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God Is Really Among You!
10/12/2003
"But
if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while
everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner
and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare.
So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really
among you!" - I Corinthians 14:24-25
What an incredible weekend!
Friday before sunrise Elena and I began our two hour drive to Eugene to
see our youngest son play his first collegiate tennis match at the
Northwest Regionals. (The Regionals this year were held at the University
of Oregon.) During lunch, we were able to spend some quality fellowship
time with the disciples who are waiting for our church planting in that
great city.The longer we stayed in Eugene and on the University of Oregon
campus, the more God put an urgency on our hearts to hasten the arrival of
the mission team. At Sunday's meeting over lunch for the mission team
members, the final decision was made for all the disciples on the team to
move to Eugene in December and then formally begin the church in January.
Friday evening was the last
night of "First Principles." The entire Portland congregation
has been diligently studying the "elementary truths" of God's
Word to "solidify, unify and multiply" our faith. In the past
three weeks we have deepened our convictions to go on to maturity by
memorizing several passages of Scriptures, all the First Principle studies
and the order of all sixty-six books of the Bible. To help us to be very
serious about the material, we administered a quiz at the beginning of
most of the ten sessions; however this last night grace prevailed and
there was no quiz! As the evening progressed the excitement mounted as the
first deacons in the history of the Portland Church were nominated.
(Portland was planted from San Francisco in 1991.) Our lesson for the
evening was the "Church" study.
Then to close out the night
Marcy Pinilla was baptized! Saturday evening Elena and I had a very
encouraging dinner with Scott Green and Ron Brumley who had graciously
driven down from Seattle to preach for our Bring Your Neighbor Day
service. Though we had not seen each other for months, the warmth of
fellowship came as we reaffirmed our collective dream to evangelize the
world. During dinner they shared many heartfelt accounts of sacrifices and
victories of our now twenty congregations in mainland China!
Sunday morning began with
rain, but an hour before our Bring Your Neighbor Day service, God brought
out the sun! The singing was very nearly angelic. Tony Untalan gave an
extremely moving opening prayer, in the midst of his personal pain of his
brother dying this past week. Scott Green passionately preached the Word
admonishing all to "love God with all our heart, soul and mind."
Ron, an elder in Seattle, called us to examine ourselves in the light of
the cross during the communion so we will not become "spiritually
weak, sick or asleep." At the end of the service Kelsey, a college
student, and Rodrigo, a tenth grader and grandson of our sister Esperanza
Romero, were baptized. Esperanza and Rodrigo's parents shared with the
congregation in tears in Spanish their joy to see Rodrigo become a
disciple.
After the service, the
"buzz" in the fellowship was so intense it reminded me of a
first service at a church planting! Amazingly, with our membership of 132,
the Lord blessed us with an attendance of 295! Perhaps the day was best
summed up by a first time visitor who exclaimed, "I've never seen a
church like this! Everyone is so committed. It is obvious, God is moving
powerfully among you!"
Church in Portland, let us
be ever grateful to God for our salvation and the Spirit who has rebuilt
the foundation of our congregation. And to God be the glory!
Kip McKean
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