Hold to His Hand...to God's Unchanging Hand.

My great-great grandfather (William Samuel Herndon) was a Church of Christ preacher and church planter back in the mid 1800's. He moved his family to West Texas and planted a church that would soon grow...as his family did. (They ended up with 14 kids. I mean seriously.) 

The woman to your right in this picture is my great-great-great grandmother...born in the early 1800s.) My great grandmother is the one over William's left shoulder. She learned to love Jesus from her parents and she passed it down to my grandmother and then my mother. I'll bet things looked different back in the 1800s, don't you? 

This past Sunday we did an exercise in nostalgia and actually took out the hymnals and turned to #613 and sang "Hold to God's Unchanging Hand". It's a song my mother, grandmother and even great grandmother would have sung, written in 1904. Funny how songs with good theology form us. Those lyrics...verse one and chorus especially...are important. Funny to think that words sung so long ago could help us...help all of us...as we move into the church of the future. 

The song says, "Time is filled with swift transition...keep your hopes on things eternal. Hold to God's unchanging hand." Forms will come and forms will go. But the love of Jesus is everlasting. It is an everlasting love and his power is never ending. 

In her later years, my great grandmother went to Central Church of Christ here in Abilene. It later dwindled out and the building was given to Highland and it now serves as our Grace Fellowship campus. Interestingly, I remember walking in one day to rehearse with the worship band for our service that Sunday and stopped in my tracks. I looked around at the red carpet and the wooden ceiling and realized....this was my great grandmother's church. This is where she worshiped. And now, 150 years after William Herndon planted a church near Anson and then exploded the population with his own offspring, his great-great grandson is leading worship...instrumental worship...at the church his daughter attended well into her 90s. 

So, what is eternal? Buildings? Song books? Red carpet? Certain hymns or styles of worship? No. Jesus. The same yesterday, today and forever. The Alpha and Omega. And I hope that William Herndon's love for Jesus will live on in his great-great-great grandchildren and beyond...as Maddie is already leading worship with the youth band every Sunday morning at Highland in the middle school class. 

I pray that, as Psalm 145 says, "One generation will commend His works to another...and tell of His surpassing greatness." Keep your hopes on things ETERNAL. Hold to God's unchanging hand.

Highland at Grace

Last night marked the kick-off to our new Highland Sunday service at our Grace Fellowship campus. We've been working and planning for weeks and were so pleased with the opening night. Earlier this semester, the leadership at Highland gave the green light to move to one service at our main campus and add a service at the Grace campus. The Grace campus would include instrumental worship, the same sermon that Jonathan preached on Sunday morning and communion.

It was a special and holy moment for me. The Grace Fellowship campus was formerly the Central Church of Christ where my great grandmother and great aunt went to church many years ago. As I sat listening to Jonathan speak last night, it occurred to me that I was sitting on the same row I sat in for my great grandmother's funeral when I was just a little boy. I wonder what she would have thought last night. Would she have marveled at the amount of people there? Would she have stroked out to see the instruments on stage? Would she have loved the singing, so loud it could have lifted the rafters?

Last night was just incredible. The energy and excitement in the room were palpable. It almost felt like a herd of wild horses waiting behind a gate and then being released. Once the music kicked in and the first song began, the singing was almost deafening. There were beautiful expressions of worship happening all over that room through the evening as people sang and prayed and went to communion stations to partake with their friends and families...and others they'd never met.

I'm so grateful to an amazing team of people who helped us pull off this beginning. Alex Howard is a beast! What a heart! He leads with such courage and boldness before the Lord. Thank you, Alex! Thank you to Amy Sheasby (who also played keys), Trey Wrape and Christine Pinson for the incredible vocals. Thank you to the band--Amy, Nathan Sheasby, Matt Roberson, and Claire Warlick. You all lead us with grace, skill and heart!

Thank you to Matt Pinson and Jim Etheridge who put in countless hours of time. Thanks to Dickie Porche, Virgil (our homeless friend who helps regularly at Grace), and Ben Strizu for getting us to this day.

Here are some pics and video of set up, rehearsal and then of our first service.

Communion Stations were set up all over the room

Jack Pinson and Virgil played cards to pass the time while the band rehearsed

Matt Pinson and Mike Wiggins did an awesome job on the chalk sign in the lobby!