How to Find a Good Church Week 6

bless this time that we have now. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right, we are on pages 19 and 20 of the notes. And uh I wanted to start by reading 1 Timothy 3:15. We're not going to have as many scriptures on this page because all we're going to teach here is based on what we've already taught. We've already gone through the scriptures and all uh the title lessons how to find the church. Uh many of you here when you um in the military you will move and when you move you have to look for a new church. So, how do you do that? And maybe you uh will know somebody's looking for church. Somebody just asked me today, do you know of a church in this area we can recommend to somebody?

And and how do you how do you find that? And how do you find a good church? And um it's important wherever we go, we find the church. Uh those of you in the military, when you transfer, you're not just in the army or the navy or the air force or whatever branch it is. You have a very specific unit that you're a part of, that you have accountability to, that you have responsibilities with. And the same thing is true with church. And so wherever you go, you need to find a local church that I'm going to commit to and be a part of as well. In some places that's easy because there's really only one choice in the town.

Uh other places it's it's more difficult because there's many choices. And uh so how do you narrow that down? In 1 Timothy chapter 3:15, it says, "But if I tar long that thou oughtest made that thou mayest know how thou oughtest behave thyself in the house of God, the church of the living God, the pillar in the ground the truth." God's plan for today is a local church. And he wants us to be apart, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together as a manner of summit. So we need to find that that right church to look for. And so I'm going to give you some guidelines. Uh I'll tell you that even for me uh when we have people transferred they'll tell me well we're moving to this city or this town or this area what can you recommend?

Even for me it's difficult uh sometimes to know sometimes it's really easy because we got a former church member there and I say well these are family start with them and uh go to their church. Uh sometimes it's more you know I'll know of a pastor in that area but often I'm going blind just kind of looking there. And there's a couple of websites I go to uh that are helpful, but there's really not one that fits all. Uh the probably the one that I've used the most is is a website called um military gets saved. I think it's.com, but it's military gets saved. And they've got a lot of different things on there.

And one is they've got a list of churches. The problem with a list of churches is um keeping up with it. It pastors change, churches change. One that was a good church 10 years ago is not. uh they're going by what information they have. They may not know the church personally and the church claims to be a church of like faith and practice is not. And uh so you have to do your own due diligence, but usually you can go in. Other times I'll go and I'll type in the the city or the area and uh look for independent fundamental Baptist churches and see what what comes up there. Uh and and and and all the the the frustrating thing is when a church doesn't have a website.

Um, you know, I wish churches would understand that today's world, uh, you're not real if you're not on virtual reality. Uh, if you don't have a website, then as far as people concerned, you don't you don't exist. And, uh, and and so sometimes it's hard to look them up. And then a lot of churches may not be up todate on their website. Uh, they've got one that's was built back in the early 2000s and and uh, don't have a lot of good information on there or whatever, but it is a starting place. And so the internet is helpful. Uh before we had it was a a harder struggle to do that. And so just each each time it's a little bit different in doing it.

But I I will start with with personal recommendations and then I'll go on the internet as well and look it up. And what where I start at is I'm looking for independent Baptist churches. And so I look for identifying words in their advertising. And uh so I'm going to look for the word independent as we talked about. Uh, I want a church that is uh is is an independent church. That's what I am. Now, there are many denominational churches that are independent in their beliefs and they're right down the line with us. They might be a Southern Baptist or some other organization and and that's that's not where I'm going to stop at, but I'm going to generally start there.

And um and I and I might look a little further out to see what else is out there, but uh you know, I'm going to start with looking for that word. So, I'll type in independent Baptist Church is usually the first thing I'll type in there and uh looking for and then if I don't find a good set of choices or uh I need to expand then I'll start looking at other uh churches and that are part of uh different groups or all but I'm usually going to look for a Baptist church uh and and and all and I'll talk about that in just a moment. Second thing I'm looking for is a church that calls themselves either fundamental.

We talked about that how that word's kind of gone into disused today and and and and is misinterpreted. So they may use the word biblicist or Bible preaching or something along that line. Uh I want a church that takes a strong stand on a fundamental faith is not ashamed to do so. Now I will again warn you like I did last week is a lot of fundamental churches. It's not about believing the fundamentals of faith. It's about having certain standards that you got to abide by that are their standards and and most fundamental churches are going to have churches that have standards, but in some churches that becomes more important than what they believe is is what you do or don't do.

