I met George at a ministry called The River near Clark & Belmont on the north side of Chicago. Hmmm, how can I describe what The River was like?The River was where I got to see God move in ways I had never seen before, to cry out to Him until the wee hours of the morning, to start to live out the Acts 2 community for a few hours each week, to learn submission, to be free in worship, to serve, to be humble enough to let someone else serve me, and to do it all in the midst of a one of the most spiritually dark neighborhoods of Chicago...
There's really no way for me to explain it. I wish you could have been there to experience it! Maybe a few of the folks who were a part of The River can toss in a comment about what is was like.
George Mosher led The River. He showed up early to set up and stayed late until everything was packed up (we met in a back room of another church and stored our equipment in a closet there).
How can I describe George? There is really no one like him. So I will just tell you what it was like to be around him...
To have someone patient enough with us to keep teaching us about the importance of prayer and community even when he wanted to teach us to minister to the neighborhood... (All these years, George, and I'm still working on the prayer and community part).
To have someone who will pray for hours on his own, then pray with you, for you, and in front of you - then take time to encourage you.
And after another exhortation on the importance of prayer and another gentle explanation of how to pray - just when you think he is the most intense person who has ever lived, he breaks into his Russian accent and you are rolling on the floor laughing.
When God gave the instruction that it was time for the River to end and for all of us to devote ourselves to our newly planted church, George shifted his focus to the prayer ministry at New Life Lakeview (at the time, it was called New Life North, but that has proven to be far too vague now that God has continued to use New Life to plant/restart churches around the city of Chicago).
George served in other areas in the church in different seasons, but what remained constant was the prayer ministry.
So, for the seasons that I felt God calling me to be a part of the prayer ministry, the privelege of praying under George's leadership continued.
And in addition to the incredible privelege of seeking God on behalf of New Life Lakeview, and doing so in community, I got another blessing: George encouraged me and shared his own walk with God (the good AND the hard parts) so that just in those brief conversations every week, I learned priceless lessons about following God.
Drawing near to God and making disciples... that pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?
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Good job at describing The River and George :). Both were very instrumental in my walk and Nate's. It was life altering. Thank you George for your leadership and your countless hours of devotion and prayers. Thank you too Holly. You were always a calm person to be around and a good comforter. I admire your humbleness and your compassion for others.
ReplyDeleteWhat great comments. When I think of "prayer warriors" - George is on that list. And when I think of those who can make me want to pray more, he's there too.
ReplyDeleteAnd The River. For many of us it was a shaping and molding time. One I still don't quite know how to put into words. It's hard to explain to people because most people don't get community like that. It was more than just times at Belmont/Halsted. It was New Years and doing personality profiles. It was sharing meals (plural) and then breaking out into times of worship and prayer. It was getting to know people. And loving people. Ahhhh ... so much more could be said. Thanks Holly. Good thoughts. And good kick in the pants. Think I need to go pray.