Church Quest

A few years ago my friend Margie and I decided we wanted to go on a church quest to learn about our church's heritage. We first contacted Sunny who put us in touch with the official historian for the Church of God organization, Dr. Roebuck. Dr. Roebuck wrote us and gave us information and directions to sites that were of significance to our denomination. We then took a trip to get back in touch with our roots. It was wonderful!

Well Sunny is now attending the Church of God Theological Seminary there in Cleveland, Tennessee and guess who happens to be her professor this semester- yep, Dr. Roebuck. Dr. Roebuck announced to his class that he was taking them all on a trip to visit the historical sites of the Church of God and he would be lecturing on these sites. When Sunny called to tell me about her field trip- I was green with envy. She said she would ask Dr. Roebuck if I could come in and accompany her class on the trip. I immediately contacted my comrade Margie who was as excited as I was when Sunny informed us that we could attend.

Margie and I drove through to Cleveland after work on Friday and were up bright and early with Sunny to catch the bus for our trip. All I can say is it was phenomenal! Dr. Roebuck is a gifted teacher, and as the premier authority on Church of God history, his lectures were informative, inspiring, and moving. At each site he told personal stories that had been collected concerning the events that transpired there, he shared about the vision the people had and the battles they faced when embracing this faith. He always had prayer at each site and often led us in worshipful songs pertinent to the happenings that occured there.

One of the first sites we visited was Barney Creek. This is where RG Spurling first began to pray and seek God for a closer walk and a renewed spirit within the church. At this time he belonged to a Baptist church. He didn't intend to began a whole new denomination in this isolated mountainous area but instead he prayed to get back to the roots that John Wesley had once taught. Spurling had seen a lot of division in the body of Christ and sought to unite these believers. As he, and some like-minded friends, begin to seek God over this the "Christian Union" was born. This name signified their desire to unite the children of God. Later when this group of believers united with a group of Methodists who also had became disenchanted with the proceedings of their own church and longed to get back to a true walk with God through Holiness, a new name emerged- The Holiness Church. Only later did we become The Church of God. This heritage trip was wonderful and I came away with a renewed determination to regain the vision that these dedicated saints had. I pray for this spirit to engulf our own church at Oppy and we shed form and fashion and embrace true spiritual worship.