We go to SBC - North (in Kingwood) and love it. Anyone else go?

Spent about 4 years at Woodway, we now attend the West Campus.

I've been to the North Campus a few times, it is really nice.

Yep, Woodway campus.

My older borther is a youth pastor at the West (Katy) campus.

my parents go to the west campus. personally, i'm not a big fan of very large churches....though 2nd seems very good at what they do.

i've heard a lot of people say they don't like big churches. why is that? i know we were concerned about going to a big church when we first attended, but finding and joining a bible study class with people our age and status made it so much better. are there other reasons for not wanting to attend a large church?

personally, a large church is what I am looking for. I am knew to the area and don't really know too many people (and the few people I know are Catholic). I want a large church so I can blend in until I feel comfortable.

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and the few people I know are Catholic

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ewwwwwww!

going on stereotypes alone, I like catholics better than baptists

Take your religious stereotypes to the religion or General boards.

[This message has been edited by BohunkAg (edited 8/6/2007 3:09p).]

I don't like big churches because most pastors as big churches tend to dumb down their emphasis on bible teachings and, instead, rely on the "make you feel good" type of sermon.

They do this, understandably, to keep the congregation from becoming sided on certain controversial biblical issues.

Joel Osteen comes to mind, of course. Here is what he said in a Larry King Live interview once:

(Forewarning: I'm stealing this from an article that I read in 2005, which sums up my feelings about mega-church preachers.)

KING: What if you're Jewish or Muslim, and you don't accept Christ at all?

OSTEEN: You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know ...

KING: If you believe that you have to believe in Christ? They're wrong, aren't they?

OSTEEN: Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong. I believe here's what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God will judge a person's heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don't know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don't know. I've seen their sincerity. So I don't know. I know for me, and
what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.


That is the problem with Osteen and like-minded preachers at mega-churches, IMO. They, in an effort to remain neutral to many denominations or biblical issues, have dumbed down their message.

How could Osteen, a preacher of so many thousands, say he "doesn't know" if those that are Jewish or Muslim are wrong?

I'm not going to ever discriminate someone for their faith as I wouldn't want someone doing that to me, but to claim to be a man of God and one that wants to preach his message of salvation through Christ, he sure sounds like he has no clue of what he believes.

I'm not saying Osteen is a bad man. I believe he does preach hope and change, but he's far more of a motivational speaker than a preacher.

let it be known that bohunk hates baby jesus.

joel is not a pastor, but an inspirational speaker. let's not confuse lakewood with a true church.

russ, if you're north of houston, i highly recommend SBC-North. Senior Pastor Doug Page is awesome, entertaining, and I've never seen/heard him side-step anything controversial like baylorguy posted.

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That is the problem with Osteen and like-minded preachers at mega-churches, IMO. They, in an effort to remain neutral to many denominations or biblical issues, have dumbed down their message.

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Is it that or they don't want to offend potential members so they put out the least threatening message possible to make people feel good?

thanks for the advice, I am still "job hunting" so I am not sure what area of Houston I will live in. For now, I live in the ghetto. But I will definitely keep that in mind.

By the way, speaking of Osteen. I have no first-hand knowledge of Second Baptist.

BoHunk, you may be right.

I don't mind it when preachers try not to scare away new members by lessening the "brimstone and fire" effect. However, when one does it to the point that the message is unrecognizable or confusing, it kind of defeats the purpose. That's my opinion though.

Woodway here.

I attended both First Baptist Houston and Second Baptist Houston. I would say that I preferred 1st Baptist, as it was a little smaller and Greg Matte is an Aggie.

Woodway campus since 2002. Love it. See no reason I'll ever leave other than if I move out of Houston. We go to the 11:11 service and I think Ben is awesome. The one complaint I hear is that sometimes he's a little too blunt in his teaching and doesn't sidestep so more sensitive topics. I love it. I've never once walked out thinking he was sugarcoating something and have seen several people walk out crying b/c of something he said. It wasn't unbiblical, but he called a spade a spade and it cut a few people pretty deep. Hopefully it helped them in the long run.

I agree with what one of the previous posters said in terms of finding a class to attend. We started off in the newlywed class the first Sunday they started it and all of our closest friends are either from that class or were from the class we started after the newlywed class that we still attend. The church has been a huge blessing for us.

Also, FBC is also outstanding. We went in visited for fun one Sunday to hear Gregg speak and he was as awesome as ever. I didn't enjoy the worship portion of the service as much, but Gregg made it worthwhile. He looks exactly the same as he did when doing Breakaway. I swear he hasn't aged and still looks 19.

[This message has been edited by Texas Aggie '99 (edited 8/6/2007 8:46p).]

Been going to SBC Woodway for a little over a year now. I've made some of my best friends through the singles ministry there - we are always staying busy with cookouts, intramural sports, camping trips etc. It's definitely my home away from home.

Also, second what was said earlier about Ben at 11:11 - great speaker who tells it like it is. Plus he gives lots of scripture to back his teachings/positions - doesn't just speak on generic topics with no backing.

I went to the Woodway campus from 2003-2006 (when I moved to Missouri City). It was a great church with a great message. I was in a Sunday School class, but it was kinda clique-ish, so I never really felt connected there. I probably should have seeked out other classes, but I didn't, so I'll put most of the blame for that on me. I was involved in various bible studies through Second that have meant a lot to me though, and I still have friends that I met going there.

