Joshua Barrett

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Ms. Hamby
Writing & Inquiry Academic Context 1
03 September 2014

Hickory Grove Lifestyle

Discourse communities are where people share the same kind of beliefs or values. Its
also where people work together to achieve certain tasks or goals. There are many different types
of discourse communities around the world, and the one that I decided to talk about is religion.
Religion is basically where people come together to worship something or someone that they
believe in. They also come together to share their beliefs and achieve the goal of adding more
people to their community. The main religious group that Im focusing on is Hickory Grove
Baptist Church. Its a Christian church where people come to worship and praise God and study
the Bible. There are many people around the world who are very religious but there are also
people who are atheist. Religious people often have a hard time finding other people who believe
in the same things that they do. Some of them hang out with friends who arent religious and
choose to get into a lot of trouble which ruins their lives. The way that religious people are able
to grow in their faith and find other believers is by going to church. There are many churches
around the whole world. Church is where people go to praise God and study Christianity.
Although there are many people that go to church, that doesnt mean that they worship
the same way. There are many different religions where God is worshiped in a different
approach. Christianity, Islam, catholic, atheist, agnostic, and Satanism are the different kinds of
religions. The religion that stands out from the other is atheist because its where people dont
believe in God and dont worship anything. Hickory Grove Baptist Church is a church thats in
the charlotte area. Lots of UNCC students go to Hickory Grove and its a very diverse church.
Young kids and adults come to the services and theres also a college ministry thats for people

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who are 18 or older. They all come to Hickory Grove to sing songs of worship and to study the
Bible. The college ministry goes on mission trips to places like South Carolina and Virginia. We
go to places so that we can share the gospel with other people who havent heard about Christ or
dont go to church. We also have many events and activities where we come together and talk
about how we are applying Gods Word in our daily lives. Its a great opportunity to meet new
people and learn more about how to grow in your faith with God and how to grow as a Christian.
Methodology
I interviewed Brian Davis who also goes to Hickory Grove Baptist Church on a
regular basis. Hes the College Ministry Pastor and hes known me ever since I was five years
old because we went to the same church before. I did the interview on October 1st at 3:30 at the
Atkins Library on campus. He explained to me how Hickory Grove is a great place for people to
establish a relationship with God and to accept Jesus as his or her savior. He also told me how
going to Hickory Grove influenced him to become a College Minister. He wants to tell people
about the Bible and that accepting Jesus as your savior means that you will have eternal life with
God in Heaven. I did a lot of my observations when I went to service on Sunday mornings. I
took notes at church by memorizing what the college ministry does on a regular basis. The main
objective that I focused on was seeing how the college ministry people talk about the Bible and
the lessons that they learn from it that can help them in their daily lives. I was an active
participant during the service; I sang songs with them and I prayed with them. I also participated
in the Bible study where Brian talks about a certain passage in the Word and points out important
lessons that can help us become better Christians. He gives us a few minutes to answer some
questions that he came up with that are about the passages that he read.

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I also interviewed a friend of mine named Phil Hathaway who is a former cross
country and track runner at UNCC. Phil explained to me how he had a tough time with his
teammates. The reason was because he couldnt find anyone else on the team that was a
Christian. Nobody else on the team went to Church on Sundays and none of them study the
Bible. Even though Phil had a hard time meeting Christian friends that were on the team, he later
figured out that the womans cross country coach was a Christian and went to Church. He talked
to her a lot about wanting to grow as a Christian. The Coach told him that he should attend a
church thats near the campus. He ended up Brian Davis who told him about Hickory Grove
Baptist Church. Phil told me that hes grown a lot in his relationship with God by going to the
church. Hes making lots of new friends who are Christians and learning about how to live the
Christian lifestyle. Hes been on many mission trips where hes been able to talk about the Bible
with other people.
I went to an event where we were able to come together as a Christian family and its
called Hickory Grove Late Night. Its an event where people share their testimonies about how
they became a Christian. The Pastor of Hickory Grove shows up to teach us about different
passages in the Bible. We also have worship time where we sing songs and praise God. Theres
also seminars about relationships, apologetics, and missional communities. The relationship
seminar is where we discuss the purpose of dating and how you should start dating. We also talk
about how the gospel confronts, transforms, and directs the way we should think about dating
and singleness. The apologetic seminar talks about how belief in God could be rational and that
it can also be defended. Missional communities is where we discuss how we are a group of
people devoted to the gospel for one another and those to whom they are called. We ask
ourselves to whom is God calling us and who will join us.

