I showed up for the 11 AM worship service. First time visitor. They were late to starting the…read moresermon because the "Children Story" was taking a long time. The story was told to the children in a halting, sporadic, monotone bilingual manner. The children were clearly bored, all squirming and staring at the pews, hoping to return to their comfortable seats away from the boring story. The story had a message about a turtle who was helpful and quiet and strong. Maybe I missed something but I think the moral of the story was for the kids to be quiet in church. And there were a lot of kids. Half the audience was children. They were all well-behaved though. They were bored, squirming, and talking to each other in quiet whispers, but that is what children do. Considering how bored they were, I totally respected these kids' behavior, as they seem to have found the perfect balance of quietly talking amongst themselves whilst not disturbing the church service. (And I am not being facetious, they did not disturb anything).
The entire service is bilingual. This can get boring sometimes. But at other times it's tolerable. It's obviously an honorable attempt to keep this multicultural church unified in their local Body of Christ. The Pastor is a very inclusive man, who used parliamentary procedure during the service to make sure all agreed on any church decisions regarding scheduling or staffing or whatnaught.
The architecture of this church is 70's unversity-ish/museumish on the outside (which is a good thing.... far better than being a box), and on the inside, was a large roundish auditorium broken up by large reaching arches that all lead to the very top of the building, causing one who follows any arch to eventually look up, and perhaps comprehend or meditate upon God.
The music was mostly traditional American hymns, but one song was sung by a Latino or Hispanic man to the rhythm and beat of a Spanish love song, and in Spanish. So I'm not sure what he was actually saying.
All the English songs had Spanish translations overhead in projected print.
The lady I sat next do seemed very devout, but she wore way too much perfume. Or perhaps it was the pretty lady behind me whom I did not look at, out of modesty. But wow was that perfume strong and awful.
The guest preacher was a dynamically voiced long-time servant of God.
He quoted from Isaiah with the message that sometimes God throws huge obstacles at us, because it is the only way to learn certain things to become closer to God. My synopsis does not give his sermon justice. His sermon was broken up by the Spanish translator, but they developed a rhythm where it wasn't too distracting. And of course, this way 99% of the entire church would be able to understand the message of the day, without having to divide themselves into separate services.
There was no coffee or punch or food in general. Except bread. There were 5 loaves of sliced bread on display for anyone whose stomach was growling. As for me, I quickly left to go to IHOP. I didn't feel like socializing so I made a beeline for the exit soon as the sermon ended.
There are optional changes I would suggest to this church, and there is one definitive change: The Children Story. There is no point in telling a Children Story if the children are bored! The story must be SHORT, DYNAMIC, told with emotion and a sense of tactile understanding. And rather than bore the children with the back an forth of English Monotone for 10 seconds, then Spanish Monotone for 10 seconds, instead divide the kids choirlike. Let all the Spanish understanding children sit on the left or right, and let the English understanding children sit on right with them, but on the other side. Not divided. As a group. All together, but lumped according to language. Then have the Spanish teller tell the Spanish-understanding children the story, with the English teller the English-understanding children the same story. AT THE SAME TIME. Yes two people at once directing their voices to thier portions of the audience at the same time. Instead of going back and forth which drives children nutty.
Children will not get so bored with this faster pace and combined story. Their brains will tune into the Storyteller they most understand. It would be much better.
I also would bring in coffee and juice, and some toppings for that bread. Like butter, peanut butter and jelly, almond butter, honey, preserves, etc.
