In April of 2004, the Lord spoke to me as I was standing on
the balcony of a Motel in Santa Ana. He said, “If you want this place, I’ll
give it to you.”
I said, “Yes,” a heartbeat later, not fully realizing what I
was getting myself into.
What followed over the next 13 years was astounding,
confounding and beautiful.
In the beginning the manager didn’t want us there, so we
prayed that the Lord would move his heart or move him out of the way.
Two weeks later, the man’s heart changed and we were
welcomed in.
At first we simply blessed the children and their parents.
We brought a bounce house, and played games and put on puppet shows, never once
advertising our church or even preaching a sermon. We simply loved them as much
as we could.
Eventually, as we hoped, some of them began to ask us, “Why
do you come out here every month and do this for us?”
Our answer was always, “Because Jesus loves you so much and
He wants you to know that He sees you and He cares about you and your family.”
Eventually another church came and joined us, about 3 years
later. Saddleback Church, [yes, THAT one], wanted to serve breakfast and share
the Gospel on Sunday mornings. We helped them get in good with the manager and
I volunteered to preach once a month in their rotation.
That relationship eventually gave birth to an actual Motel
Church that started meeting in the back parking lot and followed a “read
through the scriptures and talk about it together” style service where the
people were encouraged to read the Bible for themselves, ask questions, offer
suggestions and even challenge the teacher if they wanted to. [And sometimes
they wanted to.]
Later, other local churches came along and helped shoulder
the load of the weekly Motel Church.
Eventually, Saddleback bowed out and others came to take
their place.
We saw people’s lives transformed, hearts changed and wounds
healed. We also saw heartbreak and defeat and disappointment. But mixed in with
all of this was the steadfast love of Christ and the ever-present power of His
Kingdom held wide open for any and all who wanted to live in it and walk with
Jesus.
People were baptized in the swimming pool. Some found a way
out of the motel. Others found contentment to bloom where they were planted.
Still others discovered a God who loved them more than they ever dared to hope
or imagine and their lives were forever changed.
Above all, we were the most changed from the inside-out. I
mean, I was the most changed. The Lord taught me things I would never have been
able to learn from a book or a sermon.
I learned what true courage looks like. I learned what real
love and family can be. I saw transformation take place in a moment, and I saw
it take place over months and years.
My ideas about ministry were blown wide open. My ideas about
church were radically altered. My understanding of God’s love and mercy were
expanded and stretched forever out of shape and I was left with a new paradigm
to grow into.
Of course, I could never have known any of this would happen
as I said, “Yes” to the Lord’s invitation that afternoon on the balcony of the
motel.
Today, I have made another leap of faith and responded to
another invitation the Lord has given me to step aside and allow others to take
this Motel Church ministry forward.
This is harder than you can imagine. I keep seeing all those
faces and reliving all those stories. I wonder what the Lord will do next, both
in my life and in the lives of our dear friends at the Motel.
This is the great unknown. Life, and faith, is marked by
uncertainty. All we can do is cling to Jesus and follow Him every step of the
way.
I’m leaving these people, and this ministry, in the best of
hands. They understand that it isn’t my ministry, and it isn’t theirs either.
They know that the Lord is doing a great work among them and they are thrilled
and humbled to take part in it.
I am so grateful for this amazing experience. I will never forget any of it.
Most of all, I will never forget these beautiful and amazing people. They
taught me how to follow Jesus better. They taught me how to live and breathe
outside my comfort zone. They helped me to see and to hear Jesus in ways I would have
never imagined possible.
This chapter of my life is closing, but another one is being
written at the very same time.
Change is hard, but it is part life.
Here we go…
-kg
WANT TO RE-VISIT SOME OF WHAT THE LORD DID THROUGH THE MOTEL
CHURCH OVER THE LAST 13 YEARS?
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