It has been over a year since I left a church plant to attend Wichita Falls Baptist Church. What surprises most people that know is it is an Independent Baptist Church. I am sure you have seen reports of pastors from these kind of churches say a lot of hateful things whether to a group of people because of their lifestyle choices or praising God for a disaster (human or natural) that happened. Another thing is most of these churches are KJV only meaning the King James Version is the only acceptable translation of the Bible or to hell with you.
I want to rest assure everyone who follows me whether on the blog or social media, my church is not like those crazy Independent Baptist Churches you hear or read in the news. We are the exact opposite. For starters, we mainly use the ESV. We do have people that read from the KJV because this their preference, which is good. We have some that use the NIV but they still have the old 1984 edition and refuse to use the updated edition, which is also fine.
Another thing about our church is we are centered on the gospel. We make sure that the gospel is proclaimed in every lesson and every sermon. We combat false teaching which includes the KJV only legalism that plagues most Independent Baptist Churches. We also make sure the songs we sing are centered on the gospel. We sing from old hymns that are theologically accurate as well as songs from Sovereign Grace and Keith & Kristyn Getty.
Our church is very casual, which means the men don't have to wear a tie and we don't measure the length of dresses for the women. Yes, there are some Independent Baptist Churches that have a strict dress code as if they were a fancy restaurant. I have come in jeans and a polo on Sundays many time. Last night, I went in shorts and a t-shirt with my Marvel Comics shoes. One man liked my shoes and he is a comic book fan.
Our church is very loving. The first day we started attending, we were loved by them, even though, I already knew the pastor at the time. What is amazing is not many people knew our story of pain in the ministry especially planting a church.
One thing that church has done for me personally is helped rekindled my love for God, the church, the Bible, and for ministry. There was a time I said to hell with ministry especially after going through the pain of the church plant. Slowly, I began to get more involved with ministry by teaching Sunday School with the students on occasion and even moderated our men's study which was on church history.
I shared that we have called a man to be our lead pastor, who will be coming in the next few weeks and we already have an elder in the church which means we have two elders. I am thankful my church came together to become a healthy church. It is a work in progress but we will get there to where we are know as a healthy congregation.
I love my church. I am praying for my roll in the church. Maybe that will be more clear in the next few months, but until then, I will strive to a faithful servant in whatever way I can. I am thankful that my family has also found their place in the church as well and they are excited for the future of Wichita Falls Baptist Church.
The kind of church yours is is the kind of church it should be-- I went to a church like that several times outside of Huntsville, AL when I was visiting my sister there; it was called Locust Grove Baptist Church. The first time I went there, I thought they would be KJV-only, last days, end times, tribulation, and all those other bad things; my fears were allayed when I brought in a NASB, and they hardly made a peep about that, or about the end times. I felt so much at home there that I went there about 3 or 4 more times on subsequent stays with my sister in Alabama; my sister now goes to a more Methodist church where she lives now in Grant, AL, but I'll never forget Locust Grove!
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