I received the Lord in the summer of 1974 at the age of 27. My wife and I were both baptized immediately. The initial joy of our salvation was wonderful. However, we soon encountered a major disappointment—we were not happy in the small town church we were attending and there were even problems of dissension within the congregation. As a result, we stopped attending church after a few months. We basically experienced very little fellowship and very little growth for a number of years.

In 1979, we moved to Austin and began looking for a place to have fellowship. Our children were four and two and we wanted a Christian environment for them. We found a fairly large church which was more alive than most and had a good children’s program. We attended this church from 1980 until 1985. During the winter of 1985 this church offered a seminar on cults and other questionable groups. On the schedule was listed “the Local Church of Witness Lee.” While this title has never been used by the church in Austin, it was clear to me who they were speaking of because I knew several brothers who met with the church in Austin. I was confident that the members I knew were real Christians (even intensely so). I asked the lady who was conducting the seminar if she was sure “The Local Church” should be included on this list. She said she was not, and she suggested I investigate for myself. I was eager to do this because if my brothers in the local church were in a cult I wanted to warn them, and if we were speaking ill of legitimate Christians I wanted that to be cleared up. My investigation revealed that a couple of libelous books had been written having no intention of fairly presenting the ministry of Witness Lee. Rather, these books took statements out of context and twisted his words. More importantly, through reading some of Witness Lee’s ministry, comparing it to the Bible, and having fellowship with a number of believers, I discovered that they were standing on the truth. I had always been troubled by the exhortations in 1 Corinthians 3 against division, and although the local church obviously was not able to eliminate division, at least they were taking a stand for the truth of the oneness desired by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah! By the Lord’s mercy my wife and I gradually began to meet with the local church. We are all extremely thankful for what the Lord has done through our taking this direction. I would just say in closing that the Lord’s Word is true: “seek the truth and you shall find it.”

B.M.

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