And so, um I I do try to be careful with that word, but I'll I'll often use that in my search. Thirdly, letter C. I I want a church that somewhere in their advertising to say something along this line. Bible believing or andor Bible preaching uh is going to be the thing that I'm looking for. Is there emphasis on the word of God and not a creed or a covenant or man's wisdom? And so most churches that are going to be good Bible preaching churches are going to say that we preach the Bible, we teach the Bible, we emphasize on the Bible and and and doing that. And so that's one of the things I'm going to uh be looking for.

And then I'm going to look for Baptists. That's where I'm going to start. There are some Bible churches that are just as Baptist as Baptist churches, even more so. Um, and like I told you earlier in the lesson, there are there's a there's a movement to take the word Baptist out of the name uh because people get in their mind a Baptist and they get certain pictures in their minds. And so because of that, they won't they won't even go to a Baptist church. And and and and I I still believe in truth and advertising. I call myself a Baptist because that's what I am, that's what I believe. But, you know, there are some good churches that don't use the word Baptist.

There are good churches that don't call themselves a Baptist church, but they are. But again, that's going to that's going to put a red flag up, and I'm going to want to do a little more research on that church than I would on one that uses these words here. And so, I'm looking for those first of all. And um, one of the things that I've found over the years is I I use caution with churches that have very unusual names. Now, sometimes they'll have unusual names because where they're located. Podunk Baptist Church is located in Poduck, Kentucky or whatever, uh or they're, you know, some other name like that.

And sometimes they'll have a name that goes with that cultural aspect. uh here in Hawaii, some of the names of churches are very uh for especially for a mainlander are are very difficult and they're very challenging and and uh that's why we one of the reasons we chose ohana not because only because we wanted to be in ohana but because it was an easy word for even how to come you know understand and um and so when they get churches like the city of refuge a church of perfect liberty that usually means they're charismatic and we've talked about charismatic and the fact is they're going to be things like speaking in tongues they're going to have a little bit more of a of a entertainment style of music and things like that.

So, I'm usually careful when they get these strange names in there. They're usually trying to set themselves apart in in a way that I'm not looking for. Um, and then number F there is independent churches that are non-denominational may be good, but churches that define them identify themselves as interdenominational usually not. So, you want to look for the terms. non-denominational seems we're not a part of a denomination. Interdenominational comes that compromise we're talking about where they're going to work with about everybody and and we don't care about what you believe. We'll just kind of look for a lowest common denominator.

And so I'm going to look for non-denominational versus interdenominational especially if they don't use the word Baptist. And then um I watch out for catchphrases again like spiritfilled or kingdom of God or charismatic or worship or praise music. Not that these are bad things themselves, but usually churches that talk about spiritfilled, they're usually put more emphasis on the Holy Spirit than they do Jesus Christ. Remember Jesus said, "The Holy Spirit's going to come, but what's he going to do? He's going to point to me." The Holy Spirit doesn't emphasize himself. Uh he doesn't hide and we want to talk about the Holy Spirit and who he is and how he works in our lives, but the Holy Spirit's whole job is to point us to Jesus and emphasize Jesus.

And so when a church is about the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, again, they're usually charismatic. They're usually doing things that are kind of off-the-wall sometimes. And and so that's one of the things I'm I'm going to again, if I see that phrase, again, it's not a bad thing. I would say I'm spiritfilled. I want to be spiritfilled. It's not a bad phrase, but if they really emphasize that, there usually a reason why. Uh the kingdom of God, when they talk about the kingdom, it's usually because they think that somehow they're going to bring the kingdom in. Again, I I'm I'm praying for the kingdom of God to come.

I'm looking forward to that. Um, but many churches that emphasize that it is because that they think somehow they're they they are the kingdom of God. And Charismatic again is a is a church that usually will speak in tonesues. And we do not believe in the in tongues as is practiced today. We believe in the glossa, the dialecttos, the ability supernaturally through God to be able to speak and be understood in a language you don't know and and and all but not in an unknown angelic language that just kind of gibberish. And so, uh, usually they're going to be that. Usually, also when you see the phrase worship and praise, uh, they're usually going to be an entertainmentbased church where they're going to have a big band up front, a big rock concert going on, uh, things like that.

and and that's not what I'm looking for. And um I want a church that that does worship God and we believe in worshiping God and we talk about worship and we talk about praise and we believe in praising God. But when that becomes your catchphrase, that's when you want to kind of red flags go up and say, "Okay, let me look a little closer here." And so that's what I I I tend to look for. So I'm looking for what do they advertise? What do they say about themselves? They and and there's other keys words I'm looking for as well that identify their their culture as well as their philosophy. Uh do do they talk about being friendly about welcoming people?

