My family and I walked into Green Pond Bible Chapel in the Fall of 2000. We didn’t walk in very regularly. Back in those days, my goal was to slip in and slip out. Do not make direct eye contact and definitely do not engage anyone in conversation. Just get the kids from nursery as and beat it out of there.
Then September 11th happened. God used that catastrophic day to shake me out of my selfishness and make me realize that I needed to reconcile my relationship with God. He is eternal, this world is temporary. We started to walk into Green Pond a lot more regularly.
I started to hang around with men who lived their lives as believers. I started to read the Bible, all of it. I started to consume mass quantities of books, sermons, and conference audio. I started to play guitar on the worship team. I started teaching the Kindergarten and 1st Grade Sunday school class with Dani Tanis and I kind of liked it. Melanie and I became Youth Group leaders and I started to teach high schoolers about the Bible. I liked it. They liked it.
We started to think that this might be something that I might be called to do. I came on staff as a PT Worship Director. I started seminary. Newly hired Pastor Ryan Boys and I began to talk about planting a church in Vernon. The elders started to pray about it. I came on staff as a FT Pastor of Worship and Discipleship. I finished seminary. March 27, 2016 Highlands Bible Church had its first public worship service. God is building His church.
Reading all of this again, it’s actually kind of crazy. God truly works in mysterious ways.
But also, reading all of this again, I can say that God works in another more primary way – through the local church.
In fact God works through the local church to build the church. It’s circular – people are drawn by God to the gospel, they go to a local church where they hear the Word of God faithfully preached, see other disciples living faithful lives, and faithful church leaders watching over the church. People have their gifts and callings verified and opportunities for service presented. Some of them go out and plant more churches, and the cycle repeats. All for God’s glory.
All of this is the plan of God, we see in His Word in places like Ephesians 3:10 “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 3:10 ESV)
So I say all that to say two things on the eve of Highlands Bible Church becoming an independent church. First, Green Ponders, THANK you for being a faithful church. Thank you for modeling Ephesians 3:10 well. For all your prayers. For all your gifts. For your sacrifice. For your love.
Second, the mission continues. It doesn’t end. One author wrote that the church is “God’s Plan A. There is no Plan B.” Let us all, GPBC and HBC continue to be faithful in investing in our local churches and may we pray that more churches are planted and God is glorified by bringing people to himself.
Pastor Mike
