Embassy

Well, things are coming along fast. We had our court date on November 6 and we got a call yesterday telling us that we have an Embassy date of November 28. We must be in Addis Ababa no later than November 27. Time to start packing and buying tickets and finding a place to stay. This is so exciting. We had been praying to have our boy home before Christmas, now we will see him before the end of this month! God answers prayers.

Good News!!!

During the week I spent in Oklahoma, I did not have Internet access. Kellie called and told me that we received news about our adoption. We received some new pictures. After we have a successful court date, I will be more than happy to post them. We also were notified that he has been transferred to Addis. This is excellent news. It means that our paperwork is being processed and we should have our court date within two weeks. We are one step closer. After the court date, we will be given an embassy appointment to pick up our son and bring him home. It has been so long. We started this back in October 2005. We are now getting closer.
One more note of exciting news. We received a grant from Steven Curtis Cahapman's organtization Shaonnah's Hope. We are so excited! We know God is behind this adoption. We have had many bumps along the road, many detours, many road blocks, but just when it seemed easier to give up something miraculous would happen: the paperwork would come through, we would receive a check, a grant for $4,600, a block party that provided money, a grant for $2,000. God is good!! There is no way humanly possible we could pay for this adoption. We exhausted our resources. We emptied our bank account. We spent money we did not have, and through it all - God provided!! He gets the honor. He gets the credit. He is God! Amen!!

What is church?

I suppose you get various answers from different people based upon their knowledge and understanding of ecclesiology. For some, the church is simply a building - they say things like "That church has unusual architecture." They are not able to separate the building from what the church is. Others view church as the assembly or public gathering. They view church as people coming together for an order of worship that includes the leading of a public prayer, singing songs, partaking of communion, public reading of scripture, and a sermon. While I agree that part of what it is to be a church involves coming together for an organized assembly involving prayer, communion, teaching, (where do the announcements come in?), and Scripture reading - I feel there is so much more to being the body of Christ.
Yesterday, Raleigh Community Church experienced what it is like to be a church. We had our corporate assembly where a praise team led the congregation in singing, public prayers were spoken, Scripture was read, a sermon was preached, and communion was served. There were even a couple of baptisms! Praise God! But what followed was church. We left the building and most everyone who attended the assembly gathered at the house of one of the members. We had a meal together. It was a great time of fellowship. We then gathered in the living room for spontaneous worship. It was amazing. It was a time of sharing our hearts through song, prayer, and testimony. If someone needed prayer, they would take the chair in the middle and we would all gather around and place our hands on them and pray and cry and rejoice with them. Tears of pain were running down the faces of the church. Shouts of victory were proclaimed. Peace was received. I arrived for worship service at 11:00 AM, by the time I got home it was nearly 6:00 PM. We were Christ's church functioning as Christ's church. We were white, black; young, old; highly educated, and not so highly educated united in the name of Jesus. We were the church - the body of Christ. I learned an important lesson about church that went far deeper than a sermon ever could. I learned about community in a way that reading a book could never provide. I am a part of Christ's church.
The church is not an hour on Sunday, it is Christ's community of people living in unity. A church is not what happens in a building with a sign out front, the church is also showing each other love and support in a living room. The church is not just what happens within the walls of a building, it is God's people being the hands and feet of Jesus in the world around us.
Have you had an experience that taught you about what church is supposed to be?