Uh do they you know are there things like this that they're emphasizing too? Now that's something you're more so going to see when you visit the church. But when you're on the website you can the things that they put on the website are saying this is what we want you to know about us. you know, it's really what what you're putting out there. And and so when when I look at their website, what are the pictures they're putting up there? What is the what is the emphasis? What is the focus of that? What do they talk about? Um and and and doing that. So, there's things I'm looking for there. So, it helps save me some time uh and in narrowing down the churches I'm going to go visit in as as well.

and and sometimes it is good also to go into Facebook and see their Facebook page if they have one because again you'll be able to see a little bit more of uh who they are and what they emphasize and and and all uh from that aspect. Now, most church's Facebook pages are not up to date either. And the last picture was Easter of two years ago or something along that line. And so, um, understand that that but that also tells you a little bit about their their church as well. And, um, I also go sometimes I'll go look at, uh, I want to see, um, a sermon. Uh, I want to watch a service and see a sermon.

How many of you before you came to Ohana watched one of our sermons or services online? Uh, a few of you did. and and that's a helpful thing as well to see a little bit about what they are before you even go there and uh and help you look at. So there's just different things I'm going to look for on their website or on their advertising uh with Google, especially with Yelp. Uh they will show pictures that they've posted online and you can see some of the pictures of the church and and all and you can also see ratings. Be careful with ratings as the four or five stars or whatever. We usually have good ratings, but one lady rated us three stars and and and I wanted to see why and she read friendly church, good Bible preaching, but I didn't like their style of music and so she rated us three stars instead of five.

And so, uh, you got to be careful of that because, you know, you want to see why are they actually rating it that way. Uh, and sometimes people just got something in their craw and they want to make it. So, you got to be careful of that. But it is helpful. And so these are the things I look for ahead of time and doing searches on looking around for. I want to narrow my choice. Now, if you're moving down south somewhere, you're going to have to narrow your choice because there's a church about on every corner and even Independent Baptist Church on every corner. And so you you have to kind of narrow it down.

If you're going to certain other areas, um you might have to really broaden it out and say, "Well, there's not much choice here, so I've got to give myself some extra choices." I usually like to narrow it down to six or less churches. And then after I visit those six, then if I haven't found the church that's right for me, I can expand my search a little bit. But I try to narrow down because you could spend someplace you can spend weeks and even months visiting churches and and you got to be careful of that as well. Uh you want to get in as soon as you can. And and so there's just certain catchphrases and things I look at.

Um number two there, what to look for look at when you visit a church. Now again I can do this online with many churches as well. I if I can before I go I want to look at their doctrinal statement and their constitution. They're two separate documents. The doctrinal statement says this is what we believe. The constitution is how we operate and and I want to see both of those areas. I want to understand what they believe and I want to understand a little bit of how they operate as a church. Is it a pastor-ledd church or a deaconled church? Is it is it very do they have all kinds of rules and and you got to go by or they kind of minimal and that but have a clear set of guidelines to guide them

and and so I'm going to you know not the first visit not the first search but when I go back and kind of narrow down okay these are the churches I want to look closer at then I'll go back and look at that and and most churches on their website will have at least an abbreviated doctrinal statement it may not give you we have a a detailed document say a doctrinal statement And then online we have more of a brief one and then you can click to get the full one. And so I I like to look at the brief one first and then once as I look more at the church I'll go to the full one later on. Uh but I want to look at those documents.

I want to look at the programs they emphasize. Do they have some kind of a soulwinning or outreach program? are are, you know, when you look at them uh online and when you look at them at purposes, this is a church that's really committed to reaching out to their community. There's a lot of churches that are really more clubs. We're a club for us and and they're really not interested in in reaching out and and reaching new people and and reaching their community. Uh sometimes you you'll you a lot of churches um you're looking do they have a door-todoor ministry or or do they have some other kind of community?

We don't do doortodoor because of a lot of reasons here. Uh it's challenging. It's difficult. We've done it in the past and Ricky's his result of that uh for one and we praise God for that. But usually we go out door to door. We may get one or two houses where somebody's even home. Uh or we'll answer or there's not a beware of dog sign with a barking dog about to take your head off. And uh locked up communities. We can't go door to door in the military communities and and all. So what we've done is we've done so the sign waving which has been very effective for us and we do these outreaches like at Halloween and the snow day we're going to do and on Veterans Day we're going to give away a thousand hot dogs.

