The Puzzle Pieces Begin To Fit

May 20, 1994 -----
That is a day that I will never forget.
Vicki and I had left Central Methodist back in October of '93.
We were attending a new church which had just opened.
God's hand was totally on this journey now and we were somewhat unsettled. Why? Because I am a creature of habit. Take me out of my routine and I am like a fish out of water.
This church was so new, that they didn't have a pastor. The denomination HQ was sending someone from Montgomery each Sunday and Wednesday to fill in until one could be called.

During this time, I was reading a book, THE OPEN DOOR CHURCH.
The premise of the book was a return to ministry and doing church according to the model that Jesus left us and the way the church in the book of Acts was described. The people of the church, in today's model, had been relegated to being nothing more than spectators. It wasn't that the book wanted to overthrow what church was doing today, just change the focus. I guess the term would be "Make the church more user friendly." As I read the book, I was stirred. "That is what I want. I want to be a part of a church where everyone was important and everyone was working for the Kingdom." It wasn't the pastor who created a program or agenda and then asked for the church to join his vision, God gave vision to everyone who asked and then equipped them to carry it out.

On May 20, 1994, I was sitting in my car at Mid-South Electronics on Sutton Bridge road, eating my lunch. I had just finished the book, and as I was closing it, I silently prayed, "God, I want to be a part of something like this Open Door Church. No sooner had I prayed that, then God spoke. O.K. How do I know it was God? Because I don't get many forceful thoughts and "inner" voices that are loud. But the second I had prayed, "I want to be a part of something like that." God spoke and said, "Then do it." It caught me surprise, knowing it was God, I prayed again,"Lord---I don't want to start something, I just want to be a part of it." Again..."Just do it." I wrestled with this for a while, but knew that God had called me......again.

I called my wife and explained to her what was going on. Bless her, this whole journey of leaving Central had been pretty traumatic for her and she was ready for something to happen where she knew God's hand was at work. She had left Central because God had all but pushed her "out of the nest." But the unknown of where we would land was the big issue.

I knew that God was calling us to start a home group. Within the group, we would invite people and teach them how to worship, how to pray, how to minister to others. I had a framework but didn't know how to fill in the blanks. I knew that we needed a spiritual authority as our covering, that we didn't need to "lone ranger" this thing. So I approached Bruce Hose, the interim pastor at out church. I explained what God was calling us to do and ask for his blessings. Bruce was very kind and explained that he could not bless such a meeting. The church was so new and he wasn't up to speed with who was mature in Christ and who wasn't. He felt like such a meeting would be out from under his pastorship and could pose a problem. After all, he didn't really know me, what I truly believed. Funny part was, I wasn't mad. I even somewhat understood what he was talking about. I told him that I felt that this was God and because it was, I needed to move on and find someone who would be my spiritual covering. For me to stay would be rebellion on my part. I asked him if he would bless me and release me. He agreed. It was a very powerful and yet gentle, loving prayer that he prayed over me. I was now free.

I knew that I knew that I knew I was to call Jim Bentley, pastor of Gadsden Vineyard Church.
Jim agreed to take us on so we could host this home group (the Vineyard called them kinships).
We began to meet with Jim and get the basics of hosting a home a group and on June 24, 1994, we held our very first meeting. I was clueless, yet God wasn't. I would love to say it was a rousing first meeting, but it wasn't. If anything, we were simply trying to be obedient to what God had called us to....

Until tomorrow....
God on you....
mb