Before the morning service began, I attended the "core seminar"(Sunday School) called "Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church". Morning worship lasted approximately two hours, and when it was finished, no one was in a hurry to leave. The congregational singing, accompanied only by a piano and a guitar, was arranged in such a way that you could hear everyone singing and it was fantastic. Scripture reading, several different prayers, intentional pauses of silence and congregational preparation music were also included as part of the liturgy.
The sermon was entitled "Jesus Paid Taxes" (click here to hear it for yourself) from Mark 12:13-17. I was thrilled to discover that in attendance at the Weekender was the author of an excellent book I read last year:
Collin Hansen, author of the above book, writes a great blog post about Sunday's service at Capitol Hill Baptist in which he says:
While Dever may serve a church on Capitol Hill, he does not commonly address issues of Christianity and government so directly. But as an expository preacher working his way through the Gospel of Mark, Dever obligated himself to address Jesus’ teaching in Mark 12:13-17. In these days of overheated rhetoric and protest rallies, I pray that evangelicals will set aside 70 minutes to listen to Dever’s sermon. Much of the wisdom expressed here echoes the forthcoming book City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era, written by Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner, with a foreword by Tim Keller. We need to hear from the best evangelical thinkers about a faithful, biblical approach to politics.You can read the blog in its entirety here.
As part of the Weekender, I also attended the evening service and the church's business meeting, called the "members meeting" which followed, both gatherings had hundreds of members in attendance. The evening service was a "prayer and praise" service with a totally different structure and feel than that of the morning service. This service lasted approximately one and a half hours, with a ten minute break before the members meeting which also lasted approximately one and a half hours.
After the "members meeting" concluded at about 9:30, the "Weekenders" gathered in the fellowship hall for dinner and a "debriefing" of all that was experienced on the Lord's Day.
Everything that I was privileged to experience made a lasting impression upon my life and ministry. I cannot wait to share more about everything that I learned from my time in Washington D.C. with the gracious staff and members of Capitol Hill Baptist Church.
