Much is being made of the decline in attendance at Madison with the implementation of changes. I am curious to know from someone who is attending, or has actual knowledge, of the current attendance level at Richland Hills.

7,368.

Billy Bob is that a TRU number or are you just cracking some pots and blowing some horns?

Not to gloat too much: If you look at their web page and take a look at the "ministries" you will see that it has no remote connection to being a "church" of Christ. Jesus died to establish His ekklesia which means SYNAGOGUE. A synagogue was a SCHOOL OF THE BIBLE and it had no praise service. Why should a local School of Sewing have a "praise team" and make the STUDENT endure the DISTRACTION and pay for the professional performers.

A good study of the Towers of Babylon and their PYRAMID of power "ministries" would tell you that you are following Nimrod and his musical gals who promised--for a price--to "regenerate morals through external means."

A hint is in Revelatioon 18 especially verse 22.

"The secularization process that has transformed Western civilization over the past two centuries has taken different paths in Europe and in America. In Europe, secularization has meant large-scale defection from religion and the appearance of many empty church buildings and cathedrals. [Your preacher would probably agree with Rubel Shelly who says that "we should become as much like the world as possible to ATTRACT the world." Maybe needs some FLY PAPER]

"In America, churches have survived, however, by adapting to secularization and by commending themselves in terms that are attractive to "secular man."

"Further, the secular church alters traditional ministries and multiplies a host of new ministries through which it seeks to "meet needs." Committed to meeting consumer demands, the accommodating church must check constantly the latest shifts and fads which announce the appearance of a new "need." In all of this the secular church almost comes to resemble a delicatessen offering samples to attract customers.
Its members are exhorted to be involved, to share, and occasionally, to serve. [This defines what Rubel Shelly calls a "community" or commune]

"Far less frequently are they called to serious Bible study and discipleship. The secular church.

Take a look here to see that your ATTRACTANT works as an ORATOR whereas "SERMO" meant what Paul did in the churches: He DIALOGED or communed or discussed because CHURCH was a school of the Biblb and, like all synagogues, "has no praise service." The Greek language defines ORATORS as opposed to the SERMO or DIALOG of Paul in pagan and sexual terms which also enfolds the TOTALITY of evidence about professional musicians "standing in the holy place."

http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=150389&messageid=1077396184&lp=1082921693

Blow the HORNS, but you are NOT defining a Synagogue of Christ where we meet in the NEW PLACE of the human spirit to pray and hear His "spirit of truth" in His Word.

The SIGNS are right and the SPIRITUAL EXCITEMENT defined with the word ORGE is God's WRATH as the MARK.

The church is SCHOOL: no less no more unless your members who PROSPER give into the hands of those who are DESTITUTE. Accomodation is treason.

Ken

Please provide statistical analysis:

• average weekly combined attendance from all worship assembly periods
• # adherents (on roll) including all family members—parents, children, babies, etc.
• # of members (young and adult adherents who consider themselves converted or Christians)
-----o # baptized scripturally in order to be saved and become Christians
-----o # baptized AFTER having been (or because they had been) saved already—Baptists, etc.
-----o # of all others simply claiming to be RHCC members or affiliating with RHCC

Donnie

Donnie, Donnie, Donnie: you forgot to include all of
those in the county jail?

I believe I noticed somewhere that Rick considers himself more of a Christian churcher. Before postmodernism this would have scraped the bilge of the ship of ethics. Now, "we will do unethung to save-eh souls!"

I think that someone has tabulated those who have called in the THEATRICAL PERFORMERS and they all rest at about half of where they were before their GREAT LEAP FORWARD. In many passages we are promised A holy spirit or a clear conscience when we are baptized as a result of faith without fighting against God. This means a regenerated spirit able to discern truth from error. That does NOT mean that we can get NEW TRUTH FOR OUR CHANGED CULTURE; it means that we can READ words like SPEAK and have it turn out SPEAK.

That is why the MASSES run screaming from churches which have been turned into a VENUE for professional performers. Their holy spirit can smell the MARK.

