Archive: The Devil Can’t Blast Us Out of Faith or Ministry

By Boyce Bowdon

The Devil can blast us out of our building, but he can’t blast us out of our faith or out of our ministry,” Craig Groeschel, associate pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City, declared on Sunday morning, April 23, 1995.

Spontaneous shouts of “Amen,” and thunderous applause filled the auditorium at Oklahoma City University, where more than 1,000 members and friends of the First UM Church had gathered for worship.

Four days earlier, a 4,800-pound bomb ripped apart the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing at least 168 persons, injuring more than 500 others, and damaging about 200 buildings. One of the buildings most heavily damaged was First United Methodist Church, located across the street from the federal building.

The church basement—which escaped damage—was now being used as a morgue for bodies and body parts extracted from the rubble and debris of the federal building.

Senior pastor Nick Harris and several other staff members were in the church when the bomb exploded. Flying glass cut a custodian’s leg, but his injury was relatively minor. No one else at the church got a scratch, but there was no way the congregation could worship in their building the Sunday following the bombing, which happened to be the church’s 106th birthday. Not only was the structure unsafe, the property was cordoned off as part of a crime scene. No one, not even the pastor, was permitted to enter it. These circumstances did not keep the congregation from worshipping. “Our beautiful old building is probably damaged beyond repair,” Dr. Harris said at the beginning of the service. “But the building is not the church. The people are the church. And now—in the midst of this crisis—is the time for us to be the church.”

Harris then called on three laymen to lead prayers. Larry Bost, lay leader, prayed for the injured. Bill Spence, chairman of the board, prayed for families who had suffered losses. And then, attorney Don Gutteridge, finance chairman, prayed for the people who were responsible for this mass murder of innocent people—the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in the nation’s history.

“If we are to be the church and not a country club,” Gutteridge said emphatically, “we have to remember that the people who did this bombing—whoever they are—are people Jesus Christ died for, just as he died for us. Let us pray.”

After the prayers, a spirited service began. With arms lifted in praise, people sang joyfully. Then Harris preached. His message was clear: “This is a time to remember that our ultimate destiny is in God’s hands, not in the hands of a terrorist.”

Harris knew that God’s hand was on the First UM Church. He had seen plenty of miracles during his 13 years as a pastor of this downtown church. When he came to the church in 1982, average attendance was 140; now it is nearly 1,000. The average age was 72; now it is 30. The 1982 annual budget was $182,000; the 1995 annual budget is $994,000. During the past 8 years, 27 members of the church have entered the full-time ministry, and are now serving in United Methodist churches in Oklahoma and several other states.

Harris had also seen other miracles. In the mid-1980s he had started a Tuesday noon Bible study. Called “Loaves and Fishes,” this was an opportunity for downtown workers to come to the church during their lunch hour for a simple meal and a brief study. More than 500 persons were now attending. They are coming from 42 congregations of 17 denominations, but more than half of them are not active in any church. Many think of Nick as their pastor.

So Harris believed in miracles. He knew God would provide a way for him and his congregation to do what God had called them to do. He was right.

Within minutes of the blast, while the phones were still operating, Harris received a phone call from his bishop, Dan Solomon.

“Bishop Solomon wanted to see if we were hurt. Our conversation meant more to me than I can ever tell you. I knew that he was genuinely concerned for my safety and for the safety of the people on our staff and in our church. He cared about us, and he was praying for us,” Harris said, nearly overcome by emotion.

The afternoon of the bombing, Bishop Solomon invited Harris and other staff members from the First UM Church to come to the conference office for a visit with him and his cabinet, which was in session. For nearly an hour, they met together. Bishop Solomon assured Harris that the conference stood ready to help him and his people. Together they searched for answers to immediate problems. The church had a big singles event scheduled for the weekend. They needed to find a place to have it. And they needed to find a place to worship on Sunday. They needed a place to store equipment and furnishings from the church, and to locate office space. Bishop Solomon and the cabinet reassured Harris that he could count on them and the entire conference to stand by him and his people to help them any way they possibly could.

