Changing of Churches

At the beginning of this year Gary and I joined Heritage Baptist Church in Roscoe, Illinois. It's just down the road from us. Pastor Jim Wright has been the pastor their for about six and a half years.

In the good old days, a person usually stayed at one church all their life. And today their are still people who never gone to a different church. Of course that may have been for various reasons, like they never moved away to another state...etc.

Having grown-up in Rockford I have been a member of four different churches in the state of Illinois. (This does not include the time that Bob was a Youth Director at First Free here in Rockford and later at the Aurora Bible Church in Aurora, Illinois.)

First of all I grew up in the Berean Baptist Church, under Pastor Melvin Swanson, a graduate of Moody Bible Institute. Under his ministry at the age of eight, I came to know Christ as my personal Saviour. He taught his congregation to search the scriptures daily to make sure what was being said from the pulpit was in- line with the Word of God. Later I would attend Moody Bible Institue to ground me more in the Word of God and of course met my future husband. I will always thank the Lord for Pastor Swanson ministry and its godly influences on me.

Now we come to another church that Bob and I attended along with our young daughter, Ann-Marie. It's Memorial Baptist Church under the direction of Pastor Ralph Martin. Here again was a servant of God who taught us so much about the Word of God. It is here where Ann-Marie attended their Christian school, Rockford Baptist from K-4 through the fourth grade. As a family we got to know and spend time with alot of couples our age. People who we are still friends with.
Just a little side note: Way back then when a church wanted you to teach in their Christian school, you had to be a member of their church. So when Berean Baptist asked me to teach K-4, we ended up going back to Berean. And as a result Ann-Marie graduated from Berean Baptist Christian School. One ministry that Bob and I enjoyed at Memorial was team teaching the junior high group with two other couples.

Are you still with me? You may wonder how or why we ended up going to Windsor Baptist Church in Loves Park, under the wonderful ministry of Pastor James (Jim) Larson. It's a rather long story for another time. But we did make a housing move from Rockford to Machesney Park, Illinois. I'm not sure how it all happen, but I remember when we were in limbo living on Dresden Avenue in Rockford, we had a visit from Pat and Jane Smith who attended Windsor. (By the way, Windsor is a sister church of First Baptist Church in Rockford.) Let's just say we started visiting Windsor and later became members. We truly loved being members. We grew spiritual under Jim's ministry. Bob had a close relationship with Jim. Somethings in life have a bittersweet taste. The dictionary meaning of bittersweet: "Producing a mixture of pain and pleasure." The pleasure was being involved and growing in the Lord there. Bob was involved with Junior Church and choir. Later when asked he did the song leading for the congregation. Bob and Jim would have conversation in Jim's car after a Christian Education meeting. One conversation was about how they would beat the odds of hereditary physical problems. "It's a heart attack that will take me." said Bob. Jim who was a very discipline person was trying to avoid cancer. When Bob got out of the car(I found all this out at Bob's funeral via Jim.) he said, "When I died of a heart attack, you can preach at my funeral and tell them I told you so." Then they both laughed. God took Bob home about a week later, and Jim did preach at his funeral. At the funeral Jim related the conversation in the car and said they laughed because they thought their deaths were a long ways off. Jim died of cancer two years later...the day before 9/11. So you see it became a bittersweet place for me.

How did I become a member of First Baptist Church? Well, after Bob's death, I figure I would remain a widow. God had other plans. Because this is already too long for most of you, I'll give you a short version. A wonderful man, Gary Heilman phoned me and wanted to take me out. I was not ready for that, but eventually we started dating. He was a member of First Baptist Church and I was a member of Windsor Baptist. After we were married, we visited both churches off and on. Finally joining First Baptist under the ministry of Pastor Scott Williquette. Again a wonderful church. Even after moving from Machesney Park to Rockton, Illinois we continued the long drive to First Baptist. And it didn't bother us at all. But eventually two things moved us to make the change. One was when the gas prices went up and truly this was one that bothered us most...asking people to come to our church which would mean a long drive for them. So we started visiting churches near our home. And that is how we ended up joining Heritage.

Whew! I know this has been a long blog. So sorry. Hey, it's my blog and I guess I can do as I please. Ha! Now that sound real Christian.

All in all I'm so thankful that I have never left a church because of a split or ill feelings. In fact, Gary and I got a beautiful card from the people at First Baptist telling us that they will miss us. Now folks, we haven't left the state of Illinois and I know (Alice and others) we will see and fellowship with these wonderful people from time to time. After all we are in the body of Christ. Wherever we attend we just want to be an active member for the Glory of God.