The Church of the First Down

We had an interesting experience this past Sunday morning. I mentioned in an earlier blog that we didn't feel entirely comfortable going to our new merged church. So we chose to go to the mega-church here in Corpus, Bay Area Fellowship.

I'm sure, at some point or another, you've heard comparisons drawn between the behavior of people at a football game and the behavior of people at church. You've most likely heard something along the lines of "why do we get so worked up at the stadium and not at worship? Isn't God more important than ______ (fill in your favorite team)?"

I finally got to see this concept in action at Bay Area. This past weekend was "Dallas Cowboy Weekend" with special guest Bill Bates. Do you remember Bill? Linebacker wearing the number 40 for over 15 years. He wasn't afraid to hit anyone and often used his body as a human projectile. One of my favorite Cowboys of all time. It was worth the visit just to hear him speak.

But the fun part was the worship service. At least, I think it was worship. Most of the crowd and ALL of the staff were wearing Cowboy jerseys (except the aging rock and roll bass player who was actually wearing a Houston Oilers jersey). Some of the greeters and ushers actually had their faces painted in Cowboy colors. The band broke through a big banner to enter the stage, which was covered in massive glittering metal stars ala Cowboy logo. They had a pretty rockin' first song which got everyone pumped. Then the second song was none other than the Monday Night Football theme song with a few lyrics changed. The place went nuts. For the first time in my life, I actually saw the same enthusiasm at a worship event that I see on TV at a pro football game.

And it was all for God. Way cool.

As an aside... there was a television crew out front filming reference shots as we were leaving. That evening on the local news the story ran with some of those shots. There we were, big as life. The Moyers family walking out of Bay Area on Sunday morning. Sherri had several people at school ask her what we were up to the next morning. I think we got caught. :)