Today is the 8th anniversary of the ReCovery Church. The picture above has a special meaning for me. This was taken at Steve Brewster's meeting, the Gathering @ Cornerstone church. Steve had invited us to come and lead worship. At this time, we were having our meetings at Rapha Treatment Center. We have been out there holding meetings on Saturday night since 2006. But things were about to change.
This particular weekend this picture was taken turned out to be a turning point in the direction God was taking us. We were moving through our worship set, and had come to a song (THE LORD IS GRACIOUS) when something unusual happened. As we were leading, the crowd was clapping and keeping time, not to mention singing as loud as I've ever heard. The song finished, but the crowd kept clapping and keeping time. They would not stop. Looking at Wayne and Barry (my worship cohorts) we started the song back up. I thought to myself, "What was that all about?"
The next night (Saturday) the message I gave at Rapha was used by God to stir the men's hearts. At the end, we had a flood of guys come down to turn their will and lives over to God. I went away thinking "Wow! That was a great message." And God was quick to remind me that I was only a conduit for the message to flow through. It was His message, and it was His Holy Spirit that had stirred those who came down to be saved. Point taken......sorry Lord.
The next night (Sunday) I was over at North Glencoe for their Celebrate Recovery.In this meeting, the thing that stood out was the ministry time where people come for prayer. Once again there was a flood of people coming to the front as we prayed for person after person. Some came to be saved...some came to receive prayer for healing.....some came to stand in for friends or family and receive prayer for them. Driving home, a thought floated through my brain (it's real easy for things to "float" through my brain.........ain't much in there to stop them.) This was the first time I had ever done 3 meetings on three consecutive nights. What did this mean? I wasn't sure.
The next morning during my quiet time, I was still trying to process what had happened. Then it came to me.... Friday night had been all about the worship. Saturday night had been all about the Word, and Sunday night had been all about the ministry of prayer. The three formed the purpose of what every meeting should be about. When this came to me, I found myself with a longing that I never expected to feel.
I'd left Gadsden Vineyard back in 2005 to be the staff pastor at Rapha. I had seen a lot during my time there. Men healed and set free....lives restored.....deliverance and freedom from demonic oppression...This was God's rehab and He was definitely in the healing business. But his longing I felt was, as best I can phrase it, to return home. I wrote in my journal, "I have a desire to come back home....to return to the Vineyard." From there, God begin to put in place everything so I could.
I wasn't sure how things would go, and to be honest there was some doubt as to whether this was really God. Turned out it was. Now here is the strange part to me....during the preparation time for our first meeting back at the Vineyard, God spoke specifically and told me that our meeting would never be large in numbers, that we were to minister to whoever showed up. You know what? That word has been true ever since He spoke it. It has always been, and always will be about the one who needs a touch, a word, a healing, or salvation from God.
So I'll close with this. This past Saturday we hosted our first "breakfast give-away" to feed anyone who was in need of a hot meal. We didn't sit down and plan it to coincide with this 8th anniversary. It just turned out that way. Or did it? If you study scripture, the number 8 is the number for new beginnings. God creation process lasted 6 days, and on the 7th He rested. Day 8 would be the beginning of the new week. Do you think maybe this breakfast give-away was God's way of saying that The ReCovery Church was entering a new beginning and a new work? I think maybe the answer is yes. So lets move forward and see where this new work...this new beginning takes us.
God on you...
mbb
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