The Study at John and Amy's

Well, I don't know if you know this or not, but we are moving to Fayetteville. We live in Little Rock right now. I am a student at the Missionary Baptist Seminary and Brittney is a student at UAMS College of Nursing. We both graduate in May. The day after Brittney graduates, we're going to Disney World. When we get back, we'll put all of our stuff in a truck and drive to Fayetteville and that will be that. Ok, so what. We're moving to Fayetteville because I will be the Associate Pastor of Pathway Baptist Church. Never heard of it? Not surprising because we held our first meeting in January of 2007.

I went up over spring break with my brother and attended one of our bible studies, you know, just to have a chance to meet everybody. I was absolutely blown away. We sat for an hour and a half, studied the Bible, discussed it, prayed together, and went home. It was freakin' awesome. There were no empty rituals or traditions. There was noone there who wished they weren't there. It was as close to what Jesus intended as I can imagine.

Right now, we're just meeting in homes, but plan to have all of our small groups come together for corporate worship services beginning in the Fall. But, we won't stop the bible studies. These are what will build the church. They provide an opportunity for everyone to study and learn together. We meet and fellowship and "edify" and it is the coolest thing ever. Jesus said that the wise man will build upon the rock, but the foolish man will build upon the sand. I have a sad suspicion that churches for a long time have been pretending to build upon the rock, but they're planted firmly upon the sand.

There is are two churches that were really awesome churches. I mean, that had it going on. But, then their pastors left. They went nuts. They had absolutely no leadership. It was like a bunch of Kindergardeners fighting over what color koolaid they wanted to drink. I say this to say, that when we have good, strong leadership, everything goes well. But, when the good, strong leadership is gone, then we find out why Christians are often referred to as sheep. Because, apparently, we're pretty stupid if we don't have strong leadership.

That's what we're trying to fix at Pathway. We want a group of people who, each individually, are planted firmly on the Rock. That way, no matter what happens, the people will stand strong for a specific goal: the glorification of God through the carrying out of the Great Commission. It's simple. If each one is solid, then the whole thing is solid. Then we'll be fine.

If you get a chance, come see us at Pathway. This is new to us, too, so bear with us. But, we are building on the Rock. I guarantee it.