The Search Begins...

Last Sunday was different. Last Sunday was difficult. For the first time in seven years, Deb and I were no longer members of Freedom River. For the first time in seven years, Deb and I were searching for a new church.

We decided to check out Triangle Community Church in Cary (www.tcc.org). We visited there back in 2001 when they were meeting at an elementary school. They’ve since moved into a beautiful new facility.

Honestly, I was fine until we started walking through the parking lot to the front door. Suddenly, I had huge empty feeling in my gut. At first I thought it was a bad bowl of cereal, but soon realized I wasn’t going to FRCC. As a result, I didn’t want to go.

But I did.

Despite the fact that the church is basically in our neighborhood, we didn’t know a soul. Once again, I felt very alone.

The band was excellent. But they didn’t play our songs. And they only played one song that we knew (“Better Is One Day”). And they didn’t play that one our way. Sheesh.

It was hard to get an idea of what their full service was like because they spent most of the hour baptizing folks. Young. Old. Middle aged. It was an excellent example of Christ’s work in their church right before our eyes.

In the end, I was glad to go. David wrote, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD’” (Psalm 122:1 NLT). Despite all of my loneliness, it was good to be with God’s people. We’ll definitely give TCC another shot in a few weeks. But there are other great churches to visit in the coming months.

I realize that it’s going to be hard for many of us to go anywhere other than FRCC. And I write all this to let you know that you’ll probably have some powerful feelings when you do go. That’s OK. It’s part of the process.

It would be very easy for some of us to punt this church thing…at least for a while. Let me encourage you NOT to do that. Keep in mind the powerful words of the writer of Hebrews: “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25 NLT).

Can’t wait to hear updates of where you guys have visited.

In Christ,
Jay