Preaching and My Deconversion
By the time 2013 rolled around, I was fully entrenched as a Church of Christ member. I was leading prayers, passing out offering plates, and was one of the guys serving the tasteless crackers and wine (grape juice) for the Lord's Supper. In July of that year, I was talked into going to a preacher training program held at the 84th Street Church of Christ congregation in Oklahoma City. A few of the men had previously taken part in these programs, and were very much into the idea of going, so I did. One of the biggest sources of stress when you're a Christian in the Church of Christ sense is the constant pressure to control your thoughts and to always make sure you're doing something for a reason that would be pleasing to God. If you don't, then it's just another thing to add to the list of a million other tiny things that could send you to Hell. The thing with the thoughts was a pain during those ten days. Why? Up to that point, traveling via public tra...