Church Attendance - 090927 - Broadmoor Again

Today, I returned to Broadmoor Baptist Church; I wanted to see them once again, with their new Music Minister, Mike Haight.

And once again, I felt he's got a very good handle on things; he reminds me quite a bit of a young version of Buster Pray, at Crossgates. Very trim, full of enthusiasm.

The service opened with Gary Maze, the associate pastor, offering the opening prayer, over a nicely done background improv of piano and synthesizer, using themes from the first tune.

Please pardon me for an aside here about hair. Yes, you heard right, about hair.

Jan pointed out to me a lady a few rows ahead of me and about fifteen feet to the left, and said, "Her hair looks like she stuck her finger in a light socket." This is something I have said before, so she was just repeating it back to me.

It's about people who have a curly-perm in their hair, such that it looks like sprung springs, sticking up every which-way. Sure, I know this makes ladies' hair easy to take care of, but good grief! It really does look like she stuck her finger in a light socket.

And what's with men's hair looking like they stuck their finger in a light socket? My son did this for a while in high school, but thank goodness he's over that now. My former boss, who is barely on the south side of 60, "arranges" his hair this way, and Gary Maze, the associate pastor at Broadmoor, who may not be as old as I but is definitely old enough to have kids in college, does the same thing.

Here's what I think.

Some popular singing groups were just plain too lazy to do anything with their hair, so they cut it short and ignored it for a few months, including ignoring daily grooming, combing or brushing, or periodic trims. After about six weeks, when their hair was about an inch and a half long, they had a group picture made. They hadn't done anything with their hair in all that time, so it looked like they stuck their fingers in light sockets. These pictures became the "in" way to look, and youngsters everywhere began copying that look, because it was the in thing to do.

But it didn't stop there.

Other young people began copying the early-groupies, then more and more people wanted to be part of the in crowd, so it grew.

Then older people began copying the look, too. First, it was people who worked with youth, such as youth pastors or youth group advisors, who wanted to look this way so they could better relate to their charges. But then even older people began doing this for reasons of their own. Maybe they wanted to feel like they were still part of the young crowd? Maybe they thought it actually looks good? (Choke!) Maybe they are trying to reclaim their lost youth?

Who knows.

It is not my place to judge. So I'll try not to, even if it does look to me like they've been electrocuted.

So Gary Maze, with the electrocution-style hairdo, offered the opening prayer, then the synthesizer took over, playing the intro to the first song, "God Is Here."

The first tune turned out to be a concert tune, not a congregational participation tune. The choir and praise team sounded very good, and the orchestra played as well, but I could barely hear them. The congregation applauded after the tune.

It was a good "call to worship" tune, and while I feel it would have been even better with congregational involvement and more prominence for the orchestra, I did see that most of the congregation was feeling the spirit of the music and the Lord at the start of the service.

Following the first song, Pastor Rob (Futral) offered the welcome, over a nice background improv, starting with the piano, then gradually adding the synthesizer, the drums, and the bass, and finally the guitars at the end as the improv moved smoothly into the next tune, a somewhat disconcerting medley blending "Meet Us Here" with "Worthy Is The Lamb," using a melody that was close to what I'm used to, but not exactly the same.

I was not the only one disconcerted by this somewhat strange medley. I looked around at the congregation, and could see that only about 20% were singing, even when Mike urged them to sing along. Interestinly, I could see on many faces that they WANTED to sing, to participate, to get involved in the worship experience, but they just didn't know how.

The congregation at Broadmoor is very dedicated an wanting to be involved; they WANT to feel the spirit and be filled with it, and I believe they will get there. Pastor Rob is very good and very caring, and Mike Haight, although brand new and relatively young, is headed in the right direction.

I pray and sincerely hope they get there.

Following the medley, there were a few announcements as the choir and orchestra left, then Mike started singing a solo during the offertory, "Here In Your Presence." The solo evolved to including the praise team, then became a "teach the congregation this new song" event, with only moderate participation. Again, I could feel the people WANTING to participate, but not really sure either how or maybe that they should.

The reason for this particular song became evident as the song ended and Pastor Rob began to get into his message, because the song led beautifully into the subject of the message.

In his message, Pastor Rob spoke on Exodus and the three main sections of that book; on how the people of Israel decided to worship an idol they made with their hands instead of the One who delivered them from Egypt; and asked what idols we are worshipping in our own lives.

All in all, it was a good service, and I feel Broadmoor is in the very early stages of becoming a major force in many people's lives.

Yes, I'll probably go back again.