March 14 - Good Shepherd Community Church, Boring, Oregon

T sez:

The church was very modern and very well maintained. It was comfortable - the chairs in the worship area were very comfortable - you forgot you were even at church (I am used to hard wooden pews and the older I get the harder they get!)

They had a little coffee shop where before the service you could get coffee and bring it into the service (bonus!) and if you are visiting for the first time it's free coffee for you - anything you want - I had a mocha - it was really good.

Their music and singers were really good. They have two screens up with the words of the songs so you can sing along. They had people playing guitars, drums, horns, piano and great singers - it was very moving. For me, I could have done with a little less music and more preaching.

The people of the church are very friendly but not over the top friendly - I felt very comfortable there - their attire is casual which I love.

The sermon was great - he really helped you understand what is written in the passage of that day and was very interesting- he gave you another way to think about it. The passage was about Slaves and Masters and that we should treat everybody like they are Jesus. That is a good way to live!

Really liked the minister - he was young and had a lot of good energy. I had been there before and the other minister was the same but he was funnier and we laughed a lot.

Ethnic mix? not much.

Overall I really liked the church and felt very comfortable and that is important to me. I don't want to feel like I came to someone's house uninvited and they are like, "what are you doing here?" and making me feel out of place. So, for me, this was a very good experience.

K sez:

The free mocha for visitors is definitely a plus. I can live without being able to drink coffee during church, though, that should not be such a big deal.

I missed the concrete things that we get at a Catholic church - holy water at the entrance, communion (which I consider my dosage of "vitamin J"), participating in the service more (with the prayers we recite together).

I was surprised to see that the words of their songs matched a lot of the songs we sing every Sunday at a Catholic church. And they were really promoting a Sunday evening "communion" which sure sounded a lot like Adoration to me. Hmm....

I do not like reading words off of a screen - I need a book with musical notes so I know how the song is supposed to sound. So it was hard for me to sing along. And the volume of the guitars, drums, trumpets, trombones and synthesizers kinda drowned out the sound of people's voices.

The people dressed well - and the parking lot was packed although the hall was not - we wondered where all those people were. The church seems to have a lot of extra programs to offer people - not just Bible studies but groups for grieving people, groups for separated and divorce people, basketball games for the guys. It seemed to give people a lot more ways to connect than just go to church on Sunday.

I was VERY surprised to find that this church only read five verses from the Bible. Non-Catholics always criticize our church by saying that we don't read the Bible but every Sunday we read a big chunk of the Old Testament, another big chunk out of one of Paul's letters, then a third big passage from the Gospel. How can it be that there is more Bible reading going on at the Catholic church than a "bible-based church?"

The things I liked best about this church were, hands down, the delicious mocha and the super comfortable padded chairs instead of pews. Catholic churches take note! Would it kill us to cushion the seats a little? There is one church in Central Oregon, LaPine, maybe? can't remember. Anyway - they had padded pews and it was awesome.