Sunday night at the Sellers’ house:

We had some very awesome visitors with us tonight! Besides the Maisens, Harris’s, Sellers’s, Runyan, and Patsy, Leroy and Deana from Gurdon came for the very first time and we had a great time getting to know them.  Also we were very excited that Lon and Amanda Vining, missionaries in Montreal CA,  were able to come and share with us. They started the ball rolling here in Arkadelphia 10 years ago which eventually turned in to the church group we are today. So it was very special to re-connect with them.

We checked in using “SASHET” over dinner, which was amazing btw! Bonnie made chicken and dumplings and everybody else brought a veritable feast of goods. Then we retired to the living room to pray, sing, and hear from the Lord from each other.

Lon shared the four foundations that God put on his heart for what a church should be which has really shaped his ministry in Montreal and became the theme of the rest of the evening. The acronym for the four are “STMR”. STM happens to be the name of the Montreal public transportation system and the R represents the rails of the subway system (just to help remember the acronym).

A church should be…

  • Scriptural
  • Transformational
  • Missional
  • Relational

We then read through Mathew 28:16-20 (the great commission) and looked at how STMR are all in that passage. Without even one of these four legs a local expression of church will fall off course and eventually freeze up and die.