So you know you're looking for that kind of community outreach where they're concerned with reaching out beyond themselves and their little group. Um do they have a strong missions program? Most churches online will either mention something about missions or they'll even have a link where you can look at their missionaries. And so I want to see do they are they are they committed to reaching all the world their Jerusalem and Judea Samaria and all the world and uh and and so is there a missions program do they have missionaries and here's another thing I do is I look if I can see their missionaries I I look and see number one do I know any of them because if if they've got for example Dalton Heath as a missionary I know hey that's probably a good church because if they want Dalton they then I I I like them already.

um he's one of our missionaries or one of the other ones. But I also look at the mission boards. Do they support BIM, Baptist International Missions Incorporated? Do they have missionaries from that? I may not know the missionary, but the I know the board and I know it's good. And there's about five or six different mission boards. And if you're not familiar with them, you can find that out and that'll help you to narrow it down. when I I see missionaries from that they're supporting those kind of missionaries, then they're probably going to be more in line with what I'm looking for as well. Um I I want to see do do they have some kind of a Bible teaching outreach?

Uh do they do Sunday school? Now, there are some churches that don't do Sunday school anymore, and that's not necessarily um because they're they're compromised. They're not a good church anymore. Uh there may be reasons why um because of their dynamics of of where they meet at. Some churches they can only get it for an hour uh and they can't have Sunday school as well and they're meeting in in a buildings rented or whatever for Sunday. Uh other there's there's many reasons why, but generally I want to find the church that still has Sunday school. If if they don't, I want to know why they don't.

Now they may not call it Sunday school. They may call it life groups or something else. And that's okay. Um, again, when they use these catchphrases, you want to find out why are they using it? Like we we call for years we would call this room the auditorium. I still do. But we also now call it the worship center. And because that's what more people are familiar with now than just the auditorium. And and so there's nothing wrong with that. But you sometimes churches will use those kind of things as catchphrases and and they've really kind of caught into a whole movement of that rather than doing it for the right reasons.

But anyways, do they have Sunday school? That's one of the questions I have. Do they have a Sunday night service? Again, a church that doesn't have Sunday service doesn't make them bad, but when you only have one service on a Sunday, I I'm asking myself, why? Uh, you know, and and I realize that again, people are busy today. I I'll be honest with you, back 30 years ago, um you know, it was three to thrive. You know, you'd go Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and actually Wednesday as well. Uh you know, you just that was normal for most Christians. Today's world, it's not. And you could tell that on our Sunday nights, we're not you there was a point in church where we had probably 80% of our Sunday morning crowd on a Sunday night.

Now, we don't have that now. One reason because and there's a reason why is because we have the W pahu chapel. So that's for a lot of people their Sunday afternoon evening service and so they come here Sunday morning they go there Sunday afternoon they don't come back on Sunday night and and that's great and um and all but again and we have a lot of visitors and so they're new new and stuff but the point is why don't they have a Sunday night service and and I want to look at that. Did they have uh Bible studies during the week or Wednesday night? Most churches again for many many years it was a Wednesday night service and uh you know maybe th we for a while we had to do Thursday night because that was the only night we could get the building we were using and that and you know and some people were freaked out by that.

You don't have a Wednesday night service you have Thursday night. What's wrong with you? You're not right with God. You know people get freaked out about tradition sometimes. And um but I do want to see do they have a Wednesday night service or do they have Bible studies? When COVID hit, we we connected with more Wednesday night. 10 15 years ago, we would have had a fairly full auditorium of people. We had a pretty group sized group coming out. Uh now it's a smaller group, but we have the Bible study over here for Filipinos. We have the teens downstairs. We have uh about half a dozen or more other Bible studies around the island.

And and so people don't that's okay. But again, when they don't have these things, I want to, well, what do you have? A church that has one service Sunday morning, once a week, I'm wondering, what are you here for? What are you doing? You know, and and and I want to know why. Again, it may be they're new, they're young, there's building situations, all the rest of it, but they're probably going to do something else. So, I want to look at that. Do they have programs for the children? Um, I'm going to be looking for uh that as well. And uh especially as a parent, but even as a not I'm not a parent anymore with young children, but I I want a church that's really teaching the next generation.

