And the Winner is... LBC!

When we moved to this house, we decided to find a new church, both because our other church was now farther away and because it just wasn't quite meeting our needs.  Since then, we've visited a lot of churches.  A couple months ago we had it narrowed down to three finalists, Lenexa Baptist Church, Life Church (which is a church we've attended in the past), and Kaw Prairie Community Church.  Over the past couple months we tried each of them again with the goal of choosing by the end of the year to allow us to start the new year in our new church.  Nate and Carla introduced us to LBC, and Carla, with all of her endearing effervescence, would occasionally ask for updates: "Have you decided yet?  Did we win?!?"  And now that we've decided, we were able to say to Carla, "Yes, you won!". 

LBC isn't perfect for us, as it's jam packed with people, and we will probably have to take a shuttle from a satellite parking lot on most days.  We're not Baptists, so we don't agree with them theologically on everything, but we do agree on the important stuff.  There were a few main things that led us to choose LBC.  First was the good pastor and outstanding worship music (in the contemporary service).   It was the best music of any church we've been to, maybe ever.  We also really liked the people.  Everyone seemed very nice, which was true for all of the churches, but the people there just seemed more passionate.  They also have excellent children's programming (including good ol' AWANA), which is important to us given that we have three children.  The biggest reason, though, was the adult Sunday School, which only LBC had.  We weren't sure about going when we first tried it, but Nate and Carla convinced us to go.  It's a really great group with good discussions.  Because of my travel, it's not likely we'd be able to join a small group during the week any time soon, so being part of a Sunday School class not only allows us to get plugged in, but also allows for the type of spiritual growth and Christian fellowship that we wouldn't get with the other churches.  The primary reasons for going to church are to worship God and to increase the strength of our relationship with Jesus, and we felt LBC offered us the best way to do that.  Going to Sunday School followed by the late service means no morning naps for any kids who need them (currently Clara), and it means getting up way earlier than we otherwise would and getting the kids up earlier than they normally do, but we feel it's worth it.  Joshua and Clara are in the children's ministry during Sunday School and church, but for now Hannah is staying with us.  Here she is with Meghan at the conclusion of our first service as regular attendees of our new church.