Hello again, I'm Arlen Yoder from the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember—the angels in heaven rejoice when a loved one or friend gives their heart to Jesus.
The title of my post today is “HOW I DEVELOPED A SOFT SPOT IN MY HEART FOR THE CHURCH OF GOD" whose headquarters is in Cleveland, Tennessee. It’s about my journey as a Christian since 1977—and where I am now.
I grew up in a Mennonite household. Mom grew up Mennonite and Dad grew up Amish. So when Dad left the Amish church and married Mom, we ended up going to a church in the Mennonite denomination where she was raised. We were sporadic attenders at best, especially Dad. I wasn’t saved as a result of attending the Mennonite Church, although it likely laid some groundwork for my later salvation.
I was saved later, the day I attended my Amish Grandpa’s funeral in 1977 at the age of 23. I didn’t understand any part of the three sermons preached by Amish preachers that day. But I believe the Spirit of the Living God was present. After Grandpa was buried in the Amish cemetery, I drove around East Holmes County for over an hour, distraught over my life. I finally stopped the car and called out to God, and he met me in my car. Right there, alongside the road near Benton, Ohio.
After becoming saved, I began attending the Mennonite Church again, as I had stopped attending the Church some time before. I then entered Mennonite Voluntary Service in the early 1980s in Richmond, Virginia, after Dad died in 1980, to enrich my faith. It was there that Satan attacked my faith with a bout of depression as I had never experienced before, nor since. I won’t get into the details of the cause of the depression at this time.
I came back to Holmes County and got a job in a factory for a couple of years. I also worked on two carpenter crews, installed kitchen cabinets for a year, worked in a group home with people with developmental disabilities, and worked part-time in a clock shop.
You can see by my moving around that I was unsettled. I also left the Mennonite church twice to attend two non-denominational churches for very short periods of time, but I ended up going back each time to Mom’s Mennonite church. Again, I felt I was missing something and was trying desperately to find it.
In about 1986, I was living with Mom in Berlin, Ohio, and I felt a tug to attend college, and I lined up a young person to do the chores around the house for her, like mowing the lawn. My Mennonite pastor at the time encouraged me to attend one of three Mennonite colleges. I felt drawn, however, to North Central Technical College in Mansfield, which was closer to home and had the Human Services (Social Work) program that I wanted.
I lived with what I call a “cat lady” for my first three months in Mansfield. I call her that because she had some big cats that she actually fed on her countertop, where we also prepared food. I visited a Youth for Christ office to ask about good area churches, and the lady there recommended that I attend Grace Fellowship Church. It was a well-known hippie/commune type Jesus gathering in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the rolling hills south of Mansfield. By the time I attended there in 1987, however, they had changed their name from Grace Haven Farm to Grace Fellowship Church, I think, to try to be seen by the community as a legitimate church instead of a commune-type setting. There were still families that lived nearby, some within walking distance of the church. Well, I always was what I joke with my wife about—'a hippie-wannabe’, so that type of church attracted me.
The Nichols, a family that lived within about ¾ miles from the church in a big farmhouse, put out a flyer in the church bulletin for a boarder. I jumped at the chance of living with a family with small children, as opposed to living with a lady with large cats. I lived with the Nichols for three years until after Mom died of breast cancer and I graduated from college in 1990. I enjoyed the family atmosphere of living with the Nichols, and will cherish it forever.
After graduating and much searching, I landed a job in Ashland, about 16 miles away, as a community mental health center case manager, where I ended up working almost 29 years. With the blessing of the Grace Fellowship pastor, I sought out a church closer to my new Ashland home and work. It was my first taste of attending what was known as a Pentecostal church, the Ashland Assembly of God. They even practiced speaking in tongues, if you can believe it.
I wasn’t totally lost on the Pentecostal experience. I had visited a former Mennonite Voluntary Service friend in Archbold, Ohio, in the mid-1980s, and had my first experience speaking in tongues after attending his church. I was, however, a baby in Pentecostalism.
I met Dee, my future wife, her husband Jim, and Joseph, their little boy, at the Ashland Assembly of God. Jim was obviously very ill with cancer at the time, and he died several months later. Several months after his death, I asked Dee out, and after one time turning me down, the next time she said “yes”. She actually said "yes" twice--once to going out with me, and the second time to marrying me—“and the rest is history”, as some people say.