And you know, again, sometimes it's hard because some churches, you don't have enough kids for three or four classes, but they're going to do something for the children, teaching them. And uh and so I'm looking for those kind of things. Do are they Bible teaching church? That's what I want to look at. And a lot of this I can see online and then when I go to the church I can see it in practice because you know what a lot of churches look great on the website because they've got all these canned shots that are that are off the internet and that's not really what it looks like at the church. And uh and so we you gota you got to see what is reality compared.

It's like some people's Facebook pages. Some of you on your Facebook pages, I think, man, I I'm jealous. You know, you know, you got so much more than I do and and you you're it's all fake. You know how I'm talking about. And so, same thing do online. So, I'm going to start online, but then I can go from there in looking at that. So, uh I'm going to look for for their programs. Uh I'm going to look letter D at their promotional literature. Uh again, we've gotten away from printed materials in today's world. is not as used as much as it used to be. So when I say literature, it's going to include their online presence, their Facebook page, uh how they advertise themselves, what do they emphasize in their advertisement.

We have a an invitation card and we we a picture of our church on there. Reason we do that is so they can see all the different nationalities we have. So any nationality can say I could fit in there and and they can see that. Um, we emphasize the ohana, the family, you found your home, you know, things like that. So, that tells you something about the church because of what we emphasize. And then how do they identify themselves? Again, what is it they're they're doing to identify themselves to the community around them? Um, and how are they advertising themselves? So, you look at their literature, look at what they pay to put out there saying this is who we are.

And then um the little dot there afterwards, do not look for an Ohana twin. Uh you're not going to find the churches like Ohana and uh where you go for a number of reasons. One, there's no two churches that are exactly alike. Different pastors, different people, different environment and culture where they live. Hawaii's very different than the Midwest or down south and all. Um that's part of it with the military aspect. any overseas church, you're going to be more connected with and there's going to be more community than a church back in the mainland because in the mainland where we got family and friends and places to go.

When you're in Hawaii or Japan or Germany, all you've got is your church family. And so there's the people connect more. And so almost everybody that either got saved or was a part of an overseas church struggles when they move back to the mainland and finding a church that very this much the same. And um so you're going to see things that are different. That's okay. But there is a certain comparisons too is is with with all the churches you've been in. What is the good, bad, and the ugly? And and to learn from that u from all of those. Um number three questions to help you. Um, one of the questions I want to see is what Bible or Bibles do they use in their service.

As you know, we use the King James. And so, that's one thing going to look at. Now, I'm going to look at both sides of that. Do they use the King James? Because that's what I personally am comfortable with and and and believe is is a good translation and want to use that, but also, do they overemphasize it? When you see the phrase like KGV6 1611 in big bold letters, that's a little bit of a red flag to me because then that's that becomes the dog that w the tail that wags the dog and and and and you know there's a lot I'd say people don't care what translation you use. They care about what what god you're worshiping and they want to find God.

Now again, I I want to use the right translation and I I want to be true to the word of God, but sometimes when there's an overemphasis, that's going to be a red flag for me, but I am going to look for what translation they use. Um, and because that's what I'm looking for uh and and want to use in that way. And if they're using other translations, why and how many? I really get frustrated with churches, especially if you're going to use a different translation. Okay, that's between you and God. It's not, you know, you can ask me my reasons why and all the rest of it, but that's between you and God.

But a church that uses like five different translations in a service to me there there's something that that I don't like about that because it confuses people. But my mom stopped bringing her Bible to church as she got older because she said, "I can never tell where the pastor is. I can never follow him because he's reading from all these different translations. I don't want people to stop bringing their Bible. I want them to be emphasized on the Bible and be a consistency there. And and when somebody's using five or six different translations, to me, it's like they're shopping for what they want to say rather than really looking for what the word of God says.

And and so that's just a personal point of view. Uh but that's one of the things I'm going to look at in their doctrinal statement. And I I don't want it big bold red letters. You know, this is the only translation we use and if you don't use this, you're not right with God and you're not going to heaven type thing. But at the same time, I do want a church that is doing what I I'm comfortable with. And then um I can ask the questions, and this is something you don't always see in their advertising except one place, and that is what colleges do they promote? Um if they if they have students at Pensacola Christian College or West Coast Baptist College or in Baptist Baptist College, H Heartland Baptist College, there's others besides that, then that tells me something about them.

Now, the one place I can find that is on the pastor's biography. So, one of the first things I look at personally when I look up a church is I'm going to go first to see staff and I want to see the pastor and the assistant pastors. I want to read about them. Where did they go to college? What did they tell about themselves? When some guy's on there, well, I like golf and I like this football team. I understand he's trying to be personable and make you think of him as a real person, but at the same time, I want to know what you believe. I want to know where you're coming from. I want a little bit about you.

