The church I normally attend, and where I am a member, was closed today, so I decided to visit a…read morechurch I had gone to in the past. For years, I felt it would not be fair to review this church because I had left with a sour taste in my mouth about 7 years ago, but after returning today, I felt better prepared and less biased to be able to write a review.
The pros:
Pastor Mike preaches the truth and does it at a level every layman can understand. He may preach some very unpopular things, but the reality is, his preaching (that which I have heard) is Biblically sound.
Diversity - everyone is welcome here (as opposed to some of the other local Baptist Churches). Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Divorced, Married, Single, young, middle aged, older - it doesn't matter
Unpretentious - come as you are and the church works with what they have.
Grace is preached here - salvation by grace and faith, not some farce about "If you do good enough and work hard enough at it, you might get to heaven"
The cons:
it's a Baptist church that errs on the side of legalism. Legalism is rules. While the "Baptist" church preaches grace, it still seems to require a number of rules to be followed.
When I first attended here roughly 9 years ago, in appearance, this was a non-denominational church, and my bride and I were looking specifically for non-denominational. We did not find out PLCC was Baptist until we attended the membership class several months later. That started to raise a number of questions for us at that time. I see PLCC now advertises themselves as Baptist. Upon arriving today, I was greeted at the door by a couple of folks, but the greeting seemed a bit frosty - almost as though I should turn around and go somewhere else. I guess I don't blame some folks for feeling that way toward me after I left the way I did 7 years back. I do have a few friends here, and they understood my leaving when and how I did, but some of the others, like I said, it seemed like a rather frosty reception when I walked in the door.
With all of that said, it's a decent place to worship if one is looking for a Baptist Church with a congregation and pastor that care about the community and each other. I cannot say I am a four star fan or that it's five star as good as it gets for me, but I certainly think it's an okay place to worship and learn the truth about God.
