Cecile Kyona

LBST -2101

Sinclair

3 April 2017

Visitation paper: Freedom House Church

Word count: 785

My friend (who is also my roommate), Angel, had invited me to her church a few weeks

before this assignment was mentioned in class. As I was thinking of a place to visit for my paper,

I remembered her invite and therefore decided to kill two birds with one stone by going to her

church and writing my paper on my experience there. I did not know what to expect, because I

did not grow up in a typically religious family.

Angel and I chose to attend the 12:15 pm service, in view of the fact that neither of us are

morning people. I was so nervous that I decided to pick my outfit the night before. My alarm

went off at exactly ten thirty, I rapidly woke up and started getting ready. Angel and I were both

ready to leave our apartment by noon. As we got to Freedom House Church, I saw a lot of people

at the entrance of both the building and the parking lots. Everyone seemed happy with their

warm and bright smiles. Some of the church personnel was holding sings with encouraging

words. I felt so welcome as I was walking into the building.

I walked into the auditorium and went to my seat. The worship had already started and

most of the people in the assembly were singing along with the worship leaders that were in at

the front. The lights were deemed and the screens were lit with the songs lyrics. According to

Angel, the lights were deemed to encourage people to feel more comfortable and give them a

sense of intimacy with God as they worship him. Although I did not relate to all the worship

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songs, I particularly liked one of them. After the worship, some of the church leaders invited

people who needed prayer to go up front to be prayed over. I thought that was very interesting,

because it portrayed how much they cared about the people that attend their church services.

Then the time came for the Senior Pastor, Troy Maxwell, to go up front to share his

message. I had the typical pastor image in my mind, but I quickly found that Pastor Troy was

everything but a typical pastor. He talked about forgiveness and, one thing that really resonated

with me was how he said we never have to forgive someone more than God has forgiven us. In

my opinion, his message was straight forward and easy to understand even for someone who

doesnt have a solid religious background like me. This is what I was most curious about,

because I truly believe that the best way to authenticate any type of religious organization is to

hear their message. They also had gifts for first time guests, which I thought were really nice.

It included a small envelope with information about the church as well as their beliefs, a few

CDs with interesting sermons, and a brochure where you can enter your information and tell

them your story.

My friend, introduced to me to Marisol Rodriguez and some of the social group leaders

of her community, who were very insightful. They told us about the history to the church as well

as a few things they admire about their establishment. I learned that Freedom House Church is a

church that was first established in 2002, with a first attendance number of sixty-seven members.

The church has now grown into a multi-location organization with two campus in the South and

North Charlotte area. Freedom House is a community driven church which major goal is to equip

people to live in the freedom they have been created to live in.

I believe that my visit to Freedom House was a rich experience, because it gave

me an opportunity to witness people living in a healthy community. It reminded me of the

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concept of Love and Attachment that Jonathan Haidt referred to in his book. Haidt mentioned

Ainsworth studies who observed that mothers who were warm and highly affectionate with their

children had more chances of having kids who demonstrated secure attachment in strange

situations. It appeared to me that most of the people attending Freedom House Church feel

empowered to confront their lives after leaving church. This is very similar to Ainsworth study,

because church members are most likely to behave like the children who have received a warm

and highly attentive response from their mothers. This was the most interesting conclusion I

drew after reflecting on my visit at Freedom House. Theres nothing more mind-blowing than

realizing that class content can indeed be related to our daily lives.

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 Reference:

Haidt, Jonathan. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. New

York: Basic Books, 2006. Print.

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Thank you cards:

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A Few pictures I snapped as I was arriving at church:

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