Articles
Gospel Meeting In Columbus, Ohio
The preacher disappears for a few days to “hold a gospel meeting.” Where does he go? What does he do? Who does he meet? Because we rightly say that Centreville has a part in such efforts of mine as an evangelist, I’d like to clue you in on my latest trip preaching for the Laurel Canyon church in Columbus, Ohio.
The travel and arrival
The drive to Columbus was about eight hours through some beautiful, late-fall countryside of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio. We planned to arrive early enough to have supper with Jason and Shelly Hardin (Jason is the evangelist at Laurel Canyon and preached for us on a weekend two years ago), but when Jason came to pick us up, he was by himself. Shelly’s mother had suffered a heart attack a couple of days previously and she had gone to Nashville to care for her.
After supper, we stopped by the building to see how my PowerPoint presentations projected onto the congregation's system. We made a few minor adjustments, and I was then ready for the next day, when half of the lessons of the meeting were to be presented on the first day.
The sermons
The elders at Laurel Canyon asked me to speak on “If Jesus Wrote a Letter to Laurel Canyon ...,” using the letters to the seven churches of Asia as a template. I must tell you that after all these years of preaching, there’s still a little angst in walking into the building for the first time and meeting dozens of strangers. It feels as if everyone is “sizing you up.” It is now only a mild discomfort rather than the disorienting self-consciousness it used to be.
True to form, even after checking the PowerPoints the night before, one of my slides had an Old English font that was so ornate it was not even readable. Go figure. The sermons are posted on Laurel Canyon's website if you wish to listen.
The people
Of course, the greatest reward in these occasions is getting to know brethren in different places and hearing their stories. Here are some snapshots of a few brethren we met at Laurel Canyon:
- One sister on Sunday morning immediately began to tell me of attending gospel meetings when she was a child. She said they walked three miles one way to school, three miles home, three more miles in the evening to the gospel meeting and three miles home -- and the meeting lasted three weeks! I think she was strongly hinting that brethren had gotten soft over the years in attending meetings. She has a point.
- One brother was wheelchair-bound but there for every service. He was proud to explain the church's audio-visual setup and how the congregation videotapes sermons, add the PowerPoint charts to the CD, insert texts of scripture being read, etc. He was limited physically, but he obviously was contributing as able.
- Dinner with one of the elders and his wife revealed that they had lost a 21-year-old son in a car crash a few years before. We listened as compassionately as possible as they told of working through grief and eventually emerging from the dark cloud of sorrow. It was at once sad and encouraging to hear their story.
- We were reunited with a sister in Christ we had not seen in 27 years. She visited the meeting one night from a nearby city. We knew Kathy as a new convert from our days in Youngstown, Ohio. Her relationship with the young man who had helped convert her had dissolved and each had married other people. It was heartwarming to see that she had been faithful ever since. She had not let her romantic disappointment take her away from the Lord.
- We were invited to dinner by a single lady whose husband abruptly left her 10 years before. She is the only Christian in her fleshly family, and she told of the difficulty of attending holiday gatherings when the others routinely drink alcohol. After a full day’s work, she makes periodic trips across town to care for her ailing father. She also said that for years her faith had been stagnant, but since her divorce and move to Laurel Canyon, she has grown immensely. It was inspiring to see her dedication.
- A young sister came to me after the last night of the meeting to say she had made a lifestyle change as a result of one of the sermons. She was a fan of the TV series "Glee." She liked the music, but her conscience was bothered by the pro-homosexual messages. She decided to give up the show for good. Preachers don’t often see such immediate results.
My travels through the years have taught me that people are people, and basically the same everywhere -- same trials and troubles, same spiritual goals and concerns, same desire to share their stories with others. It has been at once humbling, strengthening, comforting and challenging. Thanks for all your support, which allows me to serve the Lord in this way.
