Posted April 8, 2004

On February 10th we were still debating whether to make the trip to Abilene, Texas on Feb. 23 -25 for the Abilene Lectureship Forum. It just didn't make sense for two rational adults/parents to pack up the kids and travel half way across the country to a little Christian college to listen to grown men from two different churches discuss 'dialogue.' In the eyes of the world, and I'm sure to most of our family, we looked like fools. Having heard from a brother in Cincinnati there would be a meeting between the mainline churches and the ICOC churches in Abilene, Texas, the news of that event grabbed hold of our hearts and would not let go. We wanted to be there. But why? We even joked between us the event may evolve into something similar to a Jerry Springer Show, and that it might not be something we want to expose our children to. Nevertheless, 1½ weeks before the event, we were having lunch with Amit and Cheryl Gosh and told them about our desire to go to Abilene, but that we couldn't justify spending thousands on plane fare. Amit's response to our indecision was: "Set a price for your plane fare, and let that be your fleece." Amit was referring to the fleece that Gideon laid on the threshing floor in Judges 6 when he needed an answer from God on whether or not to go to war. So we took Amit's advice, setting a price so low on airfare only God could meet it, and He did. It's great to get advice from spiritual brothers! We told Jeff's parents of our plans to go to the Lectureship. We purchased tickets at unbelievably low rates, a sister in the church was able to get us hotel rooms dirt cheap, Jeff found someone to cover him for 5 days of work, Pam Shreve volunteered to pick us up at the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport, and the next thing we knew Bryant Meyers, from the Columbus Church was driving all five of us to the Columbus airport at 7:30am February. 21st. God made a way, because we are not organized people by nature. Everything went smoothly. God even put a father of seven home-schooled children in the seat next to Jeff and as we touched ground in Dallas, we were getting his name and phone number. It’s great to share Jesus as a family. We drove to Abilene Sunday February 22, and drove through the Abilene Campus before checking into our off-campus hotel. It was the flattest campus we've ever seen. Did we expect Abilene to be built on seven hills like Cincinnati? We arrived on campus Monday, before the first lectureship forum begun. The first unexpected change in our plans happened when we registered for the Lectureship - the Forum location had been relocated from a classroom to the campus Coliseum due to the large turn out. The Coliseum was big enough to make Jerry Springer’s mouth water. As we walked into the Coliseum the place was a buzz with people: many preachers, elders, deacons and their spouses; a sea of silver-haired folks from the mainline churches in the western United States. There was free child care for our youngest, and being on a 'safe', 'Christian' campus, our older two children felt content to visit the lectureship's 'pie' booth while we were close by in the huge auditorium. Walking into the Coliseum, it was hard NOT to notice the security guards at every exit. Gordon Ferguson (elder in the Boston Church), Al Baird (evangelist in LA), Greg Marrutsky (evangelist in the Dallas Church) and Mike Taliafarro (from the African churches) all attended the 86th annual Lectureship and were asked by the mainline church to participate in a forum to create dialogue between the mainline churches and the 'ICOC." This was an intense time, considering the churches have had 20 years of silence between them. As you may know, the original members from the ICOC had been members of the mainline church. Many brothers and sisters from the Cincinnati church knew we went to Abilene and wanted to hear about our experience. We feel submitting an article might relay anything we left out, and considered it good news because much reconciliation and healing happened between some leaders of both churches as a result of this Lectureship. How can we describe our experience sitting in the audience? How DO we describe what it feels like to hear biblical studies professors apologize for labeling our church a ‘cult’? How do we put words on how it felt to be applauded when the forum facilitator asked all ‘ICOC’ members in the audience to stand? We know the man sitting close to us was an ‘exit counselor’ for people leaving the ‘ICOC’ What thoughts came to mind as we joined together with him to sing praises to God? Our feelings are not unlike the feelings Mary Magdelene probably experienced after she encountered the resurrected Jesus at the tomb in John 20:18b. She went to the disciples with the news and said, “...I have seen the Lord!’ Though Mary did not know how God’s plan would unfold in detail after Jesus’ resurrection, she believed and was excited God’s power was at work. God’s power was evidently at work in Abilene, as we witnessed many tears being shed by those in the audience and as apologies from ‘both sides’ were made. We wondered if the angels in heaven were ‘shedding tears’ together with us, seeing the way we treated one another with respect, humility and compassion. We were so grateful to God for the spirit for humility, love and compassion made manifest in the 4 brothers who were on the panel from the ‘ICOC’ and the brothers on the panel from the ‘mainline’ church. We will prayerfully attend the Lectureship again next year.