One of our values at The Way Fellowship Church is Biblical Community. It’s something we talk a lot about—that, as a church, we have not only been separated unto Christ but we have also been separated to one another, that in Christ we have not only received a spiritual Father but we have also received a spiritual family. And so, because of this, we practice covenantal membership, believing that we not only gather as His church to receive from one another but also to give to one another. More than that, we believe that it’s in this community of giving sacrificially and loving unconditionally, that we see His very love for us.

Jesus tells us, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35, ESV). What this means is that our very love for one another is one of the ways we testify, together, to the reality of Jesus’ power and authority to save. It is our love for one another that reminds us of His very love for us. 

And it’s this very truth that God has so graciously reminded me of recently. 

Two and a half weeks ago, I found myself in the hospital, battling another case of severe diverticulitis. This would become my third hospitalization for this issue. But the problem became even more compounded as I was being admitted. Sitting in the ER room, I received a call from my wife, who informed me that she and my son had both tested positive for Covid. This meant I needed to be tested, too. And low and behold, I turned out to be positive for Covid as well. 

Now, to fill in a little background, I had had some mild symptoms the week before—physical exhaustion, a slight running nose, and some mild pressure in my shoulder blades—but I had tested negative earlier that Wednesday. I assumed I had just been overextending myself. Sadly, this was not the case. I had Covid, and although the symptoms were gone by Friday, Covid had exasperated my diverticulitis and brought me painfully to the hospital. 

And so, after a night in a closet of the ER and after a couple abscess were drained on my large intestine the next day, I was eventually admitted to the Covid ward of the hospital. 

And it freaked me out. Severely. I was wheeled through the doors of the ward and passed open door after open door of people coughing, moaning, and even crying. I was wheeled past my “neighbor,” who looked like he was on death’s door, who couldn’t stop hacking all night long. 

I can honestly say, it was one of the scariest moments of my life. I still remember thinking:  I came in for diverticulitis, not this. My wife and kids are at home battling it, and I can’t be with them to help them. I kicked all the symptoms Friday; is the diverticulitis now going to make me immune-compromised? Are the Covid symptoms going to come back even more aggressively? Am I going to end up on a ventilator … like so and so? Sadly, I even asked: Lord, is this punishment for something I’ve done? 

The whole situation messed me up good. I had a panic attack going for the next twelve hours straight. I couldn’t think. And when I did, it was completely irrational. I was the proverbial emotional rollercoaster.  Completely isolated from everyone, except my Spanish-speaking-only neighbor, I felt utterly alone. And honestly, even though I’m a pastor whose job is to teach theology, I had a hard time clinging to that very theology—that Jesus is good, Jesus is great, Jesus is sovereign, Jesus is wise, Jesus is compassionate, Jesus is powerful, Jesus is Healer. 

But by His grace, I did. By His grace, I held fast to what I knew of His character and to His eternal promises.

And here’s where I finally come to the point of this article, and that is the importance of biblical community. The one thing that helped me to cling to Christ more than anything else, the lifeline in that dark and depressing room, was my church community. Although I was completely shut off from the world, I was constantly reminded of God’s love for me, of His power to heal me, of my brothers and sisters who were all praying for me. 

That first night in the Covid ward, Pastor Don called me and just listened, and then he prayed for me. He didn’t just say he was going to pray for me; he did. Oh how my soul needed that! One by one, pastors from the Pillar Network texted me. One called and also prayed directly with me. The wife of one of the Pillar pastors, a nurse practitioner with expertise in diverticulitis, conference-called Christy and I and helped us process some of the decisions we were having to make. There were two guys from the state SBC convention who checked in on me. My family FaceTimed me, and I got to talk to them during their dinner. Later the next morning, I got a text from Jason, asking me if I wanted him to “break me out,” which made me laugh for the first time in a long time. That was followed by a call from Jerry and then numerous, encouraging texts from Gary, Patsy, Pam, Lesley, Kaylob and a bunch of others (I’m sorry if I forgot you—again, I was in a fog). All of these encouraged me to hold to God’s promises, that I was not alone. At one point, I texted Nola and David, because I knew they would pray intensely for me, and I was so thankful when she quickly replied with her kind, encouraging words.

Here’s the truth, friends. I can’t image what it would have been like to have gone through such an ordeal by myself, to try to white-knuckle through it without my church family praying for me. I was alone. But I really wasn’t. God was with me. And my church family continued to remind me of this truth until I was eventually released later that Wednesday. 

It’s in our suffering that God uses the love of His church to express His greater love for us. It’s in these moments that we’re reminded that we really do need each other and that we really do have each other. 

Biblical community. We don’t realize just how important it is until we’re in desperate need of it. We might not know just how important it is to to go out of our way and show Christ’s love to others who are suffering until we experience the loving embrace of the Lord’s community, firsthand, for ourselves. 

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”