West Cocoa Chat

1:29pm - I just spoke to Kirk at the Carrollton Ave. Church in N.O. He and another member have stayed at his home to ride out Gustav. They have gotten some minor leaks but are O.K. He said they are thankful for the prayers that as he put it, "Prayed down Gustav to a "Cat 2." They plan on getting out with chain saws and roofing materials once the winds abate. Keep them in your prayers and especially pray for those levees.

I know many of you are wondering about our first service back in our new auditorium with a combined instrumental / a capella service. I feel embarrassed about the emotion and perspectives I want to convey about a day that for all intents and purposes (at least for our area) was a historic day for our church, in light of the fact that Hurricane Gustav is bearing down on the Gulf Region. Please remember our blog friends Dee (http://deeandrews.net/) and John (http://johndobbs.wordpress.com/) Dobbs as Gustav prepares to deliver his punch to the Gulf Region. Also remember the Carrollton (www.carrolltonavenuechurch.org) Ave. Church, which is also in New Orleans. Many of you have read about our youth group trip to help them recover from Hurricane Katrina and then my son’s and his friend’s trip back to continue the recovery efforts as well as delving into personal evangelism in New Orleans. These folks are special to us so remember them in prayer.

What can I say about today at our church? I guess the words historic; unity, freedom, and unity come to my mind. There was a moment where are Instrumental Praise (which son sings on – can you tell the proud Papa) Team started “Light the Fire” and then after one verse, our a Capella Praise Team joined them in finishing the song.

The picture was overwhelming when you consider for so long and in so many places, brothers who believed in Jesus, who practiced being baptized into Christ for remission of sins, who held a high view of Scripture, and who believed in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, have battled and drawn lines of fellowship over something that never gets anyone condemned in the New Testament – worship. That “over whelming picture” was a 360 degrees IMAX picture because the unity, the bearing with one another, and the not judging your brother was not only taking place on the stage of our auditorium, it was also taking place in the pews. You see and this goes without saying as many of you know, “worship” can be a very touchy subject. Forget about one’s personal tastes of I like singing hymns, Psalms, or Praise songs. When you factor in instrumental or a Capella you can only imagine the worship DNA quagmire that could occur. I’d like to give ourselves a pat on the back and say it’s all due to “brilliant shepherding” but those of you who know me really well know better. The grand experiment we currently find ourselves in the middle of can only be attributed to another act of the Holy Spirit. Makes me want to sing the opening line of “Light the Fire,” “I stand to praise you, but I fall to my Knees.”

That is my perspective on what is taking place at OUR church and I want to emphasize the word “OUR.” Remember my friend’s “golfing advice to me?” “Just be you.” What is happening at our church is not a blue print for other churches. We are not the “Borg” on the T.V. series, “Star Trek the Next Generation.” Remember the standard line whenever they encountered another species? “We are the Borg. We will assimilate you. Resistance is futile.” I would like to think that our adding an instrumental aspect to our worship wasn’t just to say, “We can do it, nanny, nanny boo-boo.”

If you’re still reading I do have one more perspective to share with you concerning our journey. It has to do with the fear of threats, retaliation, and acts of what I’ll call “Brotherhood terroism” or basically things done to you or your church by “outside hostile forces.”

It goes without saying that despite no ill will on our part or our church’s, the following has been done to us in the name of what I’ll call Brotherhood (which is an oxymoron) Purity:

1. After 25 years of service, bounced out of a local Bible Camp.

2. Our youth rally sabotaged by a local church of Christ who sent out letters telling others not to attend.

3. Some of our teens attending A.I.M being told by leaders of other churches that they would not contribute to their support because they were members of our church or associated with me.

4. Members of our church being “encouraged” to leave our church by men of “influence” from para-church organizations here in Florida and from a “prestigious” institution of higher learning in our brotherhood.

5. Members of a local church of Christ sending a letter telling their members not to eat or fellowship with any member of our church.

I could go on and I hope I don’t sound bitter because I’m not but I do want to illustrate this point. What these “terrorists” didn’t realize is this:

All of these acts only drove our church together, gave us more resolve to follow God’s leading, and fostered a feeling of we must be doing something right. I honestly think that if persecution had not come our way by these outside forces, we might not be where we are now.

So, to all of these men, churches, and organizations that I so want to bring out into the Light I will say this, Thank you!

To any of you out there that are dreaming great dreams for your church what ever they may be, do not fear. Pray for persecution on both an individual and church wide level for it brings unity and freedom.

// posted by cwinwc @ 5:34 AM