Grace & Peace from Mike & Cheryl

To All, Grace & Peace!
We both came into Jesus in the 70's during what is now being called "The Jesus Movement". Both of us were as heathen as you can be prior to that point. Our initial encounter with Him was outside the institutional church. In our naivete we were quickly absorbed into the reigning church system. We had a short courtship and were married in 1980. For 35 years we tried our best to work through the only "system" we thought we had. Too many "ministries" and stories to mention... always ending up the same way. We entered in "knowing the Lord of the work" but ended up being hung-up on "the WORK of the Lord". We lost sight of Jesus, the One Who it is ALL about, in the midst of all this "doing". This is one of the many, many, dirty tricks of institutionalized Christianity. "Doing" is preferred, and preached, over "being". "Doing" is our effort. "Being" is His FINISHED WORK. Then, several years ago, out of our frustration we Googled "Christ versus religion". To our surprise several authors kept coming up (Watchman Nee, Witness Lee, Frank Viola, Charles E. Newbold, and others). What we were reading was MOST IMPORTANTLY CONFIRMING what we had heard in our hearts years before. We realized that we weren't insane or rebellious! We took the "off ramp" from the highway of the christian religion and guess what? We found Jesus waiting there! How could this be? Knowingly, or unknowingly, the very thing that was suppose to draw us to Him was getting in the way of Him. Because of our deep involvement in the "system" our detox was brutal. Relationships (we thought we had) that were built on a building (common interest) and not The Person (Jesus) were immediately exposed. We found that so-called friends were really just acquaintances with the common interest of the church building. Our pursuit of Jesus has moved us on since. Our focus is off of the harlot and to the Bride!
In His Finished Work!
Mike & Cheryl