Peace And Love

Ecclesiastes 3:1
To everything there is a season. A time for every purpose under heaven.

Looking back over the years, God has blessed me to be a part of some pretty incredible communities of believers. People who were not satisfied to simply be a Christian, or to be a Church member, but wanted something more. Being a part of such groups tends to rub off on you. You see a group dynamic at work that is not bound by legalism, but flies free and unfettered in the wind of the Spirit.

Campus Crusade for Christ was the first group of folks I met who actually trusted me with God's key's to His Kingdom. They took me in and told me that I was part of the movement that was going to usher in a "Jesus Revolution". That we, young people, were not called to sit on the side lines watching, but were to become involved with loving others into a new relationship with Jesus. I started a Bible study with a group of young people from Emma Sansom High School. It was a scary time, simply because I felt like a babe in Christ myself, but it was also a training time for me. It put me into a place in the Kingdom where I had to study the word. More than that, it brought up a hunger to study God's word. Before that time, I thought daily readings and devotionals were all that were required of me. Campus Crusade planted seeds in me that have served me well over the years. Lessons and teachings that still resonate in me today. I am grateful to all the people who loved me enough to tell me that I could "do the stuff" that Jesus did.

Next came Christian Brothers....There another group of folks took me in and made me a part of their family. This time it was the music and the love that were forefront in movement. What music there was. Original tunes of God's love and Jesus' mercy....why original? Because what is now known as Contemporary Christian music was just being birthed. So there weren't any "Greatest Hits" at the time. Every song was new. Every song was about Jesus and our need for Him.  Brook Finlayson's "How Could You Be So Good"   spoke of the amazement and awareness that God could love us beyond measure. Thousands of songs would come from hundreds of singer/songwriters during this time. Little did we know that was turning the soil and planting the seeds that would produce worshipers and worship leaders. But God is like that, isn't He?

The other aspect of this time with Christian Brothers that truly stands out is the simple fact that the traditional church wanted nothing to do with us. We were not out to steal any one's children away from their home church. We wanted to provide a place where people could come and hang out. Pray for one another and spend some time with some really incredible music.  We wanted to be a vehicle that would provide a multi-day music festival along the lines of what Woodstock was. Only without 500,000 showing up. We would have welcomed 500,000 but I'm not sure we were ready to handle such a crowd. But the church saw us as a threat to the young of the community. The only church that truly supported us was Central United Methodist and Bro. George Creel. They provided funds and realized that we were kind of an off shoot of themselves since a number of the members of Christian Brothers were also members of Central. 

Today finds me a part of another family or community of believers who share a common call. A call to love and minister to those who are either in addiction or have started their journey in recovery. A common call fueled by an uncommon love has united us to move out to be the body of Christ in areas others are not comfortable in. God has given Vineyard Recovery some pretty incredible, loving people who desire to see God move in their own lives as well as others. That is what motivates me today....to see God's love manifested and shared with everyone we come in contact with. Those in addiction, their families and their friends...we want them all to meet this Jesus that we have met. We want them to understand that He can change their lives unlike anything else the world has to offer.

The 60's has been referred to as the "Peace and Love" generation. Well, the Beatles sang "All You Need Is Love" and then they broke up. Jesus did more than simply sing about it. He lived it...He died because of it...and defeated the power of death by it. I guess, in that regard, we still are the "Peace and Love" Generation. 
Groovy!

God on you..
mb