.. I always wondered what it would be like.."
The beginning of this article on My First Vision may sound kind-of rude, and perhaps negative; but I promise you, if you keep reading, in context; it gets better.
Typically when I go to a church, I go to hear the pastor preach. I want to hear his or her sermon and enhance my own understanding of God. Most of the time I disagree with the content of the sermon and find errors in their doctrine as I understand it. In my opinion, those errors are not erroneous or coincidental, or innocent. The errors that stand out to me are incongruent and decisive; meant to mislead the listeners to follow a wrong path; to miscalculate our enemy’s presence and/or influence in our lives.
Many times I believe the pastor preaching the sermon is actually deceived and genuinely believes that what is being preached is truth; regardless, this does not dilute the divisive impact on the congregation whom they seek to teach.
Regardless of the motivation behind the sermon preached; this is what I usually find. This is what I “expected” at Worship With Wonders Church.
Typically when I go to a new church, I look at the members and although I see them as America Christians, I pre-classify them in my mind. They are either honest, or not, genuine, or not, searching for truth, or not, … in short, I usually judge them. And see them as those people who will persecute God’s chosen in the last generation on Earth; just prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
So.. this is typical of me. This is what I expect to experience when I attend a new church, anywhere. When I look at the “title” or the “name” of a church, first impression; it usually tells me something about that church; something common; something I can prejudge, or predetermine; like the doctrine, the background, the structure, the heritage, or the type of services to expect.
“Living a Life of Expectancy.”
“Worship With Wonders.”
What do you see form this title? I saw nothing in it when I went to this church for the first time. I saw nothing in this title. My first impression was, “Worship With Wonders is a dumb slogan.”
For those of you who are internet savvy, the text in the meta tag “description” of the name when you search Google for this church is as follows:
worshipwithwonders.org
These are not slogans, but a way of life at Worship with Wonders Church, the remarkable, Spirit-led Atlanta area church located in Kennesaw, Georgia. …
Show map of 1575 Ridenour Pkwy NW, Kennesaw, GA 30152
http://www.worshipwithwonders.org/ - 4k - Cached - Similar pages
Forget everything I just said. The title of this church means a lot.
Sunday morning, some time in January, 2009.
I saw the preacher. Myles doesn’t use a podium. He does not stand still. He is only still when playing his piano; like now. DeLana is singing. In the middle of a very spiritual song, she exclaims that “the Spirit is in the house and moving with power.”
I see this and I hear this and I understand this.
The quire is singing; lovely, beautiful, harmoniously they sing. They are dressed in a variety of colors and textures; although the dominant colors are red and white; no uniforms or robes, simply their Sundays’ best.
Their song is wonderful. The praise service is well underway and the congregation joins in the singing. Some of them are speaking in tongues; many are swaying to the song and waving their hands.
My first impression? I take this all in. I am not speaking in tongues. I never do. I never have. I am not waving my hands. I am not singing. I’m simply observing.
(An observer is not necessarily a spectator)
I sense a sweet aroma. It’s hard to describe; like incense, not mixed, rich, oil, thick, subtle. I see a city; an ariel view; black and white; no people, no cars, no movement; tall gray buildings; lots of windows; no light. Everything is black and white; streets, pavement, intersections, roads. I see a wide intersection. The center of this intersection is on a hill. All four directions from this intersection are down-hill. Everything is black and white.
Now I see color. I see red. I see people appear; standing in the intersection. Many wear red. Bright red. Everything else is black and white except for these people. They are in living color; bright red and pure white.
I recognize these people. They are the quire. I understand who they represent; they represent people that God claims as his own. I see various places on the pavement of the streets and the asphalt is breaking up. A six foot radius of pavement breaks into pieces. Large chunks of asphalt protrude from the cracked void. In many places the asphalt rumbles and breaks loose. Everything is black and white except for the people in red who are standing in the intersection.
I see people in spirit-form rising from the broken pavement; all over the city. Many people rise gracefully; effortlessly from the broken pavement; they continue to rise as the people in living color continue sing and praise God.
I know these people coming from the broken pavement are participating in the first resurrection. I know these people are saved.
I start to cry.
I cry because I realize the people dressed in red and white represent the members of this specific church. I understand the purpose of this vision. It is a personal message to me, from God, He is telling me with pictures. He is telling me that the congregation here in this church are His people. And that I need to respect this. He is charging me with a responsibility for these people. To do no harm.
I continue to cry, and then I see the quire. And then, the preacher, and the members, and I see my wife. The sweet aroma dissipates.
Afterthought
I’ve never had a vision like this before. And I’ve never written it down before. It’s amazing, but the more I recall of the things and pictures I saw, the more I see from them.
My first impression was, “Worship With Wonders is a dumb slogan.”
I was wrong. A brochure of Worship With Wonders Church says,
“EXPECT GOD’S PURPOSE to meet you!”
“EXPECT GOD’S PRESENCE to capture you!”
“Expect God’s Power to touch you!”
This brochure tells the truth. Because, He did.
January, 2009
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