I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God
made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only
God, who makes things grow. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7
This past Sunday God was glorified as 102 people
attended the inaugural service of the Eugene International Church of Christ! The
Wednesday before the service, the mission team gathered at the Ciaramella's
home. I reminded them that they had three full days before the first service,
and that God through the resurrection of Jesus had changed the world and
eternity in three days! The team was encouraged to go to "the roads and
country lanes and make them come in so that [God's] house would be full!"
(Luke 14:23) I also shared I was convicted that it had been too long since I had
"hit the streets" to evangelize lost souls. So I told them that Elena
and I would return to Eugene on Saturday to go out "two by two" (Luke
10:1) with the team.
We gathered at Starbucks by the University
of Oregon campus on Saturday at 12:30 and all of us could feel the energy of God
in our souls. It felt so exhilarating going out and sharing my faith. As Jesus
promised, some of the people were rude or did not even stop to give us a chance
to share with them. There's nothing like a little persecution to shake the dust
off your evangelism! When the team came back together, we all shared about the
open individuals to whom the Spirit had led us. We felt so close to God and
because of the mission, each other. Still encouraged by our afternoon's planting
of the seed, Saturday night Elena and I went to dinner with the Ciaramellas and
the Hacketts at an awesome BBQ place called "The Hole In the Wall"
Restaurant! Even as we sat down, people were drawn to our uncommon joy, and we
invited all the folks around us!
Sunday morning was a gorgeous Oregon day --
rain showers! Several of us arrived at the Red Lion Hotel early to make the
final arrangements for the service. With 18 disciples on the team and another 25
from Portland, we set up 80 chairs. However, even before the service commenced
we kept adding more and more chairs. Amazingly, one couple with five children
traveled four hours to service from Smith River, California! The words of the
"heavenly voice" in the movie "Field of Dreams" echoed in my
mind, "If you build it, they will come." Tom Rietmann opened the
service with Psalm 126 and he shared that this day was a dream become reality
for his family and the team. (Luke 10:23-24) Then Jeremy, the leader of the
team, preached an awesome sermon. From the book of John, he spoke powerfully
about Jesus and the way He moved with people. Then Dave Walker, who led a Bible
Talk in Eugene years ago (it later dissolved), led us in communion and called us
to appreciate God as our Father. Rich Hackett, the first Deacon of the Eugene
Church, shared about the contribution and then gave an inspirational closing
charge. The fellowship afterwards was electric. Every visitor that I talked to
was touched by the service.
Later that afternoon Rich Hackett, whose
parents became part of the team by leaving the local mainline Church of Christ,
called and asked me to express his personal thankfulness to all the Christians
in the Portland Church. Rich specifically praised the Father for our faith to
plant Eugene, the disciples that went on the mission team and for the financial
sacrifice to plant the church. That evening, I shared about his gratitude at our
Bible Talk Leaders Meeting. Then we began to dream about our next plantings to
Corvallis, Bend, Medford-Ashland, and Salem!
With the experience of the Holy Spirit
sending out their first mission team, the Portland Bible Talk Leaders were even
more eager to understand how a small church could evangelize all of Oregon.
During the lesson, I found it had become easier to explain why we needed to be a
movement of disciples. I shared that in the past I never believed we were the
only saved people. However, in order to perpetuate God's church around the
world, we could not collectively embrace other restoration "churches"
partially composed of disciples but also tolerant of perpetual sin, lukewarmness
and non-disciples. This approach not only watered down their message and
fellowship, but also it fundamentally destroyed their ability to multiply
disciples. Churches composed of only baptized disciples can and will reproduce
disciples locally and plant "teams" of disciples in their sphere of
influence. This is still our plan in the Portland Church and now Eugene shares
the same dream. Oregon will be "evangelized in our day!" And to God be
the glory!
Kip McKean
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