West Cocoa Chat

462 was the number that attended our “Dedication Service” of our renovated auditorium. I have attended many moving worship services at Long Beach, Pepperdine, and the Zoë Conference but what took place yesterday at our church literally moved me to tears. I don’t know how we did it but we managed to include our children, the Brevard County Youth Choir, our instrumental and a-capella Praise Teams, an outstanding sermon by our Preacher Don, and powerful “Cardboard Testimonies” by many of our members. I was one of the “cardboard people” but I don’t think my testimony was as powerful as many of the other folks but it was personal to me.

On the front my cardboard read:
“Despite the cost, always believed instrumental music wasn’t a sin.”

On the back my cardboard read:
“Proud leader of a church that believes and practices the same.”

To any “non-c.o.C-ers” out there, that probably doesn’t make any sense and it shouldn’t. Many of our own leaders, preachers, elders, and scholars know that to make the case that instrumental music is a sin takes some serious “Bible Gymnastics” to make all the arguments work. At the same time the journey that our church has taken to get where we are with our acceptance of Biblical worship styles in my opinion hasn’t been “artificially” induced. You need only read some of my posts from the last 2 years to see how God has brought our church to what it is, not that we’ve “arrived” at any state of perfection. We’re far from it.

A little more digression here. My advice to any church for what it’s worth, is the same advice that my good friend and golfing buddy in South Carolina so often gives me, “Don’t be me, be you.” I think Paul does the same thing with Peter in Galatians 2:14 when he wrote:

“When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”

When you’re not “being you” especially when you’re a leader, it has detrimental effects on yourself, the people around you, and ultimately your church.

Alright, let’s get back to “my tears” without removing too much of my “Man Card.” I guess my tears flowed from seeing the other cardboard testimonies as well as thinking about “the cost” that was written on mine. Some may think those tears were tears of sadness especially when you consider that my journey included being booted from a ministry that was near and dear to my heart. For whatever reputation I had, in many ways I’m sure my name is bantered around in c.o.C’s around Florida with the likes of (fill in the blank with your choice) _________________.

There may have been some sadness in my tears but let me tell you and open my heart. No, there was so much more joy in those tears! I could hear my now college age son’s tenor voice singing with our combined Praise Teams the chorus of “He loves us.” I could read all of the cardboard testimonies from our own people who were being as transparent as one could get.” It was truly “worship in Spirit and Truth.” Finally, my tears flowed from not so much as seeing the faces in my mind of some who have left us, but more so the ones who stayed and are coming. As one of our visitors said who has known of our church for years, he asked, “I don’t know how this church got to where it is but I want to be a part of it.”

Oh, I’ll add one more element. I have a heart for our youth. As most of us know, many of our youth are leaving the Churches of Christ when they enter college. I can tell you with tears beginning to well up in my eyes again, ours are not. In fact and especially the ones that have gone away to college are bemoaning the fact that they “can’t find a church like Central.”

I don’t say that to brag. I say that as a thanksgiving to our Almighty God because isn’t that what we want for our children? To see a “faith walk with Jesus” and being a “member of a local congregation” as something relevant and needed in their lives.

You guys have a good Monday. BTW – pray for me. Weather permitting I’m suppose to run almost 5 miles today with Steven and his good friend (remember the New Orleans trip posts) after school today from beautiful downtown West Cocoa to our church on the River Road.