If you're going to be my pastor for however long I'm going to go there and and so I'm going to look on there and and and if they tell me where they went to college, that's going to help me. Again, it's not the only there's people have gone to these schools that have, you know, gone off the deep end. There's people that don't go to these schools that are really good, godly men. So, they're not it's not a catch-all. It's not a perfect thing, but it gives me a starting point. If somebody went to certain colleges, I'm going to know something about how they're going to preach and teach and what they're going to emphasize because somebody went to Pensacola is going to have a different training than somebody went to West Coast or Ambassador or whatever other college.

And so, it just helps me. And um if you're not familiar with it, you can ask somebody like like me and say, "Do you know anything about this college?" and all uh and then where you know if I'm going to talk to the pastor and sometimes I'll call a church and say hey we got a family come in there and they're looking for a church so and I I say I want to ask you some questions and one of the questions I ask them if if you had a student in your church that was wanting to go to Christian college where would you send them where would you encourage them to go and that's going to again tell me something about them um and then uh and any good pastor is not going to get upset with that uh somebody

asked me that question I'm going to give them three or four names of schools that we have students at and uh just as a guideline uh what mission boards do they work with and I listed some of you can Google these to find out their full name and everything but these are mission boards that we have missionaries from and so if they do that's again going to tell me something about them uh name some evangelists you've had now these are these names like Ron Comfort he's he's uh he's getting to age where I don't think he's really out there much but back in the late 1900s early 2000s he was probably one of the best known evangelists um around and if you were in our circles, you knew him.

You knew of him. You probably heard him. Uh Rich Toer is one. If they know Rich Toer and and they're comfortable with him, I'm probably going to be comfortable with him. And and then I could hang up from them and call up Rich Toer and say, "Do you know this pastor? Do you know this church?" Uh but you know, if you know an evangelist or somebody, ask them, "Do you do you know this guy?" Now, if they don't know Rich Toer, it doesn't mean they're a bad church. It just means they don't know rich toer. But it is a it is again a guideline I can use in looking for a church. Uh number E, what is the purpose of your church?

So I'm going to ask them, what is the purpose of your church? And see what their answer is going to be. My alma mater, Pillsbury Baptist Bible College is no longer in existence, unfortunately. Um, they were a small regional school in Minnesota and uh they tried to become a a a national school and I'm telling you folks, somebody from California or down south does not want to go to Minnesota to go to college. You have to be called of God. I didn't want to go to Minnesota and God called me there. But they tried to get too big for what they were. When I went there, one of the reasons I went to Pillsbury is because their catchphrase was this.

Every student majors in Bible. It didn't matter if you were a science major or an English major or whatever, you still had to take so much Bible because they they were emphasizing the Bible. We want you to learn the Bible. And when the years I was there, we had a lot of guys going to preachers, became preachers and stuff. But then when they kind of outgrew themselves and they started becoming too big, they went through a couple presidents and and I went back to visit and I was a little concerned where they were going, if I could still recommend them. And I so I asked the president of the college.

I said, 'How many of your students are going into full-time ministry? And he gave me this kind of political answer. Well, all of our students are serving the Lord full-time. I said, I understand that, but how many of them are going to full-time ministry? And I asked that question probably a half a dozen different ways. And I could not get an answer out of him. It's kind of like I saw in the news today they interviewed the guys running for New York mayor Mandani or what his name is and they asked him do you think Hamas should be have their weapons taken away and should they no longer be able to be in charge and and she asked him the question I think more than half of the times in different

ways and he still never answered the question politicians I love them and and and when a pastor becomes a politician that's not good and and he just never gave me an answer and that said something to me about where that college was heading And uh I still love it and I love what they did for me, but I I knew then that they were going in the wrong direction. We're not going to be around. So when I ask a pastor, what's your purpose? If he me says, well, we're we're a soulwinning church. Okay, that's a great thing. But I also want to understand, is that so much that you don't worship God? Are you so busy with all these bus ministries and outreach programs that you don't have time to build, disciple people?

So, I I'm just kind of want to hear what he says is most important. And uh you know, is it to glorify God? Is it evangelism? Is it edifying or teaching? Fellowship, testimony, worship, you know, and and any good pastor is going to have about four or five answers there. Uh we're, you know, we're a Bible teaching church. Man, to me, this church is all about the Bible. We're also a family church, family oriented. We're also an outreach church. So, that I'd say those probably the top three. And worshiping the Lord. And so, you know, these are my answers. And so, you know, when when I want to hear their answers, what are they there for?