I have spent man-years dredging the Greek resources avaliable to all about MUSIC and WORSHIP. I can tell you with CERTAINTY that no one is going to find ONE ITSY BITSY clue which can be JACKED UP to give a remote hint that a HOLY SPIRIT God can be worshipped with that which causes PLEASURE. THEY WILL TELL YOU THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD'S SONG WRITER AND DANCE MASTER.--And the fools who love to be fooled will defend them to their doom."

I still believe that it is a MARK of the end times as defined in its end phase in Rev. 18:22. But, I doubt that we will be any wiser than the "religious" Jews at the first Advent.

It tells you that the colleges and churches are deeply disturbed when Phds and their product can turn 100% of the truth into a lie. The radical Muslims are kinder in just blowing off heads than Satan's agents torturing for decades and "hanging out" old widows to slowly turn in the wind.

Ken

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I have spent man-years dredging the Greek resources avaliable to all about MUSIC and WORSHIP. I can tell you with CERTAINTY that no one is going to find ONE ITSY BITSY clue which can be JACKED UP to give a remote hint that a HOLY SPIRIT God can be worshipped with that which causes PLEASURE. THEY WILL TELL YOU THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD'S SONG WRITER AND DANCE MASTER.--And the fools who love to be fooled will defend them to their doom."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You have spent all this time and energy to prove a point about something that the Bible is silent on!? Imagine how much better the Kingdom would be if you had put that energy into something a little more "Jesus-like": feeding the hungry, helping the poor, fighting for the rights of oppressed peoples, giving a cup of water to a thirsty person....
I admit that I do not know how much of this you are already doing, but, if you have enough time to grind theological axes then you have more time to serve.

Personally, give me the person that is more concerned with praising than being declared the winner of the hair-splitting contest.

I will be praying for you; please pray for me also.

One of the HUGE discoveries even from reading the BIBLE as it has been written it that for every Biblical concept a SPIRITUAL OR RATIONAL religion trumps all of them.

Worship? I am working on the worship word. Know what? every one of them are related to the evil worship of pagan superstition. To keep the "lovers" from rubbing your pleasure centers while picking your pocket Jesus made it so clear that NO BELIEVER can miss it: The Revelation of God HIDES the mysteries in plain view until you ask for A holy spirit or A good consience ONLY at baptism where we refuse to call God in Christ a liar.

I think the "lovers" will not grasp this but Jesus DID say that worship is not in TIME or PLACE: worship is in the NEW place of the human spirit as it GIVES HEED (Paul's UNIQUE worship word) to the Spirit of Truth: The Words of Christ which are spirit and life (John 6:63)

To confirm this please note that Jesus never prescribed a CALLED WORSHIP assembly. In fact, it was prophesied that He would not CALL AN ASSEMBLY. Paul understood this purely lovely concept when he called those who assembled a form of the word SYNAGOGUE or School of the bible. Huh? Didn't Jesus promise to build an EKKLESIA which is a SYNAGOGUE where the twos and threes can "come learn of me."

Jesus loves me this I see
When He said, 'come rest with me.'

Look at the meaning of HERESY or SECTARIAN which means to CHOOSE to steal from widows and hard working DUPES: Paul said that "fools love to be fooled." But the foolers MARKING themselves as scholars cannot tell the truth which CANNOT be marketed.

http://www.pine.com/Heresy.Music.html

The Greek word PAUO which never made it to the preacher factorys means:

Pauô, includes to: bring to an end, stop or silence by death, take one's rest, cease, have done, of one singing or speaking

Pauo means stop the polemos or battle, fight, war: stop levying war against another. This is the battle of Armageddon: a polemical war of words.

Pauo means: STOP the melôid-ia , hê, singing, chanting,

Pauo means: Stop the pain of: aoidê [aeidô]

Pauo means: Stop the Thamyris, a Thracian aoidê

Pauo means: Stop the charismatic music which is like clanging cymbals and is the MARK in the Greek world of homosexuals who planned to take over CHURCH right after theater, movies and media. There is no historical exception.

Pauo means: Stop the Panos ORGIA panic fears. Pan is the little perverted half goat, bisexual pipe player. He is the Beast in Revelation and his LITTLE HORNS are defined as musical instruments. With these INSTRUMENTS the seven or ten CHANGE AGENTS get to rise from the plains as a "little hill" to become a BIG MOUNTAIN (Armageddon is here). Jubilee let all of them have ONE HOUR WITH THE KING or keynoter.

