One of the lasting impressions from the inaugural service for me was the sense of unity between our churches. So many disciples from so many churches drove in to town to serve and work hard to make this service happen. The brothers and sisters from the recently planted church in Wilmington, NC volunteered to run the children’s ministry while disciples from Columbia, SC took care of the ushering duties. Still others from Charleston, Fayetteville, and Raleigh came to offer their love, service and support.
From the beginning, this has been a team effort. The members of our mission team came to us from various churches across the state and numerous churches throughout the Southeast have generously offered financial support. I was moved to tears as I saw so many of my brothers and sisters from all across the Carolinas coming together for this inaugural service. I don’t know of any family in the world that I could be more proud to be a part of than the International Churches of Christ. We have been through a lot in the last ten years but we are growing and working together again!I arrived in Myrtle Beach six months ago with my wife and our three kids. There are currently 16 incredibly faithful disciples on the mission team who have sacrificed the comforts of home to move here with us. They are truly becoming my family. We’ve prayed together, fasted together, laughed together, and worked hard together to begin sowing seeds for God’s Kingdom in the Grand Strand area. There are over 330,000 souls here who need to hear the good news.
Our inaugural service was just one milestone in decades of work that we have ahead us. The numerous visitors that came out on Sunday were blown away by the love and joy they witnessed. Personally, so was I! I could hardly keep from weeping as we all sang these words from a song written by Marcus Thomas, our worship leader, taken from Isaiah 26, verses 4 and 8: “You are Lord, Rock Eternal. We worship you. We wait for you. Your name alone do we honor, your name alone do we lift on high.” Pray for us that we may lift God’s name high here at the beach for many, many years to come.