The following is part one of a three part guest series from Jerry Moon, a former United Pentecostal Church member.
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While I was thirty two years old when I actually left the United Pentecostal Church, I would have left sooner had some other circumstances not come up. Looking back, maybe I should have taken advantage of the situation, but I was trying to do things right. I didn’t realize that any way I did it was going to be considered wrong. I didn’t even tell my wife or family what I was going to do.
A year or two before I left, the pastor’s son got a divorce. In a effort to make his son look good in his divorce, the pastor started preaching about it. How it wasn’t his son’s fault and how she was at fault. The problem was, that about thirty members of the church was kin to the little gal. They all packed up and left. I waited for things to settle down so I wouldn’t get the blame for a church split. But all is fair in love and war. I was blamed anyway for those leaving, even though I waited.
I had been praying hard about what I was going to do. I had put a list of what I thought was an impossible task before God. He not only fulfilled these tasks, but went above and beyond what I asked of him.
One of the items on my list was I felt I needed a license. I’ve since learned that in Texas one is not necessary. I had told God in my prayers that if I could get one with the UPC, I would throw it all out and just submit to what I was in. After all, at this point, despite what I had been through growing up, I still had a UPC mindset. I never got over the hurdles to ever even apply for a license with the UPC, but I did get hold of a small organization called the Biblical Apostolic Organization. Dr. Marvin Arnold was over it. A very kind ex-UPC minister that had been kicked out of the UPC for writing a book Pentecost Before Azusa. I thank him for the kindness he showed.
In the period between getting license with the Biblical Apostolic Organization and leaving the UPC, I got a phone call. A pastor in another town wanted to have lunch with me. I went, not knowing what he wanted.
He began to explain that he wanted me to come to his church and be the music minister. He explained that he couldn’t afford to pay me, but promised that any tithe that I paid in would be given back to me as salary. While it sounded tempting, I’ve been through and seen enough bad things in the ministry to realize this might not be a good thing. Besides all that, what this pastor was trying to do was highly unethical. I’ve seen so many bad things in the ministry that I’m now afraid to tell someone that I’m even a preacher. He knew it was unethical. He asked me not to tell anyone.
God sometimes goes above and beyond what we ask for. One night at McDonald’s after church, we were sitting at a table with a man and wife that was older than us. Let me remind you that no one knew what I was working on. I hadn’t even discussed this with my wife. I wasn’t too surprised when he looked at me and said, “What this town needs is another church.” I just nodded in agreement. Then he looked me in the eye and said, “God told me you’re the man.”
When I left McDonald’s that night I knew this wasn’t something that had leaked out. You had to to tell someone to have a leak and I hadn’t told anyone. I tried my best to act surprised, like this was news to me. But he added fuel to an already burning fire.
Another prayer I had been praying was to provide us a church. Ironic that I didn’t want to start in a storefront, but now we own a storefront. God provided. The Church of God of Prophecy put their building up for sale and they even financed it for us.
We later sold this little church and bought a storefront. The last UPC preacher that came by to explain how wrong we were was surprised to learn we owned free and clear our little storefront. God is a provider.
The last service I was in before I left the United Pentecostal Church couldn’t have been anymore God ordained. I was the youth minister of the church. Keep in mind that up to this night no one knew what I was fixing to do.
I’ll never forget what the pastor preached. The topic was what do you want to do for Christ. I couldn’t stand up and tell what God had laid on my heart like every one else was doing because that wasn’t the appropriate place to do it. But you can imagine my shock with me sitting there, when the former youth minister announced that he wanted to be the youth minister again.
After service I went in and told the pastor what I wanted to do. And that night the former youth pastor’s wish was met. He was the youth minister again.
When I left, I didn’t split the church. I took my brother and his wife, who would have left already had it not been for me asking them to wait because I was working on something. My brother had gone through a divorce and let me tell you, ex’s going to the same church doesn’t work very well.
That last night at my UPC church was the first time to reveal what I was doing to anyone. So far so good, or so I thought.
Next I told my wife, my brother and his wife. My wife was nervous. Then I told my parents. My dad assured me they were behind our new adventure, but that they were going to stay at the UPC church. His excuse was that he didn’t want people to see it as a family thing. I knew it was because they now had so much invested in the building. But I wasn’t telling them to try to get them to go with me. In fact, I was glad they were staying. I wanted a clean break.
I told the pastor of the Spanish UPC church. We had been friends for years and I wanted to keep their friendship. I told the oldest elder in the church. Years ago he had a dream that a young church rose up out of the older church. I felt his dream was coming to pass. He didn’t seem to share my excitement.
The adventure finally begins.
See Part 2.
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