Church Search

Many years ago, my wife and I sensed that we needed to make a change in where we attended church. We had been driving approximately 20 miles one way to a small church in another town. We had been hearing people there talk about God “speaking” to them and giving them guidance and direction. We stayed home one Sunday morning, and after some discussion, decided to pray separately and ask God to speak to us about where He wanted us to attend church.

My “prayer closet” was a bathroom with a motorized vent in the ceiling. If I switched that vent on, the noise would allow me to pray aloud with a modicum of privacy. On my knees in that bathroom, with the vent humming, I asked my Heavenly Father to tell me where He wanted us to attend church. To my utter amazement, I “heard” something right away. The “voice” came as this very strong, non-audible, statement in my mind, “Stay at home.” “Stay at home!??,” I responded. “I can’t stay at home. What about the scripture that admonishes us to not forsake assembling together?” (Heb. 10:15). Picture me, a brash 27-year-old arguing with God using Scripture (His own words). God did not budge. Those words remained burned into my consciousness, “Stay at home.”

Leaving my “prayer closet”, I went to the kitchen to query my wife about what she heard. She said, “Nothing, yet. How about you?” Unsure about this new experience, I told her I had heard something, but I wouldn’t share it until she heard something too. She agreed.

One of us needed to go to the grocery store, so I volunteered, suggesting she stay home and continue to pray. She agreed. When I returned, I hastily asked, “Did you hear anything?” She replied, “Yes, I did, but you have to tell me what you heard before I tell you what I heard.” “Okay,” I said, and I told her about “stay home” and about my using Scripture to argue with God and losing the argument. To my astonishment, she told me she had heard the same thing! “Stay home.”

That Sunday and the next Sunday morning we read Scripture and prayed together. The next week an out of town friend moved into our guest bedroom, since he was going to work with me on a commercial remodeling job for a few months. He joined us on Sunday mornings. Zina, a friend who had also attended the little church in the town 20 miles away, also joined us. The four of us read Scripture together, discussed what we read, prayed together, and had Communion (the Lord’s Supper) together. Our time together was special and enriched all of us. That time (several months meeting in our home) was very valuable in my spiritual journey.