Church Shopping

Church shopping is definitely an interesting experience that I tend to want to get over with in a relatively quick fashion so that I can fully commit to a church, but unfortunately since congregations usually only meet on Sunday mornings, we have to wait another week before checking out other services. The past two Sundays we've been able to attend services in the morning as well as evening so that we make the most of our church shopping time. Today we enjoyed both services that we visited, although they were both very different from one another. I was convicted of my own tendencies to exalt myself in all that I do, whether fishing for compliments or dropping names to impress others, as well as my tendency to seek out what's "cool" (even as I search for a church!) to obtain others' approval rather than to honor God.

As a side conversation about church shopping, my wife and I began to wonder if there are any churches out there that allow congregants to bring their dogs along, joking that if we would love to be able to bring Penny to church. Sure enough, we could find an example on the Internet of a church in reliable Austin that does just that:
http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/offbeat/Austin_Bar_to_Dog_Friendly_Church_dpgo_20090706_jst_2643145.

An interesting story, especially since it also meets in a bar! I don't envy the set-up crew. I'll keep you posted if we find a Penny-friendly church in Richmond.