Lexzie in Christ

These posts will be be detailing a few different subjects:

My Former Church

Finding a New Church

After leaving my former church home of 10 years due to the manipulation of Scripture (see: Part 1), I knew that I would eventually move forward with my church search. Yet, while so much was up in the air, two things were very clear to me:

1. I needed to find a church that preached the Gospel.
2. I needed time to allow God to strip me of my desires as it related to church, so that I could understand His will.

I left my former church in February 2024 and, in June 2024, I began attending a new church!

•••

Here is what transpired in the interim.

1. I Dissected My Denominational + Doctrinal Beliefs
2. Found an Online Expository Preacher
3. Started Reading the Bible (from Genesis)
4. Prayed for God to Reveal the Reason for Church
5. Vetted my Church Preferences
6. Narrowed Down My Search
7. Remained Patient
8. Found a New Church!

i.

Denominational + Doctrinal Beliefs

I learned more about each denomination and their similarities + differences. I dissected my own denominational + doctrinal beliefs.

Now that I understood the Gospel, my thirst for understanding different concepts and doctrinal beliefs increased immediately. I’d always identified as Baptist, but now I was open to truly discerning which denomination I aligned with the most.

I found a denominations chart just so that I could start to familiarize myself with the similarities and differences of each group. Then, I found a denominations quiz and wrote the questions out in topic form. I went through each one, considering whether I was firm in my belief or undecided. There were plenty of topics on which I learned a lot, but still have yet to form an opinion.

I then took the quiz – answering only the questions on which I am firm – and found that I still align most with Baptist theology.

This information proved imperative when I became heavy in my church search. I would immediately go to the “Beliefs” section on every church’s site to see how detailed they were in their statements and if it matched my position. A good amount of churches were super ambiguous about their beliefs and some left out the Gospel altogether.

ii.

Expository Preaching

God led me to a powerful expository preacher whose Bible Study lives on Spotify and YouTube.

I was worried about being bamboozled by false teaching and prayed for God to show me the way. Shortly after, I learned about expository preaching.

Per GotQuestions.org, “Expository preaching involves the exposition, or comprehensive explanation, of the Scripture. [It] presents the meaning and intent of a biblical text, providing commentary and examples to make the passage clear and understandable.”

The GotQuestions.org article goes on to compare expository preaching against topical and textual preaching. Expository preaching places the focus on Scripture, while the latter methods use scripture to support a specific point.

There is always a potential for the latter methods to bend Scripture to fit a narrative. So, for me – someone seeking to not be led astray – I knew that I wanted to sit under an expository preacher.

I learned about expository preaching through a podcast, in which the host offered up Dr. Steven Lawson as an amazing expositor. I looked him up on Spotify and began listening to his Bible Study.

God had already led me to such a deeper understanding of His word. And though I will always maintain my own level of discernment, Dr. Lawson’s breakdown of Scripture immediately registered to me as truth. Over the next months, my spiritual growth quickened at an unbelievable pace. [Update]

iii.

Reading the Bible

I eventually started reading the Bible from the beginning, pointing the text to the cross at all times. I immediately realized the richness of Scripture now that I was pointing everything to Jesus and not making my own meaning of the text.

The parallels and understanding became the basis for this site and helped me to further solidify my expectations for my future pastor.

iv.

Prayed for Understanding

I prayed for God to strip me of my desires and to reveal the reason for church.

I realized that I had a pretty selfish view of church. I wanted to meet God there to receive a word. And – with the exception of the years where I volunteered – I always vacillated between wanting to be social versus slipping in and out silently. Multi-campus megachurches allow for that level of anonymity if you want it. And I really liked that.

Through Steven Lawson’s Bible Study, God made it plain as day: You go to church to worship God and give Him glory. You also go to connect, encourage and love on other believers.

There are tons of other reasons why the church is so important. But those two reasons encompass Jesus’ commands to: Love God and love others.

At first, I wasn’t ready to give up my desire for anonymity. I prayed for God to help me in that area.

v.

Church Preferences

I became clear about my church preferences, weeding out the bullet points that were superficial and keeping only the deal-breakers:

• I wanted to be able to trust the children’s ministry, as I have a young son.

