To Whom It May Concern

How many of you out there actually EXPECT to have 1 or more visitors to your church this Sunday? I'm just curious. How accessible is your church information (times, location, phone numbers)? I have to tell you, trying to find a church (especially a conservative Holiness church) while you're traveling is a very difficult task. I use every resource I can to find a church. I have used our GPS, church directories, church finder websites, the yellow pages, and the phone-a-friend hotline. Even with all of these great things at my fingertips, there are some Sundays that we miss church altogether. One of the things that makes it difficult for us is of course, parking. Not every church has the kind of space we need for parking our truck. Usually we can find a lot nearby and walk the rest of the way, but not always. Another obstacle is that churches all start at varying times. We usually try to arrive around 10:30am to be on the safe side. The final problem we encounter is outdated information (especially when finding a church from a website or the yellow pages. Sometimes we get to the address and find the church has moved or closed. It would be easy to find out about these things and avoid all the obstacles if we could call ahead, but alas I have found that 9 times out of 10 when we call a church phone number we get an answering machine. Even THAT would help IF the church would put some vital information on that message (such as the times of service). I almost always leave a message when I get a machine and almost never get a return phone call. It makes me wonder if some of these Churches are missing out on some local visitors because they choose not to answer the phone??
While I'm harping....I just want to say how disappointed I am that so many churches choose not to have Sunday evening services. Most of them say it is because they want to have "family time". What better way is there to spend time with your family than in church?? And how many of these families are really staying home on Sunday nights and REALLY spending time together as a family?? Just wondering...
Anyway, if any of you out there have any suggestions of ways to find a church please let me know! Also, please consider putting your church information on www.churchangel.com So far that is the largest directory I have been able to find online, but there are VERY few holiness churches listed on there. I am proud to say our home church (in AR) is listed on that site and our pastor does answer his phone!! :o)