I didn't grow up going on a lot
of vacations per se. My dad was a professional rodeo cowboy and we went
somewhere almost every weekend. Often if we weren't staying in the camper at a
rodeo arena we were camping in it at a lake, fishing trout in the early mornings.
In my earlier years of ministry I
modeled my family off times more like how I grew up. We didn't ever take a
vacation as in a week or two unplugged and away. We did travel almost every
month to a preachers' fellowship meeting and we always turned some portion of
that trip into an adventure for our kids. We also camped a lot as Oregon's largest state park is just outside of Astoria, where we lived in the earliest days of our ministry.
Things changed when we moved
twelve years ago to Puyallup.
Bible Baptist offered a vacation package as a part of my benefits so we
began modeling our down time a little more like how my wife grew up.
The first year was two full weeks
out camping. We decided that was much too long. The next year was a week long
trip to Lake Louise, Canada. It was a bit hurried, but
the most significant challenge was attending church. We attended a good church
Sunday morning and headed into Canada
thinking we could find a church to attend where ever we stopped for the
night. We stopped early on purpose so we could get cleaned up from traveling in
time for church. What we found was that no church in town held a Sunday night
service. I was even willing to attend an Episcopalian service if necessary. No
open church whatsoever.
The next several years were no
better. We went on an Alaska
cruise one year. The timing was such that we left after the morning service so
we missed church that evening and there was not church in Skagway, where we spent Wednesday so we missed that service too. Apparently a lot of preachers
have no problem missing services to go on a cruise because a lot of them
recommend cruising.
Another year we planned to
take a train from Seattle to New York and back. I made reservations for a
sleeper car. The whole vacation was going to be the train. Just ride it to New York and back
(taking different routes each way). My (by then) adult children and their wives
drove us to the train station. On the way one asked where we would stop for
church. It was not until then that I realized that we would not be able to
attend a single church service the entire way. My kids tried to justify their parents' lack
of church that week but by the time we arrived at the train station I had come
to the conclusion that I could not set that example for my kids. I canceled our
trip and ate the cost.
This year we secluded ourselves
in the North Cascade Mountains no more than
one and a half hours from four Baptist Churches of like faith and practice. Still trouble attending church. It turned out that
- One is a church plant and does not yet have mid week
services.
- Another advertised just a children's outreach for the mid-week (turns out their web site needs a little updating. They did have a preaching service on Wednesday.)
- Another held their mid week service on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. I know
that many do Thursday instead.
Here is the thing, it's just
about impossible to go on vacation and be faithful to worship in God's house.
Oh, sure, almost every town has something that looks like a church but those
with a little biblical discernment know that most things men call church are
just that, called of men and not the Lord. Trouble is that some who have the
Lord's authority are shirking their obligations. Church needs to be
- On a
consistent time
- Well advertised and
- Faithfully executed
Marvin McKenzie
In the fields