Pauo means: Stop the Dancing they tried to force on Jesus

Pauo means: Stop the Sorcery. The sOPHISts are the OPHIS serpents which, as in Genesis is a Musical Enchanter.

The Pauo Jesus died to give us means: To Take Thy Rest:
Klisia a place for lying down, hence. a hut, cot, cabin, such as besiegers lived in during long sieges

This has the same meaning as the CLOSET where Jesus limited the prayers while STANDING PRAYING in the synagogue or church is the ONLY reward they will ever get. Rather than the religionists who TAKE money Jesus said GIVE with your right hand which is NATURALLY the hand that TAKES from widows and the poor in exchange for a sermon and the lying LAW OF GIVING. This is the meaning of Pharisee.

Pauo stop! have done! be quiet!

The HERETICS lift you up with SINGING in order to TAKE YOU AWAY FOR THEIR OWN USE. Their WEAPON is singing and the singers are identified as the MUSICIANS or MUSES or TETTIX or LOCUSTS in the book of Revelation.

Why isn't it love to scream at a used and abused child being dragged into the woods by WOLVES with sheep skins with blood still on them. Didn't Paul prophesy of this day moved by elders "more APT to chase a coon than APT to know or teach the word 'as it has been written'."

They are USING you and spiritually ABUSING you with a pagan "new style worship" which they dredged up from the slime pits near the Towers of Babel (babbling, is speaking in tongues is singing praise songs over and over and over and over).

The EXTERNAL church is named after CIRCE the holy whore of the book of Revelation. She seduces you with singing and magical enchantments and then FEEDS you sermons made of the best dung patty cakes. This is a fact and you had better get "outside the city" or the POLIS or the little kingdoms being built by the PROPHESIED agents. There is NO connection between these NEW STYLE CHURCHES and the Biblical and historical church of Christ which was a SCHOOL OF THE BIBLE and no more and no less. The word is not SING Twila Paris with four part harmony, making melody on a harp. The word is TEACH or PREACH and the deluded CANNOT read it without being DIVERTED by Lucifer, the singing and harp-playing prostitute: she is ZOE.

Telling lies gets rich preachers: telling the truth gets abused for not loving. That is the MARK. By the command and compulsion of Lord Jesus Christ I am warning you to FLEE from the spiritual terrorists!

It's all a lie which has done the prophesied work of leading the blind into the ditch. Did you notice that Jesus has no pity on the blind? There is NO such thing as a PREACHER in the local congregation: it's a lie." There is not LAW OF SINGING because Paul said TEACH externally and ODE and make melody (a warfare word: Apollo or Abbadon or Apollyon who USES the Muses and has resurrected them to to the LOCUST job of separating the Sheep from the Goats is the father of the twanging bow sending the singing arrow to make melody on the literal heart. He is satan, the father of lies and thieves now fleecing the sheep and CRAUNCHING their bones as Isaiah defined the false shepherd.

There is NO LAW OF GIVING: Paul told you son and history is universal in saying that the assembly (school) has NO CALL on your money: those who PROSPERED were admonished to give to the DESTITUTE and so believed church history.

NO preacher will tell you that: I just did by (I believe) the commission of Lord Jesus Christ who sent along the thorns to validate His commission.

Ken

Billy Bob said they have 7300 in attendance thats wrong they may have that many on thier roll but last sunday they had 3800 in morning worship.My concerns is they are looking for the dollar value and not the soul value .As you can see if all 7300 were attending they would be doing a job saving souls but heres half of thier congregation not attending or going somewhere else .Thier job is to feed the flock and look over them if you have half of you congregation not going i wouldnt want to be in thier shoes on judgement day when asked why didnt you take care of your flock.Ilove these men to death but thier actions in taking care of the flock needs improvements

Donnie and Ken, since the date I posted the question, I discovered on the Richland Hills website (www.rhchurch.org) that this information in included in a section entitled "Assembly Program Archive" on the listing on the left of the introductory page. It appears that attendance is averaging around 3,800 - 4,000 except for Easter Sunday when it was around 5,200.