Second Baptist

So, this morning I drove across the city to visit a church called Second Baptist. When I first arrived there were 3 adults and 4 kids, even though it was time to start. I quickly befriended a couple of the kids sitting near me and staring at me like I was the first white person to ever enter the neighborhood. Before long, there were around thirty people there, half kids/teens and half adults. The pastor, whose wife I've known for months, introduced himself to me and then introduced me to the congregation several times throughout the service. We sang some hymns, accompanied by a piano recording. The teaching style in their morning service is one that encourages dialogue, questions, and interaction. (Apparently the evening service is more the traditional preaching style.) The pastor did an EXCELLENT job; he is clearly a very gifted pastor/teacher. However, he did not exactly let me off the hook in spite of all of the possible reasons to do so (first time visitor, not a native Spanish speaker, etc.). He paused a few minutes into the lesson to have one of the women drag me into a seat closer to the front with her. He called on me to read scripture (as he did with everyone else as well). Now, remember that all of this is taking place in Spanish, and the pastor is speaking rather rapidly. I worked so hard to focus and try to understand everything without falling behind. However, in reality I was always a few beats behind because I had to think through translations, etc. About an hour and a half in, I was exhausted from the work it took to focus and slipped. My mind wandered for just a few seconds. That was all the time it took for him to call on me with a question. I had to ask him to repeat the question, in front of everyone, and the woman next to me repeated it as well for me. He was asking me to share what I thought about the scripture that had just been read. Between needing to think fast and needing to answer in Spanish, I was doomed to give a response that lacked depth.

In spite of a few notable similarities such as the name, the church was quite different than the Second to which I am accustomed!