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Charlotte’s Baptism Story

Community, ,

Covenant member Charlotte Hayden will be baptized at our gathering this Sunday, April 15th, along with at least 12 others that have signed up as of this posting. Here she shares her testimony and her story of how the Spirit led her to choose to get baptized.

 

I can really identify with Paul when he calls himself the “foremost of sinners” in 1 Timothy. Obviously, my testimony is far from Paul’s, and it was not my life mission to put Christians to death. However, I find myself strongly relating to him in his extreme confusion and loss when he was living in the flesh while being dead in his spirit.

I came to the University of Oklahoma as a freshman last year in 2016 ready to begin my “new” life as a college student. I grew up going to church my entire life, but I never understood the Gospel and never gave my life to Jesus. I was living life selfishly in every way and unaffected by my choices, feeling no conviction. I joined a sorority and had all the friends, all the parties, and all the resources to live comfortably on my own. From an outsider and worldly perspective, my life seemed great. But I was constantly hit with this deep dark sadness from inside my soul that I could not find the source of. I remember walking up this same sidewalk almost every day and thinking to myself, “What is wrong with me? Why do I hate this so much?” Internally, I was dead, broken and so lost, clinging to anything I could to give me attention, love, and purpose.

Jesus had been planting seeds for months by this point, and I was finally starting to realize that the same thing every weekend was not what I was made for. Slowly I gained more and more conviction for the things I filled my time with. Jesus would sprinkle little bits of himself over me in my most vulnerable moments. He was never abrasive, never angry, never rushed. He gently whispered to me and broke me down little by little. He loved me through my older siblings, new friends I had made in college, and the Holy Spirit. In October of 2016 I became a believer and gave my life to Jesus Christ, and I have been running after Him ever since. I look back on that time in my life and see His hands beautifully piecing every event leading up to that moment together. My heart rejoices with the new life that abounds within me. My heart can be perfectly depicted by 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Or Ephesians 2:13, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Choosing Jesus is the greatest thing that could have ever happened to me. After having a little more than a year to study scripture, the Lord has revealed to me the importance of baptism, and it is my joy to respond in obedience and get to be blessed through Providence Road.

Every day Jesus looks at me, all my brokenness and rebellion and He gives mercy. He “goes again” over and over and over. He leaves the ninety-nine sheep to find me and bring me back to His loving arms. What greater joy is there than to stand in front of your first Church family and proclaim Jesus’ beautiful mercy over you? I would have to say seeing Jesus face-to-face, but this’ll do for now.

Being baptized is an outward expression of an internal celebration. I want to officially share with the world the joy and peace that are overflowing from my heart every day because of the hope that I have in Christ. In Acts 22:16 it says, “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” I have felt the conviction on my heart that the Lord wants baptism for me, and when Jeremy announced that Baptism Sunday was coming up, I knew it was time. Baptism doesn’t define my salvation, but it outwardly proclaims it, and I am so excited to share it with Providence Road, my first church as a believer.

Our Identity: Family

Community,

This month, as we move into our new location in downtown Norman (110 S Crawford Ave), we asked 4 of our covenant members to write on how they have grown in 1 of the 4 core gospel identities since becoming a member of Providence Road. Matt Mosier, a member with his wife, Erin, and their 4 children almost since the beginning of our church, considers what it means to be a part of the family of God.

 

The idea of family, and who is and who isn’t family, is a complicated topic, particularly in our culture today. We often use phrases like “work family” or “church family,” or say things like, “They are family to me,” or “I consider you family.”

Further complicating the idea of family are our childhood experiences with family. Many of us have very positive family experiences and love the idea of family. However, many of us also have negative family experiences and are somewhat hesitant whenever people in the church start talking about family.

The biological family is one of the foundational metanarratives in the Old Testament. Biological lineage is critically important in the Old Testament, largely because the Jews were a race of people and because of the numerous prophecies linked to certain individuals. Genesis 12:1-3 tells us that God plans to bless everyone through a particular family:

“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Expectedly, the importance of the family continues into the New Testament, but the idea is broadened to include more than just the biological family. This is important not just because the vast majority of us are Gentiles (i.e. not biological Jews), but because it helps provide us definition and clarity on what it means to be children of God.

A few helpful passages include John 13:21-25; John 19:25-27; Romans 8:14-17; Romans 12:9-18; Ephesians 1:3-6; Ephesians 4; and 1 John 3:1-3.

