An Anniversary to Remember

I was in Marin County this month to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Church of the Open Door, the first church that grew out of our Jesus People ministry in the Bay Area. We had people fly and drive in from Tanzania, Baltimore, Texas, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and throughout California. It was a blessing to reconnect with friends, some of whom I had not seen for years.

Our first church began in August 1972 in Mill Valley with Bob Hymers, Mike Riley, Roger Hoffman, and a few others from our Bible studies.

We merged all of our ministries together in 1973 and moved the church to San Rafael. In the 1970s, we established Bible studies, discipleship houses, and Christian General Stores in San Rafael, San Francisco, Novato, Petaluma, and Sonoma. Believers came to our stores to purchase books, Bibles, music, church supplies, and to receive counsel and prayer in times of crisis. The stores never made much money, but they impacted thousands of people.

I grew up in the Lord at Solid Rock, one of our twenty- seven discipleship houses in the Bay Area. We held our money and possessions in common and kept our doors open to minister to hitchhikers, new believers, and anyone who wanted to live in a Christ centered community. The police would also drop people off at Solid Rock when the Community of Mental Health facility was full. Those were wild times.

By the 1980s we had planted churches in San Rafael, Novato, San Francisco, Petaluma, Sonoma, Point Reyes, Phoenix, London, Wales, Manila, and Mexico City. Some of our churches reached hundreds of people, others touched thousands. Some are still going today, others have merged or released their members to neighboring congregations.

Kent Philpott and Frank Worthen started a ministry called “Love in Action” to reach homosexuals with the gospel of Christ. This ministry extended from San Francisco to the Philippines. At one time our San Rafael church had over eighty members who had come out of the gay lifestyle and been transformed by Christ.

Each of our churches sponsored missionaries around the world. Living Streams, our church in Phoenix, has given birth to church plants and raised up leaders in Arizona, Mexico, and Belize. Our San Francisco church sent out missionaries who have established over twenty churches in the Philippines.

A couple of nights before our anniversary meetings I had a dream. I saw a man who had been a spiritual leader to me at Solid Rock back in 1971. We both moved to Phoenix in 1984. We talked about planting a church together, but we had some disagreements that divided us. We never reconciled our relationship before he died several years ago.

In my dream, I saw him in heaven. I went up to him and we immediately hugged each other. The presence of Jesus Christ in heaven was so strong that the awkwardness of our past was not an issue. It was like our disagreements had never happened. The love and forgiveness that Jesus had given us both was all that mattered.

When I woke up, I was comforted by the love I felt. I also wished I had made another attempt to reconcile with my friend before he died. We pray the Lord’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s will is for us to have unity in Christ. Nothing can interfere with God’s will being done in heaven. We get blessed to the degree that we cooperate with God’s will being done on earth.

What encouraged me in this gathering was the fruitfulness and maturity of my friends. We were once immature young believers; we are now pastors, leaders, business owners, and grandparents.

I saw an ex-drug dealer who now is a financial manager who owns several companies. I saw Ken, once a heroin user who became a physician. I met David, a kid from my Bible Study who became a pastor. Terry, a girl from that Bible study now has eight grown children. Two others from our Bible study became missionaries in Turkey and the Czech Republic. Kevin, a once demonized young man became an RN. Gay, a lady whose daughter had died became a missionary. Kai, one of our elders, now leads marriage ministries in San Diego. Jack came down from Oregon where he serves a large rescue mission. Five of our pastors are now serving churches in other denominations.

The point of any church or movement is not to contain the people for life. The point is to equip people and release them to serve the Lord wherever he opens doors for them. We are all called to use our gifts to expand God’s kingdom, which is bigger than any local church or denomination. The kingdom of God is destined to fill the earth with his glory.

We had a slide show with our pictures from the ’70s and -’80s, when the ladies were beautiful and the guys were strong. We also had a roll of over 175 names of people from our churches who are now in heaven. Since we will all be joining that list before too long, making good use of our time now is critical.

Any group of people who commit their lives to Jesus and serve him together can see God work in amazing ways over time. It takes commitment and sacrifices to obey the Lord and keep loving one another. However, after over fifty years, I still think following Jesus and helping others become his disciples is the best investment we can make with our lives. A