Original Date: 5-11-97

It was Sunday. Kourtnee and I drove to a very large church. As we entered the parking lot, the marquee read Greater Buelahland Interdenominational House of Rest. People were arriving for service. People drove up in Mercedes®, Volvo®, Saab®, and a host of other expensive cars. (Kourtnee and I stepped out of a Lexus®.) There were some less expensive cars in the bunch, but you really did not notice them with all the expensive cars invading the place. Anyone could see that this church had some members with money attending it. People were walking in the church as Kourtnee and I walked in.

The usher handed Kourtnee and I a program as we entered into the sanctuary. There was a big chandelier hanging in the middle of the very high ceiling. The pews were laced with gold trim. There were about fifty pews on each of the four sections of rows in the church. There was also a deacon's corner, a balcony, the minister's roster, the mother's bench, and the choir stand. The carpet was a nice plush blue carpet instead of the flat red carpet that was normally seen in churches. I had only seen the sanctuary and it was gigantic. I could only imagine what the rest of the church looked like.

Kourtnee told me to find a seat because she had to go and prepare to sing with the choir. She was a lead vocalist in the church's united choir. She gave me a hug and walked off. I choose a seat on the third pew. I sat on the end of the pew so I could have an arm rest. I watched people coming in the church. Most of them were dressed to impress, and I was impressed. I saw diamonds and pearls, not to mention plenty of gold and other precious jewels.

People were talking to people they had not seen since last Sunday. Other people were talking about who had passed away. Some were discussing the people who were sick. Others were talking about their children. A lady who sat down beside me interrupted my eavesdropping. She was sitting very close to me. I would not have even spoken to her if I had not asked her to move down some. She moved down a little. She did not say anything else to me the whole time we were sitting in the service.

Notes began to fill the church as the musician played the introit. People began to take their seats and the talking subsided. Everyone stood up and turned their heads to the back of the church. Five men were walking down the aisle. I assumed the first person was the pastor because he was leading the ministerial processional. It took five minutes for the processional to end because the church aisle was so long. When the ministers finally reached the pulpit, the musician began to play the morning song, "Hail Jesus You're My King" After the musician had finished playing the introduction, everyone including me began to sing. We sang a very long time. After the song was over, one of the ministers walked to the podium and began to pray. The musician was playing softly. The minister must have prayed for at least an hour... or so it seemed. The minister walked back to the pew and Bishop J. Berry Adkins walked to the podium and read the responsive reading with the congregation. Bishop Adkins left the podium when the last verse had been read. The musician began to play a second song, "What a Mighty God We Serve." Everyone began to sing and the song went on for four verses and two extra choruses. We had been standing up for what seemed like an hour or two; finally Bishop Adkins took the podium and told us to sit down. My legs were very happy! Bishop Adkins sat down and then a thunderous roar of applause began. I looked up to where the choir stand was. The choir was walking into the stand. I saw Kourtnee walk in and I smiled. Most of the choir members were looking around as if to see where their friends and family were sitting. The director stepped out and the musician hit some notes then the choir started to sing. The first song they sang was a spiritual anthem. It was a beautiful arrangement of "Holy, Holy, Holy." The voice parts were blending. They sounded good! When they had completed the song they began to sing a moderate up-tempo song, "Tell the Story." By the middle of the song people all over the church were standing up, clapping, and rocking. At the end of the song people begun clapping wildly, the applause seemed to go on endlessly.

When the applause finally died down, Bishop Adkins came to the podium and read a scripture. He prayed a prayer of penance. When he finished, a woman walked down to the front of the church and asked all the visitors to stand. A large group of people including myself stood. We continued to stand as she welcomed us to the church. An usher handed me a visitor's card while the lady was talking. When she finished her welcome, we sat down. As I was sitting down, I looked up into the choir stand. Kourtnee was looking at me. She smiled at me. I smiled back. Another lady named Sis. Ransom came down to the read the announcements and then she sat down.

The deacons of the church walked out carrying the offering tables. After they put the tables down, they stood behind the tables. Four of the six ushers walked down and stood at the front of the church and faced the pulpit. The musician was playing softly. One of the deacons read the offering scripture, Malachi 3:8-10. Then another deacon prayed. The usher picked up the offering plates. One of the deacons then told the congregation that the ushers would be collecting the benevolent offering. The ushers began walking down the aisle and passing the plate to each row. I was handed the plate and I placed my offering in the plate and passed it to the usher. After the benevolence offering was taken up, two of the ushers walked back up to the front of the church with the offering plates in their hands. A deacon announced that they were going to take up the general church offering. The ushers motioned for the choir to stand and bring their offering. They turned towards the congregation and motioned for everyone to stand and bring their offering. Following the ushers' directions, everyone walked around the table and placed their offering in the offering plate. After the general church offering, the deacon asked all the tithers to bring their tithes to the table. People from all over the church began to walk down to the table. Kourtnee walked down from the choir stand with some of the other choir members and put their tithes in a special box for the tithes. It took what seemed like hour, but finally the offering had been taken up. I was very glad.

