First Contact – Part 9 – Full Gospel Church

Some of you may be asking, “What in the world is a Full Gospel Church?” Well, according to Wikipedia, it is synonymous with the Pentecostal, Charismatic Protestant movement that started in the 19^th century. Basically, I associate Full Gospel with churches that believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, divine healing, speaking in tongues, etc.

As I was growing up, I used to hear my parents talk about the Pentecostal and the Holiness churches around where they grew up in north Alabama. They were the ones being slain in the Spirit and dancing in the aisles. Some may have even handled snakes. It all kind of blends together in my head, but I think you get the general idea of what I am talking about.

While there are several charismatic churches in my area, the two I became the most familiar with over the years were Faith Tabernacle (now called Faith Church) and Christ Chapel. These are both independent non-denominational churches.

Shortly after becoming a Christian in the Church of Christ I started a quest to understand the differing beliefs of the multitude of churches. One of the earliest ones I investigated was Christ Chapel. At that time they were in a small building near downtown. My roommate, David, who had been a student at the local Bible College and was a part time preacher, decided to join me in attendance at the church one Sunday evening. The service was filled with music, prayer, and preaching. Not that radically different from the Church of Christ except for the use of instrumental music (the C of C sings a cappella) and the occasional speaking in tongues (the C of C services were all in English). Near the end of the service everyone was getting happy, standing up, and singing with all their might. We were told to join hands. This made me a bit uncomfortable, but I did it anyway, as did my roommate. Afterwards, David’s comment was, “My, those folks sure are friendly.”

You have to understand that for many in the Church of Christ the use of mechanical instruments of music is a sin. Also, many believe that the gifts of the spirit such as healing, speaking in tongues, and so on were no longer in effect. So, some would think that what David and I did—actually participating in the service where these things were being done—was sinful. But to tell you the truth, I didn’t feel like I needed to shower after the service.

A few years later, Christ Chapel built a new building north of downtown that served as both a church and a school. I can still recall my wife and me going to see Twila Paris, one of my favorite Christian musicians, at this building.

My son, Andrew, was born in 1991. When he was in K-5, he attended Woodmont Christian School, which was part of Woodmont Baptist Church. My wife, Kathy, had quit her job as a teacher when Andrew was born, but was now ready to start teaching again. She was offered a job at WCS the year Andrew was in K-5. Looking to expand the school the next year, they needed a larger facility. After much searching, Woodmont Christian School started discussions with Northwest Christian Academy, which was the school that met at Christ Chapel. This church was planning to build a bigger church building and convert its current building to a school only. After much talking and praying, the two schools decided to merge into Shoals Christian School at the Christ Chapel building. While there were a few doctrinal differences between Woodmont Baptist Church and Christ Chapel, it was decided that none of them was a deal breaker. Thus, a combined school ministry began and continues to this day. Kathy began teaching at SCS the following year, and Andrew became a first grader there. Kathy still works for SCS; Andrew graduated from there in 2009.

Shortly after Kathy started working for WCS, she decided to attend Woodmont Baptist Church. Andrew attended with her. I had deconverted from Christianity before Andrew was born and by this time I was only attending church sporadically. Kathy ultimately decided to join Woodmont. Andrew joined a few years later and was baptized.

Sometime after Andrew became a teenager, he became more interested in the charismatic movement and joined Christ Chapel’s youth group. He was not yet driving, so on Wednesday evenings I would drive him to Christ Chapel (only a few minutes from home) for the youth meetings and then pick him up afterwards. Later still he actually began attending some Sunday services there. Eventually, Andrew began speaking in tongues and had his own prayer language.

Occasionally, I would attend Sunday services with Andrew at Christ Chapel. I discovered that several people I knew from the Church of Christ were now members there. This was quite a radical change, but I guess not as radical as my change was. My observation was that Christ Chapel’s worship was very similar to Woodmont Baptist’s worship. The main difference seemed to be the preacher in the former breaking into the occasional tongue speaking. The people there were always welcoming and friendly.

Let me now switch gears and talk about Faith Tabernacle. The first contact I remember with this church was in the mid 1980s when Don Wildmon, the founder of the American Family Association and American Family Radio, came to speak one evening. Wildmon was a very outspoken United Methodist minister that was fighting a battle against the increasing immorality in the movies, on TV, and in music. His battle was known as the Campaign for Decency. Faith Tabernacle had decided to host an event where he could voice his concerns. Interestingly, a Church of Christ preacher was also supporting Wildmon and was at the meeting. In the spirit of cooperation, the music before the program was alternately led by a Faith Tabernacle member, then by the Church of Christ preacher. When the former led, instruments accompanied the singing. When the latter led, the singing was a cappella.

When my son was a teenager, he would occasionally attend a once-a-week fellowship at Faith Tabernacle called Hebrew Café. There young people could listen to music, play games, and have snacks and beverages, all within a safe environment.

While I always found the members of both Faith Tabernacle (Faith Church) and Christ Chapel inviting and friendly, I just couldn’t get into the emotional element that was present at their services. I guess I am just a mental type person that is convinced that our beliefs should be based on reason, not emotion. That is why I was intrigued by the Worldwide Church of God and the Church of Christ. Both took a rational approach to understanding the Bible. I liked that. Of course, I eventually came to realize that the Bible was not the reliable source of information I once thought it was. Necessarily, I had to deconvert. I vow to always follow the evidence wherever it leads.

Speaking of evidence, a few years ago Shoals Christian School was contacted by Josh McDowell’s ministry. They were going to be on tour and needed to fill a speaking gap one day. They were going to be near the area, so wanted to know if SCS wanted to host an event. Of course, they jumped on it. McDowell spoke at the school during the day, and then spoke to the community that evening at Christ Chapel. One of the things that endears me to McDowell is his position on faith, reason, and evidence. As you probably know, Josh McDowell is the author of the world famous books on Christian evidences entitled “More Than a Carpenter” and “Evidence That Demands a Verdict”.

At that meeting, McDowell asked the audience why Christian evidences was so important. He answered his own question with words like these, “Anyone can believe anything by faith. All you have to do is choose to believe it, whether it’s true or not. In order to be sure our faith is in something that is true, we must have evidence of its validity.” I almost stood up and shouted, “Amen, brother!” even though I was no longer a Christian at that point. I totally agreed with him. Only believe in that for which the evidence supports. The problem is that when it comes to something like the Biblical text where we can’t go back in time and actually observe the events reported therein, evidence can be interpreted in a number of different ways. Also, different people require differing levels of evidence to be convinced of something. That is why we sometimes have hung juries. Anyway, Josh McDowell has found the evidence he requires to believe the Bible; I have not.

A short time after McDowell spoke at Christ Chapel I was there for a Sunday morning service. The pastor of the church was preaching about faith. I do not remember his exact words, but basically he told the congregants that he didn’t need any evidence for his faith because he could feel it inside. I guess he didn’t agree with Josh McDowell like I did.