The Church is on the move. For the longest time I had always heard of The Church being referred to as a building or a place. Growing up I loved being at church hearing about God, who He was, and feeling loved by Him. Then there were times outside of church that I felt the total opposite. I conceived this idea in my mind that God was only at church. I grew to know that was far from the truth. Have you heard the saying “church is a building without walls”? I realized that it’s not just a building that you go to every Sunday but rather it’s the community of believers. Now, I know I belong to the church body of believers referred to in 1 Corinthians 11:12 — the body has many parts but many form one body that’s with Christ.
In January of 2019 I started going back to Church on sundays where I got to see the beauty of what the body looks like. I’d love to share how I saw the church move back at home. Early spring of 2019 leaders of the church came alongside me to pray for my family to have God move in them to take the step to come to church with me. After continually praying and inviting, my family came to church for Easter service. Later in the service I saw the Holy Spirit move in a beautiful way by how my little brother Ethan marched up to the stage to commit his life to Christ through water baptism. My dad felt like he was home in the church body then started to come to church with me every Sunday. Fast forward to January, my dad re-committed his life to Christ and got baptized. I’m sharing this story because it shows how powerful The Church is and the power of prayer. Matthew 18:20 says, “…for where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them”. Having the leadership come alongside me in prayer was such a powerful thing. Crazy how strong the body is. Another way I saw the church move at home was the way the leaders didn’t give up on the youth. Many teenagers took their first steps in faith through the spirit working through the body. I realized that the church can’t move without God.
God moved in big ways back at home and continues to everyday. If you’re reading this blog I’m 99.99% sure that you know I will be spending this year on a mission trip with the World Race, if not then surprise! I would love to share with you how the community looks like here at AIM (Adventures In Mission) with my squad. From eating dinners together, studying the Word, to laughing, to dance offs, to cry nights (holy spirit wrecking us), and to late nights (10p lol). This community is full of beautiful broken people coming together as the body learning about how Good our Father is. Last Sunday, the body got together for squad church which the Men got to lead.
The men and I had the privilege to lead the women with church. Us men gathered to plan and we had the word “vision” on our hearts. I spoke about adhering to God’s vision, Josh spoke on the now mindset vs. the internal mindset, then Payton spoke about wrestling with the truth. After we shared our messages we broke into groups to debrief what was taught about, our visions and prayer requests. One of the women in my group said she was moved by the night, she realized that she didn’t have to worry about her plans but that God had the vision over her life. Though I was completely nervous about sharing my message, it was amazing to see how the Holy Spirit worked through me and how it touched the women. God kept me on my feet, spitting words out of my mouth (thanks God!) It truly was an amazing night with The Church.
yo i’m really friggin proud of you. God’s moving and we get to be a part of it. wowowow thanks Jesus.
So beautiful to hear the testimony of God saving your brother and father. Praise Jesus for being faithful, praise Him that you are here Josh! 🙂