Church Search 09 Part two

Well, today was a good contender for churches. I felt right at home, and was welcomed as well.

I went to First Baptist Salem this morning for Sunday School at 9, Church at 10:30, and a Meet and Greet for College Students after the service.

I started out by going in the wrong building. There are two major buildings to FBC, the main one with the sanctuary, then there's the other building with classes, the Youth room, and the Gym. I took a look around and then figured it was the wrong building so I went out to the other building and took a look around. I did not remember from my online search what classroom they met in, so I asked up at the Welcome Center and I met a gentlemen who helped me find it. Turns out that I met, Wayne Bernard, Yes, THE Wayne Bernard. The same Wayne Bernard that is father to Chris Bernard, my old Youth Pastor at Redmond First Baptist. It was great to meet him. He led me to my College Sunday School Class. The Sunday School class was good, a small group class with a teacher of whom did very well. He was a good leader.
After the Sunday School I went looking around the church. There were many classrooms. LOT AND LOTS. They have a Downstairs, main level, and upstairs, then there is the extra building that I mentioned before. Big Church.
I then proceeded to find my seat in a Pew, YES, an actual PEW. I thought those all had been burned. Oh well. I found my seat at my usual spot, about the third row back on the end.
The worship set was good. The Worship Pastor has a great voice and plays guitar very well. The instruments were very good as well. No instrument stuck out. Good sound levels, loud, but good. The vocalists did an alright job, but I could not hear them too much even though there were about 5 of them. We did around 4 songs, 3 of which I knew, and the new one, was new for them as well.
During the greeting time, it was a good short time, not awkward and I met some nice welcoming people around me, and also the Lead Pastor sought me out to say hi because I was sitting alone.
Pastor Mark Hanke did a great sermon as well. He talked about Worship. They started just today a series on Worship. Worship of Michael Jackson, or U2. Many people do not think that worship happens outside of a religious service, but he pointed out that Everyone worships, just not all worship the right things. He did a great job of preaching.
The media was good. There was no video this morning, but the Visuals were good on the PowerPoint.
After the church service, I joined in on a meet and greet for Varitas- the college group that meets on Monday nights. This was a big turnout. I would say that they probably had around 60 or 70 people in that room. I got to meet some great people, most of whom go to Willamette. At first it was a bit awkward, but after a while I got more comfortable. A few of the pastors came into the group as well and I got to meet them. This was a good time, and I was surprised at the numbers of College-aged students there.

I think this church could definitely become a contender for the coveted spot of my joining them in worship to God.