It’s hard to believe I’ve been here in Texas for two weeks now, the time has flown by. The first week was mostly getting things moved in and setup and this last week has been really busy with school, church, and “inclimate” weather.

Due to said weather, Grace Bible Church was cancelled for my first Sunday here so I decided to visit FellowshipChurch.com, which happens to be both second largest church in the country and about five minutes from my house. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Here’s a brief play-by-play:

• Follow the long line of cars into the gargantuan parking lot, directed along the way by several friendly parking attendants.
• Enter complex through the children’s department, which rivals the set decoration and graphics of any amusement park I’ve ever been to.
• Walk up to the large information booth in the foyer, and get greeted by the singles’ pastor. When asked for a church doctrinal statement, singles’ pastor replies, “We don’t really have that, are you single? Here, take the singles pamphlet.”
• Enter into the main auditorium, complete with theater seating, rocking band, night club light show, and video setup akin to a Hollywood set.
• Listen while the worship team plays 3 songs, very skillfully, while the congregation quietly listens and grooves along.
• Watch the incredibly professional and efficient set change between the music and the message.
• Listen to a 15 minute sermonette by pastor Ed Young, as he talks about the current theme of “Larger Than Life” complete with video interview of Hulk Hogan, and how said theme relates to a fast that the church is doing. And by fast I mean vegetarian diet.
• Listen to pastor’s wife for 10 minutes talk about the challenges of doing the diet while preparing meals for the family.
• Leave the auditorium to a really cool acoustic version of a Switchfoot song.
• Get handed a list of approved foods for the “fast” as I walk out the door.
• Try to to laugh as I think about the irony of a list of approved foods for a fast.
• Browse really well decorated bookstore, containing approx. 3,572 copies of Ed Young books and sermon CDs.
• Walk out to the parking lot in sadness as I think about the current state of the church in America.

This was quite the contrast to my first week week at DTS, which was both very educational and spiritual enriching. I took the advice of Pastor Bob and sat in the front row of all my classes, and I was well rewarded. Sitting under the wisdom of Howard Hendricks has been amazing, and I’m already really excited about my education classes and how applicable they’ll be.

Also of note this week, I bought a new vehicle to get around in the inclimate weather and to learn the inner workings of the Land Rover. That way, when I’m stranded on the side of the road some day in India or Africa, I’ll be able to make the repairs needed to get home with a roll of duct tape and a paper clip. Hopefully this time next week I’ll be able to post some pictures of it along side my sweet ’72 Datsun 510.