Outsider Visits a Stunning Southern Baptist Church
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- čas přidán 21. 11. 2022
- We're starting a journey through the Bible on the Ten Minute Bible Hour Podcast on January 2nd. We'll cover one book each weekday. This'll be a great way to get a big picture feel for how the Bible all fits together and why each book is in there. It's also a great way to start the new year with a fresh rhythm building fun deep-dive time in the Bible into your life every day.
You can get connected with the podcast here: www.thetmbh.com/gettmbhpodcast
Architecture makes it look like it would be called St. John the Southern Baptist Church.
hahaha
We have a local church where I live called St. John the Baptist (Catholic) Church. Threw me for a minute when I first read it.
Catholics don’t “own” ornate architecture.
Banger comment 10/10
@@cowboyd5673I've seen one where I'm at..
I've never seen a Southern Baptist church in this style of architecture and interior design. On looks alone, I would have thought the church was Anglican/Episcopalian, or even Catholic. Interesting.
I served at FBC St. Joseph in the late 90's. It is an amazing Sanctuary and Church building. The Organ will move you literally and spiritually. It was a great place to serve. There is a secret door in the organ area that leads to the offices. Lots of great memories in this Church!
Thanks for taking the time to do this excellent video.
Feel free to drop into FBC Eufaula, OK. It is not as grand as FBC St. Joe but there is alot of history here, too!
@@j.ingram3241 do you know Koby Franz? I believe he used to serve there. He's a great friend of mine.
Matt, being a new believer can be a challenging, perplexing, and overwhelming process at times. But you and your videos have made that process easier, and you have no idea how much that means to me. This channel has been a huge comfort and aid to me, and to many of my Christian friends. I trust God more because of your channel, and I can't thank you enough. From the bottom of my heart, God bless you.
The gift of salvation by the grace of God in believing in His Son Jesus is quite simple. What is really complex is trying to understand what other churches believe and why. But this channel is one of the best to see inside other churches.
@@JohnnyUmphress Amen.
If it was not challenging, perplexing, and overwhelming; then it would be worthless.
Christ will know each of us by our faithfulness, or faithlessness.
Being Christian is not for losers, you have to have a thick skin and stubborn enough to not fall for stupid ideas.
God reveals answers according to His time.
God will never set you up for failure.
Just trust Him, and you will be surprised.
Growing up in the SBC, I can say that there is quite a variety of differences and opinions based on location, people, and pastors. But the one emphasis that remains the main thing which I’ve always admired was the emphasis on missions. It has deeply formed my own heart and care, even if I don’t identify with a lot of the other SBC related baggage. Nice to know that it is still the emphasis most hold forward.
I currently go to a baptist church in California, it is a bit more loose on some of this “baggage” but I was curious what specific baggage you view as problematic. I’m new to baptist churches coming from a charismatic background so I’m still kind of navigating my church and seeing how I can have more conversations on biblical teachings like the gifts of the spirit.
Brother David was my pastor for 7 years at a different church. He is an awesome guy. Thank you so much for giving me the chance to see his current church and how he is doing. It is so beautiful!
thank you for doing more of the church visit videos
You bet. I've got a lot more filmed and ready to publish. Please stay tuned.
You can find everything from gothic to modern architecture in Baptist and Methodist Churches. But the most special to me are the plain little wooden country churches built by the founders where the nearest creek served as their Baptismal pool. I remember as a child going to my Great Grandma Effie's church where her brother Great Uncle Clevie led the singing and everybody had a paper fan from the local funeral home to fan with because there was no ac.
“If the whole Church become one of these, if anyone of these went away, something would be lost… all of these different expressions exist for a reason…” I loved listening to those words. That’s what we really need to understand to “become one”. One Church, differents and united. God bless you, man. Greetings from a peruvian roman catholic.
Yes! Unity is not uniformity!
I never understood all the hostility towards different denominations, people are unique, different cultures and personalities and needs, God in His infinite wisdom gave us great variety. No matter what kind of person you are, God has provided a unique body of believers just you style. Even the early church had great variety. The seven churches Jesus addresses in Revelation were wildly different. I love you bringing out the variety in your episodes. As a Southern Baptist , I too do not consider us to be Protestants, just the church. And the focus on the Word and missions is a good hallmark for us. But I love the other parts of the body too.
