When I was ten years old I received the altar call invitation in a small denominational church in Alabama. At that time I had become “marked out”, preserved, for God’s purpose, although it was not clear to me what had occurred (Romans 8:29). Soon after this my family and I moved away to Arkansas, then to Oklahoma, and finally to Tennessee in 1980. I did not meet anywhere regularly after moving from Alabama.
In 1991 I started meeting with a small denominational group and again received the altar call, and this time I knew that I had received Jesus Christ into my life as my personal Savior when I was ten years old. However, after about two months, I was empty inside again. I left the denominations but I never left my pursuit of Christ. In fact, my pursuing of Christ Himself increased although it was not so clear to me what was happening. In December of 1992 I met a brother in the Lord who had recently started meeting with the local church in Nashville. He also came from a denominational background and was so excited to finally have found the local church. In February of 1993 I went with him to a Lords Day meeting and, let me tell you, I had found my home where the members’ focus was, and still is, on our wonderful Christ. My brothers and sisters in the Lord here cared for me through prayer, cherishing, nourishing, and teaching. They taught me how to exercise my human spirit to contact the all-inclusive Spirit of God in a new and living way. They taught me how to enjoy the Lord through the many experiences of my Christian life. One of the top things they taught me was how to enjoy Christ with others.
In the local churches I am brought into a real, living, organic union with God (1 Corinthians 6:17), both individually and corporately. In the corporate sense I can truly see Christ in His many different angles and vast dimensions (Ephesians 3:18). Here I can see that Christ is absolutely inexhaustible and experiencable.
Dennis Brown