Visiting our supporting churches, first stop - Titus Bible Church

     With only a couple handful of Sundays left here in the States before we move to the Philippines, we have our schedule full visiting our supporting churches before we leave.  This past Sunday we visited Titus Bible Church (TBC).  One of the things I enjoyed most about support raising was being able to visit a variety of churches.  Although like minded in doctrine and theology, no two churches are structured or organized the same way.  So it is fun to observe the differences and the characteristics that makes each of our supporting churches distinct from one another.  With that said, I thought it would be fun to do a post on each church we visit as a good way to remember the body of believers that have committed to pray for and support us while we are overseas.

    It is fitting that TBC is the first church we visited.  Why?  Well for one, Allan knew the pastor, Chi, before he even decided to attend seminary.  And two, one of the locations they meet is on the UCLA campus, which is where Allan was saved (click here to read his salvation testimony).  I say "one of the locations" because TBC rotates its meeting location among three different locations (UCLA, Encino and Valencia... "have church will travel".)  They do this because they are a new church which began in 2009 and do not yet have their own building.  So they meet in a lecture hall on UCLA campus, or the common recreation room at a member's apartment building, or even the apartment of it's pastor.  The Sunday we visited they were meeting at UCLA.  If you'd like to visit just check their website (linked above in the first paragraph) and it will let you know the location of where they are meeting each week.

    So Allan and I arrived at UCLA and wandered through campus looking for the lecture hall TBC was meeting in for church service.  It was a beautiful day.  Allan tried to remember the exact lecture hall he was in when the Lord saved him back in 2000, but couldn't quite remember.  The picture below is not the building but it was close by.

    Here is the front of their "church building."

     We went inside and found some seats.

 


    Okay, if I ever get put on the commity of a church to make decisions on building a worship center, I am going to advocate for lecture style chairs with flip up desks.  It was brillant!  Both Allan and I said the same thing to each other after the service ended, "wow those desks are a great idea for a church!"

     Unfortunately I missed half of the service because I was in their "nursing room".  But I must say their nursing room had the best view.  Nothing to complain about at all with the accomodations, except there was a very bold and aggressive squirel that eyed me from branch to branch on the tree while shaking his tail from side to side.  Hmm.... is a shaking tail a sign of attack?

      Their service ends right around noon.  At which time they break for lunch.  One good thing about being a new church is that you are small and you can all easily eat a meal together.  The meal time is special because it provides great time for fellowship.  Then after lunch they get together again for their sunday school hour.

      Another unique aspect of this church is that the demographic make up of their church body is mostly college students or singles in their 20's and early 30's.  Besides the pastor and his wife, there is only one other married couple.  Being a young church it will be exciting to watch then grow together in size, age and maturity in Christ.  A fellow missionary told me that it is a special blessing to have a new church support you when you first leave for the field, because as you grow overseas they grow back home and you can grow together over the years.

     We are thankful for these brothers and sisters in Christ from Titus Bible Church of Encino, Valencia and UCLA.  After we had lunch with TBC we went back to the lecture hall where they prayed for us.  I realized that visiting TBC one last time before we moved was important for a variety of reasons.  Being able to say goodbye and have them pray for us helps us close this chapter in our life and look ahead to the next chapter waiting for us in the Philippines.  These farewells and goodbyes we have scheduled now until end of April, are a great blessing to us because it helps change our mindset and focus towards the mission field in the Philippines.  It helps us board that plane with a little more eagerness and excitement and a little less fear, knowing that we have believers back in the states supporting us in prayer.  Thank you Titus Bible Church!