That's going to tell me a lot about them because this is what's important to them, what they're put put in first place. So, what what do I look for in a church? I want to find a strong Bible emphasis. Do they emphasize the word of God? Faith, come by here and hearing by the word of God. Now, not every pastor is going to use 60 or 70 Bible verses in a Sunday morning service. And I understand that. Um, we've had people that didn't come to AANA because I used too many scriptures. I personally think you almost can't use too much Bible, but that's okay. But he doesn't have to. But again, if there's a pastor gets a one verse in the Bible, closes it and tell stories the rest of the time.

That's that's also telling me something. Do they emphasize teaching the word of God? In the classes, do the kids play? Now, there should be some playtime, especially two and three year olds or whatever, but do they are they taught? Are they coming out here out here learning something? You know, um I I've seen churches where the youth group is all about games and they never talk. Now, pastor on Wednesday night plays some games with the kids, but they have a Bible lesson. They're teaching the word of God. And so, is there an emphasis, very strong Bible emphasis? Um is an evangelistic outreach? Are they trying to reach their community?

And and again, it's going to be different in different places how they do that. Some churches are very much the bus ministry. uh back in the late 1900s and early 2000s, if you didn't have a bus ministry, you weren't right with God, you know, and and they would go around pick up kids on buses and bring them to church. Today, bus ministries are kind of dying breed because they're expensive. There's all kinds of regulations. There's all kinds of uh insurance and safety issues that make it difficult. Uh we've never done a bus minister here because of the regulations in Hawaii. Plus, we just don't have room for all the little kids and stuff.

we just don't have the classroom and and the teacher ability to do that. But again, there's nothing wrong with that. And uh if that's their, you know, their outreach program, uh that's great. There's a lot of people who were saved through bus ministries and and uh had a lot of pastors up here said, "I got saved through a bus ministry." And and uh great, great ministry. Um do they have a door-todoor soul-winning? Uh you know, every Saturday we go out doortodoor or we go out and do other things. Um, again, how they do it is going to tell me something about them. Uh, there's some churches we're really big into street preaching.

Now, I've done street preaching just a couple times, and I really think it's not a very effective way in today's society. Back before TV and the internet and all this other stuff, a street preacher could draw a crowd. Today, it's like, who's that weirdo? Um, and uh, people don't really listen to you and they're not really hearing you. It's it's more about ego and about you feeling good than it is about really reaching people for the Lord. Again, I'm not trying. There's some people do it and that's great. That's what God's called them to do. But that's not what I'm emphasizing and I think is is a good emphasis.

And so, how are they doing their outreach? Are they doing outreach? How are they doing that outreach? What are they what are they what are they accomplishing with that? Uh a missions emphasis. Again, a lot of people, you know, when they're coming the one of the first questions, do you guys have missionaries? And how much do you support missionaries for? because they they really believe in reaching the world and we've got a heart for missions and and I want to see that. Do they have that? Um, and I'm going to look a little bit at the missionaries. If they got a thousand missionaries for $50 each, there there's something wrong.

Uh, because they were back $50 back in the 60s and so on, that was a lot of money. But $50 a day is is almost a waste of time. And so I want to support missionaries for fewer missionaries for more so they can build relationships. But that's just a personal thing. um attendance ratio between Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday evening and midweek. Uh I want to kind of look at those again. You want to try to understand what's the dynamics here. You live in a farm community. Uh coming to church twice in a Sunday is very difficult on farmers. Uh because cows don't stop giving milk and want to be milked.

Chickens don't stop. You know, the job doesn't stop. And so in some farming communities, you don't see the return. Some churches will have a a Sunday school, Sunday morning, lunch and a service and then that's the end of the day. So that people don't have to come back. Uh when you live far spread out, that's also another reason. So I just want to look at what's their ratio and why. Again, somebody walk in tonight say, "Wow, they don't have very many people here compared to Sunday morning." Well, they have to understand we have the Bible studies going on and and other things are happening. But they I want to understand that because when you have a big crowd Sunday morning and not come back, maybe there's some disciplehip things going on there and and other emphasis that need to be worked on.

