Covenant Baptist Church

I thought some of you might like to see pictures of our church. I took this one with my new digital camera. It came with some software that let me stitch together five images to make this panoramic view, taken from the parking lot.

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We carved a space out of the trees for our church five years ago. It took us about six weeks to clear the land because we did it by hand. The foliage was so thick that I had to crawl on my hands and knees to put out the stakes that marked the foundation.

You can't see our church from the road, and I get a lot of questions about that. Apparently most churches want high visibility. We opted for serenity. People who need to find us somehow do. I mean, there is a sign for goodness sakes.

Here's the front door.

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Here's a picture of me inside our worship room. It's an unusual worship space because we have a fireplace for our altar. The cross and mantle are made from wood salvaged from a 150-year-old Amish barn. The bongos belonged to a charismatic church that used to meet in our building on Friday nights. I called them "The Flower Children." Sadly, their church fell apart after the tragic death of their pastor, and they took the bongos with them when they left. For some reason I really miss the bongos, though we never used them ourselves.

When I preach on Sunday mornings, I just stand in front of the fireplace and talk to my friends. I like it this way. I don't think I'd feel right standing behind a pulpit.

Recently I discovered a little menagerie of toy animals on a large rock next to the sidewalk that leads to the building. This little collection first appeared one Sunday after church. The next Wednesday night it was still there and had grown a little. The following Sunday I took this picture of it:

I have no idea how they came to be there. I assume one of our children was outside playing after church and forgot his or her toys, but no one ever claimed it. So there it sat for a couple of weeks, giving me great pleasure every time I saw it.

I performed a wedding at the church last Friday, and someone from the wedding party took the animals away. At least I assume so. When I showed up Friday with my robe, all the animals were gone. No one had been at the church that day except the wedding people. Maybe one of their children couldn't resist.

But I miss the little animals. They had their own beauty and always made me smile.

There's a lot of precious little things that happen in a small spiritual community. And while I love the big events, it is always some small thing that captures my heart and makes me smile.

rlp

http://www.covenantbaptist.org

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