church buildings

For a Limited Time Only

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

puckettsGro

Yes, that’s right. The guided tour is back.

I will be your personal tour guide through the streets of Historic Downtown Franklin. Here’s a brief overview of how a typical tour would go.

mccreary-s-irish-pub

1) We start off at either McCreary’s Irish Pub or Puckett’s for some fine dining (as well as some exquisite people-watching). Those are my two favorite places to eat in Franklin.

fm

2) We head on over to The Frothy Monkey for iced or hot coffee/tea/chocolate beverages and more people-watching.

16164afc4e73da4a1f693993e1e0224b

3) From there, we trek over to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church where I expound on everything I know about this Civil War-era building (which takes all of two minutes). I recommend finding a nice quiet spot and sitting still for a minute or two. There’s also a lovely courtyard between the church and the old fire station as well as a garden on the side of the building.

friendlycritter

4) We walk around the block to Fair Street, which is currently my favorite street for admiring old houses and catching the ambiance of Franklin (as well as meeting and greeting any friendly critters that cross our path).

5) We can always walk up and down Main Street and gawk at the stores that sell stuff that I can’t afford. I can offer some almost entirely inaccurate historical facts about Franklin, like how Mr. Benjamin Franklin himself founded the Franklin Theatre way back in 1936.

6) I’m open to any further additional whims or ideas you may have. There are additional old church buildings and older homes that are worth seeing (as well as my very favorite house directly behind St. Paul’s on Fair Street).

For a limited time only, I’m offering half-price tours. That’s right. Half-price tours. Of course, half of $0 is still $0. You  can always offer to pick up my dinner and I will offer only mild resistance.

I do think that everyone should see what a perfect slice of small-town Americana looks like at least once in their lifetimes. Preferably on a day when it’s not 110 degrees in the shade. If you are really and truly interested, please reply to this blog or hit me up on my facebook page.

Lucy the Wonder Cat appreciates your business. And mine.

 

The Next Step

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

image

I heard something that stuck with me. People always talk about how there are a lot of churches in Nashville. That’s not true. We have a lot of church BUILDINGS, but not nearly as many vibrant communities of faith. Some are dying out, some have lost their mission and sold out for an “I’m okay, you’re okay” theology. Some are too inwardly focused to notice that there’s a world out there dying to find a better way to live.

I’ve been a part of a new regional campus/church plant for a few months. Today, we got to take the next step. We held our first service in our new location on 2510 Franklin Pike in the old Acuff-Rose Building, adding to a building already rich in history and legacy.

I think a lot of people in Nashville might say they are Christians. They might even go to church. But not many in Nashville know Jesus.

They know about Jesus. They know facts and figures, Bible verses, and what they’ve been taught about Him. But they don’t know Jesus.

I hope The Church at Avenue South will be a place where people can meet Jesus. I hope this will be a place where people can come and find out people care about them, not just their spiritual destination, but their here-and-now lives. That there are people who will love them no matter what, even if they say no to this Jesus.

At times, the outlook seems bleak. It feels like bringing a plastic knife to a gun fight. There are so many false Messiahs and false messages out there, confusing and deceiving people. There’s only a few people who know the real Truth and their voice at times seems so small and hard to hear.

But I still believe that Jesus has promised that we will prevail. We will overcome. Ours will be the last word. No, I take that back. Jesus will have the last word and it will be at His name that every tongue confesses and every knee bows to the fact that He is Lord.

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I Once Was Lost, But Now I’m Found

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

image

I just finished watching the last episode of Lost.

I know. I’m about four years behind the rest of you who saw the series finale when it aired way back in 2010. But what can I say? I like to wait until TV shows are over so I can watch them in their entirety at my leisure. Or I can cram a whole season into a weekend. It all depemds on my mood.

I had heard that the ending of Lost was unsatisfying for many and left a lot of unanswered questions. I didn’t find that to be true for me. I loved the ending. And don’t worry, I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it.

Well, I changed my mind. So sue me.

Don’t read any further if you don’t want to know how the show ends. Go make some popcorn or go take a restroom break.

I love the way they were all reunited at the end. I especially love how it took place in a beautiful church building. I don’t care if they were all dead and ghosts or whatever. It gave me a good picture of what heaven will be like. Especially with how they brought back all the characters they had killed off in previous episodes.

Ok. You out there who didn’t want to know about the series finale can start reading again. No more spoiler alerts. Or spoilers.

I love a good story told well, whether the medium is a book or a movie or TV series. I love the satisfaction of having my expectations thwarted only to find the outcome was better than my predictions. God is like that.

Now I have to find the next TV series to get hooked on. I’m currently taking ideas and suggestions. Or I could just read a good book.