Spirit of Restoration!

“When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.” Deuteronomy 30:1-5

From the days of Moses leading God's people out of Egypt through the desert, to Joshua leading those who would remain faithful into the promised land, it has been God's mission to lead those whom have gone astray back to Him. God gave the charge to Moses to go back into Egypt and set his people free from the bondage to slavery that they were forced into. He did this because the Israelites returned to God and cried out to him in their despair. Upon hearing the prayers of the Israelites and seeing the suffering that they endured God had compassion on them and sent Moses to fight for their release.

However just as God desires to bring his people back to him so Satan and his army always desire to lead them astray again. As in the case of the Israelites the moment Moses led them out the desert they immediately began to doubt. God in his desire to keep them faithful to Him, had Moses perform miracle after miracle to get the Israelites to believe but unfortunately they would not and their doubt led to sin and eventually led to their exclusion from the promised land. During this same time however, God was raising up a new generation of Israelites to serve him wholeheartedly. As Moses took up the charge to lead the people out of Egypt into the promised land in which he failed in the latter, Joshua was so commissioned to lead the people out of the desert and fulfill the mission God gave Moses to lead the people into the promised land of Canaan.

Thirteen years ago Todd and Tania Spath were commissioned to lead a group of 17 wholehearted disciples to Austin, Texas. Their dream was to start a church in Austin where every member was called to be a wholehearted disciple of Jesus thus each member would call others to be wholehearted disciples. Through the Spirit of God working in the hearts of the Austin disciples as well as a small group of military disciples from Killeen, TX, and the leadership of the Hooper's who took over for the Spath's a year later in 1996, the church quadrupled in size over the first five years. God worked powerfully in the campus ministry from 1999 – 2001 through the leadership of John and Carol Gilinsky, to build the campus ministry from 7 up to almost 40 disciples. During this time the singles ministry was growing in number at an amazing rate. The singles ministry began expanding not only in Austin but also in Killeen, Texas as a large number of soldiers were being converted at Fort Hood Army Base. The Austin International Church of Christ was known throughout the state for their unity and love for each other as well as the lost.

Unfortunately the zeal and fire and vision would start to die down. The Hooper's and the Gilinsky's were asked to move to LA and help with the work in California. It was during this period that the events of 2003 that hurt so many of our ICOC fellowships started to take their toll on the AICOC. Sin began to invade our church as disciples from all over the country began moving to Austin for various reasons. Some were noble but many people moved here bringing with them their attitudes and hurts and though a lot of the pain people felt was valid, the way in which it was dealt with led to a lot of sinful gossip and slander. Drunkenness, sexual immorality, impurity and greed began to go unchecked. Many disciples began to compromise in the areas of dating and commitment to the Body. Attendance on Sunday was down and the midweek attendance on most weeks was only half of what it was on Sunday. Seeking the Kingdom first was in many cases abandoned for seeking personal gain. Weekly discipleship times stopped and unfortunately as is often the case when there is no accountability immorality, adultery, and impurity destroyed many of the relationships in the church. Worst of all, the sacrifice and the prayers through which God did so much began to disappear.

While a good number disciples in the Austin church held on to God and his vision and his standard, many did not and chose to cause division and eventually decided to leave the church sometimes taking several people with them. Though God had performed miracle after miracle in the first 6 years of the church many began to lose hope and their dreams for God and his Kingdom began to die. Eventually the Hooper's were asked to move back to Austin and lead the church joining Matt and Adrianna Brown whom had been working hard to keep things together in during the transition period.

Satan once again used the transition of leadership to bring up past attitudes and hurts in the members of the church. Many people chose to hold on to sin and rebellion to God his leadership and his church. God was still working in His church here in Austin however as he began to bring what was hidden in the darkness to light, sin began to come out and get dealt with. Unfortunately several unrepentant people had to be asked to leave. During this time God was raising up a new generation of college student disciples and bringing in a new group of singles whom God began using to increase the faith of those who were struggling with faithlessness. In addition to this, many of the married couples began to step up and lead again. Though there was a lot of work to be done, one by one people began to step out on faith and do it.

In the summer of 2007 the Spirit of God called Matt and Adrianna Brown who served the Austin church wholeheartedly for 8 years to move to the McCallen area and lead the Rio Grande Valley ICOC. At the same time the Spirit was leading Brigette Hammond and I from New Orleans, LA and Orange County, CA respectively to lead the campus ministry in Austin, Texas. Filled with the desire to help serve in building something great here in my hometown of Austin I moved back and joined Brigette in taking on the challenge of building up the UT ministry.

This year God has not only began a revival in the Austin Church but he has began to restore the hearts of the brothers and sisters in the Austin Church to the wholehearted commitment we had at first. This year we saw God move as 14 people were baptized in the campus ministry which is more than have been baptized in the last three years combined. In addition to that, the campus ministry started a ministry at Texas Tech that currently consist of two brothers on campus. The singles ministry held a singles retreat here in Austin last May in which half the singles decided to answer God's call and lead again. This spawned a summer leadership program for the campus and singles ministry during which time we saw Robert Jaime, Mike Beane and Miriam Valdez powerfully restored to Gods church.

The Spirit of God has moved in the marrieds and teens (family ministry) as well. Earlier this summer Dave Hooper preached a lesson on going the second mile as a Christian to the men of the church. The response was phenomenal as brother after brother stood up and began to confess that they haven't been going the second mile with some saying they haven't even gone the first mile. Brother after brother made decisions to change that night. And I believe as a result God has been moving in the family ministry by moving several of the teens to study the bible as well as allowing Cicilia to become our new sister in Christ in the marrieds. In addition to all this, the church has continued in the benevolent work for the poor with the Christmas Posada, Heart to Heart, feeding the poor, and Habitat for Humanity! Though we still have a long way to go I believe God is restoring the hearts in the Austin church and it is my belief that he is preparing us to be even more fruitful and have an even greater impact in his Kingdom.