• I wanted a pastor who preached the Gospel.

• I wanted a pastor who was humble and who would be led by Scripture and nothing else.

• I wanted an environment that was welcoming and friendly. My former church specialized in this and I did not want to give that up.

• I wanted to feel comfortable among the congregation. My preference was for a diverse congregation.

• I did not care if the music or worship experience failed to match what I’m used to. But I prayed that the lyrics would be true to Scripture.

vi.

Narrowing the Search

I used all of the above components to narrow down my search:

The Statement of Belief portion of the site was always my first step in vetting a church. Through this, I eventually narrowed my search to about six churches.

If the church had a video archive, I would watch about 20 minutes of a sermon to see if was true to Scripture and if it seemed to align with the church’s beliefs. I could also tell pretty quickly if the sermon was expository, topical or textual; though sometimes you need to watch to the end to be sure.

The video archives and social media (particularly, Instagram) both lent insight into the demographic of the church and the church’s priorities.

I looked into each church’s mission statement. (When you’re reviewing these, you’ll find that some mission statements are evangelical. Others are community oriented. And some will seem self-serving.)

I called a few churches so that I could inquire about the children’s ministry. My questions were related to security, ratio, curriculum and activities.

What I noticed while placing these calls is that most churches – even the larger ones – had an option to speak with the pastor. This was something unheard of to me. In the ten years that I attended my former church, I’d never even met the pastor. Being reminded that church members typically have access to their pastor was a bit overwhelming.

After this, I narrowed my search down to four churches. I then factored in distance – 40+ minutes on average – which left me with just one church. (Ha!) I felt horrible about not wanting to commit to the travel, but I felt that my attendance would be inconsistent at best.

The one church that remained was Methodist. It checked off all of my boxes and I felt as though I might be able to attend and disregard some of the denominational differences. But… then I read a Yelp review which mentioned that the pastor constantly disrespected Baptist congregants. So, I decided against it.

It had been months since I began my search. And, in that moment, I felt like I would never find a church.

vii.

Remaining Patient

Instead of leaning into discouragement, I remained patient and in prayer. I took a break from the search. After all, I had the online Bible Study stream. I was talking to my son consistently about Jesus and we’d have the best conversations about Him. (I’ll write a post about it!) And, I was reading my Bible.

I decided to continue on that path, joyfully. I still devoted Sundays to God; my studies were just via Spotify. It truly ended up being some of the most enriching months of my life. It also allowed for a bit of rest within my household.

Then, a few months later, Dr. Steven Lawson made a very direct comment in one of his teachings about finding a church home. An older man who was attending the Bible Study in-person was in a similar situation as me and asked for guidance. Dr. Lawson’s response was the push I needed to keep looking.

viii.

Finding a New Church!

That Friday night, I went online, prepared to start my search from scratch. But, this time, the first Baptist Church that I clicked on… well, it was perfect. I wasn’t sure how I missed it in my original search!

Their statement of belief was so detailed and the most recent sermon series explicitly pointed to the cross. You could absolutely feel the pastor’s humility.

They offered two services – traditional and contemporary – and their site included a lot of details about their children’s ministry. I could tell from their Instagram that they weren’t as diverse as I was used to, but I felt a calm about it.

I decided that my son and I would be going that Sunday.

We did… and it was amazing.

The pastor was starting a new sermon series on Acts – the beginnings of the church. I had to laugh to myself because it literally was a nod to what I’d prayed over months before: for God to reveal His purpose regarding church.

The children’s ministry was phenomenal. And everyone was so welcoming. I even met a couple from my former church!

At the time of writing this post, we’ve been attending for two months. I still continue to listen to Steven Lawson’s Bible Study every week, as well.

•••

As a disclaimer: I will always have my eyes open. I will always vet to ensure that things are safe physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And I am not afraid to extract myself from the church if God were to reveal anything unsavory.

•••

There is so much I can say about my new church and there is so much that I’ve learned. But, ultimately, I’m just incredibly grateful for this journey. I’m grateful that God’s hand is so mighty and that His will is so powerful. That He will never let our salvation-related questions go unanswered. When we are earnestly seeking Him, we will hear Him.

Thank You, God.