Terry Pruitt's Blog

Another in my series on reviewing churches. The Reformed Church of Canberra is a gem. Perhaps in some ways one of the most friendly churches I have ever visited. I ask for the bus number that runs close to their church, they volunteer to have someone pick me up. I come as a visitor, they treat me like an honored guest. I come as a stranger not knowing anyone, I am celebrated as a brother in Christ from a far away land. After church meals are a big part of church life at the Reformed Church of Canberra, at least that is what it seemed to me. I was invited to the home of a warm couple in the church who also invited a family seven to their table. The conversation was lively and diverse. I can't say enough about the hospitality of the church, on a scale of 1 t0 10 with 10 being the best, they are a 10 on hospitality. Pastor Peter led the worship service and preached in a compelling fashion. There was not a disconnect between the music and preaching, instead this was a worship...

I got to worship this past Sunday at Scottsdale Bible Church . The first thing I noticed is that though they are huge, they try really hard, and successfully, to not be a monstrosity. The church is 6000 strong so they have divided into a couple of campuses. I attended just the south campus 8:15 worship. When you pull into the front parking lot there is maybe enough room for two rows of cars. It does not look that big. I actually thought I might have a parking problem. Just go to the rear of the property and there is what seems to be hundreds of rows of parking. It is all tucked away so that no one feels that they have some sort of zoning issues with the church. With that, the campus was broken in to a small town feel instead of a large building feel. There was various buildings. It sort of gave the feel that I was in the old west, yeah I know I was in the west but you know, the old west. One of the most unusual aspects of that was a building with the movie marquee. By the ...

We had an exciting time at Ocean City, NJ. Our goal was to have a restful time. If you want pictures or other details you will need to visit here , here , here , here , here , here , or here . So part of what I love on vacation is visiting a new church. Calvary Chapel Ocean City was a great worship experience. As all five of us came in, someone asked his friend, "Did a bus just let people out or something?" I did not tell them that we did not even have all our crew, since Annalee has gone to live in Illinois with her loving husband and Corrie was back in Glen Burnie holding down the fort and working at the hospital. Ryan from Pennsylvania sat next to me. He was just visiting also. Visitors at worship during the summer is a thriving ministry for the congregation. The sanctuary had folding chairs which were just about filled to capacity when we got there. Just a few minutes later, they started packing worshipers into the overflow room who are linked via a video feed....