Wow.

I was talking to a peer the other day about how churches have a certain act of service that they give to the community in which they exist. One church may have an awesome music ministry, another may have an incredible foreign missions department, or one may be geared towards children. First Baptist Murfreesboro has the unbelievable ability to make one feel "at home" and part of a loving community. Let me explain a few things.
When I first came to Murfreesboro, I was a college student wanting to find a home church where I could be active in helping others and serving in some capacity. I found a church where 400+ college students gathered one day out of the week and worshiped to great music. This setting would have been appealing to me if I would have been a little more noticed. Each week we had to wear a name tag so that people would know who we are. I wanted to be used, appreciated, and accepted into a larger whole. The fact that I had to wear a name tag told me that they had not learned my name after some time. The name tag wearing crowd never went below the surface of "Hello, how are you?" and I found myself looking for a new church after a year and a half of membership there.
Luckily I found First Baptist Murfreesboro soon after that. I went to the Connections worship hour and a younger married couple started talking to me. This was something I had been looking for in the previous church experience. Later I found myself eating at this couple's house and being asked to participate with some reading parts during the worship service. I felt like I finally had a home. The Connections family had made me feel that I was a part of something, and that is what I feel is the special gift of the Connections congregation.
This Connections worship service is coming into a new season. The upcoming Sabbatical gives us time to hear your feedback and plan any changes that you might want to make things better in the service. We welcome your input as active participants in the 11:00 service at First Baptist Murfreesboro.