Brooke B. - Lebanon, OH
We started attending FBC about a year and a half ago because we knew we needed a church for our babies. I was raised Adventist, and I started going back to that church with my mom for awhile. But, my husband just wouldn’t go. So we came up with a plan, to find a church we both would like. It wasn’t 100% love at first sight for me. I was uncomfortable without church on the sabbath and the rock music and clapping and donuts and coffee was all too foreign. It was a very different vibe than the church I was accustomed to... BUT the words that came out of the pastor’s mouth were also very different and (my husband and I) kept coming back because everyone was so nice. We got little messages telling us people were happy to see us and it made us feel good and welcome. We were all so happy, we were talking about God and love everyday. I was able to talk to my kids so much easier because I had the comfort from God, that he was THE ONLY answer!
Then... people started talking in tongues. We had never heard of praying in the Spirit before, nor did we know how to or why?? I tried to google it but it made things more confusing. So, we spent 5 weeks visiting other churches, wondering if we made a mistake and this wasn’t the right fit for us. We visited FIVE churches in Lebanon and (for us) each was more disappointing than the next. We only heard random feel-good messages, weird ramblings of DO-ing the right thing, and the music was NEVER as good. We came back to Faith Building Church with a newfound eagerness to learn and we weren’t disappointed. We stopped relying on what people said and started opening God’s word for ourselves. Conversations grew at our house about praying in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit of the Lord. My heart surged with a new longing for God and his word! It was all different coming back. It was “my choice” and not a begrudging “we should go to church”!!! A few weeks later I came to hear Pastor Tracy (a guest minister) speak and around 11pm on a Monday night my lifelong allergies were healed!! I kept reminding myself they were healed and speaking the words of my healing over my body. A month or so later I was baptized in this church with a passion and a desire to have revelation knowledge. I actually started to hear God talking to me. BUT... He was asking me to go and heal other people... and I freaked out. I panicked and didn’t know if I was able to do those things He was asking, or if I would look funny, or people would think I was crazy. I wanted to be happy, not crazy, so I rationalized things away. I assumed it was just my imagination and my conscience taking to me.
Sometime later, I saw a lady in a car accident, I was right there, and God told me to go and heal her. Not just to help, but to lay my hands on her and heal her. As I saw other people walk to her car, I thought “no, plenty of people are already there, she doesn’t need your help”... plus I was scared. I walked away from several situations, and the further I walked, the more disappointed in myself I became. I always knew God had a special plan for me and I am blessed that I have always known there is something so much bigger, just waiting for me to step into. But as it smacked me in the face, I was just plain scared. God is so much more than attending a church. He is the breath you take and the sun on your face. It hit me like a ton of bricks when Pastor Anthony talked about the origins of the word wicked and our word “wicker”. It gave me a visual as to what Satan is doing on this earth. He takes something good and confuses us or twists up something that has some good and makes it bad. Recently, on Facebook, I had another pastor tell me NOT to help the homeless because many of them “don’t want help”. He asked that people would just give their money and time to the church and let the church “figure it out”.
BUT... then God told me to buy a man a $3 pack of crackers at Big Lots (seriously) and I didn’t do it — because of what that pastor said. I rationalized THE WORD OF GOD, based on a Facebook conversation from a man I don’t even know, over 3 dollars! The same God that healed me, I struggled to believe in what he wants for me, because of what was convenient to believe based on how I FEEL.
Long story short, going to church is only part of the equation. Learning you ARE THE CHURCH is the bigger part. But, God loves me through all of it, big and small, and I thank him everyday, all day long for talking to me and loving me and connecting me to the people of Faith Building Church. I am the same... but different... and I wouldn’t be here without each and everyone of these people. My ups and downs have flattened out and risen. Work is different. I am different. Love is different. Saying thank you is different. I cry tears of joy! Please come to FBC and find the beginning of your story with God! The best part is finding out He has been there all along!