- I am on a journey.
And I’ll not turn back, because the Way is bright, the Guide’s
voice sounds clear and His hand is firm and faithful. Growing up in
the church, I have known these facts to be true. But only recently
have I come to live and experience them.
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- Those like me have
been called “misfit” and “malcontent” by
some Church of Christ brothers. I now believe things not generally
accepted by the church of my upbringing. Among these beliefs are
that the Holy Spirit is an active and powerfully dynamic force in
the life of a yielded believer and that, when I pause at the Lord’s
Supper to discern the Body, my heart must embrace many more
believers than those within the formidable walls of our group.
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- Do I then discard my
32 years with the Church of Christ as if I were on the outside? Not
at all. I still believe in the basic principles of the American
restoration movement. As a product thereof, I have learned to love
and be loved and to share in good works, and, I have been taught
that the Bible means what it says. There is no division here. We all
remain under the headship of Jesus.
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- In Ohio the counties
are divided into “townships,” each with its own
trustees, police and fire department, and school district. At the
sporting events there is fierce competition, with each township
proclaiming its supremacy. That is how I now view the church, as one
large body of believers, with the Church of Christ as one township
thereof. The wall that separates the Church of Christ from the
others is artificial, like a line on a map.
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- I was not the first
in the Church of Christ to see things this way. Pat Boone was among
the first of a growing number who have this more open view. When his
book, “A New Song,” hit the brotherhood, they called it
“going off the deep end.” How appropriate, for going off
the deep end is truly a step of faith. My experience may help others
in one of two ways. They can see where I have erred and avoid the
path I have taken, or, if they see they must change, they can take
comfort in the fact that there is abundant life beyond the
artificial walls.
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- At Abilene Christian
College I watched as scholars scurried to craft a case against
speaking in tongues and other spiritual gifts. For some reason it
was tongues more than other spiritual gifts that put them on the
attack. I learned back in those days that if I could not deal with a
matter constructively I could always rely on the big put-down by the
use of levity and sarcasm. I was chief among those in Edwards
dormitory who found late night comedy on Pat Robertson’s “700
Club.” We roared with laughter as Pat announced yet another
miraculous healing. We had it all figured out. Only fools believed
such things. I was weak back then, even though folks in Ohio
regarded me as a fine product of the youth program.
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- Back in Ohio ten
years later the boy model became the adult leader. Respectability
was mine in the offices of church treasurer, songleader, teacher and
camp counselor. Though I would not admit it, I was still weak. It
was at this time that my wife, Derri, sensing there must be more to
being a Christian, began a study of the Holy Spirit. This led me to
wonder what I would do if she went off the deep end. Would I be able
to laugh off my wife as I had Pat Robertson?
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- Derri came to believe
that all the promises of John 14 and Acts 2 regarding the
Holy Spirit apply to her. Since this threatened my respectability in
the Church of Christ, I began a desperate search for solid answers,
which included a study of every scripture concerning the Holy
Spirit.
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- In time we both
privately experienced what we can describe only as a baptism of the
Holy Spirit. This experience was so foreign to us that we did not
know if we should share it with the congregation. We resolved that,
short of being deceitful, we would for the time being tell no one
but a few close friends. We wanted to see if God would do through us
what he had promised in Acts 2. Any doubt we had was soon buried in
an avalanche of blessing, including healing of my arthritis and
deliverance from a reading disability. In addition to such physical
blessings, the Lord turned our selfish hearts away from materialism,
so that we can now understand what “My yoke is easy” and
“I am with you always” really mean. Old songs like
“Standing on the Promises” and “Listening to the
Spirit’s Call” now have new meaning.
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- We were nonetheless
anxious about telling our elders what had happened to us, but this
was solved when we became members of the Belmont Church in
Nashville, a church that invites the Spirit not only to impart its
fruit but its gift of holiness as well. This church is a refuge for
many Church of Christ people who seek a spirit of freedom not found
in mainline congregations. Once we were at Belmont we were convinced
that God had brought us there for a purpose. This was confirmed by
his giving us a new job and a new life in Nashville. We do not see
all this as a rejection of our life in the Church of Christ as much
as the leading of the Holy Spirit.
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- While Derri was
frustrated by the limited ministry of women in the church, she is
now a full-time coordinator in Belmont’s well-funded and
multi-faceted inner-city ministry. God’s blessings truly do
abound beyond what we can hope or imagine. Even in our sufferings
there are blessings. We are still weak, but, praise God, we are
learning that “He is strong.”
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- Some of our Church of
Christ brothers are bothered by our witness. They regard our talk of
God working in us as a way to glorify ourselves or to make them feel
inadequate. We know God and man cannot be glorified at the same
time. Those in whom God works will testify, those who forbid God to
work will not.
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- God, through His Holy
Spirit, wants to unite us with each other and with all believers. If
we earnestly seek Him beyond traditional molds and if we allow the
Spirit to do with us whatever He desires, we will have a solid basis
for the unity of the Spirit, even with diversity of doctrine. —106
Eastland Ave., Lebanon, TN 37087