The reason I left was that I wanted to get involved in a church in my community, so I now go to a church that meets in a Jr. High. Very different from SBC in regards to atmosphere, but the services are very similar...

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I don't like big churches because most pastors as big churches tend to dumb down their emphasis on bible teachings and, instead, rely on the "make you feel good" type of sermon.

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The key word here is, "most". Dr. Young doesn't tiptoe around the Bible or its teachings. Some people get offended when a sermon point hits home and it isn't the sugar-coated message they were expecting or commonly hear. Dr. Young is very clear on issues from same sex marriage to pre-marital sex to parenting and discipline. I promise his response to Larry King would have been (IS) much different.

To make this related to the Houston board, we've attended SBC-West since it opened and have been involved as volunteers in some capacity ever since. Yes, it is a big church, but getting involved makes it smaller. Keep in mind, Heaven is big, too. With the opening of the new buildings, there are more classrooms and classes than ever. Great place for families with kids of all ages or no kids at all. 9:30 service is contemporary music, 11:00 is choir.
As for FBC, I have attended the weekly Downtown Bible studies many times and when Gregg speaks it is a real treat. Those downtown studies are a great way to get a lift in the middle of the week.
http://www.houstonsfirst.org/highpoint/index.html

We attended Forest Cove Baptist Church before it was involved in the hostile takeover by SBC. We started attending there but, we never moved our letter there from our previous church in Bryan. Some of the finest people we know still attend church there. Great people and great servants.

When SBC took over Forest Cove we decided to at least give it a try. We had tried to get involved in more than just our SS class but, it was almost like you had to break an inner circle to actually have a chance to serve. Maybe we just weren't looking in the right spot, but when SBC came in like a knight in shining armor I just had a weird feeling. Much of our SS class looked at becoming part of the SBC mega-church as a huge step up in status. One member went so far as to say to our SS class that the name "Second Baptist Church" gave our church instant credibility. I guess the David Leno mess was still prevalent in the Kingwood community at that time but, I was stunned and voiced my disagreement with the takeover. I was chastised for my thoughts and told that I was only thinking about myself instead of "the kingdom." Being a died in the wool Southern Baptist my entire life I did not like the fact that our church was giving up their autonomy to two other congregations. I sat through three sermons by Doug Page and was left thinking "Where was the meat and potatoes of that sermon?" each time. He only scratched the surface. I'm not real big on props and videos. Also, I did not like the idea of Ed Young choosing the pulpit pastor for the church.

In the end we left SBC North to worship at a church in our own community. We have several members (one was a staff member) of SBC-North that moved their letter to our church. To a person we all had the same opinion of the hostile takeover.

"Hostile Takeover"? Are you serious? I don't care if you have a problem with Second, but to describe what happened as a "hostile takeover" is very dishonest. That church came to Ed Young and asked for help. You make it seem like Ed is some sort of corporate raider that looks for weaker churches, in and around Houston, so that he can come in and take control thereby forcing everyone to submit to his will. That is just absurd.

I don't care if you have issues with SBC and Ed Young, I'm a member there and I have a few problems with SBC, but I think your characterization was unfair to everyone involved (including the congregation and pastoral leadership of Kingwood).

Lastly, I am very surprised about your assertion that it was hard for you to get involved as a leader. My experience has always been the opposite. SBC is always looking for people to do things and they are not shy about asking people for help.

SBC is far from perfect, but it does have a lot of really good people as members and in its leadership.

Wrong. At a meeting in Houston, Ed Young approached one of the members of the pastor search committee and said, "How would you like for me to be your preacher?" This is a direct quote from that member from the pulpit at Forest Cove during the special called business meeting to discuss the merger. I know, I was there.

I don't have a problem with SBC. I may have a problem with how things were handled as far as the merger was concerned...I think they referred to it as a "marriage" between two churches. But, doctrinally, I have no problem. Like I said before about service, I may have just been trying to serve in the wrong place.

I do think Ed Young sought Forest Cove out. He knew there were problems financially and with the staff. At the same time, SBC was looking to expand to another part of Houston just like they with their West Campus in Katy. Forest Cove provided the perfect opportunity to expand without having to put money into new facilities. He approached our committee member at the meeting, it went before the church, the church voted in favor of it....problem solved for both parties.

I'd hardly call what Stone Cold just described a "hostile takeover." A church needed help and someone with the means and ability to do so stepped up to the plate.

I use the term "hostile takeover" sarcastically. However, I talked to a former staff member there and we started talking about the merger. I was joking around about it being a hostile takeover and he stopped me mid-sentence and told me that is exactly what it was. So, maybe there is some truth to it.

i think its really strange when preachers live in multmillion dollar homes and act like politicians.

but that's just me.

I saw the plans for Joel Osteen's new house in River Oaks.... let's just say multi-million might not cover what he has planned.

I agree about the multi-million dollar homes. Like I said, I've got plenty of issues with Second. However, for my family, all of the positives we get out of SBC far outweigh the negatives.

It's a business. Back when John O'Quinn (whose Catholic) was going through one of his State Bar prosecutions, shortly before trial he donated a bunch of money to Second Baptist and attended a service or two. Ed Young then testified at his trial as a character witness about what a great guy/Christian he was.

and Ed Young has a mutli-million dollar place out on Kaui.