Having grown up Baptist and having been a member of a Baptist church for much of my life, I would say that I agree with your surprise at the beautiful ornamentation in this church. Many Baptists have desired to differentiate themselves from what you term "high" churches. The building that I grew up attending church in in my youth looked from both the outside and inside to be almost indistinguishable from a small one-story office building. There has been at times strong currents in the Baptist church which felt like while salvation comes by Grace through Faith, that the Holy Spirit wouldn't allow you to remain in something with too much "tradition" which would pull one away from seeking what God says in His word about how to do things.
I understand where those who think this way are coming from, but I find so much prompting to worship through beauty. Whenever I take a walk and see the glories of creation, I praise God for them. I feel the same way when I step into a beautiful church building built to the honor and glory of Jesus.
No such thing as demoniations in my Bible. Can you show me?
@@keithpritz1347 No there isn't. They didn't have denominations in Bible times. It was just churches ⛪️
@@Lorrainecats the church is one. Denominations are man made religious groups. I am a partner with a large non denominational church. Bible believing church.
Love this tour! Shoutout to the pastor for rolling with this on basically no notice.
The title grabbed me because “stunning” and “Southern Baptist” don’t obviously go together in my mind. I’ve seen lots of stunning Catholic churches and Presbyterian churches, but most southern baptist churches I’ve been to have been small, intimate maybe, and full of energy. It’s neat to see the diversity. Thanks!
Matt, I really appreciate your handling of these videos. Particularly that you don't assume too much and ask what some would consider obvious questions. I think it goes a long way to make this accessible to everyone.
As a Southern Baptist pastor, most of our members today would not know that the stained glass portrayed the gospel to the illiterate. They usually would look through options of stained glass when designing the worship center and pick what looks nice to them. There is not a lot of theological consideration to the building style. This is one critique I have for my own denomination and has been interesting to look at in your videos of other traditions. I think early baptists pre-1900s might have thought a little more about these things, but there is no tradition passed down to consider these things. It's more style and function over theological meaning.
That is a poignant historical point. I think too many people fail to realize that widespread literacy is a very recent development. Iconography has played a key role in helping people to internalize the messages contained in scripture and, quite literally, to put a face to the names in order to remind us that God works through real people.
The gospel and the bible being displayed in beautiful art, and traditional objects is something I really appreciate about Catholic churches. They know how to make beautiful cathedrals and it really does feed the soul through the eyes. I used to prefer the stripped down low churches that I attended and fret over the money spent on gorgeous cathedrals. Now I appreciate it a lot more.
St. Joseph, MO really is a treasure trove of historic churches. Glad you could visit one and I can’t wait for your formal Southern Baptist video!
And thanks for continuing with the series. It’s been so helpful to get to learn about other traditions!
Now I want to go tour them. I love beautiful and historic churches of all denominations.
God Bless America. How blessed you are to claim this jewel of St. Joseph's as your own. A veritable Jerusalem.
Glad to have grown up in this church ❤️
Matt, if you haven't already, you should read the book "When Church Became Theatre: The Transformation of Evangelical Architecture and Worship in Nineteenth-Century America" by Jeanne Halgren Kilde. A lot of Protestant churches in the US built around the same time as the one in the video share a lot of architectural similarities, and this book gives the story as to why & how it came about. It was far more fascinating than one might expect for such a topic.
That was a very nice church! Loved the way the seating was arranged and the stained glass windows are beautiful.
I remember from my youth, images and statues were not acceptable to Baptist. My friend was Roman Catholic and I traveled with him and his family on vacation and went to church. As I entered the Catholic Church, there were images and statues everywhere and prayed real hard to God that they were making me do this.
We had oyster crackers and grape juice in individual very small containers for communion. I was denied baptism at six years of age, but my three brothers at 18, 16 and 14 were baptized.
I was eventually baptized as a Roman Catholic at 32.
That is truly a beautiful church
As a Catholic who was raised Protestant, this is stunning! What a wonderful, beautiful balance of skill, artistry, elegance, beauty, dignity, care -- and simplicity and humility as well..
Also (totally just my humble opinion) putting a big square video screen visually front-and-center like that in the middle of all that beauty.... is stupid.