These passages (and many others) contain a wealth of insight into how we became a part of God’s family and how God’s family should treat one another. One thing that’s important to note is that once we become followers of Christ, we are adopted into God’s family and become children of God (Romans 8:15; Ephesians 1:3-6). This is not a choice. Being a child of God, with many brothers and sisters all over the world, is part of our new identity.

In short, the theology of becoming a child of God shows us the new reality in which we find ourselves. But how does this all work out practically? How does God’s family act towards one another right now, in our current situations? What are a few things we can do to develop relationships with our brothers and sisters?

The passages above help answer a few of those questions, but those passages all assume one thing: that you are spending time with your spiritual family. For us, acting like a family starts with being together, with being present with those whom God has placed around you right now.

This means taking time out of your schedule to being involved in a Missional Community. Missional Community shouldn’t be something that you go to whenever you have time. It should be something you make time for, just like you would if your parents or other biological family was coming to visit you. Missional Community should be a priority because it is a set-aside time for you to get together with members of God’s family.

Another thing you can do is ask people to come along side of you in whatever you are doing. This is especially important for those of us that are older. While it is important for classroom-style discipleship, most of the discipleship Jesus modeled was “life-on-life”. His disciples followed Him around and observed what He was doing. We can do this as well. Parents, invite a college student over to help you prepare dinner or shop for groceries. Men, invite someone who is younger to help you with a project around the house or to help you work on the car. Women, invite a younger woman to go with you while you pick up your kids or you run errands. College students, ask someone you meet on Sunday to lunch or to study with you during the week.

We have several examples of how this has worked out in our family, each different in its own way. One such instance was a single lady who joined our MC several years ago. It took a while, but she eventually started joining us for dinner occasionally. Dinners at our house can be quite the adventure, but she was always gracious and loved our kids well, and they in turn loved her. We’d typically end those nights in the kitchen cleaning up and just talking. After doing this for a while, a mutual respect and trust was developed between us. As a result of this trust, I’d ask her to lead portions of our MC, especially those regarding prayer, which was something Erin and I admired her for.

We never developed an official discipleship plan or went through any specific material together. However, we were very intentional about including her in our day-to-day lives and talking about Jesus, scripture, the gospel, etc. There is no doubt in mind my that Erin and I benefited from this relationship, which was kicked off by us inviting her over for dinner and her being willing to join us.

Cultivating relationships with your spiritual brothers and sisters takes time, especially those relationships with people who aren’t in the same life stage. Friends, do not forget this! God’s design for the family is broad and rich but it all starts with just being together. Don’t be lured into thinking you have to have a perfect discipleship plan in place before you ask someone to join you. Being family means that you do the everyday stuff of life together.

Providence Road’s Mission Statement is this:

Living as disciples that make disciples, we seek gospel saturation through demonstrating and declaring the gospel in all of life.

If we seek to live out this mission statement, then we have to be committed to spending time together and cultivating relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Our Identity: Worshipers

Community,

This month, as we move into our new location in downtown Norman (110 S Crawford Ave), we asked 4 of our covenant members to write on how they have grown in 1 of the 4 core gospel identities since becoming a member of Providence Road. Jill Perry, a member with her husband, Sam, and their 3 children for close to 3 years, writes on her growth as a worshiper.

 

It’s surreal to be faced with your mortality at the age of 36. It’s like an out of body experience.

The oncologist is almost talking through me as he says, “Your cancer is aggressive and has already metastasized.” My loving husband of 15 years holds my trembling hand and continues to ask questions about treatment specifics, but I’ve stopped listening. I can only think of my three young children at home who are completely oblivious to the new reality that will change all of our lives forever. They’re doing carefree things—like building Lego towers, drinking milk from colorful straws, and hiding Daddy’s phone. “Cancer” isn’t in their vocabulary. It doesn’t occupy a space in their innocent worlds. At least it didn’t before today.

There are countless things cancer tries to take from you, which it does with varying degrees of success. But the one thing cancer always succeeds in taking from you is the blessed ignorance that your death is both imminent and out of your control. Cancer sucker-punches you in the gut with the hard reality that life is but a breath and none of us is promised tomorrow—whether we’re ready or not. Before my diagnosis, I didn’t think on this very much at all. But in that doctor’s office, at that moment, my response was overwhelming grief.

