My Church Life
All my life I've been part of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. We're a conservative evangelical denomination based in Huntington, Ind. Actually, we're the first denomination to actually begin in the Americas. That was in 1800. Other denominations existed in the Americas, but they were transplanted from Europe. The United Brethren in Christ was a brand new animal. For whatever that's worth. Our history claims Francis Scott Key and the Wright Brothers.
I've spent my whole professional life working at the denominational headquarters. I'm the Communications Director.
Pam and I met at a United Brethren church in Huntington, Ind., while she was attending Huntington College (I had already graduated). We attended there until 1989, when we (separately) moved to Fort Wayne and began attending Emmanuel Community Church, a fast-growing United Brethren church in southwest Fort Wayne. We stayed there for nine years, 1989-1998. During that time, attendance climbed from 150 to around 800.
In October 1998, we joined a group of about 40 other persons from Emmanuel in what is called a "restart." The Third Street United Brethren church, near downtown Fort Wayne, closed and turned its assets over to Emmanuel, with the understanding that Emmanuel would restart the church with a new leadership team and a whole new vision. Pam and I were part of that, and it's been one of the greatest experiences of our lives.
The new church is called Anchor Community Church. We're still there. We're running about 130 people now, compared to about 30 people when the former Third Street church closed. Only about 10 persons from Emmanuel remain; most went back to Emmanuel (having fulfilled their temporary commitments) or moved out of the area.
I play the keyboard every Sunday in our worship band (we're a bunch of 70s rockers), and Pam runs the sound.