"Before I begin, I would like to clarify that this is a constructive critique intended for this organization with the hope that they will improve their overall conduct.

I became a member at this church about a year ago, hoping to restore my relationship with God and be able to find authentic fellowship with other Christians. Sadly, my experience has been anything but. The congregation is fraught with antisocial prejudice and is severely critical of my career path as an author. I have undergone countless heartrending experiences in my life, ranging from the loss of loved ones, financial trouble, persecution, and other miserable things I have endured that I'd rather not mention, yet when I've told some of the congregation members about this, they only chuckle at me, as if what I've been through is nothing more than a sprained ankle to walk off. I find this disturbing beyond words. I've had women take one look at me and say, "Let's get away from this guy." The pew I sit on is constantly empty, with people avoiding me; I even had a family suddenly switch pews during a service. When I asked them later why they did this, they sheepishly claimed they had forgotten where they sat, even though they moved at least two pews over and have evidently been attending this church for years. That's hateful, dishonest, and inexcusable, and such behavior drives people directly to atheism, and had it not been for a life-changing experience I had in the Pacific Northwest, I would have left the church a long time ago.

It seems, more often than not, that it is the clergy, elders, deacons, and pastors, who exude an uncouth, morbid curiosity as to how much I make annually, as if trying to gauge how much of a tithe I will leave in the collection plate each Sunday. The fact that this overprivileged clergy gets paid at all for their duties is ungodly and goes against the very teachings of Scripture, and for them to criticize my writing career when I'm trying to raise money for charity by selling my books only adds more insult to injury. They even charge $7.00 apiece for their Wednesday night meals; this is another egregious anomaly, as other churches offer free potlucks purely out of the goodness of their hearts. They constantly want to preach love and "stewardship," but they have yet to put it into actual practice in their lives. I'm not expecting people to be perfect; I only want them to be genuine and compassionate, yet there is zero intimacy in this congregation. Here, people have shown superficial niceties at best, brusque cold-heartedness and utter indifference at worst.

I doubt they even look at this review, and I even challenge the pastor to read this aloud to the congregation one Sunday in place of a sermon, but in any case, I'm done with this congregation and the church overall. I honestly don't think these people even believe in God, and their callous behavior and prejudice tells on them. Again, this is intended to be a constructive critique; I'm tired of being quiet about it. My faith in God has been all but crushed and hangs by a brittle thread simply because of abhorrent elitist congregations such as these. And it is because of such inconsiderate people in congregations that global church attendance is dwindling."

Shawn Whittington

"The preaching is directly from scripture to this loving church family. Additionally, the worship theology is solid in this congregation through word and song. There are families consisting of all ages and programs for everyone to participate. Finally, the organ and choral-led worship is heavenly."

Aaron Strum

"My daughter just got married in this beautiful church. Everyone from the church who helped was amazing. The room where she got ready was lovely. Thank you for the love, care and support you showed for our families on this special day."

Anne Dobbins