A year later, I tend to think of my life as B.C. and A.D.- “before cancer” and “after diagnosis.” Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like fighting cancer in my thirties has all of a sudden made me some super-human ready to impart all of my spiritual wisdom to others! I still wrestle with sin and selfishness, and I depend on Christ daily to equip me to battle fear and anxiety about the future. But by God’s grace, several things have evolved over the course of this year—in particular, my understanding of worship.

Here at Providence Road, we define worship as “the orienting of our time, resources, and affections around that which we deem most valuable and capable of bringing us joy. Everyone worships something. As Christians we seek to worship God because we know that only through him will we find true joy, and only through him can we crush the idols in our lives. So we orient all of our life around God. We seek to worship him in both spirit and in truth, engaging both the heart and head. We do this as an end in itself—personally and corporately—to magnify the glory of God the Father through Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit.”

As a young believer in my freshman year of college, I was fortunate to be mentored and discipled by women ahead of me in life experience. They helped me to develop a firm foundation while studying the Bible together, and we talked practically about the “hows” and “whys” of personal and corporate worship. I grew to understand that worship was basically how my heart communicated what it was depending on for life. I would have said that I had a pretty good grasp on the foundations of worship and how to practice it.

But then, that was all before cancer.

In this new season, my understanding of worship continues to expand. Grief and suffering throws back the curtain of how limited we are and have always been. We are not eternal; we’re not all-knowing; we need sleep and fuel for basic functioning; our bodies succumb to disease and sometimes our own cells conspire to kill us—we are so human.

Acknowledging our complete dependence on God’s mercy and strength exalts God to his rightful lofty place in our heart. Realizing that he is the all-knowing sovereign king “who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:3) anchors us when we desperately start to grasp for anything that doesn’t change as our world is turned upside down. I’m so thankful that he provides us with other fellow worshipers. We were embraced by our Missional Community and especially our Fight Clubs who covered us in prayer and continue to remind us that we do not walk this season alone.

I hate cancer. It’s a vicious disease, cutting down people I love and ravaging families. But God is using it to bring me to this vulnerable place of worship that I can only describe as desperate. Cancer didn’t make me desperate before God. But it has reminded me that I always have been.

Our Identity: Missionaries

Community,

This month, as we move into our new location in downtown Norman (110 S Crawford Ave), we asked 4 of our covenant members to write on how they have grown in 1 of the 4 core gospel identities since becoming a member of Providence Road. Cliff Hughes, a member with his wife, Nichole, and their 4 children, considers what it means for Providence Road members to be missional in Norman, Oklahoma.

 

How would you answer this question: “Are you an evangelist or a missionary?” Maybe you wouldn’t consider yourself an evangelist since that word conjures up images of a professional preacher on television, shouting loudly, telling the world to repent of their sin or else. Maybe you wouldn’t consider yourself a missionary because in your mind, a missionary is someone who has left hearth and home behind to go share the gospel in a foreign country. So which idea is right?

First off, it always helps to define our terms or else the meaning may be lost in translation. Words carry meaning…always. Sometimes the meaning is intended, sometimes unintended. Like the word “evangelist,” for example. If Billy Graham pops into your mind when you hear that word, then you may be hesitant to call yourself an evangelist. But what is an evangelist? The word “evangelist” comes from the root word “evangel” which means to bring good news. In the context of the Bible, that good news is the good news of Jesus Christ. This means that every Christian is an “evangelist.” We are all called to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the unbelievers around us (Matthew 28:19-20).

No Christian is exempt from this calling on his or her life. Are you a parent? Then your unbelieving children need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are responsible to “bring them” this good news. Do it often, in many different contexts. As you are sitting or walking, coming or going. Driving to school or t-ball or ballet. Tucking them in at night. Bring them the good news.

Do you work with lost people? Go to class with lost people? Play basketball with lost people? Bring them the good news of Jesus Christ. Winsomely. Compassionately. Like Jesus did (John 4). Ask good questions. Listen to their story. Connect with them as a person. Invite them to lunch, to a football game, or the movies. But bring them the good news.

This fall I coached my sons’ flag football team. Most of the boys on the team were friends of ours from school and come from Christian families. We ended up with one player who we did not know and was randomly (providentially) put on our team. Throughout the season, Nichole and I got to know this boy, his mom, and his stepdad. At the end of the season, this boy’s stepdad volunteered to help me coach the same group of boys in the upcoming youth basketball season.

