Week 6 - Turning Point Christian Center

www.turningpointcc.org

At the outset of this adventure we intentionally tried to put in place as few restrictions as possible for selecting churches to visit. This week is an example of having to really stick to this intent. Typically Loren does a quick internet search of churches close to home, to find out service times, address, affiliations, etc. The affiliations part is where it can get tough; for Loren in particular and Laurie to a lesser degree. 

Turning Point Christian Center is affiliated with Assemblies of God. If we were not on an adventure of simply getting out and meeting fellow believers where they gather it would have been very easy to say "pass" on visiting TPCC. To be honest it would have been easy to pass on the Lutheran church we visited the second week, based on stereotypes we have grown up with. Fortunately we stuck to our intention of few restrictions and met nice people who are enthusiastic about their walk with God.

One word that would encapsulate the service at TPCC would be "energetic." From the opening song to the closing invitation the room was full of energy. The congregants were actively involved in the service with shouts of praise and "amen" from the back to being individually engaged by the pastor from the stage. The environment was very relaxed with people moving to be near the stage during times of singing. We noticed several special needs individuals who moved about the room and actively participated in the service. We were approached by several people, both coming and going, that gave us warm welcomes and chatted with us for a few moments.

Speaking of coming, this was the first time we have attended a church service by entering through a coffee shop located in business center. Coffee Revolution is the lobby for TPCC. Not a bad deal really, great coffee with a nice place to chat with friends. The auditorium seats a little over 100 people and on this weekend was pretty much at capacity. The music was moving with active audience participation. Prayers were frequent and everyone was encouraged to vocally offer up their prayer from where they sat.

This week the teaching portion of the service was led by the group Dream City Leadership Network. Using poetry, skits, video, and traditional teaching from Romans 12:1-2 they challenged the audience with the question of "What if." What if we truly understood what God has done for us. What if we actually chose to live according to his word. What if ... . 

The real question for us this week is what if we had allowed stereotypes to control our attitudes and actions? What if we had passed on visiting TPCC because of preconceived notions? Well at the least we would have missed meeting a community that is very enthusiastic about meeting with God. Probably, more importantly for us, we would have inadvertently started down the road of prejudging specific churches and limit what God has in store for us this year.