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A Search for what God is Doing
Growing up in a Christian family, I was raised under the influence of the Bible and
received the Lord at a young age. During the summer after graduating from high school,
the Lord began to draw me in a more definite way, and I began to desire to serve the
Lord. As a result, I enrolled in Bible college and began to study for the ministry.
By my senior year I began to seek the Lord concerning what I would do after graduation.
I had a growing conviction that the prevailing situation among denominational Christianity
was not what the Lord was after, and a prayer was rising up in me to know what the
Lord was doing in this age. I felt that there must be something He was doing, and
I wanted to be a part of it.
As I sought the Lord in this way, I had a growing conviction concerning two matters.
The first was the oneness of the believers; the second was the church. I knew that
the Lord was not happy that His Body is divided in so many ways. I also felt that
the Lord had to gain the proper practice of the church before He could return. However,
I had no idea how that would happen. During this time of searching I had the opportunity
to get involved as a counselor for a youth crusade in Lebanon, Oregon, the small town
where I grew up. Believers from many different denominations came together for the
purpose of preaching the gospel to the youth of the city. While in one of the meetings,
I looked around the gathering and had a strong inner feeling that seemed to speak,
This is the church in Lebanon. I also felt that it was such a shame that at the end
of this time all these believers would go back to their own places.
Shortly after this I was brought in contact with a group of believers in Roseburg,
a lumber town in Southern Oregon, meeting simply as the church in Roseburg. They had
set aside all the divisive names and were meeting in a simple way, receiving all the
believers. Moreover, I learned that believers in many other cities were meeting in
the same way. I was given a book entitled The Practical Expression of the Church by
Witness Lee which laid out in a clear way from the Scriptures the proper ground for
meeting and maintaining the oneness of the Body. I knew that I had found the answer
to my prayers and the very thing that is on Gods heart.
D.O.
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