When I am not driving, I enjoy reading church signs. Did you know that many churches have a separate committee which oversees the sign? I think they call themselves “drive-by outreach,” “sign sermons,” or something like that. Hubby and I always get a kick out of reading the signage in our neck of the woods. When we leave our house we can read at least four signs which yield an interesting discussion. The “Dumb Drive-by Sermon Award” for this week goes to “Good without God equals 0.” Yes, if you take g, o, and d out of ‘good,’ then you are left with ‘o.’ We think the message they are trying to send is that if you are trying to be good and earn points with God, but leave God out of the equation, then you get a big fat zero not matter what you do. I don’t think the average driver will get it.

We visited another Baptist church near our home this past Sunday. We have gone past this particular church at least everyday since we moved into our home seven years ago. I am assuming it is the church that grew out of our neighborhood decades ago, as they have the same name. Anyway, this is the church we swore, even if we never said it out loud, we would never visit. We could “tell” by the sign that it was not the place for us. Just from the sign we knew this church invites a different gospel quartet to sing at least one or twice a quarter. The typical sign sermon for this church carries the feel of “Get right or get left.” We knew from the sign that this church was a legalistic-KJV-fire and brimstone-retirement age kind of place. Not at all what we’re looking for, but let’s go so we can mark it off the list and say we gave it a fair chance. So we visited.

We were right on some points and wrong on others. Yes, most of the congregation were well past retirement age. The pastor used the NKJV. What surprised us the most was how friendly everyone was. They were a small congregation, so I think we met everyone. They were very excited to see us and our children. My daughter counted the kids; there were only nine (according to her). They have a “children’s sermon” where the kids go down front for their own time with the pastor. This is something I always enjoyed when my dad dragged me to church. The pastor preached expositorily, one of our “requirements.” He didn’t tell any cutesy stories, of which I am sick. We sang every verse of the chosen hymns, which is rare.

I want to mention one thing that really stood out to me. Early in the service, someone stood to dedicate the worship to God. I know that everyone usually assumes that the worship is dedicated to God, but it really set the tone for me to hear a man tell God that what we were about to do was for His enjoyment and glory.

This church’s sign this week says, “Cheer up! God is calling you!” We were cheered by what we witnessed this past Sunday. We are learning a lot through this experience. One lesson we are learning is that the kiddos of our generation are not very friendly. Maybe seeker-sensitivity, embraced by most gen-xers, is not just for the seeker. Maybe it serves to take the pressure off the members so that they can sit where they are and not have to talk to anybody. Moreover, the pleasant stories and obligatory three points serve to take the edge off the Sword.

I don’t know where we’ll end up, but we are identifying the characteristics we desire in a church.