By Stephon Carter
Chicago, Illinois, USA
In August of 2023, I came from Chicago to Chattanooga Community of Christ for a four-week internship that turned into seven weeks because I didn’t want to leave. I experienced God in tangible ways. It wasn’t a school-classroom experience or time to debate beliefs. It was constantly “living” a mission for Jesus Christ. It was as close to living the Book of Acts as I had experienced.
The New Testament disciples went to different places, stayed a short while, and caused through their words and actions for people to experience and accept Jesus Christ. Those needing ministry received Jesus’s peace, new hope, healing, and genuine love. Often, the disciples’ actions upset those who wanted to control the situation. This is precisely what happens every day in Chattanooga ministry. People are added to the church. This ministry is alive and makes God’s love a reality to the people they touch.
I’m not saying it transformed me. But it did enhance my faith and ability to serve as a disciple forever. I am incredibly grateful. If I live in Chattanooga, I am confident I will become a member of this Community of Christ. I am telling you, this is real gospel living.
My arrival in Chattanooga occurred during a personal faith crisis. I had been to many Christian denominations and other faiths, seeking what God desires of me. Going to Chattanooga is definitely what God wanted for me. I encountered a living gospel where action-taking is the way of life. I’m very grateful.
My testimony is that God is involved with and at the center of Chattanooga Community of Christ ministries. My grandmother, Lynn, is a former neighbor of Ms. Kathy, Pastor Jimmy Munson’s wife. Grandmom and Kathy were classmates from grade school through middle school. Grandmom’s family moved to Florida when she was in eighth grade, which ended her connection with Kathy.
Nearly fifty years later, my grandmother found Kathy on social media. They have a social-media friendship now. My grandmother and our family remain active in the Lutheran church.
My arrival in Chattanooga occurred during a personal faith crisis. I had been to many Christian denominations and other faiths, seeking what God desires of me. Going to Chattanooga is definitely what God wanted for me. I encountered a living gospel where action-taking is the way of life. I’m very grateful.
My parents and I were in a somewhat-hostile relationship as I chose to go to trade school to become an electrician. My parents are huge advocates for university studies. They believe earning a degree is the only avenue to success and sustaining success. My parents have a real-estate business in Cook County, Illinois, and remain active in our faith and church.
In my parents’ estimation, my two older brothers are considered highly successful. My oldest brother is a tax attorney in Rockford, Illinois, and already has many assets at age 31. My other brother is 26 years old and an officer in the Navy. He has a master’s degree in strategic intelligence.
One night, my parents and I had a heated argument. Dad again pointed out all my brothers’ successes. Emotions flared. I felt attacked, causing me to diminish my brothers’ successes.
Because my brothers no longer are involved in their faith, I yelled that their priorities were money and not God. I attacked their choices by saying unfair and judgmental stuff, such as “If you don’t have God on your mind then you only have fake successes.” This resulted in me being banned from living in or visiting my parents’ houses.
I moved into an apartment with a friend. My father began asking me if I was gay. I am not, but why should it matter? The Lutheran faith embraces the LBGT community, but Dad was acting like I was committing some unforgivable act if I were gay. Again, I am not, but many of my friends are. Never before has it been a problem for my parents. It seemed as if Dad wanted to criticize and belittle anything I did or thought.
For the first time in my life, I began to struggle with depression. My faith in God and my belief in the goodness of humans were in crisis. My grandmother, like her childhood friend, Ms. Kathy, is a tranquil person but possesses a very keen awareness of what is going on in the lives of others. She knew I was having an inner crisis. We talked, and I opened my soul to her.
Grandmother didn’t want me to lose my faith, so she made arrangements for me to do this internship in Chattanooga. It was a God thing.
Grandmom and Kathy had only renewed their acquaintance about two weeks earlier. But grandmother knew I needed to get away and go somewhere to serve others. I humbly admit I have a servant’s heart and am the guy who has compassion for the people for whom others have contempt.
Grandmother didn’t want me to lose my faith, so she made arrangements for me to do this internship in Chattanooga. It was a God thing.
From my internship, I have written more than eighty lessons on how to be a blessing to others. I wanted to share some of them but couldn’t decide on which ones. Again, my grandmom’s wisdom guided me to share my journey and how you all (Chattanooga Community Christ members, donors, and friends) blessed me when I was in need.
One lesson in my internship was to confront yourself first when you have the slightest contempt, anger, or unpleasant thoughts toward another. After facing yourself with honesty, extra grace, and mercy, go with God to confront those you feel unkindness or anger toward. The key is “go with God.” Jesus Christ always seeks reconciliation, never cancellation.
As indicated before, I was in no hurry to leave the internship as it was the most genuine experience of God’s love in action I’d ever had. But I did go home and arrange a confrontation of love with Dad. Our family, nineteen people in all, gathered around Mom’s dining-room table for a meal and then went into Dad’s study to discuss my conflict with Dad.
To my surprise, my military brother suggested we start with a prayer. Four or five others prayed. Then, we went around the room expressing two things we “admire” about each person. Before this finished, there had been laughs, tears, fist bumps, and “love you” spoken. It was the closest our family had ever been, and God was at the center of it.
We are solid as a family again. My dad, mom, and brothers support my becoming an electrician. My brother arranged for me to get hired as an electrician assistant. Pastor Munson hooked me up with the Bi-vocational Church Planting network. Since my internship, God has been “on the scene” (a Chattanooga term for Christ’s presence) for my family and me.
I am swamped and loving it. I am in trade school and soon will complete my certification. For my dad, I am working part-time on my real estate license. I am working and gaining experience three days a week as an electrician assistant.
Possibly, my greatest joy is planting a church. We started with five and now have thirty-one. We are all blue-collar workers and families. It is a cell church-type, like I learned in my internship in Chattanooga. We have not done anything official, such as naming our church, as we have no licensed or ordained ministers. We are only meeting to allow God to use us to affirm each other. God keeps sending us new people to love and support.
It wasn’t luck that caused Grandmom and Ms. Kathy to reconnect. It was God. Keep supporting what is happening in the Chattanooga Community of Christ. Your support and this ministry are significant.
Thank you for the opportunity. It enhanced my life, increased my faith, and provided simple hands-on skills to lift people who have fallen into brokenness.
Yo, buddy!
This article originally appeared in the Crumb Donors newsletter, a ministry of Community of Christ in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA.