Up until a month ago, we were in the SBC (Southern Baptist Conference) but with all the trouble the SBC has been getting into lately, the congregation voted to get out of the SBC.
I've only lived in the South for 2 years so I asked if we were going to become a Non-Denominational church without knowing that "Non Denominational" was a bad word here. Our Pastor looked down and kindly explained that he had grown up SBC and the thought of being called Non Denominational didn't sit well with him but then a guy, who I have a very low opinion of now, started muttering something about the word Non-Denominational made him want to go out in the parking lot and exchange blows.
I was pretty stunned by his comment and was trying to understand what I thought I just heard. Ruby said she looked around the room and others were stunned as well. This guy is supposed to be an elder. Anyway, there has to be one in every crowd.
So, to make a long story endless, we are some kind of Baptist church affiliated with other local Baptist churches now.
I grew up in a Baptist church in Northern Indiana and it was more of what Ruby thinks of as Southern Baptist. It made me quit going to church for a long time. I finally reasoned that it's not God's fault what man does with religion. But as a child, we were taught that smoking and drinking were sins but so was dancing, playing cards, long hair on boys, and guitar was an instrument of satin. The only instrument allowed was an organ and the choir. The pastor was the worship leader as well. He would wave his hand up and down as we sang hymns. I thought I was in hell already. When my dad died, the pastor said at his eulogy that my dad was probably going to hell because he hadn't been to church in a while. I wanted to take this pastor out in the parking lot and exchange blows...yeah, I was that one guy in the crowd I was talking about.
Our church now, Connect, is nothing like that...otherwise I wouldn't be there.