I was 13 years old when I started going to church. I went because my little sister, Kellie, was going and I liked the church she was attending. I got saved there when I was 13 years old. I guess you could say I wouldn’t be a Christian today if not for my little sister.
BUT… she and I were the only ones in our family going to church at the time so our next door neighbors took us, every time the doors were open … for 4 straight years. So, I guess you could say I wouldn’t be a Christian today if not for my neighbors, Kenny and Carolyn Whitten, who were diligent to take me and my sister to church.
BUT… if I had never heard the message preached there, nor felt the genuine love of the people in that church, Trinity Chapel, who knows if I would have been impacted like I was. So, I guess you could say I wouldn’t be a Christian today if not for the love of that group of people and the message preached by Rabon Stewart, my pastor.
BUT… before any of that ever happened, there was a man and woman living in Decatur who asked their conference superintendent to help them start a church in their city. Had they never done that, Trinity Chapel would have never been formed, Rabon Stewart would have continued on in his ministry elsewhere, the people of that church would have never gotten together to become an incubator of God’s love, my neighbors would not have taken my sister and me to church, and who knows what might have become of me. So I guess you could say I’m a Christian today because of George and Rosemarie Loper … the charter members of the church where I got saved … Trinity Chapel.
You may never know the important part you have played in somebody else’s life. Your choices, decisions, commitment and attitudes are being seen and felt by many. You are leading people toward good or away from it, without even realizing it.
I just want to say THANK YOU to all the people who were a part of my life during my early years … people who showed love, people who expressed worship in a physical tangible way, people who brought encouragement, people who opened their home up for fellowship. Each one helped make me the person I am today. Each word spoken through the Holy Spirit’s anointing has become part of the fiber of my being. Each hug and embrace of love made me a more loving person. I don’t claim to “be” anything great … but if there’s anything good in me at all it has come through people like my little sister, Kellie, my diligent neighbors, Kenny and Carolyn Whitten, my first pastor, Rabon Stewart and good Christian people like George and Rose Marie Loper who were the founding members of the first church I ever attended regularly. Each person had a part to play in me becoming who I am today.
More than likely, the life you’ve lived has impacted someone, just like me, without you even knowing it. Keep playing your part!
A Trinity Chapel Church picnic I attended back when I was only 13 years old. This group of people was instrumental in me becoming the Christian man I am today.
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