After I got a bit more rest, I woke up, gathered my things together and got ready for Church. I met Nathan outside of the house at 7:35 and traveled to the Fellowship Bible Church which was Nathan's church. It wasn't long before entering the Church that I immediately noticed several big differences from the other Churches I had attended in the past.

As a Catholic, I'm used to the typical ritualistic ceremony, with the Eucharist sitting at the front behind the altar. This church had neither, but rather a podium with guitars, a piano, a bass, several microphones, and a large projection screen with advertisements for various organizations cycling on the wall. I also couldn't find the Priest's chair, or in this case the Pastor, and Nathan informed me that the Pastor moves around a lot and doesn't really stick to one place. But before church could even begin, I was struck by an extremely odd proposition. A random woman approached the two of us and thanked us for attending the church. She then asked if we had ever been to the church before. Obviously, I shook my head while Nathan nodded his. Then, without any indication why, she asked if the two of us would be interested in ushering for them during the service. I had been in the church for less than one minute and I was already being asked to collect the money for their congregation? Caught off guard, we agreed and then found our seats. It dawned on me I had no clue what I had just gotten myself into. Shortly before the service, the lady returned and handed the two of us cloth nets which we would use to collect the money. Nathan did his best to explain to me what we would have to do (he had never done it before either), and then I was startled by overly loud music being played. I looked up and saw that on the stage was an entire band, made up of three supporting singers, one lead singer, one piano player, and two bass players. The lead singer also had a guitar and began singing into the microphone. I was amazed... never had I heard singing like that in a church. We always sing the same old songs which are required to be as boring as possible. And while occasionally a guitarist makes a guest appearance, it's usually entirely piano based. So here was this band playing for us... playing music I had never heard in church before. Behind the band, the lyrics as well as the author and title of the song were being displayed by the projector.

But when the song finished... another began. And then another, and then another, and wow... they didn't stop. In fact they sang for 30 minutes! And not only did they sing for that long, but people were standing and dancing in their spots, not just one but many parishioners were swaying, raising their heads, and shaking them around and around. Some were crying, but most were smiling. A very strange for sight for a guy who is used to a laid back service in which the extent of movement is shaking heads and lining up to receive the body and blood of Christ. What a hip way to bring younger people to the church.

Eventually the songs stopped and the lead singer spoke to the congregation. He talked about how much he loved God, and then asked that the ushers come up to the front. There was about eight of us, and so Nathan and I approached the front of our section of seats and began collecting the money. The nets were passed around, and I stood for few moments wondering where my net had gone. I looked around, complete confused and probably rather silly. I had lost my net and I didn't know what happened. I looked up and saw Nathan standing on the other side, he looked at me and motioned towards a few rows up... his net was just coming towards me. I realized than that we were trading nets. So I grabbed the net and then passed it to the next row. I finally got the hang of it, just as the collection was over and brought my sacks back to the woman who had originally asked the two of us to do it. There was so much trust in this church. We then returned to our seats and the lead singer then introduced the speaker for the day... who wasn't a pastor or priest, just a guy who actually worked at Focus on the Family's Institute. I sat and listened to his sermon, which was the longest sermon I've ever heard in my life. I'm used to five to ten minute speeches from the Priest after reading a selection from a Gospel. But not here. I heard the beeping of people's watches at 10:00 and expected him to wrap it up fairly soon. but he didn't. He went on and on and on and even showed a clip from City Slickers to highlight his key points. He finally wrapped up about 10:20... his sermon that is. He then asked the singers to start a new song while he had a group of people approach the front known as the "Prayer Team". During the song, people were called to approach the Prayer Team members and ask them to pray for them. I honestly didn't expect anyone to go. And as the song began, I realized no one was getting up and I felt embarrassed for the people hanging out at the front with nothing to do. But I looked again a few minutes later and saw grown men and women, crying with other grown men and women. It was amazing to see. people were telling complete strangers what was wrong in their lives, and they were having a big cry fest. Really amazing stuff. We then left and I saw them selling donuts and drinks in the lobby of the church. Something I had never seen before. After the service, Nathan drove me home and we agreed to attend a movie later in the day. So I went for a walk around my neighborhood, snapped some photographs and took a tiny nap.

After we returned from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", Nathan took me to the grocery store so I could pick up some necessities, and then dropped me off at home where I finally got to meet my new roommate. His name was Jason and was from Delaware, New Jersey. He was a missionary with a group that would be going to the Czech Republic in October to help plan some new buildings and churches. We spent the evening discussing the differences between the States and Canada, the Catholic church and every other church, and even our favorite foods. I then went upstairs to get better acquainted with my host family and then returned to my bedroom and went to sleep. I had a big day ahead of me tomorrow... my first day of work with the Adventures in Odyssey team!