Not directly related to the video (which was great!), but I love the new brands and the way you've organized everything! It's all very clear about what you're going for and I think it will serve you really well moving forward.
This is so good. I grew up baptist, went to a Bible Church and got saved there in california, and yet still had an appreciation for art and aesthetics. I've now graduated and pastoring a Southern Baptist Church that's very minimal built in the 1990s. I think many Baptists don't want to break the second commandment, and are also very practical, and utilitarian. Those are not all good things. And I don't necessarily agree with the breaking the second commandment belief either. Of course we shouldn't break it, but having some art or having some fine woodworking or other things isn't breaking it is what I'm getting at.
Love the channel Matt thanks again for changing in a little bit and being more focused in other ways. You're an inspiration to me as I have my own channel as well
Have you ever visited a monastery? I think it would be great to see what you think of the daily offices, ascetic lifestyle, complete Psalm cycle etc.
Thank you for visiting our church. Thanks Pastor David for explaining our faith and about our church. We love our church and our pastor.
I very much enjoyed meeting him and getting a look at your church.
I am from ST JOSEPH. The organ is great and tones pure.
Hi Matt! Absolutely lovely sanctuary. Thanks for taking the time to share it.
I grew up in a very large Southern Bapist church in Jackson MS. It was built in the 19th century with elaborate traditional protestant design, and I remember the awe that the building inspired in me.
Nice tour! I raised Southern Baptist. Never seen a church of this age that looks like this.
We have two gothic style S.Baptist churches in Jacksonville, Fl that are both beautiful.
Love the church visits. Brings a better understanding of our differences and similarities. And some misconceptions as well. More of this please.
My earliest memories of any kind of church in my life was an old First Baptist church in my hometown when I was 6 or 7 with my grandmother. It had seating in the round as well and I thought it was hilarious that, the few times that we went, there was one grumpy looking old farmer who would sit right behind one of the pillars on the far wing. Every time. All dressed up in a nice pearl snap and overalls and his hair all slicked over, just mean mugging a pillar two feet in front of his face.
Matt, love your videos!! I'm catholic, it's nice of you in visiting the other churches of the various Christian traditions. I also love to read the Bible. One question, what kind of bible do you have open on your table looks like a study bible!! Thank you very much for sharing your videos. Keep up the good work!!
Matt, will you ever visit a Messianic Jewish or an Amish church? How do they view other Christians? What expression of faith can they show and/or share with us? Thank you Matt for your videos!
Thanks Matt. Very interesting and beautiful church!!
Great video as always! Thank you and St Joseph Baptist for the tour!
Very cool and beautiful building. Looks like a great place to worship.
It’s really amazing to see these beautiful building and even more to know more about the various branches of Christianity. I think only few people would do this on their own, though we can learn much from each other’s faith. I hope more stuff coming! In the meantime I like this rebranding and the podcast as well, keep moving! :) Greetings from a hungarian evangelical :)
We just celebrated our 176th Anniversary here at Saint Joseph First Baptist Church. I’ve been a member for over 15 years now and I still look up in awwww but one former comment was true, it is just a building the body of the church is the people. And the meme bets of First Baptist Church of Joseph MO are Great People. But I am very Grateful for the Building that was made 176 years ago so I would be able to worship in her beauty. And I am a little prejudiced being one of her pianists 😉
Thanks for sharing Matt.
Gorgeous architecture! As a Baptist, I never knew that some Baptist churches had other requirements for communion. I've always felt that if you're a Christian, you have communion. This was interesting video tour! Thank you!
We as Missionary Baptists believe that communion is for the members of the church where they belong only. Because while the Passover meal was in process Jesus ministered to the apostles, humbly washing their feet. Hypocritical Judas allowed Jesus to do that to him.
Jesus gave Judas a morsel and told him to do quickly what he was doing.
Immediately Judas left the group, he departed before Jesus instituted the celebration of the Last supper.
Judas was no longer a member of the body. So he was not included. Nor were any of the rest of the household at the Supper, such as the hired hands and anyone who might be around. It was closed for that body alone.
That is why we are closed communion. There are many other aspects involved too, such as if a person is of another belief visiting when you have communion puts your Church body at risk.
