many years ago, I felt privileged to share this day with him as well. And I couldn't help but feel admiration for a congregation of believers that have held on to their faith generation after generation despite a world which must constantly make it difficult to do so.

Fellowship Hall.

Foyer

At the Movies: Lifechurch OKC

       I'm going to admit something that you may or may not believe, but sometimes....I don't want to go to church. Sometimes when we've been away from home all weekend at a family reunion where we discovered that our family of five has outgrown a two-bed hotel room, and no one has slept well, and I've spent the weekend catering to my children instead of hanging out with my cousins like I wanted to do and have developed a little chip-on-the-shoulder resentment towards them and well, basically everyone on the planet, I really just don't want to get up and get everyone ready and go to another new church and be all nice and chummy and open-minded and Christian on a Sunday morning.

     However, I also hate to fail, and I hate to say I'll do something and not follow through, and I hate for all my Facebook friends and blog readers to realize that I'm human and I'm not always that great at sticktoitiveness and no longer trust me to complete what I say I'll do. So I went to sleep Saturday night muttering about never going to church again and woke up Sunday morning determined not to fail but to take the easiest path possible and get it over with.

    So I asked myself," Where are we going to go to church today?"

    And I answered, "LifeChurch. No one cares if you show up there anyway." (Did I mention I was cranky?)

    But to be honest, I've had a little bit of a preconceived notion about LifeChurch from the beginning. It just seems a little too entertaining and convenient and maybe not such a sacrifice to attend because it's....well, fun, and you can go pretty much anytime you want instead of just early Sunday morning when you just want to sleep, and really, if church isn't just a little bit boring and undesirable then how can I turn it into a sacrifice and show God how much I'm willing to give up for Him just by showing up. I mean really? And besides that, how is anyone ever supposed to really connect when you can come at anytime, and the preacher is on a tv screen and doesn't know who you are anyway? It just seems like an easy way to get your weekly church obligation in without messing up the rest of your schedule. And no one's going to notice one more family there anyway, so easy-peasy, we can go to church and I won't have to be civil to anyone. Perfect!

    Oh, God! Aren't you the funny one?!

     So we decided to attend the LifeChurch in Oklahoma City on Northwest Expressway because it was right beside Gattitown (which is like a Chuckie Cheese on steroids where we'd spent a years worth of time the day before) and we knew exactly where to find it. (Once again path of least resistance was the order of the day.) We got there as a flood of people were leaving and a new flood was pouring in, and after making my youngest daughter change clothes in the parking lot because.....well, because, I was in a bad mood and everything seemed wrong at the time, we entered the building, and BAM! The whole morning transformed in a snap!

     LifeChurch is in the midst of their yearly At the Movies series where head Pastor Craig Groeschel uses popular movies as a catalyst to the biblical principles and messages he's teaching that week. During this series each July, each of the LifeChurch locations decorate their churches in a different movie theme. I knew this was happening, but I didn't KNOW. I couldn't KNOW. Oh, my goodness! Absolute awesomeness! There was just no way to maintain a cranky attitude when faced with a giant rotating spaghetti and meatball tornado. The lobby of the church was absolutely incredible!

     We were greeted at the door and asked if we had attended before, and when we responded to the negative, our greeter turned into an on the spot tour guide and directed us to the children's check-in area, and the coffee and tea bar, and reminded us to pick up popcorn on our way to the sanctuary. I didn't feel like a nobody or like no one cared. I felt included and welcome and finally a little bit excited about church that morning.

    We let the girls take the time to go through the spaghetti maze and down the ice cream slide before checking them in at the information station and dropping them off in a large room with a giant movie screen on one wall and a rock climbing wall on the other. We discovered that the kids get their very own version of At the Movies with children's movies and messages on their level. (They watched and discussed pieces of Maleficent, and my girls were excited to tell me all they learned on the way home.)

     Jason and I and our oldest grabbed some iced tea and popcorn and headed to the sanctuary (or auditorium), and soon after the music began. As I'd expected, it was rock concert loud with flashing lights and repetitive choruses and I have to admit, I had a hard time getting into it and connecting with God through the music that morning. Perhaps it was my residual moodiness or exhaustion, but I found myself just standing and watching and wishing they would stop singing the same thing over and over so I could just sit down. I don't always feel this way about this style of worship, but this particular morning I was very disconnected from it, so I was glad when it was time for the message.

    And what a message!

     The movie base was About Time, a time travel movie where a 21 year old son learns from his father that the men in their family have the ability to travel back in time within their own lifetimes. I hadn't seen the movie, but I definitely want to now. Comparing scenes from the movie with Ecclesiastes 3: A Time for Every Season, the pastor wove a beautiful story with a life-altering message. A message about time. A message to remind us to make the most of the time we're given. A message to give God our time. A message that for us came just in the nick of time.

     The next day my husband came home from work, looked me in the eyes, and said, "I had a really good day."  I was glad to hear that and asked what had happened because for some time, things hadn't been quite so positive. He hesitated and then responded in his typical quiet way, "That sermon yesterday.....it was really good."

     And that's all he needed to say.

     I've been constantly amazed during our Steeple Chase journey this year how God keeps placing us in positions to hear or see or do exactly what we seem to need each Sunday. I thought I was taking my family to Lifechurch because it was the easy, non-threatening thing to do, but in reality it was just right where we needed to be to change our perspective not just on LifeChurch but on life itself.

***(This week is the final week of At the Movies, and I highly recommend taking advantage of one of the many opportunities to watch online at lifechurch.tv, I promise you won't be disappointed.)