Warning: Long blog—at least long for me. I know some people blog on and on forever. Not me. I usually try to keep it short and simple.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about my spiritual journey—how I got from there to here—wherever there and here are. What were the main influences that shaped my spiritual life? For better and for worse, here they are—the ministries and churches, the good and bad, the stuff I hope I learned, and the stuff I hope I left behind.
ST. PHILLIPS EPISCOPAL CHURCH – Jackson, Mississippi.
My spiritual journey begins.
THE GOOD – Unlike the contemporary casual atmosphere in most Evangelical and Charismatic churches, the Episcopal Church’s gothic architecture, pipe organ, incense, candles, stained glass, ornate crosses, and costumes made church seem other-worldly, mysterious, and holy. I think that was a good thing.
THE BAD – Church seemed to be, at least from where I sat, a Sunday thing with no connection to Monday through Saturday.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (YOUTH GROUP) – Jackson, Mississippi.
I was 16 and for the first time in my life I heard that salvation was by grace through faith, not by works through church affiliation. It took six months and a million questions, but I finally stopped running from God and received Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
THE GOOD – Small group discipleship that emphasized personal Bible study, devotional prayer, and sound (Reformed) theology. Almost every day since 1975, I thank God for Ron, the youth pastor who led me to the Lord and spent the next eighteen months teaching me how to live in order to please God.
THE BAD – Over-emphasis on Reformed theology, which was quite difficult to wrap my 16-year-old brain around. (It is not any easier on my 47-year-old brain today.)
NEW COVENANT CHURCH AND BETHEL – Jackson, Mississippi.
A year after getting saved at the 1st Pres youth group, I was invited to my first Charismatic service at New Covenant. Wow, this was nothing like St. Phillips or 1st Pres! It was more like a concert, with electric guitars and drums. A few months later I discovered Bethel, a Saturday night worship gathering in the rough part of town led by former hippie-types. (Growing up on the other side of the tracks and having never done or even seen drugs, I was a bit of a misfit at Bethel, but the power and presence of God was irresistible.)
THE GOOD – Passionate, whole-hearted worship, and the emphasis on the presence of the Holy Spirit. Both of these charismatic ministries prayed for the sick at every meeting, and people actually got healed. New Covenant Church was connected with Ken Sumrall’s Liberty Church, a “non-denomination” that was very “anti-discipleship.” The preacher at Bethel was even more anti-discipleship. I really didn’t get it, because discipleship was all over the New Testament and my small discipleship group at 1st Pres sure helped my fledgling faith. In a few years I would find out that the “discipleship” the NC and Bethel preachers were against was a completely different animal than the discipleship I experienced at 1st Pres. The 1st Pres version helped me follow Jesus. The other version tended to get people to depend on a human “shepherd,” rather than the Lord.
THE BAD – The Charismatic emphasis in those days seemed to be on having an instant individual life-changing “experience” rather than on progressive growth through personal devotion and small group discipleship. I am thankful I was still involved in Ron’s discipleship group at 1st Pres. I needed both—the big exciting Charismatic experience and the small group personal discipleship.
MARANATHA CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP – Starkville, Mississippi.
My freshman year at Mississippi State University I got involved in a Charismatic campus ministry called Maranatha. Looking back I am glad I got saved and discipled in a traditional Presbyterian church, then added my Charismatic experience on top of a Reformed foundation. In those days, many who started out in Charismania never got around to getting proper theological foundations, and ended up with a strange mix of the weird, the mystical, and the heretical.
THE GOOD – Through Maranatha I received a passion for world missions, I met some people who would become my best friends (including my wife), and I became convinced that God could use young people—that you don’t have to wait until you are 40 to make a difference in the world.
THE BAD – While young people can be used by God, they can also make a mess of things because of their immaturity. In my opinion, there were three main flaws that caused Maranatha to self-destruct in 1989: theological mysticism, micro-managing controlling discipleship practices, and an authoritarian leadership style. In my post-Maranatha ministry, I have diligently and prayerfully tried to keep these three deadly viruses out of my life and ministry. (I must add a disclaimer here. While these three viruses were running rampant in the Maranatha bloodstream, I am thankful that our pastor in Starkville, Walter Walker, did his best to protect us from them. I never remember Walter being a micro-manager or a control freak like many Maranatha leaders. Also, in my experience, Walter was not an authoritarian leader nor did he espouse strange theology. Of course, mixing my Reformed roots with Walter’s Methodist worldview led to some interesting debates.)
VICTORY – Manila, Philippines.
My wife and I first came to the Philippines in 1984 with Maranatha. In 1989, when Maranatha’s board dissolved itself, we never considered “going home” because we felt God, not Maranatha, had called us here. Though Maranatha was gone, God was still in charge. We immediately changed the name of our church to Victory, and from that moment on people no longer confused us with the Maharishis or the Mormons.
THE GOOD – I learned during this time that friendships and callings transcend ministry affiliations, ministry mistakes, and ministry implosions.
THE BAD – Now that my missionary sending agency (Maranatha) no longer existed, I found myself in the uncomfortable situation of being an independent missionary with no affiliation, no accountability, and no “home church.” I knew this was not a healthy situation. (So, I asked a few old friends including Rice Broocks, Ron Lewis, Greg Ball, and Bradley White to serve as my accountability board. They all agreed. God also connected me with two others who became dear friends and helped me tremendously during this time: Emmanuele Cannistraci and Dan Hall.)
MORNING STAR INTERNATIONAL/EVERY NATION CHURCHES AND MINISTRIES – Manila, Philippines.
In 1994 Rice and Phil Bonasso were visiting me in Manila on their way to minister in Singapore and Malaysia. One night at my house, while discussing some mission opportunities, we felt God leading us to join our ministries together for the purpose of church planting, world missions, and campus ministry. We did and MSI, now Every Nation, was born.
There it is, for now, my spiritual journey—how I got from there to here. More to come as I journey and journal from here to wherever God wants me to go. (I’ll make sure to put pictures in the next blog for those who don’t like long sentences and paragraphs.)
