Last Sunday I had the great joy of teaching our New Members Class at Trinity. In November of 1997, Trinity made the wonderful decision that if a person was going to be received as a church member a prerequisite was that they needed to attend a New Member’s Class. In the past other staff members have taught this class, but this time around I wanted to personally teach it. I was encouraged on several fronts regarding this class; one was the attendance as we met in the choir room because we didn’t have any class rooms available that could hold a class this size (by the way, we will keep it smaller from here out). Also, I was encouraged by the number of members who were willing to take the class if needed – some asked because they had that had joined before 1997 and one who had attended, moved away and then came back to our fellowship- they were willing to attend again! I was encouraged by this because it showed a desire submit to the wishes of the Church. Now, not a single one of those who contacted me needed to “retake” the class, but just the attitude they showed reflected that they were willing to do whatever is necessary to keep unity and harmony in the body. This is an evidence of God’s grace at work in our fellowship. Below are just a few more.
• This week I met with a lady who, as we were discussing books she was reading said, “I never knew we were called to be theologians until now.” All of us are to be students of Theology because the more I learn about God, the more it impacts my worship, my life, my hunger for truth.
• I had two different meetings with individuals wanting to know how to confront someone they love, who is involved in sin. They want to do it in a way that is biblically accurate and approach them as a sinner taking another sinner to the cross. The fact that we are reaching a point where we care enough to move out of our comfort zone and risk being uncomfortable for another is part of what being a church is all about.
• We had a young lady on outreach Monday who had the opportunity to share the gospel with senior adult lady that night, and a family member earlier that day – she was overjoyed at the blessing of simply being used by God!
• Recently we have seen several husbands saved that our ladies have been praying for faithfully.
• God has allowed some families to unite with our church, and some attending our present New Members class that have yet to join, that not only see the importance of serving Christ and being part of the local body, but also are longing to come in and minister to others.
• I have had countless FATHERS e-mail, call or meet with me, who want information as to how to lead their family in worship.
• As we were discussing how to “war for peace” I had a dear lady on our Peace Makers Team say: “Could you imagine what our church would be like in a year if we did this?” Imagine a Church having enough faith to just trust God enough to have “Church” as His Word says we should.
I could go on and on but this has all been in the last two weeks. I really can’t explain why God has blessed me enough to see these things. What I mean is, that each week I come looking and expecting God’s grace to be at work all around this campus and I just don’t want to miss it. The beauty is, every time I come I find what I am looking for – however, I have found this is true of everyone at any church where God’s word is the top priority. You have people coming to see how God is going to move and they find it!! (Yet, in those same churches you have some looking for something not to like and guess what? They find it.) It is so much fun to be at a place where I can honestly say I believe the majority of Trinity’s membership really do come looking for evidences of God’s grace---I bet we will see it again this Sunday!
PS... SET YOUR CLOCKS FORWARD SATURDAY!!!!!
