Personal Narrative: My Faith Community Practice

Today was a boring and very uncomfortable day for me. Everyone know my last day here at Grace Christian Center is tomorrow so everyone is telling me that they’re sorry that I’m leaving. I’m not sure if its true or not , but its nice to hear. When I walked through the doors of GCC I went straight back to my seat and started cleaning out my desk. I don’t have much in there but I want to make sure that I leave it in better shape than when I got it. Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean that I have to leave my work area cluttered. After cleaning up my area I decided that I was going to go downstairs to eat lunch with the rest of the staff member, which was odd because that’s something that I normally run away from. Me and the staff ate

Walking through the forest, a lone owl hoots at my presence. There are thousands of creatures accompanying me in this dense wood, yet my eyes catch only this owl. The leaves crunch under my feet; the predators and the prey of the forest watch in curiosity as this strange intruder stamps across their land. I know they’re there, somewhere, yet they stay shrouded in their leafy homes. It was in that moment that I found what fascinates me the most: why am I here among these creatures? It wasn’t a feeling of alienation, rather, a lack of understanding for the purpose of our existence.

I am an atheist, but it wasn't always that way. My entire life there was a constant pressure on me to accept that there was a supreme being that created all. Even at a young age I couldn’t bring myself to fully believe this. I continued grasping for straws because, just like every other religious person, I was scared of the “consequences” that would come with not believing. My Non-Denominational Christian Church promoted telling this to everyone, even children.

After worship at church, our team rented a Mercedes van and a minivan. It was my first time in a van and it was pretty cool. This van was especially large and could seat 18 people. During the time we were on the road, I got to read a book, talk with my dad, and talk with my friends. We got to eat dinner at Chipotle and we drove to the church. We passed the houses, which were very small. Some of them of them had a weather-beaten and rundown look. Finally, we arrived at Eight Street Community Church..

The Christian Community Service Center is an aspiring non-profit organization whose mission statement is to, “serve the poor, hungry, disabled, and otherwise needy while respecting their religious, ethnic or cultural differences”.

Not realizing I've fallen into a deep paralyzing sleep until the next morning. Sliding out of the foot of the bed with the inability to stop. This vision stuck with me. Talking with a church member, Jeff Hanson, a lean guy jolly with dark circles under his eyes, and nonjudgmental Christian, a friend of my parents.

Writing this Professional Project required some deep soul searching while deepening my spirituality to train the veterans of Tabernacle African Methodist Episcopal Church to become Disciples of Christ. Completing the nine training sessions will be beneficial for the congregation. A selection of a Steering Committee from the various boards within the church will assist me with the effectiveness of the Professional Project. Teaching the veterans about The Fruit of the Spirit will strengthen my spiritual walk with Christ as well. Each branch of the military has military core values and a comparison will be made with each Fruit of the Spirit during the training process. Presentations and workshops on The Fruit of the Spirit will undergird

This past month I got the opportunity to attend church with my friend Norbentina who is originally from Honduras. She attends Southwest Christian Church which is an all speaking Spanish congregation. I accompanied Norbentina to a Sunday morning service and as you can imagine it was quite different than what I’m usually use to.

I accepted Christ at the age of 12 at Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church in Bells, TN. It was rural church and over the years, pastors would not stay long because it was a great place for young pastors to get experience and leave for a larger congregation. At the age of 17, I joined the military and my spiritual formation really began to blossom. After traveling over four continents, I had an experience to learn from different ministers who actually went to seminary as opposed to the ones who did not attend an actual school. Every chaplain in the military had a seminary degree and the ones who captured my attention put emphasis on learning Greek and Hebrew.

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. -Martin Luther King, Jr. This quote appeals to the journey that I believe that I am beginning on to develop what’s next for me as I leave Wiley College. This Field experience has helped me to begin got map out where I want to work after I’ve met all requirements for my undergraduate degree. I had the opportunity to volunteer in the office of the Chaplain of Wiley College. The experience of ministry is something I believe you have to be equipped for while working as a campus pastor to students on a college campus.

battle with cancer, I tried killing myself cause I thought that God was punishing me for

When I was thirteen, my family packed up and moved from our small New Jersey town to Austin. I was dreading the move, worried that Austin was going to be a horrible desert with cowboys, as everyone I went to school with expected it to be as well. Obviously, I was pleasantly surprised at the overall lack of deserts and almost completely nonexistent population of cowboys, but I was even more surprised at the open-minded environment in which I was living. I didn’t expect a city in Texas to be as liberal as it was nor did I expect the people to be as generally tolerant of other religions. For once in my life, my religious affiliation wasn’t one of the first things questioned when I was making acquaintances. If I wanted to tell someone about what I believed in, or in this case what I didn’t believe in, I could do it on my own time when I was comfortable enough to

I never went to college scarcely school at all, even so, I have always been a child of God, He is essential to me. I'm called by God and know God's voice, from where only education is from, replicated in me, my mind is Christ mind, Christ mind is my mind, I like to think I'm having a mind melt with Jesus. Born into poverty, neglect, physical and mental abuse, shamefulness and God.

“You know I’m typically a happy-go-lucky kind of woman. I don’t give a shit what other people think of me and there’s a reason for that. I don’t talk about my past very often. When I do, I make a point to tell the good parts. We’ve been friends for several years and I’ve let little things slip here and there. Doing so never bothered me because you’re tight-lipped. You’re an intelligent woman so I’m sure you’ve pieced together some of the little things,” Megan said, wondering what thoughts might be floating through Faith’s mind now that she was opening up and revealing her dark side after years of keeping their interaction full of fun and games.

Interviewing several pastors can be eye opening in that you will begin to see different character qualities, disciplines and where they are in their spiritual journey. My intention was to interview several pastors, however, I was unable to obtain the responses needed to complete a study such as that. I did get to meet with one pastor, and I believe that it was truly difficult for him to answer most of the questions even after giving him some time to think about each question. My interview was with a very intelligent and spiritual man named Les Harvey. He is currently serving at the Church of the Highlands Greystone campus under many great leaders.