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John
Featherston - Pastor of Serenity Church
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In October, 1987, I was standing on the sidewalk in
a tough neighborhood near downtown Dallas. I was in
my early 30s, a husband, a daddy, the pastor for one
the largest churches of my denomination in the
world...and a drug addict drowning in my addiction.
How does something like that happen to somebody like
me? That's a really long story that I'd be happy to
share with you sometime. I had just come to a point
that I knew my life was spinning deeply out of
control and all my efforts and all my promises
weren't fixing it.
It's an old question...but it hit me again that
Fall..."who ministers to the ministers"? Most folks
would call their pastor. I was the pastor. Who was I
supposed to call? Several weeks earlier, I'd been
having dinner with a friend. As we finished, I
invited him to go with me wherever it was I was
going next. He said, "no, thanks, I'll take a rain
check...I'm on my way to a meeting of Narcotics
Anonymous". I knew nothing about those people---but
I knew they were helping my buddy with HIS problem.
When I finally hit the bottom of my pit--with
nowhere to turn--all I could remember were those two
words: Narcotics Anonymous.
It was the middle of the morning. I picked up the
phone, called directory assistance, and asked if
they had a listing. I called the number I was given
and the woman who answered asked how she could help
me. I told her: "I think I may be in real trouble.
Is it possible I'm a 'drug addict'? I don't know
what to do!". She gave me the address of that scary
block in the tough neighborhood where I was
standing. She told me to be there at noon. Tell them
what I had just told her. They had answers. They'd
show me the solution.
I had knocked on every door on that block looking
for the address she'd given me...body shops,
abandoned buildings, crumbling warehouses, an old
auto repair that was closed for lunch. I finally
stood there and watched to see if there was some
place I had missed. A few minutes before noon the
most eclectic grab-bag of humanity you could imagine
began to make their way down a dirt alley between
two of those old buildings. There were street people
who looked like they had slept in the dirt. They
were very expensively dressed, immaculately groomed,
downtown yuppies from the nearby office towers.
Black people, white people, brown people, rich
people, poor people...people you couldn't imagine
spending the lunch hour together under any normal
circumstances.
Finally, at straight up noon, a huge biker roared up
on his Harley. I had never seen that many tattoos,
that many chains, or that much leather on one human
being in my entire life! He turned and roared down
that same alley. I said to myself: "John, you're
probably going to die here...but that alley is the
last place you haven't looked! Don't leave here
without finding those people who can help you". I
walked down that alley to a rolled up warehouse
garage door. I peeked inside and all those people
were sitting in a circle, visiting, hugging,
laughing, drinking coffee. I asked if this was the
address I was looking for. They said: "Come on in.
Welcome home!" Somebody got me a folding chair and
pulled it into the circle. Somebody else went and
got me a cup of coffee. A few minutes later they all
prayed together and somebody read 12 spiritual
principles that they said were saving their lives.
The rest of that hour I watched those people open up
the deepest hurts you can imagine, share them with
each other, love each other, encourage each other.
What I saw unfold in that next hour changed the rest
of my life. I've said many times since that day that
I went through two Christian universities and a
seminary--and that I saw "church" unfold around me
that day for the first time in my life. In the
months that followed, the "disconnect" between the
places where I would go to "do church"...and the
powerful, loving, accepting, healing, forgiving,
unshockable, grace-dispensing, fellowship of that
circle and thousands like it around the world...was
desperately frustrating to me.
A few weeks later, I sat on our couch late one night
and told my wife: "If God will just continue to pull
me out of this hole I'm in--someday I want to be
part of a movement where all of that is in the same
place. I want to bring the sweet healthy parts of
Christ's church, and the grace, acceptance, healing,
and power of those fellowships that are saving my
life...and weave them together in the same place. I
think I would call it 'Serenity Church' so people
like me would know it's for us."
It was a long journey from that night on our couch,
and nearly 20 years later, that God gave birth to
that very thing. I thank Him constantly that He lets
me be part of it. On Saturday night, June 3, 2006,
He gave birth to Serenity Church. It's everything I
dreamed it would be in those early weeks of my
healing and sobriety. Every week He brings fresh
"broken folks" like us to a fellowship where Christ
is the Higher Power and those 12 spiritual
principles that saved my life are preached and
practiced. It's truly "church in the trenches". We
have a front row seat to watch people stop dying and
start living week after week.
We're a very exclusive fellowship...strictly
reserved only for people who are broken...people who
have things that hurt them that are out of their
control. I've been looking hard for over 20 years
for somebody who DOESN'T qualify. I haven't met one
yet!
If You
"qualify"..."welcome home"! Serenity Church is the
family you've been looking for. There's a place in
our family for you. Drop me a line. Let's visit.
I've got stories to tell. I'd love to hear yours.
john@serenitychurch.net
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