This morning Tom, John, Jackie and I went to Powell United Methodist Church to worship. John and Jackie are still looking for a church to call home in Columbus. Powell United Methodist Church looked like a big church and it is halfway between their house and Cross Creek Camping Resort.
Powell United Methodist Church has three worship services on Sunday morning. The first two are traditional services at 8:15 and 9:30. The third is the contemporary service at 11. We decided to try the contemporary service.
When we entered we could hear music coming from the sanctuary and headed that direction. An usher gave us a trifold bulletin and welcomed us. We read the bulletin and looked at the pictures and announcements on the screen before the service started. The bulletin didn’t contain an order of worship, but did give us plenty of information about things going on at the church.
The service started a little after 11. About 120 people of all ages were scattered around the sanctuary. The Praise Band was good, with the senior pastor playing lead guitar. The Worship leader was Katya Brodbeck, a young woman who is a candidate for ordained ministry. She had a little bit of an accent, and we learned later (from the website) that she is from Russia. After one song, Katya gave the announcements. We found out the church had its annual garage sale yesterday and raised over $12,000 for missions. Pretty impressive.
After singing another song, Katya read the scripture for the day about the road to Emmaus. Following the reading, Rev. Larry Brown gave the sermon on the resurrection and life offered by Jesus Christ. He stressed that you need to be a part of a church to fully participate in the life of Christ because the church is his body. John asked me later if I e-mailed Rev. Brown and asked him to say that (Nope – it was a Holy Spirit thing). The biggest takeaway from the sermon for me was the idea that in order to give our lives fully to Christ, we have to be willing to share our lives with others.
After the sermon we had a prayer time, passed the plate for the offering, and sang another song. While the band played a final chorus, people left. It felt weird to leave without anyone at the door to shake our hands.
Powell United Methodist Church has a very good website and seems to be very active in missions and outreach. The worship was good but felt just a little off. Maybe because it was the third service of the day or maybe because I like to talk to the pastor a little after the service. I don’t know if John and Jackie will return, but we are willing to go with them wherever they decide to go.