My Christ and His Church, S.C.

From as far back as I can remember, my parents were searching. For what, I didn't begin to realize until my latter high school years. Every weekend we went from revival to revival, seminar to seminar, from overflowing stadiums to tiny, homely gatherings four hours away in Alabama. Time and again I overheard my parents' discuss one more meeting they just attended. Clear memories remain with me, of giving my life to Christ in the rusty bathroom of an old white chapel during a small, stirring gathering of believers weeping on the floor at a Pentecostal church. Because of my parents' appetite for a deeper understanding of the Bible, truer worship, and more satisfying growth in our God, my childhood was rich with spiritual experiences. A definite taste was in me for the experience of my Lord to increase within me.

When I was in sixth grade, my parents' “church-hopping” ceased. Now they were profoundly content, and no longer wondered if they were missing any portion of Christ by meeting in just one place. Meeting solely because of Christ and for Christ in the local churches, they were happy.

I was happy that my parents were finally at peace, and happy with the level of Christ's life and light I was experiencing in the meetings of the local church.

As a teenager in the local churches, I fell in love again and again with my wonderful Lord in the local high school meetings, in the Southeast and West Coast youth conferences, and especially in morning devotions with my spiritual companion. My high school years were truly spent in “pursuing with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” (2 Timothy 2:22) However, it wasn't until the end of my college years, that I began to know and love the local churches as my own and not simply the answer to my parents' seeking.

During graduation, I witnessed the superficiality of religion and the vanity of this world, and my heart responded desperately to the Lord. Although my personal relationship with the Lord was not as strong during my college years, I maintained a burning hunger to know, and deeply love, this Person more than anything else on this earth. As the only faithful and loving, gracious, dear One, He has never disappointed me in my pursuit of Him. However, the more I learned to love Him, the more He's been drawing me to know and love His church.