A few years back, I saw one of a series of videos from this ministry that addressed the music industry. The series was called "The Truth Behind Hip Hop" (or TTBHH). The information shared by Pastor G. Craige Lewis was pretty powerful. It was enough to make me go through and toss a large part of my personal music collection.
I have since watched quite a few of videos by Pastor Lewis's EX Ministries and I enjoy his straightforward way of teaching the Word. While I don't like the way Pastor Lewis about the sin of homosexuality as if it's a worse sin than any other, I do understand the message. (By the way, you can listen to the EX Ministries podcasts here, and the True Church Perspectives here.)
This video from EX ministries is another one that highlighted some of my personal issues with the church I grew up in. I grew up in the COGIC church (Church of God in Christ). Some of you might know that we were often called "Holy Rollers".
I was raised up in the COGIC church just as my mother had been. Just like my mother, when I was attending COGIC churches, I never participated in the speaking of tongues, shouting and loud praising. Like my mother, I attended church because I was taught to attend church.
Let me back up and emphasis something: I was raised in the church, but I was not a Christian until I got grown. I think it was the same for my mother.
For a long time after I got saved, I didn't attend church on a regular basis. When I did, I sought out churches that reminded me of those from childhood. I looked for churches that fulfilled my emotions and other "self"-type things. If the preacher was screaming and "preaching good", and if the choir wasn't one of the best, I didn't feel like I was in church.
"Preaching good" didn't really have much to do with what the message was, but how skillfully it was delivered. There had to be cadence and style, with a little call-and-response thrown in. If the service was really good, the preacher and musicians would riff off each other during parts of the service.
Do you see yet what I was missing? Or not even looking for? A message. The message.
Until I realized that I needed more, I had always chosen churches by style over substance. Those are easy to find. But, at some point, I started looking for a church with substance. Those are not as easy to find, but they are out there. (I'm lucky to have found one to attend here in Anchorage.)
I told you about all of that so that you would know why this video struck me deep. It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood church attendance.
A lot of good information is presented in this video. It gave me a lot to think about and I just wanted to share it with you guys.
2013 EXTV | Episode 12 Thieves in the Temple
By the way, I am not judging anyone who attends COGIC churches. Each of us has a personal relationship with Jesus. We aren't saved because of the church we attend; we are saved by accepting the gift salvation, and we grow and mature as followers if we let Jesus work in us.
Peace
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