Remember the Church Lady?  Funny skit on Saturday Nite Live, was’t it?  Unfortunately, that is often the image society has of church people: stodgy, uptight, unrealistic, even spastic.  Maybe they’re right sometimes, but not about MY church people.  Keep reading.  I know you don’t believe me, but bear with me, because I’m inviting you to come and see for yourselves. 

I attend Richland Creek Community Church, not because it’s a great big building with lots of people and activity, but first and foremost because I want to worship God.  There’s a lot of God worshipping at Richland Creek!  There’s straightforward, down to earth, loving, Biblical worship there.  Further, I want to worship God in the context of His creation, which means if I look around me and see all white faces, that’s not representative.  At Richland Creek, I look around and see so many nations represented, so many skin colors, that I can’t keep track of them all.  THAT’S representative and THAT’S fulfilling to me.  I like hearing people pray with an accent, sometimes so thick it’s hard to understand to my Southern ears.  If God spoke to me, I’m pretty sure He wouldn’t have a Southern accent, and that’s just fine with me.

Our pastor and his team are the best I’ve ever encountered, a HUGE blessing to me.  And I’ve heard a lot of preachers in my time.  David Sims is truly a Godly man who genuinely loves people and has a burden for their salvation.  He doesn’t just preach it, he DOES it.  He is surrounded by staff with hearts bigger than the building in which we congregate and the congregation are like family.  I know; you’ve heard THAT before.  But here, you feel that when you step inside the church: God is there.  That, as you know, is not always the case.

I lived in what I consider to be the worst town in the country, and was never invited to church while I lived there, even when I ASKED people about their church.  I know.  Strange.  But from day one at Richland Creek Community Church, people reached out to me, not knowing that I was in desperate need of that kind of touch at the time.  I never felt like an outsider.  Not once.  There are miriad small groups there, just itching for you to come and join in. It’s very casual in some ways, but the strongest I’ve encountered in others.  It’s about Godly love.

Richland Creek Community Church is the smallest big church I’ve ever attended.  It’s sort of strange.  We have so many people there that we have to have police to get us OUT at the end of services; yet, you feel as though it’s a small church.  Doesn’t make sense, but it’s true.  Don’t believe me?  Come and see for yourself.

Want to know the context of Biblical teaching?  Pastor David Sims gives you that.  He’s never wrong in his Greek translations and definitions, he’s funny and eloquent and his heart is right there for anyone to examine.  He walks us through the Bible, line-by-line, as he says, and we always leave better than when we went in.

There’s a super strong community service initiative at my church.  We are always doing something to lift up the community…and we have a BIG community.  Sometimes, I’m amazed at the outreach we do, in addition to Missions…which is the heart of our church: Discipleship.

Music has always been a strong ministry to me, makes me cry when it’s really good.  I cry a lot at this church. hahaha.  I attend the blended service, where we have both a choir and a small orchestra.  The orchestra is made up of people of all ages and backgrounds and I love watching them serve the Lord with music.  It gives me a lot of joy.  In the choir we have four ‘boomers’ as I call them: Men whose voices can fill the sanctuary.  When all four are there at the same time, I know I’m gonna cry!  Hahaha.  The choir is amazing when they’re all there together. 

We have traditional, blended, and what I call the ‘rock and roll’ service.  I’ve attended two of three service types, even though I never thought ‘rock and roll’ would do it for me.  But the service is wonderful and there are some of the most BEAUTIFUL voices in the congregation I have ever heard.  Okay, it’s not REALLY rock and roll, but you get the idea.  It’s a packed service.  The music is different, more contemporary, but the MESSAGE is the same.

Want to wear jeans and flip flops? You can, here.  I don’t, but I do wear slacks most of the time.  It’s comfortable and I don’t think God is a fashion policeman.  I believe He looks at hearts.

Someone asked what was going on at our church that we are growing so fast and always so BUSY there…as though we were doing something strange.  Simple: It’s God’s house and we who attend there really respect that.  And we really do care about one another.  We call ourselves ‘Creekers’ and that means something really big to us.  It means we are connected and we have each others’ backs.  And we would like for you to join us.

So consider this an invitation.  Richland Creek Community Church on Burlington Mills Road in Raleigh.  Four services; choose your favorite.  As for other activities?  Too many to mention.  Go online and check us out, find the service you would like and check out our small groups. Come for a Free Pizza Friday sometime, download our app, check us out.  We’d really love to have you join us.

I overheard some college students talking about the economy.  Stop laughing.  I did.  I heard college students talking about the economy.  The focus was on jobs, since the one they were doing at the time was barely above minumum wage.  The conversation went something like this.

Like, I KNOW I’m smarter than like MOST of the…like…OTHER people who applied.  Like, the dude came out and like TOLD me I was like PERKY enough for the job.  And I was like, wow, thanks for calling me PERKY.  There were some, like, OLD people trying to like, get this job too.  And I’m like, what were THEY doing there?  And you know what was like WEIRD?  I told the dude that I was like YOUNG and so I like looked at things DIFFERENT than like old people.  He said something about a store display, like whether I liked it or not, and I said, I guess I like it because I’m like YOUNG. And then like, the only thing he said was I was like PERKY enough for the job. Which was like cool, but like, I thought he should like HIRE me.  I’m like really curious why he didn’t hire me.  Like, I can definitely do the job.  Seriously.  And, like, I will graduate in just a year.  DUDE, I just don’t get it.  And you know what’s WEIRD?  One of those like OLD people got hired.  DUDE!

To which the other student replied something like this:

Like, I’ll be finished with my BS degree and like, I’m going right into my masters degree.  So, like, when I start job hunting, like, I should have nooo problems.  Like, I want to get my education done like first.

So.  If I ever interview you… and I might someday… and you use the word “like”, you’re not hired, dude.

By the way, I know college students who have very intelligently thought out perspectives on the economy and you know…they have GREAT jobs.  They don’t say “dude”, except in fun, and they don’t pepper their entire sentence structure with “like”, either.  Come to think of it, I really LIKE these kids, too, and that’s how you use that word.

Now for the OTHER issue:

Advertising your youth the way this kid did is like showing off your lobotomy scar.  If you are a recent graduate, your brain isn’t even finished yet.  The intelligent among you already know that.  You others, don’t bash old people.  Seek their wisdom instead, because, contrary to popular belief, we have it…lots of it…  You could benefit from it if you saved all of the time you use up saying “like”, and listen instead.  DUDE!  I’m a genius.