Nichole and I are aware of the eternal implications of this relationship with this boy and his family. We hope to have them in our home soon. Maybe one day they’ll join our Missional Community. Maybe you’ll get to meet them at a worship service. If they do not belong to Jesus, we hope to share with them the good news of Jesus Christ so that they too may repent and believe. Please pray that we will be faithful to bring the good news to this family.

The word “missional” has become increasingly popular in our Christian culture. I think this is good, with some caveats. The good aspect of being missional is that it reminds us to not neglect the physical suffering of the world around us. We should be about meeting real needs: hunger, poverty, addiction, abandoned children. The list is extensive. Jesus cares about these things, and so should we.

I like that “missional” reminds us of this. But, if at any point we leave “evangelism” out of being missional than we have ceased to be like Jesus. Mark 1:14 says that Jesus came “proclaiming the gospel.” He also healed sick people, fed hungry people, cared for little children. But his primary message was “repent and believe.” Since His ministry did not separate meeting people’s temporal suffering from giving them the only solution to their eternal suffering, then neither should ours. We should be missional in the fullest sense of the word.

So does being missional mean we are all missionaries? Maybe in some sense. But in the strictest sense, a “missionary” is someone who leaves their familiar and natural culture and enters into a foreign culture different from their own. Sometimes this means crossing seas and oceans. Often it means learning a new language or new way of life. I think it helps to keep this distinction in mind. In the strictest sense, most of us are not missionaries. Most of us live and work and raise our families in our native culture. But some of us are called to leave family and home and take the gospel to people who have not heard. These people are “missionaries” in the strictest sense of the word.

And while most of us are not called to be missionaries, ALL of us are called to be a part of cross-cultural missions. If not as “goers”, then as “senders.” The apostle asked, “And how are they to hear (the good news) without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15) The ramifications are clear. If we are not going as missionaries, then we should be sending. Sending our financial support. Our prayers. Our resources. Our encouragement.

So, which are you? A sender or a goer? It’s got to be one or the other. Maybe you are a sender now but sense the calling on your life to one day go. Then prepare yourself to go. Maybe you will never “go.” Then you are to be about “sending.”

At Providence Road, we are committed to “missions” in this cross-cultural sense. We support the Smileys (a missionary family in Suriname). We send teams regularly to support missionaries in their work. We give. We go. We send. But we are also committed to “being missional” at home. In our city. In our neighborhoods. In our schools. When we talk about being “missional” we mean that in the fullest sense of the word. That is, we support caring for “the least of these.” Really caring. Meeting real, tangible, here-and-now needs. But we also believe that the cruelest thing we could do to an orphan, a single mother who needs financial assistance, a homeless person without a meal, is to withhold the one thing that could bring everlasting relief from all sufferings. So we bring the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ. After all, that is what Jesus did as well.

So, which are you, an evangelist or missionary? If you are a follower of Christ and a member at Providence Road, then you ARE an evangelist. You are a bringer of good news. But you are also called to cross-cultural missions, either as a sender or a goer. I am grateful for a church family that understands that these two distinctions exist and seeks to be faithful by calling its members to be people who bring the gospel with them as they go about their day-to-day routine AND to be people who are either sending cross-cultural missionaries or going out as ones.

Our Identity: Learners

Community

This month, as we move into our new location in downtown Norman (110 S Crawford Ave), we asked 4 of our covenant members to write on how they have grown in 1 of the 4 core gospel identities since becoming a member of Providence Road. Suzie Price, a member for 3 years with her husband, Brad, writes on her growth as a learner.

 

Providence Road defines a “learner of the gospel” as one who abides in God’s word and applies it to his/her life. While abiding in God’s word, one learns more of God’s story, the story of others, and, consequently, one’s own story.

I have been a Christian for 56 years. That’s right, 56 years. During that time, I have lived in three different countries, visited and worshiped in a variety of locations, and have been a member of ten churches. When my husband and I became covenant members of Providence Road, we were invited to join a Missional Community (MC), which we did.

Within that community of believers, who were anywhere from 25 to 43 years younger than me, I discovered that the culture among current younger believers is one of transparency and honesty about their Christian walk. For most of my Christian life (until Prov Road) I had put on an invisible cloak of “goodness” when I was with other believers. I had the belief that I had to lead a perfect life in order to be “spiritual.” I spent a lot of time not disclosing to others the actual longings of my heart and the actual sin and rebellion I experienced deep within my soul.

