Driving down Interstate 5 a few months ago, I couldn’t wait to get to our new home. Eugene is a place that has been on my heart and mind for the past 14 months and I know that my family and I are not here by mistake.
I have felt the Lord’s leading from the very beginning. I grew up in San Jose, Calif., and even stayed in the area for college, attending San Jose State University. It was during my time in college that I came to know Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. Soon after, I felt God pushing me to serve him in pastoral ministry.
Knowing this and being very excited, I enrolled at Western Seminary in Los Gatos, Calif., which is an extension campus to the main campus located in Portland. Little did I know I would eventually end up in Oregon!
I served as a youth pastor in the San Jose area for six years and thought that I would do youth ministry for the rest of my life. I had a deep desire to pour into the next generation for Christ and loved what I did.
But then in January 2007, I felt God prompting me to start a church from scratch in an area of the country that desperately needs a Bible-teaching church. Eugene came into my mind immediately and I began to pray from that day on that if it truly was from the Lord that he would confirm it and that I would step out in faith and obedience. I also began to pray that God would increase the capacity of my heart and my wife’s heart to love the people in Eugene even though we had never been there.
Not wanting to react on a whim, I continued to pray and spend time in the Bible. As the weeks and months went by, it became apparent that this was the Lord’s desire for us. God began to answer our prayers and confirmed our need to move up to Eugene through some divinely open doors that I feel could have only come from him. So I resigned from my last church with the blessing of the leadership and now here we are.
I’ve always had a passion and vision of what the church is meant to look like and as I continue to study the Bible, there is a deep desire to grow the beautiful, pure “Bride of Christ” that I read about in Scripture. I believe there is a deep hunger that people have, to see something that is genuine and honest when it comes to God’s church. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist now, but I know this is what God wants us to start. So our church is all about loving God and loving people. It isn’t a perfect love by any stretch of the imagination, but I am enjoying the growing process.
Joe Lee is lead pastor for Overflow Bible Church. This column is coordinated by Lane Interfaith Alliance, a network of over 40 religious traditions and spiritual teachings. For more information, visit www.laneinterfaithalliance.org or call 344-5693.