After the offering was taken up, the musician began playing softly. Bishop Adkins walked to the podium. He talked for a few minutes, and then he asked all those who wanted to come to the altar to come down. People from all over the church walked down to the altar. Some people knelt at the altar, but most of the people stood around the altar holding hands. Bishop Adkins asked the rest of us to stand at our seats. The pastor prayed for a long time. After he finished praying, everyone sat down.

The director stood up and motioned for the choir to stand. A man walked to the front of the choir and took the microphone. The musician played the introduction and then the choir began to sing... "I wanna come back home... To be with you." They were singing an up-tempo contemporary song entitled "I Wanna Come back Home." The guy leading the song had a very nice baritone voice. After the choir finished singing that song, they sang a hymn. The hymn was entitled "There Must be Rest." A very high soprano and a guy that sung bass did the lead for the song. The director motioned for the choir to sit down when that song was complete.

Bishop Adkins again took his place behind the podium. The musician was playing softly as he read the scriptures that he was going to use. As Bishop Adkins was reading his scriptures, all you could hear was pages rustling. Everyone was reading along with him. As a text Bishop Adkins used, "It's okay to dance, but know what you are dancing about." It took Bishop Adkins forever to sit down. He must have preached for almost two hours. It was really only about forty-five minutes. Everyone was clapping, thanking God, and getting with the sermon. Everyone was pretty excited.

The choir rose for yet another song. This time Kourtnee walked up to the microphone. Applause filled the church. The choir sung a slow contemporary gospel selection entitled "I Wanna Shout." The song was appropriate because people were shouting all over the place. She could really sing. She put a serious hurting on that song. On the last chorus of the song, Bishop Adkins asked everyone to stand and he opened the prayer line and said, "If there is anyone here who needs to be saved or filled with the Holy Ghost, come on down. We all need God to make it in this last and evil day. We need help today. People have itching ears and only want to here what makes them happy. We need help today. When there are openly gay people proclaiming their views to the world, we need help. I am reminder of the songwriter that said, time, time, time, time, time winding up. We're living in an evil day church and time is winding up. I wouldn't wait too long before I asked the Lord to save me." He paused for a moment, then said, "If you need prayer, come on down." People from all over the church came down to the prayer line. Bishop Adkins prayed for them. After the prayer line was over, Bishop Adkins opened the doors of the church. No one came down to join the church. Bishop Adkins dismissed church. It was about 2:00 PM when we got out of church.

I was trying to find Kourtnee. I asked this little girl where the choir was. She told me that they were in the choir room and she showed me the way. As I was going to the choir room a couple of ladies hugged me and told me that they were glad to see me. A couple of men spoke and invited me to come back to the services again. A couple of people waved and a couple of other people said, hi.

Finally in the choir room, I waited for Kourtnee to come out. She saw me and gave me a hug. Bishop Adkins walked over to her and told her that he enjoyed her solo. She introduced me and he said, "I am happy to meet you." He left and spoke to someone else. As Kourtnee and I walked out the church, well more or less tried to walk out the church, people crowded around her. They were trying to hug her and tell her how good she had sung. I got pushed out the way, shoved to the back of the crowd, elbowed in the stomach, and somebody stepped on my foot. I had to get out of the way. It was rude that church people could act this way. I was hurt. I walked around the crowd and waited by the front door of the church. I figured I could not get hurt there. Kourtnee finally came out of the church. She was still surrounded by a small group of people who were still trying to speak and things. When I saw her, I went over to where she was and we walked to her car. We drove away from the church in silence.

When we arrived back at Kourtnee's house, she asked me if I wanted to go out to dinner. I told her that it would be okay. She told me that we would have to wait for Paula. We waited until Paula got to the house; which took about twenty minutes. While we were waiting, Kourtnee asked me how I liked the service. I told her that it was okay. We talked until the doorbell rang. It was Paula. We all gave the proper greetings and things.

Paula asked me how I liked the services. I said, "OK." She then asked me if I had been ignored and pushed aside when I was walking with Kourtnee. I asked, "How did you know that happened?" She replied, "Because, that's how they did me when I visited with Kourtnee." Kourtnee made a face and asked, "What do you mean ignored!" Paula explained to her that people pushed us aside to get to Kourtnee. I looked at Kourtnee and agree with Paula. Kourtnee was about to say something when Paula interrupted and said she was starving. I was glad that Paula has said something about the way the people at the church acted. We left the house and went to the restaurant.