Thursday evening after taking our daughter to dinner to celebrate her fourth birthday, my son (five years old) disappeared. Zoe said he was over at the "church park" a playground next door on the Baptist church property. I wandered over to look for him but he wasn't there. Then I noticed there was a group of people in the church gym playing and peeked in the door. There was Rhys, playing frisbee with someone out of my line of vision. I could see he was having fun and it seemed harmless so I left. A few minutes later he came running in the front door and then a minute later he was gone again. Then he came back to pick up some drinks for himself and "Jason, a big guy". That was when I noticed he was wearing a name tag. I decided I should at least let this big guy named Jason know that I knew Rhys was over there and to make sure it was ok. I found them drinking their Kool Aid and walking around. Jason said it was fine and Rhys said "come on let's go" and they went back in the gym.
Rhys came back home again to pick up Zoe. He said he was going to listen to the concert and he was "in the church now". That was when I left for the gym and turned the supervision over to my husband. We were out on our deck the whole time where we can see the church and the open gym door. When they finally came in for the evening they were both wearing name tags. And that is the story of how my five year old son became a baptist.
I still don't like that particular church but they were nice to my kids and they had some fun over there. Maybe they were trying to be nice to us since it is approaching the time of year when they have a lot of ourdoor activities and tend to be on the VERY LOUD side. It won't stop me from calling the police but it was pretty funny at the time.
Over here, downunder, the Bapos (as we affectionately know them) are pretty strict about their new members.... they insist on immersion before you can say you're a member.
Many years ago our family lived in Maryland, just outside of DC. The Baptists used to send a school bus around to gather all the children in our apartment complex. I found them to be very bribing. Used alot of gimics to get the kids. I let the kids go a few times ( I wanted them to experience all kinds of religions ) but they seemed real pushy.
Moved back to KY. My daughter had a friend who sprent the night once. She was baptist. Turns out she could not come over anymore because we didnt go to church on Sunday morning. Her mom labled us hethans. I always respected the beliefs of any kids at our house. I didnt know I had to go to church for them though. I did let my daughter go to church with them a few times she was 10 or so. The church hounded her by mail for weeks. I told her never to give our address to a church again. In my experience they want CONVERTS and they go for the kids. Yes they can be OH SO NICE & fun.
That is a great story. I can just see him 'joining the church'. He is so sociable, and makes instant friends too. But, I hope he doesn't truly join the church.
I was wondering if you had considered Vacation Bible School, since it's so close? I remember when I was a child, and all my friends had to go to vacation bible school, the first weeks after school was out. I was a bit jealous, and mad too. I would have liked to go, but mainly my friends were busy half the day, and school was OUT!!! Oh well, it only lasted two weeks.
When I got home from the gym both kids were in bed asleep. Steve did say they both came home wet, just to tease me.
Thanks for telling me that Been There, I'll keep an eye on things. In reality, he is just as Mulan says. He is a sociable boy and manages to get right in the middle of everything. We were at his school picnic on Friday and I'm pretty sure he sampled everyone's dessert.
Don't worry mom, we won't let the baptists get a hold of him. I was thinking about VBS after he had so much fun there. I'd do it but we would miss half the week due to our Boston trip. Maybe next year.
