Just plain Christian: the good and the bad.

My “protestant” experience began at Santa Barbara’s First Baptist, a tiny little black church near my high school I went to once in a while with the girls in the BSU. I learned there to appreciate lively praise and worship.
Years later, while sitting in a pew in a Calvary Chapel on Christmas Eve, I had a heartstopping encounter with the Risen Jesus Christ and was changed forever. I took from Calvary Chapel and its’ daughter churches Reality (which I helped plant from the ground up) Churches an understanding of God’s love reaching beyond the boundaries of formality and “distance” and really gripping us in a personal way. I learned that one could be zealous for the things of God and not be wrong— that a hunger for holiness is a good thing. I also learned that being a Christian meant that I had to let go of sin. Really let go of it…. .ideally. But that sometimes I could hide it and nobody would know it was there. Later on that first year, I learned that when I DID hide it, GOD was still aware of it, even if no one else was. I learned true contrition.
The negative things I learned in those first few years was that suddenly I was in the BUSINESS of saving souls and that everyone else’s soul suddenly became my business. I also learned that politics existed within the Body of Christ.
The next place I was a member was a nondenominational chapel at Ft Jackson led by a Chaplain. I learned there that PEOPLE can use God’s Word to say whatever they want to say sometimes. I also learned that sometimes God isn’t about feeding you but about using you to feed others. And that sometimes, God just IS silent… and its not because you’re doing something wrong.
After that, I went to a Pentacostal church. Some good things I gleaned from there were enthusiastic, vibrant worship— putting some “feeling” into my relationship wiht God, waiting in joyful expectation for God to do “something” big, and learning how to put my faith into action and not just keeping it in my head and heart. I also learned that the Word of God comes alive in you as a believer, and you don’t have to be in an “outstanding” church to have that happen…. your church can be full of of denominational , doctrinal BS and you can still come out growing and learning. On the negative side, I learned that people are finicky, Christians don’t always act like Christians, and that ALL people, when on a “Jesus High” have a tendency towards pride and self righteousness which can get ugly if unchecked.
Lastly, I was a member at Manna Church, where I learned that there can be an order to extravagant worship, that ministry isn’t about the PASTOR but about the PEOPLE, that we are all called to BE Jesus to people. I learned that I had a vocation as a wife and mother, that God cared about me doing that well. I learned the REAL power of intercessory prayer, and I discovered what Grace really was and what it wasn’t. Most importantly, I was able to grasp what spiritual warfare really looked like and how to win the battles. It was at manna that I best learned the “how to walk by faith and not by sight” lesson.
On the downside, I learned that elitism exists within the Christian community sometimes more so than anywhere else. I learned that people want to be pleased even in their worship. I learned that church can be a business but it doesn’t have to be a multi billion dolllar corporation. I learned that the words “executive” and “humble” don’t mesh. I learned that money ALWAYS corrupts unless the persons handling it truly have the purest of motives. I learned that real Christian service means having to get your hands dirty. Most importantly, I learned there that no one I had yet encountered really knew anything about true authority…. if they didn’t LIKE the authority they were under, they could always go and start a new church.

Overall, the most important lesson I learned from my experience in the protestant churches was this: Jesus is about the heart. That lesson is priceless— whether you are an outwardly pew jumping pentycostal or a sedate pew warming episcopalian, Jesus is after your HEART. :)