Unusual Church Services!

[RAIDER]

I'm sure we have all been in an unusual church service.  Maybe it was a "good" unusual.  Maybe it was a "bad" unusual.  Here is a thread where you can "tell us about it!".

*As always, one story per post.  Remember IAATN!! 

 

[RAIDER]

During the weekend I was in the Chicago Suburbs.  We had looked on the internet for an IFB church close to where we were staying.  We chose one based on their website.

The morning service started at 11:00.  The church was very small (35-40 people).  When we arrived we found out that the pastor was out of country on a mission's trip.  At that time I figured we were in trouble. 

A guy got up to start the service.  You could tell that he was not real comfortable in front of people.  The first thing he did was give announcements.  He then did a "call to worship" Scripture reading.  He finally had us stand for the first song.  He gave a short biography of the song and writer.  We bagan to sing and it was a total trainwreck.  Instead of singing a verse or two, he decided it would be best to sing every verse.  As is my custom, I was making quiet comments to cause my wife to laugh (and elbow me).

From here he took care of the offering and the responsive Scripture reading.  We also sang two more songs (every verse).  We heard a short biography of both songs and their writers.  By this time I was hoping that this guy wasn't preaching.

After the final song a secong guy approached the pulpit to preach.  He was very straight faced and monotone.  I'm sure he did his best, but the minutes dragged on.  I started thinking, "What would happen (other than my wife wanting to strangle me) if I would give a loud, 'Amen!'"?  Using my better judgment (for a change) I resisted.

High noon came and he kept going.  I started wondering what time this church normally dismissed.  He forced himself to keep going until exactly 12:15.  At this point he stopped and said, "Let's pray and be dismissed".  He prayed and that was the end of it.  An unusual service for sure! 

 

[RAIDER]

My family came to know the Lord when I was 8 years old.  My mom, dad, and sister were all saved within weeks of each other.  Mom and dad were so excited about the things of the Lord.  They had a lot of zeal with a limited amount of knowledge.

They would look in the local newspaper for revival services going on at any church in town.  We attended several of them.  I remember one service in particular.  I believe it was at a Church of God or Church of Christ.  There was an evangelist and a singing group there.  Mom and dad invited my elderly grandmother to go with us.  We sat in the second row.

The singing was great.  The preacher was wound up out of the gate.  While he was preaching a woman walked down the aisle and started speaking in tongues.  She started getting crazier by the second.  Her husband came up to get her.  Finally the preacher came down from the platform and smacked her.

My grandmother was scared to death!  I can still see her standing up and saying, "I'm getting out of here!" while my mom pulled her back down into the pew and tried to calm her down.  It was a classic moment and made for great stories at school.

 

[Lone Ranger]

One Friday evening a handful of us went with Bro Vineyard to a colored church in South Chicago where he was the special speaker. It was a friendly church, but we were definitely out of place and sat together on the back row. The unusual part came when they took the offering. Instead of passing the plates, the ushers dismissed the congregation by rows to file by the front of the auditorium and put their offering in a box sitting on the communion table. We stayed in our seats while they sang a few verses of a song and the people filed by. When they were done the pastor looked into the box, declared it wasn't enough, and had them do it again. After the second time through he was satisfied with the amount, and the service continued. When we were back at the dorm we laughed about it, suspecting the pastor didn't want to be embarrassed by giving Bro Vineyard a small love offering.

 

[RAIDER]

One Friday evening a handful of us went with Bro Vineyard to a colored church in South Chicago where he was the special speaker. It was a friendly church, but we were definitely out of place and sat together on the back row. The unusual part came when they took the offering. Instead of passing the plates, the ushers dismissed the congregation by rows to file by the front of the auditorium and put their offering in a box sitting on the communion table. We stayed in our seats while they sang a few verses of a song and the people filed by. When they were done the pastor looked into the box, declared it wasn't enough, and had them do it again. After the second time through he was satisfied with the amount, and the service continued. When we were back at the dorm we laughed about it, suspecting the pastor didn't want to be embarrassed by giving Bro Vineyard a small love offering.

I attended a camp meeting preaching service several years ago and they had the ushers pass a boot instead of an offering plate.  They immediately counted the offering and told the amount to the pastor.  He said, "Pass it again".  I believe they passed the boot three times.

 

[sword]

When traveling in the south in the late 70's & 80's, I would often visit Tabernacle Baptist Church, Greenville, SC.
The pastor was Dr. Harold B. Sightler.

