First off, the pews were hard--no padding. By the time I got through sitting for l l/2 hours straight I was feeling a little sore (I figured the services were long due to making time for the musician.) The regular pastor didn’t speak so, instead, we were "privileged" to hear the traveling evangelist give the sermon. He started out with a low voice that was hard to hear (especially if you didn’t have a hearing aid), and then it started rising to a crescendo. He would pace back and forth, get down in front of the podium, yell, and clap his hands every so often (about 2 or 3 quick claps at once for emphasis), then his voice would lower and you could hardly hear him, especially if he turned his head. The sermon was on overcoming sins, or along that line. I can’t remember exactly what the method was for overcoming them, but it had something to do with confessing them and meaning business. (He was going to give us the "secret" for how to deal with them at the evening service, which we didn’t attend.) Since I don't remember too many shouting sermons in the WCG, I somehow thought it was kind of entertaining to hear someone yell and carry on so much. At least we didn’t have to worry about falling asleep during the sermon! We bought some music CDs afterwards (there was thankfully no rule about not "doing business" on Sunday), talked a little to the Sunday school teacher who befriended us by the CD rack, and then left. 

Our next experience with a shouting pastor was at a church in the big city. We attended when they also were beginning their Vacation Bible School (VBS). The music was great with a strong sound system and organ. They also had a traveling evangelistic who was there for the VBS. He also had a very loud voice. His sermon was on "You are Blessed," and he made sure we knew it. He also came down in front of the podium and moved around a lot.

Later we visited a Southern Baptist church in the country. There were about 10 people in there. (The church was new.) The pastor introduced himself to us before services and seemed very nice. When he began the sermon, his voice suddenly changed and started getting unusually loud. He talked so fast you could hardly understand what he was saying. In fact, my husband asked me afterwards, "What did he talk on?" We decided not to turn our visitor’s card in, but get out of there as fast as we could. But the pastor met us before we could get one foot from our seats and said, "Did you turn in your card?" I replied, "No, I forgot." He says, "Can I have it?" I reluctantly gave it to him, but when he asked if he could call us, we let him know we were "only visiting." For him to do that made us feel like he was cornering us and trying to corral us into his church. 

After a few weeks we decided to go back to the last church we had visited in a big city. The one with the strong sound system. We hadn’t heard the pastor yet and we assumed his sermons would be different. After all, he appeared to be mild, humble and easy-going. Before the sermon he talked in a soft-spoken voice, as he gave some announcements. THEN the sermon began. He started out with a normal voice, but it wasn’t long before it started rising. Finally, he came down in front of the podium and got extremely loud at that point. The loudest was when he hollered out, "ARE YOU GOING TO TRUST GOD NO MATTER WHAT??!!!" (The sermon was on "The Faith.") I glanced at some of the others from time to time to see how they were taking it. It appeared everyone was glued on his words. I couldn’t help but wonder later if that was what he sounded when he got really angry with his family. Why do some preachers shout and carry on to get their message across?? Maybe not all of them do, but in our case we don’t want to take any more chances.

By Darla

Are Exiters Are "Out of Fellowship With God" if They Don't Attend a Church? 

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