Ideal Baptist Church - Ideal Ga.
The "ideal" Baptist Church
Well in the case of Ideal Baptist Church, it’s because we worship inside a building located in Ideal Georgia. But if you ask me I’m going to tell you there are other reasons as well. I was recently surfing the internet and I came across an article written by Rev. Bob Rogers entitled, “Church by the Side of the Road, and other unusual names.” Like I said, it was just a complete coincidence, or God working in His mysterious ways, that I came by the article and began to read. The article was about churches with strange and humorous names. I read along the article and suddenly there it was, Ideal Baptist Church, and I was reminded that our name is peculiar. I guess after years of hearing your church name, even if it is peculiar, makes it sound normal. Well I was ecstatic to have came across the article by such a coincidence and I decided to send the author an email. I told him that he was exactly right, the members of Ideal Baptist Church do believe it is as ideal as any church on God’s planet Earth. I also thanked him for giving us a plug in his column. He wrote me back and told me that he was glad that we weren’t offended that he had teased about our church name. I’m assuming that some churches didn’t take it as funny. In any case we exchanged a couple of emails and I am a regular reader of his articles now. This event got me to thinking about a little article I had written over a year ago about our church and its name. Some of you may remember it because I had it on the website. I usually keep all my writings but I couldn’t find that one so I was inspired to write this. What is unique about our name? What make it different? I guess because it insinuates that our church is “perfect” or that it is the “ideal” Baptist Church? Well it is the ideal name for a Baptist church and we could all agree on that I’m sure, but it isn’t perfect. Nothing on Earth is. Now that I have admitted it isn’t perfect let me say a few things about what it is. A church is not a building but a body of believers who gather together to worship and to serve. It is in this area that I say Ideal Baptist Church is truly ideal. When I began to visit Ideal Baptist I was not saved. I was not a regular church attendee. I was listening to satan tell me that the church was full of hypocrites. I had seen it in other churches. Those who came to put on a show. They had political reasons (held office in the local government)or their reputation in the community (business owners) would suffer if they were not at church. Some were brought up in church and while they still didn’t really know Jesus, they knew they had ties to the church and needed to attend. Their life outside of church was anything but Christian. I had seen these things and satan used them to convince me not to go to church. You see, even if these faults exist, church is still where you need to be. The bad thing was that I had a family and since he had my ear he was also keeping my kids from church. This is how he gets into families and turns them from God. He was having his way and I was unknowingly serving him. Many people today are unknowingly serving him and that’s the way he likes it. After all, if they knew who they were serving they would be forced to turn to God and he doesn’t want that so he hides and he whispers. But now I’m rambling and that’s another story so back to the point. The first thing I noticed was that Ideal Baptist Church (the people) were not putting on a front of any kind. These people loved the Lord. They came to worship Him and when they left church building they were still the same God loving people that they were when they were among the church family. Many of these people had served the Lord most all their life. Their children were raised in this church. The Pastor was a genuine man of God. He too was unchanged regardless of his location in our out of the church. The people of Ideal Baptist live for the Lord and just want to serve the Master. They are not perfect but they strive to be the best Christians that they can be, and that made the church ideal to me. Me and my family are members of Ideal Baptist Church but more than that we are members of an ideal church. We work hard along side our church family to grow the church and to serve the Master as best we can. I take it personal when people visit our church and then they leave. Some to join with other churches and some to their old life of no church at all. I can’t help but wonder what in the world could have pulled them from the ideal church. It is then that I am reminded that we may not be as ideal to other people as we are to me. People are all different and that’s for sure. God reminds me that it’s all in His hands and I’m not to worry but just to continue to serve. If it is in His will, Ideal Baptist Church will live on and become the ideal church for many in the future. It is my sincere hope that if you haven't already done so, you will find your ideal church too. I leave you with this.. Joshua 24:15 - but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. In His Service Billy W.  
|
Web Hosting and Design by OurChurch.Com | Administrator