PINEVILLE – Pastor Keith Dickens rubbed two foot-long blocks of wood against each other in one of three sermon illustrations.
By Karen Willoughby
Managing editor
PINEVILLE – Pastor Keith Dickens rubbed two
foot-long blocks of wood against each other in one of three sermon
illustrations.
If Jesus wants you to go in this direction, and you
go in the opposite, that creates friction, Dickens explained. But when
you go in the direction Jesus wants you to go, there’s no friction and
everything goes so much more smoothly.
That illustration made an impression on me last week
when I visited Donahue Family Church, a Southern Baptist congregation –
they give 5 percent of their undesignated offerings to missions through
the Cooperative Program, the SBC’s acclaimed method of supporting
global missions.
I visited Donahue Family Church the day after I
moved into my new-to-me home because it seemed to be the nearest
Southern Baptist church.
I’ll be visiting churches nearly every week as part
of my job. The thought occurred to me that you might like to know
what’s going on in other worship services, and besides, describing
those services would be another way of telling stories of Louisiana
Southern Baptists. Editor Kelly Boggs agreed, so for the next several
weeks or more I’ll be describing for you what I see and experience at
Sunday worship services across Louisiana.
From my small church comfort zone I was a bit taken
aback to see so many spaces marked for visitors near the Donahue Family
church entrance, but I squared my shoulders and stepped out of the car.
An unnamed greeter materialized; he handed me off to another, who
handed me off to the welcome center, where I filled out a card and was
given a purple gift bag. Two more unnamed people greeted me on my way
into the sanctuary, which felt much cozier than I had anticipated.
I sat next to a woman who after I introduced myself
said she was Michelle; she’d been attending the church for about a year
because she liked it, she said. No pressure, she added.
What stays warmly in my mind about Donahue Family
Church was the great worship, complete with a colors-and-designs light
show projected on the walls and ceiling of the otherwise unremarkable
worship center. I think it was the sincerity of Kevin Ray Williams’
voice and his words as he also played the keyboard – part of a
10-person praise team – that put me in a spirit of genuine worship.
Dressed in a blue shirt with black vertical stripes,
Dickens straddled a chair as he preached from Philippians 1:1-11 on
“How to increase your joy.”
His points: Be single-minded (keep your focus on
Jesus rather than yourself); love others; be spiritually discerning;
and develop mature Christian character.
This is a church with a big vision. A
professionally-created video shown during the worship time of plans for
new construction told me this wasn’t a “business as usual” church.
They’re planning for a worship center that will fit 2,000 or more
people at one time, and one day a university, as the church adds
over time to the recently opened K-6 Cenla Christian Academy.
“Win and Grow People” is Donahue Family Church’s
motto; “Imagine a place …” is its visionary statement. I’m
reminded of another of the pastor’s illustrations. He had three water
glasses on a small chrome table, one with water in it.
Think of that water as Jesus, he said. He poured it
into the second glass – representing “you,” – and asked, what
would happen to that water if it just sat there? Over time it would get
stagnant or evaporate. But if poured into another glass – another
person – then it wouldn’t get stagnant, and there would be room
in your glass for more!
Impressive worship; preaching I could grow from. Two thumbs up.
Next week: Coping with the cold and a new pastor, in what essentially is a restart in New Orleans.