For a couple of years, while serving as a missionary in another country, I needed to share with someone (anyone) the hurt I was experiencing. The hurt was so deep that I couldn’t pray and felt extremely separated from God. I knew other believers, but was so afraid of ruining my “spiritual” reputation that I hid my pain and suffered privately. Many years have passed and the issue which caused me to hurt was resolved a long time ago. But, at Prov Road, I have realized that if I had only been transparent those many years ago, God could have done a work in my life much sooner!

At Prov Road, I have experienced the trust given when someone shares their life with me. I have experienced the joy of spiritual growth as I have been able to openly share struggles and needs of my own with a group of believers who are learning “God’s story, their own story and the story of others.” My hope is that as I continue to abide in God’s word, I will always seek to be a learner of the gospel.

What To Do On Halloween?

Community, Missions

Halloween is the only day of the year when many of my neighbors are expecting me to come to their homes and knock on their doors, as well as come to my home and knock on my door. If we are intentional, Halloween provides a great opportunity for us to get to know our neighbors.

Here is what we are planning on doing… Nicole and I will get dressed up with Jax and take him trick or treating around 6:00pm with a group of neighbors, many of whom we’ve been trying to get to know. We will aim to be back at our house a little before 7 to set up our candy for kids and treats for adults (cookies and hot cider). We will set up a small table in our front yard or driveway and hand out treats. We will be intentional with meeting neighbors we’ve never met and getting to know more about the neighbors we already know. We will do this until there are no more people out in the neighborhood.

Below are a couple links to other ideas for Halloween:

I hope you enjoy the day!
Jeremy

We Like Each Other

Community,

Our first post was written by one of our covenant members, Mary Rachel Fenrick. She blogs regularly at Finding Freedom.

 

Shortly before Christmas, our community group from church left the kiddos at home and went out for hibachi, drinks, and Christmas lights. There were 14 of us, all of various ages and in diverse stages of life.

We’re Just Friends

Somewhere in between the onion volcano and the catching-the-egg-in-the-top-of-the-hat trick (how do those guys do that?), our chef asked what we were celebrating.

“Nothing in particular,” said Gretchen. “We’re just friends.”

“Really?  So how do all of you people know each other?” asked the chef.

“Church,” someone replied.

“Oh.” {I could almost literally see the wheels turning in this guy’s head.} “So you’re not celebrating anything, and you actually like being around each other?”

“Correct.”

“Hmm. You don’t hear that very often.”

Finding Unity Through Jesus

I’d have to agree. Sometimes I’m even shocked that an accumulation of such different individuals could not only get along, but want to spend time together.

Let’s be honest: Church people can be cheesy, annoying, judgmental Bible-beaters. With a few random exceptions, this was the perception I had of Christians for the majority of my life, until my husband and I reluctantly joined a small group at our old church and were pleasantly surprised to find something that contradicted all of our prejudices.

People were kind to us. We brought a big, turbulent mess to a group that had been flowing smoothly, and we were welcomed with open arms. Every week for a whole semester, someone from our group babysat so that we could have regular date nights. People threw wedding and baby showers for each other. Friends dropped off coffee or lunch to other group members’ workplaces, just because.

More than just caring for each other, though, perhaps the most stunning thing about that group was that people were normal. Yes, we all loved Jesus and tried to challenge each other toward being more like Him, but people had regular, secular jobs. We read good books, watched good movies, and had parties that were fun and not lame. Some families sent their children to public school, some to private school, and some homeschooled…and nobody cared what anybody else did or tried to change anyone’s mind about it. It was genuine and organic, and it was true community in, I think, one of the most unlikely places.

Andrew and I left that group about a year ago, not because we wanted to, but because we felt that it was important (and far more convenient) to do life in Norman, where we live. Doubting that we would ever find community in church people again, we drug our feet somewhat in joining another small group at our new church.

But, we did find community in church people again, so that’s twice now now that my expectations have been completely defied. 

We found friendship in this rag-tag group of folks who consist of a realtor, a teacher, students, a school counselor, an interior designer, a campus pastor, stay-at-home moms, university employees, and artists. The youngest person in our group is four months, and the oldest is in her sixties. We eat hibachi, watch each other’s kids, have football watch parties, set up meal calendars for group members who are sick or busy, bring our chaos, and we invite other people to be part of this crazy thing we’ve got going…because we can…because, by the grace of this God who is seemingly all we have in common at times, we actually like each other.