NACC Viewpoint 2: A Good Fit

By Milton Jones

It was so subtle you may have missed it. Just a handshake. That”s all it was.

It had happened before in Kentucky not far from where we were gathered. Two men shook hands as representatives of others who simply wanted to go back to the Bible and have unity based upon that plea. Years ago it was Barton W. Stone and Raccoon John Smith.

But this day it would be two less conspicuous people. As unity started in our roots, in Louisville it would happen the same way””with a handshake.

On this day, Ryan Christian walked out from one side of the stage. Eli Reyes entered from the other. Ryan is the a cappella worship leader from the Richland Hills Church of Christ. Eli leads for the Southside Christian Church, an instrumental church in Orlando. They shook hands, turned, looked at us, and then there was harmony.

Maybe, more than anything else, they represented the symbol of our division””music. They had been talking and praying for some time, but they had only a few days to actually work with their two teams and learn to make music together. Yet Eli said the minute the two groups started practicing there was unity, not only in spirit but sound. Ryan told me about the amazing way the two groups had instantly bonded in rehearsal to produce a unified melody. And so they sang together. And so did we. And the symbol that had divided us for a hundred years somehow got lost in the harmony. It was a good fit.

I can honestly say by the end of the week as we went in and out of a cappella and instrumental music that I would have had to think even to know if I was singing with or without instruments.

More Than Music

But it was more than the music. Someone came up to me at a restaurant as a bunch of us were eating together. They said that maybe we should intentionally get with others from the “other side of the keyboard,” instead of hanging out with our own group.

Since I worship in a blended church, I wasn”t sure whom that meant for me. So I started examining who was around the table. Nearly every branch of both sides of our fellowship was already represented around the table.

Fellowship had already happened. We were laughing, eating, and sharing about the Lord just as naturally as could be. We were a good fit.

A little later a guy from a Christian church came up to me and said he had just heard a guy from the church of Christ who was a little bit reactionary and perhaps legalistic. About an hour later a guy from the church of Christ came up to me and said that he had just heard a guy from the Christian church who was a little bit reactionary and perhaps legalistic.

We are a good fit. We fit so well we have the same problems.

I love the Bible exchanges that started with Dave Stone and Jeff Walling. It was a picture that fit our movement so well. We do preach the same truth. If you didn”t know it before you got to Louisville, you know it now.

It was like the music. After a couple of days, you forgot whether the preacher was from an a cappella church or instrumental. It didn”t really matter because they were preaching the same thing. No one was saying, “He”s my preacher.” It was “He”s our preacher.”

My favorite picture of the event was when Marvin Phillips and Allan Dunbar exchanged Bibles. When people from a cappella groups ask me who Allan Dunbar is, I say, “He”s the Marvin Phillips of the Christian church.” When people in the Christian church ask me who Marvin Phillips is, I say, “He is the Allan Dunbar of the churches of Christ.”

And here they were on the stage side by side, exchanging Bibles with arms around each other and tears flowing down their faces. It was a good fit.

More than a Convention

Here”s what wasn”t there””competition, judgment, or comparison. We accepted one another just like the Bible says. We were a good fit.

There will be naysayers who downplay the event. They will say it was only a convention. They will say it represented only a select group. But they weren”t there.

For me, it was like the Woodstock of the church. Everyone will have wished they had been there.

It will be like the Berlin Wall. It came down whether you were there or not, but you will never be the same because it came down.

It was historic. It”s not the end. It was the beginning. Like the handshake. Two hands that connected well.

Whenever you find a good fit, it just feels so good. Louisville felt good.

 

 

Milton Jones is preaching minister with Northwest Church of Christ, Shoreline, Washington.