Local Church Adds Countdown Clock
Strong River Bend Baptist Church (SRBBC) is the largest church in Strong River Bend (SRB). The church has been experiencing a lot of growth recently. The church’s congregation has been predominantly made up of senior citizens, but it has had an infusion of young families recently. That is exciting, but it has brought some challenges.
The younger generation likes praise and contemporary music, while the older generation likes older hymns. Also, many of the younger people don’t attend Sunday night and Wednesday night services, and the older members don’t like that. There are some other small issues that have caused riffs between the older and younger members as well. But, one thing has united the church recently. Both the younger families and older members have been complaining about the morning worship service lasting too long.
SRBBC’s pastor, Benny Dollar, has been preaching a series on Revelation. Dollar said, “Revelation and the End Times really fire me up, and I love to preach on it. I’ve probably been going past noon too much the past month or so. But, I can’t help it, and the congregation needs to hear it. I understand the congregation wants the clock, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”
I was able to catch up with the chairman of the deacons, Timothy Paul. Paul said, “I’ve been getting complaints from church members, young and old, the past 3-4 weeks about the service lasting too long. So, I brought it up in our deacon’s meeting this week, and after a discussion, we decided to add a countdown clock in the sanctuary. The pastor wasn’t crazy about it, but he went along with it. We voted to start the clock when Bro. Benny starts his sermon, and it’s supposed to go to all zeros at noon. We’re actually going to add two clocks. One will be by the baptistry so the congregation can see it, and the other one will be hung on the balcony so the pastor and choir can see it.”
Billy Buffet, an older member, said, “I’m glad the deacons voted to do this. I like Bro. Benny, but he keeps preaching past noon. People from every church in town keep beating us to the restaurants after church, so we have to wait to get tables. It’s just aggravating. I’ve thought about just getting up and leaving church early, but I won’t have to now.”
A younger dad said, “Bro. Benny does a great job preaching the word, but he’s been going a little long lately. We have to get little Carter to baseball games or baseball practice on Sunday afternoons, so I’m glad they’re adding the countdown clock. It’ll help us out a lot.”
It’s good to see that SRBBC is united on this issue, because there’s been some division lately. It will be interesting to see if other churches in The Valley will follow SRBBC’s lead.
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