Church Choice

My FAITH.....is good. of course it can be better. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. That's a given. I believe in the BIBLE. I guess I know what needs to be done as far as putting 100% of my TRUST  in God. I struggle with $$$. We got it and it's enough to cover bills, but as Jim Rohn says....there's way too much month at the end of the money. I really want to TITHE. We did it faithfully back in 2007 and part of 2008 and I can say that was a really good year for us. My relationship was so good with God. When we lived in Indiana we attended Granger Community Church led by Mark Beeson. Hands down, the best church we have been to. I miss it :( GCC was about an hour drive. We always went either Saturday night at 7pm or Sunday at 11am. Never missed a service from July 2007 til we left Indiana in May. That year we tithed faithfully, my energy was up and I couldn't be stopped. I was driving an hour each Wednesday with CJ and Alyssa while Dwayne always worked late. I even drove through the horrific snow! You couldn't keep me away from Wednesday Night service. It was always a treat when worship was led by Trace Rorie. Although every artist was pretty awesome, Trace was very captivating for me. I felt so connected with Jesus and that's exactly what I needed mid-week.

Pastor Mark Besson

Trace Rorie

Ah ha! So that's why Christians go to church twice a week! I never understood why. I love weekends at church with my family. We all look forward to it. ALL OF US :) As a stay at home mom with little kids and trying to earn my degree, life is super tough during the week. I can pray all I want, but community is a phenomenal experience right in the middle of my week. I love being surrounded with people who want to be surrounded with others even if it's just one hour of our busy week...all to Praise Jesus! Then do it again on the weekend. It really is the highlight of my week.

So we are here in Grovetown, GA. I wanted to try a Baptist Church. So we went to Warren Baptist in Augusta. Great church, but something didn't click for me. They had a contemporary service and the Pastor was true to the BIBLE, but I wanted to look some more. Then we visited Stevens Creek Church. Awesome church! I really like the Executive Pastor Kevin Lloyd and his wife Melissa sings in worship. She has an amazing voice. OMG she really does. I loved Dorna. She is the Pastor of Connections. Very friendly woman. And I will not forget Julie. She runs the retail shop and she's just the kindest lady. Very warm and so sweet. I was going to serve with her and had every intention to, but I felt like I belonged somewhere else. I didn't want to leave the Creek because the children's ministry is awesome. My kids loved it and the church was just a really good church. When I cry at church it usually means something. And that is, the Spirit is alive!  I admit that I hate when God pulls me away from things that I fall in love with.

So We found Journey Community Church in Evans. LOVE that church again! God was really making it hard for me to choose a church. Pastor Bobby is good. The message is clear and the worship team is great. My son didn't really like the Children's ministry. I'm not sure why, but when it comes to God I always pay attention to my kids' reaction. I feel in my heart that they are reason for my relationship with God. My husband and I both had a moment with God in that Church. Now when my Husband gets something out of church then I know it's a good thing. But still I needed to seek more churches.

Our neighbor invited us the Vinyard in Augusta. My son loved the Children's Ministry! He LOVED it. He really wanted to be at that church, but my Husband & I didn't. We couldn't sync in with the service. So I was thinking Journey would be the Church. But it wasn't fair for CJ.

Pastor Nick Carnes & His Wife Nicki

The next weekend Dwayne went to his Dads to go fishing. SO I decided to check out ONE more Church. I found New Passion Church online. I found out who the Pastor was and I looked him up. Read up on him and watch one sermon of his online. I liked it. I really wanted to see a service with the worship team, but couldn't find one. The thing that I liked about this church was that it is fairly new. One year old. My husband kept telling me that we need to find a smaller church to really grow as Christians. I LOVE mega churches. Granger has about 5,000 members and I loved that. But I wasn't challenged there. As much as I loved GCC I never volunteered my time. Sad, I know. But God has a plan and purpose for my journey. I knew once we moved down here, that I would dive right in and give my money and my time.

So that weekend I went with just my kids. Didn't know what to expect. First off, Jonathan is a great musician. The Worship team impressed me. i cried right away. (Good sign) Then the Lead Pastor Nick Carnes preached about "Family Ties" in his Series DESTINY. I remember him opening up talking about dysfunctional families and mentioned Facebook. Ok, my ears are open. One, Im very dysfunctional and two,  I'm on Facebook quite often. Ok, Pastor whatchu got?! Nick talked about how we don't get to choose our families, but we kinda do when it comes to choosing our church family. Ah ha! This is what I've been doing all these months. Church hopping all in hopes to find that right church family for ME. Pastor Nick talked about the importance of community. He talked about how we label each others dysfunction. It was clear that just because some of us has exterior dysfunctions while others have interior dysfunctions, it makes no difference. He called us religious bigots. WOW! It's true. Unless we have a genuine love for one another, then our relationships at church makes no difference. I really enjoyed his sermon. Check it out here then look for FAMILY TIES sermon. New Passion

So could it be? THE right Church to call home for the Bolings? God I hope so. I'm ready to grow with this church.  I get excited when I think of all the potential this church has to offer. I really think Nick and his team can reach out to a lot of people that have strayed away from God and the Church. He's very REAL and not afraid to preach it. I want to give my all to God and I'm glad I stumbled across New Passion Church. Excitement ahead! Hollerrrrr