Genesis 1:1 -- "In the beginning, God created........"
Everything has a beginning.
The moment of conception, a new life is created.
Each day begins with a sunrise.
Each marriage begins with "I do".
All works of creation covered and cared for by the hand of God.
Today is an anniversary of sorts for me.
Nineteen years ago, this day, is when God moved me into being a servant. Some would say "Pastor" but I'm not real crazy about the terms "Pastor" or "Preacher".
Today, nineteen years ago, Vicki and I held our first Kinship meeting in our home.
Kinship is a term used by the Vineyard Church to identify the small groups that were designed to meet in homes. Such groups as these were the back bone of teaching and modeling how to "do the stuff" or what we refer to as the works of Jesus. Teach others how to pray and hear God. How to do deliverance and see people free from demonic oppression. Even how to lead worship. Kinship's were a place where people were birthed into the kingdom. It was a place of beginnings.
God told me, on May 20, 1994, that I was to start a home group. It is one of the few times that when it happened, I knew it was God, and I knew he was serious about it. I reconnected with Jim Bentley and he mentored me for the next month on what to look for and what to expect. Trouble was, I had my own ideas of what was going to happen. I use to be terrible about projecting into a situation my own thoughts.
We met for the first time on June 25, 1994 and we had fifteen people show up. Wowzers! A roaring success. Truth be known, it wasn't very good. I had a terrible time leading worship. The teaching was not very good. I was trying to orchestrate things and in the end, everyone was very gracious to sit through it all. So with one under our belt, we began to look forward to the next one.
Our next home meeting, no one came. It was just Vicki and me. Seven 0'clock came..no one...15 after 7...no one....25 after 7 no one. I was crushed. I was putting up my guitar and Vicki asked me, "What are you doing?" "Well, no one is hear so why go through the motions?" Then came those words from my wife that I can still hear today. "Because God told you to do a home group..he didn't say do it if someone shows up." She was going to have a meeting with me or without me. Those words have served me well over these past 19 years. It is about being obedient no matter what it looks like. So we had our second meeting...just Vicki and me, and Jesus.
Over the course of the next few months, we did pick up one couple who started coming. The kinship moved from our living room to our kitchen table as we shared a meal together. Nothing fancy, soup and cornbread. Sandwiches on other occasions, but as time passed, a bond began to form between the four of us. We did worship and at times, God's presence seem to be very real in our midst. We did pray for each other, and we saw God's hand provide and answer those prayers. We didn't realize it at the time, but God was growing us, stretching us and teaching us for what would lie ahead.
As time passed, I began to mail out a note as a reminder of the home group. At that time, we were meeting every other Saturday so sometimes people would forget when we were meeting. On one particular occasion, I added some comments to the note about a verse God had given to Vicki and me, and the impact it had had on our life. I began to receive calls from people about how much they appreciated what I had written and how it had been used by God in their own lives. This simple one page mail out was the beginning of the Greene Street Letters. The letter grew to 2 pages....and the mail out list began to grow also. We were mailing out 300 every other week as people would call or write saying that they had passed on their copy to friends. Now those friends were wanting to receive the Greene Street Letters.
Then came the Internet for the Bynum household. The list of E-Greene Street Letters grew to over 600. We were sending it around the world. To England, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, as well as Russia and Japan. I try not think about how all of this works, but suffice it to say, it boggles my mind.
The Greene Street Letters Blog was birthed the latter part of 2007. It wasn't called that at the time, but a good friend of mine, Bobby Sparks, said that I should consider renaming the blog The Greene Street Letters. He felt that this was the name that God wanted it know by. SO Greene Street Letters it was.........and Greene Street Letters it shall be known as.
It was because of those early days of the kinship that I am doing what I do today. All of it was a part of the school that God had me in. It was all preparation for June 25, 2013. What does that mean? I'm not sure, other than I will show up today and look for opportunities to speak Jesus into someone life. To be that kind word or gentle encouragement needed for the moment. This God-stuff doesn't always happen within the four walls of a church. It works really well at Walmart and at the Waffle House. It comes alive at the gas station and the fruit stand. As John Wimber use say, "The meat is in the street".
God on you....
mb
No comments:
Post a Comment