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One limitation that I faced is telling outsiders about the Word of God. There are
many people that dont know about Jesus or Eternal Life, but Christians are sometimes nervous
about telling them about the Gospel. The reason is because were worried about how they will
react. Some might like it and want to attend Hickory Grove, but others might just ignore the
message and move on. Another limitation was that I couldnt go on the first couple of mission
trips because I had cross country practice. I wasnt able to see how some of the college ministry
students interact with people who dont know Christ and how they teach them about how to
become a Christian.
Analysis
Hickory Grove helped me learned a great way of how people can establish a
relationship with God and they call it Baptism. Baptism is where you share your testimony with
everyone at Church about why you are choosing to become a Christian and let God lead you in
your life. The whole process takes place in a pool. You talk about what your life was like before
you chose to become a follower of God and you explain all of the difficulties and challenges that
you faced while you were growing up. After you give your testimony the Pastor will walk with
you in to the pool. The Pastor will then baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit and cover your face with a wash cloth and dip your head into the water. The whole
church crowd gives you an applause after youre done because you have accepted Jesus as your
savior. Although youve accepted Jesus as your savior and became a Christian, that doesnt mean
that you are officially saved. You have to take full responsibility of being a Believer. Being a
Christian means that you will live out your life according to God. Studying His word and going
to church will help you grow in your faith. It will also help you realize that your life is in Gods

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hands and you have nothing to worry about. The Lord will guide you throughout your life and
help you overcome difficult situations. The Pastor at Hickory Grove told me that God doesnt let
bad things happen to us on purpose. Everything happens for a reason and God has a plan for each
and every one of us. He will make sure that we fulfill our plans no matter what we have to go
through whether good or bad.
I also learned that its important to come with a testimony of your life where you
explain how you came into Christ. Testimonies are a great way of showing people just how
important it is to have a relationship with God. They also help people understand how becoming
a Christian can make your life a whole lot better. Its a great way for people to explain how their
lives were horrible until they accepted Jesus as their savior. They can also share how God has
blessed them throughout their lives ever since they decided to become Christians. Testimonies
are a great example of a discourse community because they help Christians achieve their goal of
getting others to have God in their lives.
The College Ministry has a lot of motives on teaching the gospel to other people. The
main one is that they want to see everyone go to heaven. They know that the only way someone
can have eternal life is by accepting Jesus as his or her savior and living out their life according
to God. They dont want to see any of their friends or family members get left behind. Brians
main motive for preaching the Bible is to make everyone understand how great it is that Jesus
died on the cross for all of our sins. He wants people to know that if it wasnt for Jesus dying on
the cross, then we wouldnt be saved and we wouldnt have eternal life. I noticed that he was
always trying to get that message across to everyone whenever he was preaching during Sunday
school. The main objective for mission trips is to explore new states and countries and learn

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about their religious views. I noticed that during the service in the morning, the college ministry
leaders would always encourage people to sign up to go on trips.
Conclusion
In conclusion, church is a great for people to attend and praise God and study
Christianity. Youre able to have eternal life and accept Jesus as your savior by going through
Baptism. There are many people who claim that they are Christian and can get eternal life by
themselves, but theyre wrong. There is only one true way of getting into Heaven and living in
Gods kingdom, and thats through Jesus Christ. Being a Christian doesnt mean that you just
have to go to church. You also have to study Gods Word outside of church and get involved in
activities with people who go to the same church as you.