Preaching in the Temple of the Gospel Church

On Sunday, I preached at the Temple of the Gospel Church where 18 years ago, Bob Hall led a group of young college students (including Matthew Evans) and renovated the basement. His group was the first of two years' worth of student groups that helped launch this church.

The service lasted two hours. The choir (approx. 25) sang in bright red robes, and the service felt very simlar to a 2 hour version of the 11:00 service--except in Russian. In good Baptist fashion, most people did not arrive until after the music was finished. Oh yes, they had two sermons. One from yours truly, and another from the Senior Pastor, Sergei Nikolaev. Just between me, you, and the web, mine was shorter....even with an interpreter.

The congregations was warm, loving, and gracious. I had a chance to meet with the youth group following lunch. They left afterward to visit a student from their group who could not be at church yesterday because of a broken arm.