The Search is Over

This morning we officially joined... First Baptist Bryan! We are very excited to have ended our church hunt and to start getting plugged in to a new church home. When we were "presented" to the congregation, Pastor Tim, or Brother Tim (I am officially Baptist now) said, "This is Kyle and Lindsay Newcomer," and everyone started chuckling. We are newcomers to the church. Our name is Newcomer. This joke doesn't bother me in the slightest, but I also have only had to hear it for 1 year, as opposed to 27 for poor Kyle. Maybe I'll be a "true" Newcomer when I get tired of the joke. But for now, I see it as a nice icebreaker. =)

It feels pretty strange to be joining such a big church, but we feel like it is the best place for us. Every week we go there, I feel kind of intimidated to walk into such a big place. I think, "What are we doing here? We aren't 'big church people.'" But every week I am humbled and refreshed to learn that although the music and order of worship is very different, the Gospel is just as sweet and just as true as it has been since the beginning of time. I really like Pastor Tim, both as a person and a preacher, and whenever he starts his sermon, I feel back at home and reminded that these people are not so different from me.

A funny thing about going to a church with 2,000 people is that while there are tons of people you don't know, there are also lots of people that you do know, often from really random places. I think we've been to FBC 5 times now, and I've seen 3 high school friends, 3 former classmates, the salesman that always waits on me from the Honda dealership, Kyle's great aunt, my sweetmate from freshman year, a teacher I used to tutor for, and a couple from a church we visited last summer. Weird, huh? I can't wait to see who else we run into!

We're not sure how exactly we're going to be involved in the church yet. All of the community groups in the church are going to be studying 40 Days of Community, which will be held in different people's homes. We met a really sweet couple at church last week who is hosting a group, so we signed up to be with them. We're a little bummed because it turns out that the Bible study is on the same night as Kyle's softball games, but the community group doesn't start until October, so we'll at least catch the first few games. We haven't settled on a Sunday school class, but we'll probably join the young married's class. And I'm sure that we'll volunteer for the nursery, but I think we have to do some sort of "class" before we can start that. We could be weirdos after all.

Please pray for us as we try to find ways to become involved in our new church. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for our church hunt!