Johnny: as an (Eastern/Greek) Christian Orthodox, I couldn't agree with you more. Not just from the angle of suspicion of ecumenism generally, but particularly, and especially, as concerns the exclusive claims of Christ's Church.
@@JohnnyUmphress correct as a Catholic I couldn’t share communion with you and vice versa. Interesting to see a a Protestant group taking this stance.
Growing up Baptist, there is a cliche' that pretty well describes us. Ask two baptist their thoughts and you will get three different opinions. There is also a big difference within the SBC. Some churches are very high church, while others are very low church. Growing up in a suburb of Dallas, there is 1st Baptist Church of Dallas which covers multiple city blocks and its auditorium to me seems very grand, while churches like the ones I attended are small with a few families meeting together in a neighborhood. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the SBC is very diverse and still even with all the bickering that seems to go, they find a way to missionary together.
Look at the quality of that woodwork! Impressive!
I love you Matt. You make me laugh. And I love your passion to learn.
Thank you Matt. These are amazing videos. Learning is wonderful
~Love Mom
Thank you Matt I love your vids.
Just to say that I am Roman Catholic and my church, St Jude's Wigan, also features abstract stained glass and a 180 degree layout.
🤓 Church nerd coming out. For being around 120 years, the entire building still looks fresh. It's AMAZING from outside, but inside - WOW. The wood quality combined with the red carpet is a stunning combination. Great observations with the stained glass windows, was thinking the same thing with the lack of pronounced Christian symbolism.
Beautiful building. I actually assumed at first the church was built by a more liturgical or High church tradition and the Baptist later acquired the building. It would be interesting to know the thoughts of the early congregation who built the church.
What a beautiful church building. I love the woodwork.
You should see our little country Missionary Baptist church here in Arkansas. We are a very simple and conservative body. But our little church building is trimmed all in knotty pine.
Glad you found this building! Pastor David is a good dude. St Joseph is a very interesting town with cool places downtown.
I don't know if you'll see this, but I really like your content. It's always great to see, in this world of polarization and dehumanization of our fellow man, someone who's willing to just sit down and have a polite conversation with someone who holds a different view of things. I like how you just genuinely want to know things and learn about the history of the wider church and the beliefs that people hold, and the way you're able to bring disparate people together.
As Baptists go, I'm not one, but it's a tradition with which I'm deeply fascinated. If you wouldn't mind, I think it could be really cool to go further back into the roots of the Baptist movement and and explore the living Anabaptist denominations. Of course, Mennonites would be a lot easier to investigate since they don't tend to live apart from modern society like, say, the Amish do, but if, in your travels, you happen across an Amish community that's willing to open its doors and talk to you, that would be awesome. It would have a certain logistical overhead to it, and I understand if that's not in the cards anytime soon. I just think it would interesting to explore such a unique branch of the Christian family tree.
Oh man! I’m from St. Louis! Excited to see which churches you paid a visit to!
You should check out Veirs Mill Baptist Church in Maryland. Grew up in that church. It’s unique because there are 4 congregations that share the church and have joint services several times a year. Wonderful church.
Another great video Matt!
You've got to check out the First Baptist Church in Montgomery AL. It's architecturally modeled after the Duomo in Florence Italy. I had the pleasure of visiting once but I'd love to see an depth interview with the leadership there about the history and explore the nooks and crannies in the way the you do!
My wife is from St. Joseph and her father is a pastor there (not at this church)! So cool that you swing by so close to where we are in KC :)
Thanks for these
You bet. I love making these.
Mr Matt - Those are some sweet "On" shoes btw. Keep up the good work!
This reminds me of First Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. But this one is far more elaborate.
It would be awesome if you went to an Independent Baptist Church. Like the Temple Baptist Church down in Knoxville TN
Hi Matt, I'm EXTREMELY excited for your book a day podcast series! The only thing I'm bummed about is that I don't see a way to interact. Podcasts are just listening right? I would love to be able to ask questions! I've read the Bible in different versions 5 times since late 2020 and there is always some amazing new aspect! 2 helpful thing for me personally have been looking at a broader view by going fast, like you will be, to get a larger perspective and most of all to ask "what does this book say about God?" since the Bible is God's way of telling us about Himself!
