Phil & Carla's Story

After a particularly meaningful worship service on a recent Sunday, Phil came up to me at the back of the church and said "Pastor, that was a hell of a service!" I smiled and said, "Phil, what I think you mean is, That was a great service." He laughed and said, "Yeah!".

Let me tell you Phil's story. He and Carla had been living together, outside of marriage, for many years. We in the church community have a name for such: Living in Sin. He had been deeply scarred from a very bad marriage. She had never been married. Somehow, and I think by the marvellous guidance of God, they became connected with our church. Soon they were attending most Sunday morning services and developing relationship with members of the congregation. After several months, Phil met with me and said he and Carla would like to be married in our church, and wanted to know if I would perform their wedding. He gave me several negatives that seemed to prevent other ministers from wanting to do such weddings: he was divorced, they were living together, neither were church members, and Carla had never had a conversion experience. I shared with them my usual policy, that if they would consent to four counselling/planning sessions, then I would gladly perform their wedding. I feel honored that two people would be willing to include Christ and myself in their wedding, when secular options are readily available. We began the sessions and I began to get to know these fine people. The wedding was still about 4 months away, when one Sunday morning Phil stepped forward to join the church. I had already addressed this possibility with the church leadership, and they felt that a person does not have to be perfect or have every area of their life correct in order to join with a body of believers. We do not kick people out of our church for imperfections, so how can we deny them for some particular imperfections, and say others are o.k.? So when Phil stepped forward, the church acepted him into membership at that very moment. Even though he was a "sinner". One man in the church stopped attending when this happened, saying I had allowed sin into our church. In reply, I said I'd just as soon have as a member an admitted sinner as a self-righteous judge. He did not appreciate my candor.

Phil and Carla were married. I was invited to the reception party, and I have to admit it was not your typical church meeting. Then, one day soon, Carla approached me with a desire to commit her life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. She made the most sincere of commitments and was soon baptized. You should now meet this fine couple. They are so humble and kind in behavior and demeanor, ready to give a hug, and smiling and kidding with all. They sing in the choir and teach a children's Sunday School class. She bakes cakes for people with special needs. And I think the spark for this was because this church was so busy loving them that we hardly had time to judge.

"Hell of a service!", said Phil. My brother, we will help you to work on some of the terminology. And, you help us to work on some of our less than perfect aspects, and together we are in the process of making a pretty good family.