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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
October 2001 |
My Witness:
A new home, a new family
By Amy McCorkle
I want to tell you about how God blessed me with a new home on Sunday, Sept. 16. I am a 26-year-old, recently married, newly employed middle school teacher. If ever someone needed a prayer circle to support her, it was me. I prayed a few months ago for a new church home to renew my flagging spiritual life and breathe life back into my faith. I knew that God was calling me back to his will in my life, and to bring my life back into proper focus. And so when I prayed, God answered. He sent me the Rev. James W. Williams and Open Arms Ministries, an extension of Good Shepherd United Methodist in Fort Wayne.
Now, I wasn't exactly expecting this answer to my prayer. I am a young white woman living in a middle class neighborhood on one side of my city. Rev. Williams is a middle-aged black man opening a church in a diverse (both racially and socio-economically) neighborhood on the opposite side of town. What could possibly fit about those circumstances, you ask? God said "Absolutely everything."
My parents are long-time members of Good Shepherd, and introduced me to James before the church was even off the ground. They invited him to a local sporting event, where Rev Williams' quick wit and warm manner were immediately evident to us all. I discovered we shared a passion for the theater. We both were terrible audience members at the basketball game -- yelling, cheering, and screaming. Any minister that I follow must have that same Hoosier Hysteria for basketball that I do. So, my curiosity was piqued. I wanted to find out more about Open Arms.
I volunteered to help paint the narthex when James was in the middle of renovating the building. I can't describe the peace and joy that enveloped me from the moment I stepped into the building at 5311 Hessen Cassel Rd. It wasn't the first time I had been in the church. My family had attended there for a brief time when it was still Epworth UMC. The building had gone into a bad state of disrepair, but the spirit had definitely grown. I could feel that good things were going to happen there.
I began attending the 11:00 a.m. service on Sundays and the Bible study on Thursdays. By that time, a terrific volunteer associate had joined with James to minister in this new place, a wonderful man by the name of the Rev. Donovan Coley. Donovan has a heart of gold, a working spirit, and a voice that the arch-angels must envy. When Donovan sings, you cannot possibly think anything is wrong in the world.
Unfortunately, things are wrong in our world. Our church officially opened the Sunday after our nation's tragic events of Tuesday, Sept. 11. And as our ministers so poignantly pointed out, what better response to the horrible events of that day than to open a church -- to show those who would do evil that God's people have a different agenda -- one that would conquer their plan. And we weren't opening just any church, we were opening Open Arms. We were opening a church with a vision that America's distraught people need to get back to and hold dear in their hearts-a vision of an integrated church, where people of all walks of life could truly be a family, love each other, and worship together.
Amy McCorkle is a member of Open Arms Ministry, an extension of Good Shepherd UMC in Fort Wayne.
Last updated on 01/14/2004