From There to There and Almost Here

We were once again without a church home and a fairly short list of churches from which to choose. After a few weeks of visiting churches, we settled on one of the larger Pentecostal churches in the area, the Assemblies of God church, Pacific Christian Center. Shortly after we began attending the church there was a pastoral change. While not being greatly affected by that change, it may have opened up new ministry possibilities for us. We had opportunities to perform in a musical, teach a Sunday School class for one summer quarter, play on the worship team, and even preach a Wednesday evening service. I was comfortable enough that I even considered changing my ministerial credentials to the Assemblies of God from the Foursquare Church, having had just about enough of church politics. I discovered that as bad as Foursquare Church politics were, they were amateurs in comparison to the AOG.

By the time we left Pacific Christian Center, it occurred to us--perhaps Judi was the first one to mention it, that we had seen pastors come to town very committed and very dedicated to winning the lost to Jesus and building the Kingdom of God. However, after being in town for some period of time, all that did not seem to matter anymore. They seemed to place more emphasis on building their own kingdoms instead. They wanted more people, larger buildings, bigger budgets, and more renown. Undoubtedly spiritual deception enters in to cause this so it is doubtful those so affected have any idea what it is actually happening. After all how are we to build the Kingdom of God without sufficient finances? How do finances come except people
bring them in? Where do the people bring them if not to a nice facility? (Hint: Those are three largely rhetorical questions, none of which should be answered affirmatively.)

Spiritual deception is like ignorance--we just do not know how ignorant, or deceived, we are until we find the truth. We were blessed to be in a service many years ago where Paul Cain was the guest speaker. Paul has some history in this area from many years before we heard him and is considered by some to be a modern day prophet. Regardless of your opinion, one thing he said in that meeting that struck a responsive chord is that Satan loves to trip up the man of God with any or all of the three G's, the gold, the girls, or the glory. As nearly as we have been able to discern, the girls have not been a large problem with the pastors in this town. I am intentionally leaving the other two G's unmentioned. This might be a clue as to where the real spiritual battle lies.

Where were we? Oh yes, leaving Pacific Christian Center. We had not really intended to change churches. We had a lot of good friends there and the ministry, from praise and worship, to the sermons, to other ministry and fellowship opportunities were edifying and enjoyable. That is not even to mention we had recently bought a house and moved to within walking distance of the church. Nonetheless, when a friend, who is an excellent Bible teacher, decided to start a new church, we were there from the very beginning. It was great to be a part of something new, something different. The church was not even called a church. It was called a worship center. There was a feeling in the first months that something special was happening. The hundred or so people who were meeting together at that time sincerely wanted the Holy Spirit to be free to move in the worship and the teaching. We would later find out there was one critical element missing from that equation--The Holy Spirit Himself.

The testimonies of many people as well as of God's provision in so many ways were ample evidence that God was working behind the scenes to put that little church together. The music was very good as several, excellent musicians and singers stood on the platform Sunday after Sunday and offered their gifts unto the Lord. The Bible teaching was as good as could be found in any church in the area. I even learned a piece of Pentecostal theology that had alluded me through many years of attendance in Pentecostal churches and studies at a Pentecostal Bible college. (I will add the link here after I write that one up in case you are interested. In the meantime, ask.) We also had ample ministry opportunities in teaching, facilitating women's ministries, and guiding some of the business practices of the church. At some point, probably earlier rather than later a spiritual dullness came over that church. Had we been at the top of our game spiritually, we might have recognized it when it first crept in. Even today we cannot tell you when it had it's genesis. What we do know is that, at some point, the decay became irreversible (at least to the present) and what very well may have started out as a spiritual pursuit became a soulical endeavor.

When we left the church, within months of its eighth anniversary, there were fewer than half the people and well less than half the budget there had been at the end of the first year. It is doubtful we would have left at all had it not been for a spiritual attack that prevented us from having further ministry in that church and demonstrated to us that we really had no choice but to leave. At the time we did not realize that God was using multiple people to move us in a direction we would likely not have moved on our own. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)