Fire In London! Guest Editorial by Dave Cadell.
Members of the London International Christian Church.
“Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you (brothers and sisters of the London International Christian Church) have refreshed the hearts of the saints”. Philemon 7
Flying out of London’s Stansted Airport last Tuesday morning, reflecting on the past three days, I am a changed man. Just over 72 hours ago, I decided to get in touch with some of the brothers from the London International Christian Church (LICC) for I had been without the fellowship of true disciples of Christ for over six weeks. To give a brief history, my name is David Cadell, a member of the Chicago International Christian Church but currently stationed in Landstuhl, Germany serving in the United States Navy. Sixteen years ago, a disciple named Roger Parlour taught me to obey the Scriptures and baptized me into Christ. Unfortunately, after several years of being a faithful disciple, I made a decision walk away from God and His church. In March, 2006, after years of living for myself and at the lowest point in my life, I finally humbled myself and prayed for God to help. My prayer was answered the very next day through an e-mail from Roger Parlour. It said, “We’re moving to Chicago.” His family had decided to be a part of the mission team to plant a new church in Chicago in order to proclaim Christ in that city. Beginning in March of 2006, at the Chicago mission team etreat, I once again surrendered my life to Christ. I began confessing my sins, praying and reading God’s Word for the first time in eight years. Two months later, I was restored and became a part of the newly-planted Chicago International Christian Church.
During the next few months, my joy, it seemed, knew no bounds. Through God’s grace, several people within my sphere of influence became disciples. Then, I was notified that I would be activated to military service in Europe for a minimum of one year. I was a little apprehensive at this point. Here I was, doing better spiritually than I had ever done in my life and I am called away from the church that made this possible. What was God thinking? Well, I would soon find out. I had been staying in touch with the disciples back in Chicago through e-mail, phone and Skype TM. During the first week of December, however, I had lost my fire and became discouraged and faithless about my purpose. I had not been able to find any other sold out disciples in my area and the task of seeking and saving the lost alone seemed more and more daunting each day. I had a three-day weekend coming up. I had to take radical action to get healed spiritually. James picked me up from the airport and he had a friend with him who he was studying the Bible with. After dropping off his friend, we arrived at James’ home around 1:30 AM. James’ wife, Deidre, was waiting up for us. The three of us talked, shared stories and generally encouraged each other until well after four in the morning. I could already feel my soul being encouraged through the love, hospitality and faithfulness of this brother and sister. I felt at home, both physically and spiritually. The next day, I met Oliver Greenwood and his new wife, Eugenie. Oliver, who currently leads the LICC, held a men’s meeting later that day. The meeting’s theme was “Unity” and it was an inspiring time of reflection in God’s word. At every opportunity, as we traveled about London, we shared are faith. Through these efforts, we met many interested people and had many good spiritual conversations. I spent the next two nights at the home of Jason Green, a single brother in the church. Jason was extremely hospitable and the love of Christ was clearly evident in his life. Each morning, we spent time in prayer, Bible study and dream sharing.
We worshipped on Sunday, broke bread and generally had a very encouraging time in fellowship. Later that night, the fellowship continued, 21st century style. We had a teleconference with the brothers and sisters from Toronto via Skype TM Tim Kernan led our discipled our hearts and encouraged our souls to be urgent about winning the world for Christ in our generation.
On Monday, I toured the Tower of London accompanied by James and Dale McBride. Dale is another single brother whose humility, insight and loyalty inspired me. We enjoyed great bonding time with each other while touring some of London’s most famous historic sites.
Overall, the weekend was VERY encouraging for me spiritually, refreshing my heart and reviving my soul.
Yes, you have refreshed my heart, LICC. Of special note, James Morgan renewed in me a desire to dream. Without dreams, we die. Within James, there is a passion to win souls for Christ. That passion seemed to infect me from the moment we met. Besides James’ infectious passion, his humility through openness and timely wisdom served to bond us instantly in Christ.My zeal and vision for God were revived through our mutual dreaming all weekend.
Later that night, we met up with Stephen Fraser and Oliver and went reaching out around Stratford. Again, we met several open people with whom we had great conversations. From the time I arrived in London until I left, I felt loved, encouraged and inspired.
I immediately bonded with the church because of our mutual purpose of seeking and saving the lost and evangelizing the world in our generation. Now, with renewed zeal and passion, I am taking that purpose back to Germany to spread some fire there as well. The movement of discpling churches is alive and well in Europe and to God be the glory for all the exciting things he will do here in the future.
