Monday, January 28, 2013

Why I love this church

I've been going to Church on the Move now for 5 months. I first discovered it while online in Oregon trying to find Tulsa churches I would like to try out when I got there. I loved watching the online services, but there were a few other churches that impressed me online as well.

When I got to Tulsa, I liked the first few churches I visited, then at the end of September I went to Church on the Move for the first time in person. The atmosphere, worship, and teaching had me sold after one visit and I decided it was the church for me.

Going to this church is the first time I have ever experienced having a sermon that I thought about a lot during the rest of the week. I know the feeling from different powerful church conferences, but I used to listen to a normal Sunday service, and not remember much about it afterwards. That changed when I started going to this church.

One thing I found really different and I really like, is that the tithe and offering is taken at the end of the service. To me, it feels more right. ~We give you this really good lesson, instruct you and challenge you to improve yourself, and then ask you to help us continue our work.~ That's the logic I see.
The church is very big, but they are good about giving it a small, tight knit feeling. After hurricane Sandy, the church took one offering in all 3 of their services, and were able to send $35,000 to churches that were helping victims.

One time back in October, pastor Willie George talked about tithing. I still think about it every time I am hesitant to give money when I feel the notion to.
"Sooner or later, you are going to come to a crossroads, where you have to decide if you are going to put God first in your financial life....Worrying about money is serving money instead of serving God...The more you trust God about money, the more he will trust you with money."

When I got back to Tulsa, after Christmas break in Oregon, my savings was almost totally gone. I knew I needed to get a job, and got very nervous when I found out that not even Walmart was hiring. I had put in several applications at local businesses, and it had been two weeks without hearing a peep.
2 Sundays ago, we were singing in church, "Lord use me,take my life, and lead it your way." With money on my mind, I again thought of the sermon back in October. I knew it was God, telling me to give an offering of my money. I was really hesitant to, because I have such little left, but I remembered those words, "You have to trust God about your money, for God to trust you with money."
I put $5 in a tithe envelope, and wrote a little prayer on the lid, "Lord, I trust you with this money, and I ask you to please help me find a job."

Last Tuesday I was so touched when I logged on to my email, and found I had been contacted by Church on the Move pastoral staff.
Hi Anna, We want you to know that we’ve received your prayer request and we’re standing in faith with you. In Matthew 18:19 Jesus said, “If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” So we join our faith with yours and believe God for you to find favor in the hiring process so that you’ll get the job that you apply for. God bless Anna, and if you have any requests don’t hesitate to let us know.

I was amazed, and could not stop smiling the rest of the day, that they had looked up my email from my "new member card" I filled out in September, and wrote me to let me know they were praying with me for a job.
Then to top it all off, Wednesday I got two calls for interviews, and Friday I was hired on the spot for a waitress job!

1 comment:

  1. Thats great! You're first tithe check you should write a little note telling them the testimony. It would encourage them too. It's always nice to hear answers to prayer that you are believing with someone else for. Keep up the good work!

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