“I’ve never been more pastored in my whole ministry than I have been by my bishop and my district superintendent since the bombing,” Harris said. “They have cared for me in the midst of all this. And it hasn’t been just because our church pays its apportionments. They have cared for me and my people as human beings. ”

The day following the bombing, Bishop Solomon sent an episcopal letter to Oklahoma Conference churches suggesting that each take an offering for the First UM Church and for ministry to survivors of the disaster.

In response, Harris has received scores of letters from across the state. One was from a fourth grader. She said she was thinking of the people of the church and praying for them; and she included her weekly allowance of five one-dollar bills.

Less than a week after the bombing, Harris received a phone call from Randy Nugent, general secretary of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries.

“I must be honest,” Harris said. “There have been times when I have been critical of the General Board of Global Ministries. But those differences didn’t matter when Nugent called me. I felt his concern for us. And I was touched when Nugent told me the General Board was cutting us a check for $100,000 to help us through this crisis, and that they were also sending out an appeal (Advance Special #982700) for churches across the denomination to help us. What he said to me, the caring that I heard in his voice, just blew me away. ”

Not only United Methodists have come to the aid of Harris and First United Methodist Church of Oklahoma City. For example, First National Center gave the church practically all of the 28th floor of their building in the heart of downtown to use as offices. They also made available a large meeting room on the ground level for the Bible study Harris leads for downtown workers.

Less than a week after the bombing, the pastor of Trinity Baptist Church called Harris, whom he had never met. “Share our building with us!” he said.

St. Luke’s UM Church had made the same offer, but they really didn’t have space in their building since it was being used by the American Red Cross to serve survivors of the bombing.

The First UM Church accepted Trinity’s offer. And they’ve been meeting there ever since. Methodists worship at 9 a.m., while Baptists have Sunday school; then Baptists worship at 10:45 a.m., while Methodists have Sunday school.

There was a slight problem. Trinity didn’t have enough parking spaces for both congregations. But even that did not remain an obstacle. An insurance company a mile away from Trinity invited the United Methodists to use their parking lot. How would members get back and forth from the parking lot? Another answer to prayer: Putnam City UM Church volunteered the use of their large bus to serve as a shuttle.

“I never expected that I would be in a situation where I would need such help,” Harris told me as we sat in his office, reflecting on what he has experienced.

“I’ve always been a pretty independent guy and thought I could handle anything. This has proven to me how unworthy of this kind of love I am, and yet God in his grace has moved on the hearts of people to have compassion.”

He paused for a moment, to regain his composure.

“I must confess that there have been times when I haven’t been this compassionate,” he said. “To see the compassion of people toward me humbles me and makes me re-examine myself as a human being. It’s been a great learning experience.”

I asked him what he had learned.

“Some things that are very precious,” he replied. “For example, I’ve learned that all true Christians are connected. We don’t exist outside of community. Sure, we have different views about certain areas of our theology, but we all agree about what matters most—Jesus Christ is Lord. ”

Harris says many have asked him why God permitted innocent people to be killed by the bomb. “I reply that I don’t know,” Harris explained. “I am not God. But I teach my people that ‘why’ is not the right question. The right question is ‘what.’ What does God want us to do in response to this disaster?”

He believes the bomb can be a wake-up call if the church faithfully proclaims God’s message.

“This is a priceless moment for the church,” Harris said. “People are more receptive to our message right now than they have been in a long time. It’s a time for us to speak boldly and clearly, to help people get their priorities straight, to encourage them to take time to enjoy life, to savor every moment, to love their children more, and to quit clinging to things and start clinging to Christ.”

Yes, Craig Groeschel, the associate pastor, summed up the situation accurately that Sunday morning following the bombing. “The Devil had blasted the people of First United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City out of their building. But the Devil has not blasted them out of their faith or out of their ministry.”

Boyce A. Bowdon is the director of communications for the Oklahoma Conference of the UM Church. Dr. Bowdon is the author of Selling Your Church in the ’90s: A Public Relations Guide for Clergy and Laity (Koinonia).

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Join Our Mailing List!

Click here to sign up to our email lists:

•Perspective Newsletter (weekly)
• Transforming Congregations Newsletter (monthly)
• Renew Newsletter (monthly)

Make a Gift

Global Methodist Church

Is God Calling You For More?

Blogs

Latest Articles: