I Had An Entire Page And A Half Essay

I was baptized as a Methodist Christian at six months old and have been to Sunday school classes, bible studies and youth group for as long as I can remember. Our church has a contemporary choir that anyone ages sixteen and older can join. When I was younger, I loved going to “big church” (what I used to call the sanctuary) and listen to the cool music every week. Once I turned sixteen, I was determined to be in the choir. However, I was hesitant because upon joining, I would be by far the youngest person in the ensemble. Before I came along, the youngest person in the ensemble was 28 years old. It was cumbersome at first because everyone was talking about their children and work lives and I had nothing to offer in the conversation due to my age. I felt awkward in those situations and would keep to myself, not speaking in fear of saying something foolish or irrelevant. However, I loved the music and performing so much that I would not let my age get in the way of doing what I wanted. I started to get out of my comfort zone and involved myself in the conversations they had. The more I engaged in discussion, the more comfortable I felt with the people around

As a child, I grew up going to Catholic School, from Kindergarten, until eighth grade. My mother thought private school was best for my brother and I, as there’s a misconception that since you’re paying a tuition, the education is better. My mother was also Catholic at the time, so she was more comfortable with us growing up being taught religion, which should inevitably cause us to be Christians and believe in God. Years went by of me being educated on religion, and by the age of twelve, I felt guilty that I couldn’t process or accept the idea of there being a God. I came to this reality due to the fact that I didn’t feel the connection to God that our teachers taught us we should have; I didn’t feel loved by an alternate being, I felt alone, and I didn’t grasp how such a thing could be possible.

Faith can ebb and flow through a lifetime, and it is rare for it to remain constant. This was one of the main points in Christian Wiman’s My Bright Abyss. He discusses that just as we grow as individuals; we must also grow in our faith. At this point in my senior year I was going through a particularly hard time, and was having trouble trusting in God and believing everything would be okay. In hindsight this may have been a good thing in the long run, as I was more receptive to the messages I received at NCYC, particularly with respect to what prayer is, and how to pray.

A path that led to this school, and the amazing experiences and opportunities I had and will continue to have throughout my last year here. Here is the place I’ve learn to lead in a classroom, develop my academic skills, and succeed in continuing my mission of helping others. I’ve grown into a woman with her own ideals and own convictions, which I just now realized has always been my goal in life. What I major in, what job I have, and who I marry will not confine my person to live a life where having one experience is

I made friends and started to thrive again. I started attending Emmanuel Episcopal Church in town. I always offered for anyone interested to come with me. Some would come with me, mainly as a way to get off campus and try not to be a Cadet for a little while. The liturgy helped to ground me. The Ritual of the Communion gave me comfort and I continued to heal. I stopped rebelling and started to care about my studies and made friends. My Military Science teacher Norman Smith (aka Big Sarge) asked if I would like to attend his church with him and his wife on a Wednesday night. There was something different about this church, something that I had seen in other churches but never felt. Not even in the Episcopal churches that I had been to. The Church was what they referred to as an Agape church. It was not in a building with grand stained glass windows and gold and silver crosses, priests in clerical garb. It was a hotel conference room with nothing but chairs. All of this was very new to me. I didn’t know anyone other than the couple that I had come with and this was NOT a church. I was thinking that I had been duped and taken to a sayonce. The people were very warm and inviting and treated me as a part of their family. But I had remembered Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."

The First United Methodist Church of Lindale has become a second family that I spend time worshiping with. FUMC Lindale has been my only church, and I began learning about Christ before I can remember. For a while, I even went to school in my church! I participated in children's programs such as BIG, sunday school, and summer camp. Growing up in the traditional service, I became a regular Acolyte. This began as a terrifying experience, but grew into a wonderful appreciation of being part of the service. Each experience within this church is valuable to myself and many others I introduced to my church. Many of them followed until Conformation where we learned about the importance and structure of our church along with Biblical text . Following

I can’t recall not being a part of New Hope Baptist Church because when I was growing up my parents attended everything and they “had us in tow”. I remember being brought to church in the winter and my parents lining us up on the seats next to the potbellied stove. We were required to take care of our “personal business” before entering because we were not allowed to walk while the services were in progress. I really have a hard time understanding why some young people today cannot sit through an entire service right now today. As children the church conferences often baffled us. While watching and listening, sometimes things got into a disagreeable mode. As children, we thought those deacons were at odds with each other, but when they

Here I interacted with similarly aged Christians and did learning activities together with instructors. As I got older, when I attended LaSalle Springs Middle School, I began to participate in Vacation Bible School as a teacher and would give out activities for the younger children to do. Shortly after, I went through conformation to officially become a member of the Church. During this time, I was also baptized because I wasn’t at birth.

After two decades of ministry with and to college students, I know Chi Alpha and the Assemblies of God to be on the cutting edge of engaging emerging generations. Despite my enthusiasm, we still face a sobering reality that some researchers have described as a “dropout” phenomenon. True to form, interpretations of the data range from those prognosticating the end of the modern church to those wanting to dismiss the data as a natural product of spiritual maturation, but scripture teaches that the wise find a balanced perspective (Ecclesiastes 7:18). So, what experience and expertise can we draw from others (Proverbs 15:22) to empower Chi Alpha and the North Texas District in a coordinated effort to proactively engage current young adult adherents

In addition, around that time, technology was advancing and I was introduced to a whole new world within the internet. The world around me was changing, and it was changing fast. As middle school progressed, I began learning about a variety of different subjects. I was informed about the existence of other religions, beliefs, and morals. Everything was new to me. Soon my perspective towards the world began to shift, and I began to view the world around me in a new, more comfortable way. After having followed my parent’s will for all those years, the option to go against their beliefs had finally become a possibility for me. It felt liberating, for I was on my way to shaping my own individual personality along with new beliefs. Due to being a teenager, my rebellious stage took over. Being exposed to so much information in such a small amount of time left me stranded in the middle of confusion. My parents would tell me one thing, but my mind refused to believe anything or anyone anymore. What was I supposed to do? Who should I listen to? Did my parents purposely refuse to provide this information in fear of me forming my own individuality? I was young, immature and didn’t know what was going on around me. The moment I stated my mind and proposed the possibility of God not being real, my parent’s facial expression filled up with rage as a thermometer

I grew up in the church. My father was a deacon and my mother was a Sunday school teacher. I never remember a time that church was not the center of my life. I experienced great hurt in my young life and nobody knew pain I endured. I would not realize until much later in my life the affect that one event would have on me. My teenage years were turbulent. These years were a time that was marked by poor choices and rebellion. I developed two lives. One I projected in the church and the other outside the church. I never really gave the fact that I was living a double life much thought.

I am writing this essay concerning myself and my experience that will take place with Colorado Christian University. I believe CCU will be a very good place to start and pursue my education. Just to know that its a Faith Based Organization and College is good enough for me. I have been wanting to get back into school to further my education for a long time now and because of many obstacles and procrastinating on my part has delayed the process. But I believe that if its going to happen for me and my family then its now or never. This will help enhance my knowledge in what I already know to help me become A better Pastor and In the Educational Field. Just to let you know a little bit about myself I am the Senior Pastor and Founder Of The Worship

For as long as I can remember my family and I have attended church almost every Sunday. Being from small town Iowa, everyone around me had always accepted the same ideas and beliefs as me, so I never had seen a different perspective. I had stayed within my comfort zone for fifteen years at this point in time, and I had no intentions of going outside of it any time soon. Part of being in this comfort zone was attending youth group every Wednesday night. Instead of being something I

Being raised in a Christian home, I attended church quasi-regularly up until the age of six. Church participation after the age of six became inconsistent, due to conflict in the church that required the

My mom once told me when I was young and ignorant, “Faith is the foundation of a beautiful friendship with the one person who will always remain by your side”. These words were expressed even more profoundly every Sunday in the echoing corridors of a small church by a priest I had yet to know or even care about. Preaching with his perplexing words in which I could only muster barely a fourth of my full attention span listening to. Thus, the term faith did not exactly resonate with me until many years later. My early years were filled with the teachings of the bible in Sunday school and later on as well in middle school during Friday night sessions. Unfortunately, my mom was an extremely strong enforcer of our faith for she was also raised Catholic from birth, but my dad on the other hand has a more scientific approach to how the world came to be. The years I spent in Sunday school blurred into an everlasting line of bleak nothingness just a ticking clock waiting till an end. Even today I do not remember anything that occurred within those taxing sixty minuets of constant bible studies it’s as though I lost the key to the inner workings of my childhood. Nonetheless, there have always been unbelievably great role models in my faith such as my mom, youth ministers, and friends who encourage me to be open to my faith. However, it’s always been my own restrictions that prevent me from furthering my relationship with God. So when my sister suffered her first severe