A very beautiful church and quite a surprise that it is SBC that built in that style. I saw the Giant Organ, the baby grand piano and then the guitar & video screen (follow the bouncing ball to sing the hymns) and I wondered if they even bothered to play the organ for the services.. (then I read the comments)
It’s a beautiful church
That woodwork really is stunning. I love seeing buildings where the act of building it was itself an act of worship.
Would love to see you visit a Catholic church that still does the Latin mass. We're somewhat of a minority among catholics and had a bit of bad press on the internet that seems to have influenced Pope Francis sadly, but we're a very faithful group who take our worship very seriously.
Come visit our small country church. Rondo Baptist Church in Flemington Mo. I'll show you our church that has been around since 1872.
Very interesting.
FINALLY!!! SBC BABY!!!
He was very modest about what the SBC does well with regarding missions. The SBC International Mission Board is the largest coalition of Christian churches sending missionaries in the history of Christianity throughout any millennia (number of missionaries sent per year).
You should visit The Jarvis Street Particular Baptist church in Toronto, Canada
You need to visit Louisville, check out Southern Seminary and visit some of the churches there (Ninth and O Baptist Church!!!)
Matt. If you ever make it to Minneapolis. Two churches you should try and tour are St. Maron's Catholic church/Maronite Catholic. The other one is right across the street St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church.
If you ever in Shepherdsville, KY feel free to stop by our church, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. Our church is not on the historical architectural scale of this one, but I'd love to show you around. I'm the youth minister at the church.
As someone who was raised Baptist, the church building is just that. A building. The church is the members, not the building. The church building I grew up in had a rectangle layout. The windows wasn't stained, but I would not have an issue with it if they were. I think the building was beautiful.
This architectural style of church was fairly common in urban Baptist churches in the late 19th century. The Baptist church I grew up in used to look like this until it burned down in the 1970s.
The seating design matches the ceiling. Might be the reason for that choice.
Can you revisit the SBC with the same multi-video interview format as you’ve done with other denominations??
Thank you for your content! I’m learning a lot from your videos!
I grew up in Baptist churches and traveled on a ministry team in college to hundreds of churches in the western half of the continental USA and maybe a dozen in the East. Videos like this take me back and are still so interesting. This church is physically more impressive than at least 95% of the churches I've seen. Just beautiful!
So excited for January 2. Hard to switch into podcasts. Which version of the Bible? KJV. Read the Bible daily but structure. So much Bible so little time.
You should make it back to St. Joe. There is plenty to see if you like history and architecture. Please go back and do more videos from St. Joe.
Dude. I'm still working through the back catalog of TMBH's Matthew. Likewise, I'm working my way through the backlog of NDQ... There is only so much walking I can do per day. :D
Happy to help with your conditioning!
I've been attending/been a member of a Baptist church of one form or another since 2004. I was raised Lutheran but made a public declaration of my faith in Christ in college and got baptized (my father was not a fan lol). I'm a trustee in our current church. I married the daughter of a Baptist pastor. All that said: I heard for literally the first time two weeks ago that many Baptists do not consider themselves Protestant. Funny how that just like, never came up. I heard the argument and sure, I can see the point. But I had just never even considered that wasn't the case all these years into serving in this flavor of Christian worship.
Interesting point. I grew up, and still currently am, Baptist. There wasn’t emphasis on Protestantism, but most at my church knew where Baptist came from in the lineage since the reformation.
Baptist come from Anabaptists do they not??
@@brianfarley926 as well as from Puritan Anglicans and Separatists. Hence the use of the KJV bible (the Anglican bible), the prohibitions against dancing, secular music, musical instruments, etc. While those Puritanical prohibitions may be fading they are nonetheless an inextricable part of Baptist history.
@@jwilsonhandmadeknives2760 yes they are. My fathers side of the family were all Methodist and then also Southern Baptists. That strain also exists in Pentecostal faith as well
It's nice to see this. I've attended Southern Baptist churches that run the gamut from ugly repurposed grocery stores to typical modern Evangelical styles to simple and beautiful old churches in the traditional style. Personally, I far prefer the traditional style, but what's most important is the people who gather there to worship God.
What??? I wish I knew that you were in St. Joe! I would have loved to say hi!
