Sunday, September 11th

... I visited Centerpoint Church - Burleson, Texas.

Found the location on the internet. Also reviewed the site for design and content. I find it a little uncomfortable that their domain name is "www.ourpoint.org". I know that "www.centerpoint.org" is taken but I would advise them to consider "www.centerpoint-burleson.org" as a better alternative.

Their Worship service is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. I arrived approx. 9:40. I sat on a side street to observe the arrivals. There were a few drop-offs but most came in couples or women with their children. There were 26 vehicles in 36 parking spaces including 1 of 2 handicap spaces. I waited outside to enter just as services were starting (on purpose).

Childcare was provided via Nursery (birth thru 2 yrs), Minnowzpoint (pre-K), and Kidzpoint (K-4th). Older children (5th and up) and adults met in the Worship Center which was newly remodeled and looked great. Sight lines were good; volume was good. There were 39 in attendance including 2 in the sound booth. The church had recently removed the pews for nice, high quality, comfortable stacking chairs. I noticed that some had pockets on the back and some didn't. There were 124 chairs (not counting the 2 in the sound booth) which would allow for 100 comfortably.

They had their time for announcements (and perhaps welcome) before I came in. The music was daisy-chained with little transition between. The lead vocalist was a layman who seemed very confident and competent. He was accompanied by a woman vocalist, drummer, and guitarist. The atmosphere was very worshipful.

Following the music, the Interim Pastor led in prayer and shared a message from Luke 15. It was an interesting and refreshing approach to a very familiar passage. I intend to use the idea soon so I'll save the details.

He closed the message with a statement to the effect that if anyone wanted to respond he was available at the back of the auditorium after the service concluded. Then he led again in prayer followed by a closing song. Now. I've been Baptist for a long time. It seemed to me to be premature and anti-climatic eventhough for years that's exactly how I did youth services every week!

Following the closing song I spoke with several who greeted me cheerfully. All in all, it was a wonderful experience and I plan to attend again.