ChurchSearch: Round 1, Week 4

Today I visited Custer Road UMC in Plano, TX. It is the largest of the churches I have attended. Size has its benefits and its drawbacks.

Distance 9.7 miles
Travel time: less than 20 minutes; easy to get to on major roads.

The narthex was bustling with people and I did not see any designated greeters. After a few minutes I went in and sat down on a row near the back where another single woman was sitting. Another unaccompanied woman came in a joined me as the service was beginning, so I did not get into conversation with her until later.

The music was glorious. CRUMC has a magnificent pipe organ and an organist who knows how to play it. The choir sang a Mozart piece which was nicely balanced with no voices standing out. The offertory was a solo by a very accomplished young woman singer. I especially enjoyed the hymns, "Let All Things Their Creator Bless," " Great is Thy Faithfulness" (my all-time favorite) , and in closing, "Here I Am Lord," which fit the sermon text in Isaiah.

Although large screens are present at the sides of the choir loft and altar area, they were not used as cheat sheets for hymns and liturgy. They were instead used to provide a better view of the speakers and choir, for those who might not be able to see. I can live with this use of media. The other compromise I will obviously have to make is that of accepting that congregations are going to applaud the musical selections. I don't care for it, but it seems to be the norm here. FUMC Jackson may have been one of the last hold-outs in this area.

The sermon was engaging and the children's sermon was tailored to deliver the same message.

I felt very ambivalent about the church until after the service. I was thinking that I wished I could have the music of CRUMC, the preaching at First McKinney, and the friendliness of the people at Frisco. But I also realize that for me, a single woman, the key to feeling at home in a church is going to be the small groups I affiliate with. I have learned to be assertive about introducing myself and not just expecting that someone will somehow figure out that I am a visitor and approach me. With that resolve, I introduced myself to one of the Associate Pastors, Leslie Herrscher, and as we chatted, I found that she was in seminary with Charlie Overton. When she found out I was interested in choir, she took me to meet the Minister of Music and gave me a brief tour of the facility as we searched for him. Turns out Tim (Morrison) was one of Charlie's profs at Perkins, so he was also very welcoming and encouraging me to come to choir.

On the way home I had much of the same feeling I had the first time I visited FUMC Jackson, that I had found my church home. Now I have a decision to make: I had planned to start Round 2 next week by visiting SS classes in the churches I had already visited. Now I am not sure I want to. I think I might just go to the visitor's class at CRUMC next week and begin to make friends there. Of the 4 churches I have visited, I think CR has most of what I am looking for.