Every service at Tabernacle was unusual by today's standards.

 

[Fresh Air]

I think the most unusual (in a good way) service I was ever in was the night at Pastors' School where Bro. Johnson quoted the entire book of Revelation.

...it was breathtaking.

 

[BALAAM]

I think the most unusual (in a good way) service I was ever in was the night at Pastors' School where Bro. Johnson quoted the entire book of Revelation.

...it was breathtaking.

I WAS THERE!!

 

[BALAAM]

I came from a small church in the country. We once had a young man come to candidate for the pastorate of our church. He taught the auditorium class and I was in a different class. When we came out for the morning service several people were ready to leave because they said the guy was extremely dry. He preached the morning service until 12:30 and it was boring as all get out. We normally dismissed at 11:45.

At the evening service we were normally out at 8:30. About 8:45 we thought he was wrapping up and started getting the kids coats together. He went another 45 minutes! Can't recall anything he said except to get your roots a little deeper. Never heard about him after that. I thought it was just extremely unusual to candidate at a church and preach both services 45 - 60 minutes longer than normal. And it was BORING.

 

[patriotic]

I think the most unusual (in a good way) service I was ever in was the night at Pastors' School where Bro. Johnson quoted the entire book of Revelation.

...it was breathtaking.

I was there too.  I've stated before that my then-nearly 70 year old father quoted pretty much the whole book along with him.  My mom was unimpressed because all seven of us children learned and could quote several entire books of the Bible and she knew we could do the same thing. 

I was still impressed at that service though.  I LOVE listening to the Bible being read or quoted.  It often takes on meaning that is easily ignored during silent reading. 

 

[patriotic]

My family had gone to a special service at a church where a friend who was slightly educable slow had invited us.  We had brought her to our church on multiple occasions and I think she was trying to reciprocate our kindness. 

My then-seven year old niece went along with us.  She has never been one to whisper softly, much less so when she was a child. 

First, the song service was rather dry - much like Raider described in one of his stories above.  We sang every verse.  Then they read some Scripture.  It was a version other than King James, but I don't know which one.  My niece looked at me and whispered loudly, "He's reading the wrong words."  The lady in front of us had another version too, and she looked back and said, "I agree."  (She did not have the King James either, but a different one than the man reading.)

Then the special soloist got up to sing.  The recorded music started and the soloist started making out with the microphone, moving his hand up and down it with his eyes closed.  Then he started singing - his eyes closed the whole time. 

My niece looked at me and asked in her loud whisper, "Aunt Patriotic, is that man blind?"

The people in the whole row in front of us started giggling and laughing.  They knew the man and had to tell him afterwards. 

 

[patriotic]

While on a family vacation in a New England state, we tried to locate a church to attend from the local phone book.  We located one that actually provided a bit of a map for us to find them. 

We and our four young children arrived in time for the morning worship service.  There was no Sunday school listed, and there were maybe 25 people there including our family of 6.  The pews were set up in a somewhat of an "L" shape in the room.  We were on the second pew directly facing the pulpit area. 

The service again was somewhat dry, but he people were really kind.  They even had a hand-shaking time in the service like southern churches do. 

The white preacher kept referring to this one lady as Big Mama.  (There were some actual "big" mamas there, but this one was actually rather petite. Big Mama found out we were from our state and started asking us if we had been to the Derby and won anything betting on the horses.  She had gone to the Derby once and won and would LOVE to go again.) 

Along the "L" shaped pews sat a few people, one older black gentleman in particular who was dressed in dapper fashion and had a fedora with a red feather on the pew beside him.  About 3/4 through the message that day, this gentleman picked up his fedora and placed it on his knee.  Under his hat was a brown paper sack.  He unscrewed a top off a bottle in that brown paper sack and took a drink right there in church! 

After the sermon was concluded, they went right into serving the Lord's Supper.  I don't know if he had grape juice left over from filling the communion cups in that paper sack or what, but regardless of what it was, it sure was cause for my husband's and my eyes to grow very wide.  Our children still talk about that family vacation church service.

 

[Binaca Chugger]

I think the most unusual (in a good way) service I was ever in was the night at Pastors' School where Bro. Johnson quoted the entire book of Revelation.

...it was breathtaking.

I WAS THERE!!

so was I!  It was the first time this HB punk uttered an AMEN!

That service was more than breathtaking - something special happened.  I can only call it the very real presence of the Holy Spirit calling people to an adoration of our great God.