All the more....

Not sure if I'm the only one (probably am) but it seems like things have lost their fever pitch the past week or so -- and then I'm reminded of the stories in Tampa with the hurricane.   Reports were that before the hurricane struck - Tampa Bay emptied out.   Are we in a phase where there is a gradual emptying out of all the frenzy right before the storm strikes?

Todd, hubby is a sub organist and we fill in at many churches, 10 so far this year.   I usually count members attending, for giggles.    Early services that had 50+ pre covid are only 30-35 now and main family services that had 100-150 are now 75ish.  2 main churches we follow online as well as in person only have 4 children - pastors  + elders children.  My thoughts are the elderly are staying home or dying and the families watch video services.   But you can really feel the lack of energy in the churches.    But there are exceptions,  my son's church had a children's service today with about 60+ kids and teachers singing, Joshua and Battle of Jericho, and other songs.  It made me hopeful.  It is the 17th in Jerusalem and I'm watching the nice blue sky here in Myrtle Beach, SC !

Lee,

Does Friendship Baptist Church - 608 6th Avenue S Myrtle Beach  sound familiar to you?  We used to attend there often while on vacation.  The original pastor passed on (he got cancer from the agent orange they sprayed when he served in Vietnam) so I’m not familiar with the new pastor they have listed.

There were a few other churches we attended but I forget their names.

Yes, 'all the more' . . .our hearts and spirts by given faith long to embrace eternity with Jesus, where He is . . our Jesus makes the Way our blessed assurance ever so real here on earth, our Father guiding us truly soon to experience the catching away above . . :flyup:

~ ~ "Since love cannot desire for its object anything less than the fullest possible measure of enjoyment for the longest possible time, it is virtually beyond our power to conceive of a future as consistently delightful as that which Christ is preparing for us." . .  ~~ A. W. Tozier ~~

Amen to that, Sis!  TR

Geri,  Sorry I haven't heard of that church.  We tend to stay with the churches with organs but there are exceptions.  I noticed it's downtown near the KOA RV and the airport.   He's been playing mostly in the suburbs from Georgetown to North Myrtle out to Conway.  Were you camping?

Oh ok you are further south.  Yeah that church is at some type of camp grounds.  But no, we were not campers.  I needed running hot water, AC, electricity and TV at night. :mdrmdr:

We started attending that church because a former member of our old church moved to Murrells Inlet and he was a member there so we would sit together.  We actually stayed on the northern side near Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede and the Grand Ole Opry buildings.

The early years we mostly rented a condo at Shipwatch Pointe it had the pools and the beach was a short walk - had to cross a semi busy street but it was doable.    But when the villas were built in 2002 my parents bought the first phase Timeshare at Marriott's OceanWatch Villas at Grande Dunes and had ocean front view.  2 or 3 weeks at this place per year.  I called this area heaven on earth and the people were very friendly and talkative so I had many interesting conversations about the Lord even met a few believers and we talked about the end times while in the pools.  Then we sometimes accidentally bump into the same people in the elevators while heading out to dinner and we got to see the real person in normal clothes looking presentable and hair fixed just right and not all greased up in swimwear and hair wind blown or in a pony tail :mdrmdr:

Yes and according to Matt 24:12 “And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold.” — having been a missionary for 15 years serving with Awana with 265 active churches and then taking on various churches (after leaving Awana) to try to build them up or seek to combine them with other thriving churches — I can truly say with Lee, my husband and I have witnessed how the physical church body is not the same. It is not just because of covid, the light of the church has been growing dim since the 80’s or even further back.  We have less “on fire” fellowships than ever before. The mega churches are doing well because many of them are giving the “show” every Sunday. It is truly sad to see. On the flip side, the church under persecution is thriving in countries like China, Korea, Thailand, Russia, Philippines, Africa, etc… While teaching one time at a conference in Belarus, I had a group of pastors tell me they pray for persecution as it grows the church and we have seen this is true.

Don’t we often see the human race at its best when things are at their worst, just a personal observation of many things over many years … :unsure:

I can say that church has changed for us since the lockdown.  I have not been back to the church we were attending before lockdown.  During lockdown, sermons from our church went online and they have continued. Right after lockdown was over, our pastor expected everyone to start back to attending in person.  It caused many to leave the church. In his sermons for everyone to hear at home, right after lockdown, he started bashing those who had not gone back to church in person yet. He said if you were staying home you were selfish because you were not there to serve the body.  My son said to me, "How are they going to serve if they die from catching the stuff?" I don't go for pastors bashing the congregation. It wasn't the first time, but it was the last for me. Haven't listened to him since. I find online teaching is great, and I am serving many people in my home and at the senior center where my mom is. I don't need the criticism.