2 churches but 1 body of Christ

Today was my first Sunday sin Texas and since I don’t have a vehicle to get around, I was fortunate enough to have been able to attend church this morning with the lady that I am living with. She attends a Bible church and this was my first experience ever attending a Bible church since I have mostly always attended a Methodist church but I have attended a few other denominations as well. So, her service started at 9am and this is also the church that one of my supervisors attends. The service was good and I really enjoyed and liked that the service was straight from scripture and tied into the last song that we sung. The song was “beautiful things” and I used to not be the biggest fan of that song but after attending service this morning, the service gave me a new perspective of it and how God has created us.

The pastor had 2 old and random pieces of wood and related that back to how God created us and views us. These 2 pieces of wood were nothing special and they were dead. (The pastor even yelled for the wood to come to him but of course the wood didn’t since it’s dead). But even though the wood is dead and both pieces came from different places, they came together and at the same time that service was going on, the pastor had a friend build a small house outside with the wood that they had. You see, the wood wasn’t anything special, it was dead, etc but it was put together and became something. That’s how God created us, we may have been dead in our sin but God created us for something special and He is able to bring us into a place that we never thought we would be or put us with a group of people we never saw ourselves with. God makes beautiful things out of the dust. For me, this message resonated with me since I left Indiana and never thought that I would be in Texas but God has placed me in Texas to do amazing things through the Dallas Leadership Foundation and to work along side those in Dallas. I am a random person but when I am placed together with the Dallas Leadership Foundation, the General Board of Global Ministries, my supporters, God, etc then I am made into something. God took me from dust and have made me to be someone that matters and that can make a difference. This may not have gone the way that I planned but it has gone the way that God has planned.

So, that was the first church service that I attended. And then I wanted to attend a United Methodist church since that’s what I grew up as, the ministry that I am a missionary with is United Methodist, and we are supposed to connect with the Methodist church so, I was fortunate enough to have Elisabeth pick me up and attend one of the churches that she goes to. This church was The First United Methodist Church of Richardson. It was a later service, starting at 5pm since it was the contemporary service and with it being Labor Day weekend, many people were gone but there was still probably an attendance of about 80 people. So, once I walked into the church, I was greeted with open arms (“open hearts, open minds, open doors”) and I felt very welcomed into this congregation. The service was also good and it also resonated with me since as a missionary there may be times that I have to do things that may scare me but God calls us to that and is with us. Yeah, it was definitely hard to leave everything that I have known and come to Texas and become a missionary when in all honesty, I probably could be making more money and have more control as to what it is that I am doing.

However, God has called me here and even though it’s scary, I am going by faith in God that this is where I am meant to be and that He has the next 2 years already mapped out for me. I am not sure what my job entails yet even though I have talked with my supervisors and have read the job description but I haven’t actually started work yet. I am excited to start work but at the same time, I may be a little anxious, just because I don’t know the outcome of what it is that I will be doing or what specifically and in detailed it is that I will be doing. So, I attended 2 services today but in all reality, I was still apart of 1 body of Christ no matter where it was that I was, God was still the center of the service and I was worshiping 1 God. That’s the true church and that’s the joy of the body of Christ! Now, I don’t know if I will end up calling the First United Methodist Church my “home” for the next 2 years but no matter where I end up, I know God’s already there and He knows where I will end up and I hope to get settled into a church soon so that I can get more connected and invest in that community for the next 2 years!

Prayer requests: I find the church that I feel I am meant to be at within a month, that I continue to transition well from Indiana to Texas, and that my first week on the job will be fruitful and not overwhelming!

Thanks and please leave comments and ways that I can be praying for you!

Here's a song that goes well with the next stage of the 2 years journey that I am... "Always" by Kristian Stanfill