When Jesus failed to return in the months following 9/11/2001 those who predicted that we were wasting our time enlarging our sanctuary took revenge on my theology by taking our 50 kid youth program to their back yard. This included many sweet families I had baptized and shared tables and lives with.
The resultant split did not stop the completion of our building, but changed our ministry so much that after a year I realized we could not regain our momentum and resigned. Eventually the remnant church sold the property for one dollar to a Calvary Chapel group that was just starting and had grown to 100.
Last Sunday in my first visit to the property in 13 years, the pastor told the congregation of the gift and acknowledged my visit. In that early service I saw one man who had stayed from my era. It was the first time I had met the pastor and he knew of my story but did not know me.
The short acknowledgement that their congregation had received a tremendous gift sort of made all those years of struggle in that little cowboy community that was about to explode in housing and growth feel appreciated. And in that moment of appreciation I felt a deep healing in my wounded spirit. I was glad they continued on that corner and expanded the outreach of the property. I also realized that the calvary chapel kind of maranatha come Lord Jesus is not as rabid and destructive as the fundamentalist dispensationalists who are currently having another moment in the limelight by predicting the end of everything this coming September.
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