Living near Mansfield, we wanted to attend a church closer to home, so we gravitated to a small Nazarene church near our home. The Nazarene denomination has a Pentecostal history, but they no longer practiced Pentecostalism. We made many wonderful friends there. The church, however, ran into some sin trouble with two of their pastors, so we felt compelled to leave.
I tried out several churches after that, and I won’t go into detail about the outcome of those churches, only that we felt led by God that they weren’t what God planned for us.
Now let’s go back a little. Dee, her family, and her late husband Jim, and his family, had a strong history of attending Church of God denomination churches. The denomination headquarters is located in Cleveland, Tennessee, as is also Lee University, a Church of God college. Dee attended and graduated from Lee University. Her late husband Jim’s family also has a long history attending the Ashland Church of God, and Grandma Brown, in her late 80s, still attends there. Church of God churches are well known for their 140-year-rich history and Pentecostal roots, including a strong belief in the supernatural movement of the Holy Spirit.
I’m also drawn to the fact that ‘everyone knows everyone’, if you will. It reminds me of my Mennonite and Amish roots. My wife will spend time with me expressing that she knows ‘so and so’ from her past time in the Church of God churches, or from Lee University.
I visited the Mansfield Church of God, just ½ mile from our home, several times. But I never felt a strong connection there, and quite frankly, I didn’t think the pastor there at that time was very friendly. But in 2019, Dee told me of an older pastor who came out of retirement to become the ongoing pastor there. She said that he was well educated and even had authored some books. Dee is an author also, and I was looking for a well-educated, established pastor to grow close to. The retired pastor and his wife that were there at the time fit the bill to a T.
Some people think that to believe in Pentecostalism is a little extreme, and believers in Pentecostalism are even strange. I beg to differ. I’m a very conservative, concrete thinker. I like things that are black and white. And the Church of God denomination has offered me what I have been looking for for so many years.
There will always be doctrinal differences that come up from leaders and members in the Church of God churches, but I firmly believe that the powerful Spirit of the Living God and the rich history of the Church of God will trump any of these.
Because of the soft spot I have developed for the Church of God, I'm praying, at the age of 72, that I can be in a Church of God church, Lord willing, for the long haul, however long that may be for me.
See you next time.
The title of my post today is “HOW I DEVELOPED A SOFT SPOT IN MY HEART FOR THE CHURCH OF GOD" whose headquarters is in Cleveland, Tennessee. It’s about my journey as a Christian since 1977—and where I am now.
I grew up in a Mennonite household. Mom grew up Mennonite and Dad grew up Amish. So when Dad left the Amish church and married Mom, we ended up going to a church in the Mennonite denomination where she was raised. We were sporadic attenders at best, especially Dad. I wasn’t saved as a result of attending the Mennonite Church, although it likely laid some groundwork for my later salvation.
I was saved later, the day I attended my Amish Grandpa’s funeral in 1977 at the age of 23. I didn’t understand any part of the three sermons preached by Amish preachers that day. But I believe the Spirit of the Living God was present. After Grandpa was buried in the Amish cemetery, I drove around East Holmes County for over an hour, distraught over my life. I finally stopped the car and called out to God, and he met me in my car. Right there, alongside the road near Benton, Ohio.
After becoming saved, I began attending the Mennonite Church again, as I had stopped attending the Church some time before. I then entered Mennonite Voluntary Service in the early 1980s in Richmond, Virginia, after Dad died in 1980, to enrich my faith. It was there that Satan attacked my faith with a bout of depression as I had never experienced before, nor since. I won’t get into the details of the cause of the depression at this time.
I came back to Holmes County and got a job in a factory for a couple of years. I also worked on two carpenter crews, installed kitchen cabinets for a year, worked in a group home with people with developmental disabilities, and worked part-time in a clock shop.
You can see by my moving around that I was unsettled. I also left the Mennonite church twice to attend two non-denominational churches for very short periods of time, but I ended up going back each time to Mom’s Mennonite church. Again, I felt I was missing something and was trying desperately to find it.
In about 1986, I was living with Mom in Berlin, Ohio, and I felt a tug to attend college, and I lined up a young person to do the chores around the house for her, like mowing the lawn. My Mennonite pastor at the time encouraged me to attend one of three Mennonite colleges. I felt drawn, however, to North Central Technical College in Mansfield, which was closer to home and had the Human Services (Social Work) program that I wanted.
