More Than Chairs

As you know, we recently purchased new chairs for our worship area by asking everyone in the church to "Buy-a-Brook-Chair". We had a wonderful response! The folding chairs are gone and the new chairs look great.

I asked everyone in the church to consider purchasing a chair not only for each person in his or her family, but also for others who have yet to attend The Brook. Some in our church bought 2, 3 or 4 additional chairs with this in mind. I also asked everyone to pray for those who would eventually come to sit in them.

I have to tell you a couple of stories related to this.

One family in our church felt led to purchase 2 additional chairs. They weren’t for sure why 2, but they responded to the Lord’s leadership and prayed for those who might come to occupy them. The husband sent me this email... "At the onset of the program, I felt the Holy Spirit move me to purchase 2 extra chairs.  At the time, I didn’t know why and wasn’t sure who the “extra” two were for, but I didn’t question it and just went with what I felt." Later that same week, after giving the check to the church, a contractor was working at their home. This individual from our church struck up a conversation with him and the matter of church came up. The contractor shared that he and his wife were actually looking for a new church home. So, our church member invited them to The Brook… and the two have been coming almost every week since. Our church member said, "It was amazing that God answered our prayers by sending two people our way to sit in the chairs we bought."

Another person in our church told me how they purchased extra chairs, but did so with some symbolism in mind. You see he has a family member that lives in another state that he loves deeply and for whom he and his wife are praying. This family member is distant from the Lord. Rather than only purchase chairs for someone who would attend our church, this person purchased chairs on behalf of their relative and their relative’s family. When telling me the story, my friend from The Brook became emotional. For he and his wife, the chairs presented them a material way to express their love, prayers and desire for God to work in this loved one's life. He and his wife are asking God to work and that someday this relative will sit in chairs in a church where they live and where their faith will become real.

Cool huh?

We also had a pastor from a foreign country who attended our church on the one day we made the announcement about the chairs… before leaving the country, he felt led to purchase 8 chairs!

Amazing!

One more story...

When the old chairs were loaded up to be donated to a ministry called Frontier Camp, I posted a photo on Facebook of the old chairs on the trailer about to leave the church. You wouldn’t believe the kind of sentimental comments that were posted! Here are some of them...

“I remember those!! What a great 20 years of memories!”

"Wow! That is so awesome to pass them on. Mike, remember when they fell out of the back of the truck when you were driving (when we were meeting in the school)? I remember not being able to help pick them up because I was laughing so hard. Lots of great memories!!!"

“Very sentimental to me..... I was married with my guests sitting in the chairs and we had our daddy's memorial service while we sat on the chairs.” 

“I remember sitting in the very back in one chair, feet propped on another when I was uber pregnant and should've been on bedrest.”

“First chair on the back row far left side is where I found Jesus once again!”

"My whole family (me, my mother, father, and sister) came to faith at one point or another while sitting in those chairs. Many memories of dramas, lock-ins, singing, and stacking those things...tearing up thinking about it all!"

“Where to start....those chairs have been a part of my life for over 18 years....so many blessings, prayers, tears, and laughter have taken place on those chairs. We've celebrated the passing of dear loved ones, the marriages of friends and dedications of many children. You will be missed "green" chairs...”

Awesome!

This is of course not an article about the importance of chairs. That misses the point. The material and physical are not most important. The core idea here is that material things become spiritual tools when God commissions them for His use. This truth is found all throughout the Scripture: the tabernacle, the manna, the cloud by day and the fire by night, the burning bush, Moses' staff, the Jordan river stones (Joshua), Gideon's fleece, Samson's hair, the Jewish temple and it's furnishings, etc.... all physical and temporal, but used by God to achieve a faith purpose.

Chairs, buildings, land, tables, equipment, etc. become much more than metal, plastic, dirt, bricks and mortar when purposed for God’s glory. They become part of sacred spaces for God to work! They are the physical realms through which God reveals himself. They can at times even represent faith and our willingness to follow God because when used for His glory they have the potential to facilitate ministry and bring about life-change.

Need proof? Just talk to some of the people who commented above!