Small Beginnings
It was the middle of the night when I woke up out of a dead sleep. It was early January 2009, and it was cold outside. I remember because I was and still am a very hard sleeper and rarely wake up like this. I’ve learned over the years when this happens it must mean God wants to have a conversation about something. Why He couldn’t nudge me during the day I never understood but, on this night, I had some things on my mind I needed to talk out. I had been praying about something that would potentially be life-altering and it wouldn’t just be my life that would be altered. This decision had the potential to impact dozens if not hundreds of other people’s lives as well, and ultimately even the city we lived in. I had been praying about it for months, in fact, two other men were praying with me about this life-altering decision. It seemed like God had been silent. Until that night.
We lived in Muskogee, Oklahoma but were attending Life.Church in Midtown Tulsa and were being refreshed and renewed every Sunday. There was a freedom to worship, the pastor brought practical messages from the Scripture each week and we were soaking it all up. We had been in a long season of ministry where we were constantly pouring out and it was nice to be able to attend church with no other responsibilities. We wanted to get involved in a community group but didn’t want to drive to Tulsa another day of the week, so we decided to start our own group in our home in Muskogee. We knew a few friends who expressed interest so on a Tuesday evening we started our little Lifegroup with 3 friends, Rachel, and me. What would happen over the next several months wasn’t on anyone’s radar, but God had plans for this little group. Our group of 5 grew to 10, then to 20, then to 30 and just kept growing. Our little home was only 1500 sqft so you could imagine how packed it was. At one point we had as many kids running around as we did adults. We obviously had to move the group to a larger home, then we decided to start another group meeting on a different day at a different location, then a third. We couldn’t believe or deny that God was up to something here. We had heard of Network churches at Life.Church that were churches who met in smaller cities, were modeled after LC, and used LC resources, but had their own staff and operated on their own. Was God leading us to establish a new church in Muskogee? Was God leading us to start a Network church from this little Lifegroup? That was what we had been praying about for months now. The work God was doing was undeniable, but we didn’t feel like we were getting answers to our questions.
It's around 2:00 a.m. and I begin to pray. I remind God that we had been asking for months if He was leading us to start a church. I reminded him of how clearly He spoke to men in the Scripture. How He clearly spoke to Moses, David, and the Apostle Paul. Why wouldn’t He speak that clearly to us about this huge decision? None of us had ever started a new church and I was the only one in the group who had vocational ministry experience. We needed to know for sure that this was what God wanted. We knew if He called us to start this work, He would provide everything we needed to carry it out. That was when a thought fired across my mind that I had before but didn’t act on. The thought was, “Have you reached out to Life.Church about all this?” It was as if God was reminding me that He had given me my next step, but I hadn’t taken it. I think I literally said, “No, I haven’t but I will now.” I got out of bed, went to my computer, and did a search for Life.Church. On their page I found a general email and I started a message explaining who we were, what had happened in our city, what we were praying about, and asked what they thought about the idea of a Network Church in Muskogee, OK. I took a deep breath, hit send, went back to bed and right back to sleep feeling like I did what I was supposed to do. I woke up early the next morning with the previous night’s activities fresh on my mind. I was leaving for a sales conference in Tulsa with the company I worked for. I loaded my luggage, gave my family hugs and kisses, and jumped in the car to head to the conference. It was around 7:00 a.m. About halfway there my phone rang, and it was a number I didn’t recognize. I answered and was blown away by what I was about to hear. I said “Hello, this is Eric.” The gentleman on the other end said “Good morning, Eric, this is Andrew from Life.Church. We got your email about what is happening in Muskogee, we think a Network Church is a great idea, what can we do to help?” I literally pulled the car over to the side of the road, finished the call, and thought to myself, “This is happening.”
This past Wednesday (September 13th) the church celebrated 14 years of ministry in Muskogee. It is led by an amazing team of pastors, is currently running three services each Sunday, and has seen hundreds if not thousands of lives changed over the years. We used to sing a song that said, “Greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done”. I’m believing God for this more today than I ever have. We believed that if God was calling us to do this work that He would provide everything we needed along the way. He has been faithful to that promise every step of the way and I know He will be in the future as well. My prayer for the church when we launched was for a church with an undeniable sense of God’s presence, for people to feel a shift in their hearts as soon as they stepped out of their cars and walked through the doors, and for there to be a freedom to worship God passionately and genuinely. A church where the teaching from God’s word was powerful that resulted in a freedom to make life-changing decisions- salvation decisions, recommitments, repentance, marriages restored, relationships restored, sickness healed, freedom from addiction, debt, sons and daughters returning to faith, and all for HIS glory. This is still my prayer today!
Happy 14-year anniversary The Brick Church. Greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done!