Um is it a pastor with active de deacons or board run? I don't want a church that the pastors leading it and charge and there's no deacons and there's no check and balance or thumbs. Uh my deacons are my thumb. They they are the opposition help me to get a grip on things and I need them. And when a pastor when a church doesn't have deacons or has deacons in name only but they really have no power that's you know again deacons should not run the church. We've talked about that but they should be pastor dependent for advice and counsel and and for help. And when that isn't happening that that's a red flag to me.

Now the opposite is true where the church is deacon run and the pastors kind of figurehead. That's the opposite extreme. So I want to look at that balance between the pastor and the deacons and what's happening there. Who or what is honored? Who or what is honored? You know, who do they who do they lift up as as this is a godly person and and uh and and doing that. And so that that tells me something about church. A church that that honors some of the great men and women of the faith. And that's a church that probably is is a good church of faith as well. um friendliness with emphasis on fellowship and accountability.

There's a church called the Bara Group which they do surveys for Christians and they do all kinds of Christian surveys and one of the things they do is churches and they said 90% of churches say that they're very friendly. But then in their study with the research they did they found out that less than 50% of churches were actually friendly to outsiders. what they were is they were friendly to each other and and you have a hard time breaking into that that click and that group some churches because everybody's grown up there and there's two or three generations and they're all related to each other especially down south in Kentucky you know and uh and and so they've got this con this group

and if you're not part of that group and and that's especially hard in the military because military comes in well you're only here three years so you you know we're not going to get that connected with you close to you and and so I want to look for a church that really is friendly to outsiders that that welcomes people in and and has times of fellowship where people get together outside of church. One of the things I think that tells you a lot about Ohana is people don't go home. I mean, almost every service I I I'm sorry, I'm getting older here, folks. And almost every service I say, I'm going home to bed.

You know, you guys can stay as long as you want to. Last one out, lock up. Um, you know, and that's good when when you get to I we went one time to a church. We showed up, I think about 20 or 25 minutes before the service started. The parking lot was empty. The pastor didn't show up until later. The people I mean, nobody shows up. And then when church let out, that parking lot was everybody's gone. That told me a lot about that church. and and and so you want to look for that that fellowship and is there accountability? Do they really have some way of helping to build accountability and getting helping to get to know each other in and doing that?

Um is there an active prayer ministry? Does this church pray? Can you see that? Um by the way they do their public prayers by just praying for each other and talking about that and do they do they they is there a clear prayer aspect to the church? obvious standards of personal separation, holiness, especially in leadership. When you look up there on the platform, you look at the people are they're leading the classes. Can you see that these are people that come out have come out from among them separate? Do they live a separated life? A a godly the you know, again, there's churches where it's all about how you dress, how your haircut is cut, you know, all you know that you do the dos and don't the don'ts, and that makes you godly.

You don't want that. You don't want that. And when you get to a church where it's all about this certain standards and certain ways of looking, that's what you don't want. But at the same time, I want people that are setting the example, setting the standard, leading the way. And you can see that by their actions, by their dress, by how they live, that there's a clear standard in that way. Uh, and looking for that. And then um a unity of purpose in the church that this church is united that they're they're they're working together. There's not divisions and clicks among them, but there's really a unity within that church.

And so these are some guidelines that I use um and and looking for a good church as as we move on. And and remember, every church you go to, there's something God can teach you. And I've been in churches that this clearly. And part of this is is prayer and God's leading. You're going to look at things like where you're at in life stage right now. When you have little kids, you may want to you want a church that's got good ministry to little kids. When you have teenagers, you want a church got a teen ministry. But at the same time, you may be the first one that God's going to lead to bring teens in that church to help build a teen ministry.

Or God's going to lead you there to help build that children's ministry or whatever else it might be. And and so there's times where God leads you separate from your needs, but your needs are important and we have to look at those. And and and and and at this stage, I've been in churches where God taught me. I was in that churches so God could teach me one thing at that time in that church. And there were not there was other things that were not what they needed to be, but God put me there because this is what I need to learn. And and God put me there. I've talked to people like you said, "We were in a really strict church and uh that's not what we really want, but at the time that's what helped us get our walk with the Lord started or we're in a church that did this or that."

And so, you got to look for the Lord's leading, but I'm not going to go to church that's not teaching the Bible, period. Uh, you know, I'm not going to go to church that's not worshiping God. I'm not going to go to church that's entertainmentbased rather than they may not be the exact style of music that I'm I'm used to or want. But hey, if they love the Lord and they're singing praises to God, you know, then that's okay, but I'm not going for the rock concert and stuff. So, these are the kind of things that I'm looking for in in doing that. I hope this helped you.