Update on First Baptist Church of Hammond

[bgwilkinson]

Here is a pic from today at House of Grace Chicago.
Freddy is asking  for prayer for these two men.

 

[RAIDER]

FBC English service in old auditorium tonight. This is our normal Sunday Night crowd.

Chairs instead of pews!  Red carpet instead of gold!!  Large screens!!!  I wouldn't give you a dime for this kind of Christianity!! 

 

[IFB X-Files]

Chairs instead of pews!  Red carpet instead of gold!!  Large screens!!!  I wouldn't give you a dime for this kind of Christianity!! 

PREACH!

 

[bgwilkinson]

Chairs instead of pews!  Red carpet instead of gold!!  Large screens!!!  I wouldn't give you a dime for this kind of Christianity!! 

PREACH!

It takes more than a few dimes and a sermon to pay the bills.

 

[RAIDER]

Chairs instead of pews!  Red carpet instead of gold!!  Large screens!!!  I wouldn't give you a dime for this kind of Christianity!! 

PREACH!

It takes more than a few dimes and a sermon to pay the bills.

Golden pews and carpet will open the windows of Heaven!!

 

[bgwilkinson]

Another pic from the English service last night in the old auditorium.

 

[RAIDER]

Another pic from the English service last night in the old auditorium.

Why did they have the service in the old auditorium?

 

[Bruh]

Another pic from the English service last night in the old auditorium.

Why did they have the service in the old auditorium?

Probably because, a whole lot more people get saved in there.

 

[bgwilkinson]

Another pic from the English service last night in the old auditorium.

Why did they have the service in the old auditorium?

Some think it's because we are trying to get our old mojo back, mystical reference intended,  however I believe there is a more reasonable explanation.

This crowd in the Main auditorium looks very small and makes it very difficult to claim you are having great crowds at your event. Like a handful of BBs bouncing around in a bathtub.

There is a secret to the seating in the old auditorium and making it look more filled than it really is. The spacing of the seats is much greater now than it was during the days of Bro. Hyles. When he was pastor the pews were as close as physically possible. One could almost not walk between them. In the center sections on the lower floor there were 16 pews from the face of the mezzanine to the front row. In this pic you can count only 11 rows from the front to the mezzanine. There is also a walkway without seating just under the balcony that further reduces the number of seats.

As for the the number of seats in each row. During the LORD's supper service there were 11 men on each front row, same as present seating setup.

Normally on Sunday evenings we do not use the balcony at all in the New Auditorium. You can easily get 3,500 plus on the ground floor in the New Building, but the building does not look like many are there because of the empty balcony. You can just about count the number of people in this pic, so you can see for yourself that the number is not very large. Whole sections are empty.

Number of people who boycott the old building.

Now to be fair there are a large number of people who boycott the old building because of it's problems, I don't mean it is an intentional boycott, but an unintentional one that still gives the same result.

Parking is not as close to the old building as it is to the new, this is a big deal to older people who count their steps, especially at night.

Another reason is that we can save a bundle of money by not running the Main auditorium for days at a time. The old auditorium has at that point been used multiple times on Sunday.  10:45, 1:30 and 6:00.

There are probably some others too.

We would probably have had better attendance if we had held the service in the new building, it just wouldn't look like it. I guess it may be about the feeling after all.

Reasons not to have an event there would include very poor glaring lighting that is hard on the eyes. For people who wear glasses the lights produce a haze on the lenses that is caused by the very high freq. UV light that is produced by these style lights. Makes some older people sick. Some get migraine headaches from the warehouse style lighting. The lighting also produces deep dark shadows that make it hard to even read a paper Bible, those using their phones or iPads, of course, do not have that problem.

Another reason is terrible sound, speech is not too bad but music is atrocious. Very poor quality all around makes one glad to be back in the main auditorium.

A good reason to have services in the old building is that people once again realize how much we needed the New Auditorium and makes them appreciate it that much more.

 

[bgwilkinson]

Another pic from the English service last night in the old auditorium.

Why did they have the service in the old auditorium?

Probably because, a whole lot more people get saved in there.

This would border on mysticism.

Don't know that more got saved, but maybe more got baptized. In the 90s I had guys in my class that had been baptized 10 or more times to help us get to the 25,000 baptism bragging point. Oh I don't think they were saved at all, they just liked the free stuff we gave out as promotions. We ran them through like cattle. Or is that sheep, er. goats, through sheep dip?

 

[Baptist City Holdout]

FBC English service in old auditorium tonight. This is our normal Sunday Night crowd.

Chairs instead of pews!  Red carpet instead of gold!!  Large screens!!!  I wouldn't give you a dime for this kind of Christianity!! 

The Devil's Birthday, Halloween, veiled as Harvest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bgwilkinson]

Daytime crowd at the Bible Conference. Graphic evidence of why it is in the old building and not in the Auditorium.

 

[tobytyler]

Daytime crowd at the Bible Conference. Graphic evidence of why it is in the old building and not in the Auditorium.

For this building being over 40 years old, this auditorium  looks very good in pictures.  I'm sure that in person, it may show its age.  The first half (organ side) was built in 1964 and is over 50 years old!  It'd be hard to find a building 40-50 years old that is in such good shape.

 

[bgwilkinson]

Daytime crowd at the Bible Conference. Graphic evidence of why it is in the old building and not in the Auditorium.

For this building being over 40 years old, this auditorium  looks very good in pictures.  I'm sure that in person, it may show its age.  The first half (organ side) was built in 1964 and is over 50 years old!  It'd be hard to find a building 40-50 years old that is in such good shape.

This is the result of massive face-lift and new furnishings done by the Spanish Dept. the last 10 years or so.
Out with the old, in with new, so to speak.

 

[bgwilkinson]

Look who's on the organ.

 

[bgwilkinson]

Do we know these guys? How about it how many of them can you name?

 

[Bruh]

Is Jack Mitchell back on staff?

 

[bgwilkinson]

Is Jack Mitchell back on staff?

Yes, good things come to those who wait.

 

[bgwilkinson]

More Pics from tonight.

 

[bgwilkinson]

Pic from the old auditorium tonight.