Hey Matt, I don't know how you handle invitations from churches, but I would like for you to visit a Church of Christ congregation in the near future, if it's possible for you. Even better, if you could consider visiting the La Vista Church of Christ in La Vista, Nebraska, that would be great! We would love for you to come over and check us out.
You would love my church in conyers ga a lot of history at Conyers First United Methodist church
You should take a tour of the historic Tremont Temple in Boston. Beautiful and rich history and DL Moody preached there. Also SBC.
I’m not being a troll, but who is DL Moody, and what is SBC?
I figured out from other comments that SBC means Southern Baptist Church?
14:23 and on is a really interesting discussion of the differences in theology between pedobaptists and believer baptists. I was baptized as in infant in the Catholic Church and knew of God, but I felt that I didn't truly know him until I started attending an evangelical church where they practiced believer baptism. Matt's discussion here says pretty succinctly what some of those difference are - and I was persuaded by these points. I would be interested to hear some of the counter-points from more high-church, liturgical denominations where they DO have images of Christ and practice infant baptism, versus the "priesthood of all believers" line that Matt shows and describes here.
Old time Baptists did not believe in Holy Images or even religious jewelry. I remember my Mom a member of the old Methodist Episcopal Church bought me a little gold cross necklass and you'd think he was smelling the fires of Smithfield England! Lol!
I live near Kansas City Missouri
Wish I'd have known! I'd have tried to get you into where I work! It's a Minor Basilica done in the Beuronese style that's not very far from St. Joe.
Also, if you want some beautiful old churches in the Midwest, go to Quincy, Illinois
If you ever get an opportunity, check out a Free Methodist church. I attend one in Northwest Ohio and I think it would be so different than anything you've visited so far.
Reminds me of Lutheran churches I've seen
If I'm being honest, I caught myself thinking "If Matt were to swing by and ask to have a look at my home church, I would love to show him around!" So I guess that would be my answer to your question. Not sure if that's just a southern thing, or a Baptist thing, or a Southern Baptist thing.
This is probably the 10th church-visit video of yours that I've viewed. All are interesting and educational. With this one, it just occurred to me that you don't wear your hat inside. I wonder if that's out of respect.
Interesting that it sounds like it started out as a small Presbyterian church.
To be clear, it is just a building (not the temple). By “church,” you likely mean ekklesia or qahal, which means called out ones or assembly of believers.
Kind of looks like the post vatican II Catholic Church I grew up in, though mine was a little smaller, and combined marble and wood, with all the Catholic niknaks all around.
I love your church visits. This one really opened my eyes - - and my mind, I guess - - as I was surprised by the beauty of the sanctuary and the quiet dignity of the lovely minister. Perhaps he has his 'firebrand' moments... But I can't imagine it. Thank you!!
Matt I love your videos, and they were instrumental entry points to me as I went through a theological journey. I came from a secessionist branch of southern baptist and (insert long story here) am now blessed to be Catholic. As you might imagine this creates some interesting family life but my reasoning into getting into all of this is to say that I think you should take a deeper look into the claims of the idea of the Anabaptists, it’s not as cut and dry as the modern baptist branches that still subscribe to it would have you believe. In fact, it is actually cut and dry, but not in their favor. The groups they claim were them in disguise through the ages were just mildly heretical Christian groups that were very orthodox to the practice of their time except for one thing here and there, or the group was very pagan and adopting some elements of Christianity as it spread and gained popularity. They claim to never have been part of the one church that fractured, when in truth they’re among the most recent fractured groups in existence, and they just really don’t like the Catholic theology so they stand against it as much as possible. All of this may be just a minor vent session of the issues I’ve been having with my family as I try to find a way to honor them without kowtowing to their beliefs that I am now convinced aren’t the fullness of the truth. Thank you.
Come back home, friend.
@@janglalgoupiak1891 I’m as home as it’s possible to be, serving God in His sacraments, worshipping Him truly with the Eucharist not a 45 minute self help lecture. God has one true church, all others are giving up parts of the whole.
@@DaedalusProject will be praying for you tor God to open your eyes.
@@DaedalusProject So you joined Roman Catholicism to make a mockery of your previous faith? You should be grateful for your upbringing; not trash talk it down. A 45 minute self help talk - it seems.