I lived with what I call a “cat lady” for my first three months in Mansfield. I call her that because she had some big cats that she actually fed on her countertop, where we also prepared food. I visited a Youth for Christ office to ask about good area churches, and the lady there recommended that I attend Grace Fellowship Church. It was a well-known hippie/commune type Jesus gathering in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the rolling hills south of Mansfield. By the time I attended there in 1987, however, they had changed their name from Grace Haven Farm to Grace Fellowship Church, I think, to try to be seen by the community as a legitimate church instead of a commune-type setting. There were still families that lived nearby, some within walking distance of the church. Well, I always was what I joke with my wife about—'a hippie-wannabe’, so that type of church attracted me.
The Nichols, a family that lived within about ¾ miles from the church in a big farmhouse, put out a flyer in the church bulletin for a boarder. I jumped at the chance of living with a family with small children, as opposed to living with a lady with large cats. I lived with the Nichols for three years until after Mom died of breast cancer and I graduated from college in 1990. I enjoyed the family atmosphere of living with the Nichols, and will cherish it forever.
After graduating and much searching, I landed a job in Ashland, about 16 miles away, as a community mental health center case manager, where I ended up working almost 29 years. With the blessing of the Grace Fellowship pastor, I sought out a church closer to my new Ashland home and work. It was my first taste of attending what was known as a Pentecostal church, the Ashland Assembly of God. They even practiced speaking in tongues, if you can believe it.
I wasn’t totally lost on the Pentecostal experience. I had visited a former Mennonite Voluntary Service friend in Archbold, Ohio, in the mid-1980s, and had my first experience speaking in tongues after attending his church. I was, however, a baby in Pentecostalism.
I met Dee, my future wife, her husband Jim, and Joseph, their little boy, at the Ashland Assembly of God. Jim was obviously very ill with cancer at the time, and he died several months later. Several months after his death, I asked Dee out, and after one time turning me down, the next time she said “yes”. She actually said "yes" twice--once to going out with me, and the second time to marrying me—“and the rest is history”, as some people say.
Living near Mansfield, we wanted to attend a church closer to home, so we gravitated to a small Nazarene church near our home. The Nazarene denomination has a Pentecostal history, but they no longer practiced Pentecostalism. We made many wonderful friends there. The church, however, ran into some sin trouble with two of their pastors, so we felt compelled to leave.
I tried out several churches after that, and I won’t go into detail about the outcome of those churches, only that we felt led by God that they weren’t what God planned for us.
Now let’s go back a little. Dee, her family, and her late husband Jim, and his family, had a strong history of attending Church of God denomination churches. The denomination headquarters is located in Cleveland, Tennessee, as is also Lee University, a Church of God college. Dee attended and graduated from Lee University. Her late husband Jim’s family also has a long history attending the Ashland Church of God, and Grandma Brown, in her late 80s, still attends there. Church of God churches are well known for their 140-year-rich history and Pentecostal roots, including a strong belief in the supernatural movement of the Holy Spirit.
I’m also drawn to the fact that ‘everyone knows everyone’, if you will. It reminds me of my Mennonite and Amish roots. My wife will spend time with me expressing that she knows ‘so and so’ from her past time in the Church of God churches, or from Lee University.
I visited the Mansfield Church of God, just ½ mile from our home, several times. But I never felt a strong connection there, and quite frankly, I didn’t think the pastor there at that time was very friendly. But in 2019, Dee told me of an older pastor who came out of retirement to become the ongoing pastor there. She said that he was well educated and even had authored some books. Dee is an author also, and I was looking for a well-educated, established pastor to grow close to. The retired pastor and his wife that were there at the time fit the bill to a T.
Some people think that to believe in Pentecostalism is a little extreme, and believers in Pentecostalism are even strange. I beg to differ. I’m a very conservative, concrete thinker. I like things that are black and white. And the Church of God denomination has offered me what I have been looking for for so many years.
There will always be doctrinal differences that come up from leaders and members in the Church of God churches, but I firmly believe that the powerful Spirit of the Living God and the rich history of the Church of God will trump any of these.
Because of the soft spot I have developed for the Church of God, I'm praying, at the age of 72, that I can be in a Church of God church, Lord willing, for the long haul, however long that may be for me.
See you next time.
