When God’s Spirit Moves

In the 50’s and 60’s, Morgan Avenue Baptist Church was one of the strongest churches in Corpus Christi. But time took its toll and the numbers decreased to 30 silver-headed people meeting in a corner of the building. The physical building located in the inner city was also deteriorating. But the beautiful sanctuary that once echoed the praise of 700 worshippers singing “Blessed Assurance” maintained its stately grace.

Pastor Bobby Graham and the remnant considered selling the church. After all, they had prayed for years that God would resurrect the church. On several occasions, they had welcomed a Hispanic Pastor to use their facilities. But these stayed only a few months.

The building was decaying, but the vision of the people of Morgan Avenue was still present. When the possibility of the church making a come back was least likely, they voted to update their sputtering central air conditioning for their sanctuary. I remind you, nobody is meeting in their huge worship center. The skeptic cries, “Why pay for air conditioning for an empty building?”

Bay Area Fellowship is the largest church in Corpus Christi Association. Bil Cornelius regularly speaks to a congregation of 6,000. Talking with Bil at lunch one day, we recounted the events and partners that had participated in their climb to begin a mega-church. Bil thoughtfully commented, “We do need to be more on the giving end.”

God moved in the heart of Bay Area Fellowship to take up offerings for Morgan Avenue Baptist Church. But, this was no ordinary offering. The Children’s Ministry of Bay Area Fellowship had the children collect money in socks. That’s right – socks. SOCKS in an acronym for “Save Our Community Kids”. With that offering, a large work team from Bay Area descended on the church to create a colorful and stimulating pre-school and nursery area. The finished project was impressive! But the critic would remind us that Morgan Avenue doesn’t have any children. Faith hears the children long before the first child enters the room.

Ely Perez, Pastor of Family First, and I became good friends. His love for the Lord was contagious. I invited him and his small group to use our office space until they could locate a better place to meet for worship. Soon they were ministering to 130 nursing students in worship services weekly at our office. I wrote an article in the Anchor about this phenomenal experience.

Bobby Graham, Pastor of Morgan Avenue reads the article, calls me and extends an invitation to have Ely Perez and Family First begin meeting at Morgan Avenue. Family First gladly accepted the offer. In less than 3 years, Family First has an attendance regularly of close to 300. Many of those are children enjoying the wonderful space provided by Bay Area Fellowship. The central air is a constant reminder of the Spirit of God blowing over a congregation who refused to let the vision die.

I am truly amazed at how God uses all our pieces to assemble His plan. That’s what happens when churches pray together, give unselfishly for the good of another, and trust God’s promptings. That is what happens when we work together. We can do more together than we can do alone. That’s what an Association is all about!

Ed Jump, Director of Missions
Corpus Christi Baptist Association
Corpus Christi, TX