WHAT TO EXPECT

Our guests often wonder what they can expect on a typical Sunday morning. For the most part, you can expect to see and sit with real people. We are very thrilled to have people from all over, all backgrounds and all ages. There is no one person that is the Branches of Christ poster child. We have people that have been in church from childhood, but we also have people that had never been in church at all. We have people that wear shorts sitting next to people that are dressed up. We have people that have belonged to all kinds of different denominations. The group that seems to have become predominantly large is made up of folks with Catholic background; nearly 50%. Can’t explain it because it just happened.

Most of our folks come from personal invites. Many have come because of weddings and funerals. Still others found us online. Several came and stayed after attending our annual Blessing of the Bikes and others came from our annual garage sale. But we are real people that really need a Savior. We intend to be genuine, sincere, and accepting of everyone. Please take into consideration that if you feel the person next to you isn’t as friendly as you might expect, they may also be a visitor. Most of our folks have a great sense of humor and aren’t afraid to laugh, but they are also real enough to cry. In other words, you can expect real people.

A Warm and Casual Atmosphere.

We don’t have any pews or statues, stained glass or a pipe organ. But as we mentioned, we do have people from all kinds of backgrounds. Because of those backgrounds, you will see a variety of clothes. Our worship team doesn’t wear robes; just ordinary clothes. Our preacher does not wear a robe either; usually just a normal shirt and a pair of Levis with his boots. So relax and wear what you have. In fact we encourage our believers to wear their everyday clothes so they will also wear their Christianity everyday too. We want our folks to be friendly and most are, but there are some that are a shy and others that have been hurt in their past. They have a tendency to be extremely quiet. So it’s like we said, we are real people; certainly not perfect, definitely not plastic.

Dynamic Worship

Our worship team seeks to leads us in songs about God and unto God in order to help us enter into an authentic, personal worship. For new folks, it may be more of an introduction to what worship can become. Most find it enjoyable and easy to listen to. Many of our musicians are former professional singers and instrumentalists, but now they strive to play for an audience of One. They have grown from entertaining people, to engaging people with Christ. The music varies week to week. Although we generally sing songs like you’d hear on 104.7 The Fish, they also lead us in songs they have written and occasionally old hymns with a new feel.

Conversational Preaching

Our Lead Pastor is a preacher at heart and works hard to show the Bible for what it is: inspired, unified, and relevant. He preaches just like he talks, as if we were just having a conversation with you about God over coffee. (He does admit it is often a pretty one-sided conversation.) His passion for the Word of God is clearly seen in both the way he talks about it and the things he brings out of it that are not so obvious until you look at it. And he always lets you know how he struggles as well. Besides that, he won’t try to sell you anything or talk you into something. His approach is not to tell you what to believe, but to just show you what the Bible says. His perspective comes from the fact that so many people have a variety of things they believe about God. But what are those things/beliefs based on? Branches is made up of people that want to know what God says about Himself. If we are willing to trust Him with our eternal life, why wouldn’t we trust Him with how to live this life? Jesus came to make sure we could know all that we need to know about living life to the max here while having great assurance of the one yet to come.

Intimate Reflection, Communion, and Prayer.

Following the sermon we provide a time for people to sing, sit, pray on their own, pray with others, or just plain think. This time belongs to each individual and is not at all “In Your Face”. It can be as meaningful as you want because it is personally yours. This personal time is extended into the next; the Lord’s supper. We pass Christ’s body and blood every week with the opportunity of communion. And it’s not for members only; we don’t force it on anyone or prohibit anyone that believes. Then we wrap up our time together sharing prayer for the various request that are handed in.