The Bible tells us that Abraham was a man who trusted God.
Hebrews 11:8
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Not much is said of Abram’s actual journeys. I am sure that sometimes the trip was physically easy and the scenery was beautiful—around the fertile crescent where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers flow—this is the area that we now know of as the jewel of the Middle East—the area we now know as Iraq. The terrain is low and flat—the land is well watered because of the great rivers and their tributaries.
At other times, the journey must have been perilous: Going through arid regions, mountainous areas, fording rivers, avoiding deadly beasts, poisonous serpents, stinging scorpions and the continual effort to find food and water through all of his travels. It was, by no means, an easy journey. It is estimated that his travels took him approximately 2600 miles—like walking from Dallas to the southern most tip of Alaska.
Much like Abraham, Heritage Church of Christ began its journey with the Lord ten years ago. Unsure of our final destination or how to get there, our desire has been to trust the Lord to lead us where he wants us to be.
Our first “official” meeting was on October 1, 1995 at the Whistlestop DayCare Center located at the corner of Rowlett Road and Hickox Road. Heritage was originally the idea and dream of David Wattlington who received financial backing from the Skillman Road Church of Christ. As David was putting together a team to help lead this effort, Paul Reding of the Austin Street Church of Christ became very excited about the possibilities and got financial backing from Austin Street to work in this effort. Being ministered to by David and Paul, our goal for our first official meeting was to have 150 people in attendance—we had 180 people that first week. We were only at Whistle Stop for about six months but I remember quite a bit about those times: Our official meeting time was 4:00 on Sunday afternoons. In order to do this, we had to get there at 2:00 to set up chairs, sound equipment, video equipment, set up the Lord’s Supper, etc. After our services were over, our agreement called for us to put everything back in its original locations and to clean the building, top to bottom, often taking several more hours of work (after services).
Our next location was at The Springfield Church—right across the street from the Garland Refuse Center. We met there for nearly two years. This was the only location that we have been in that had a baptistry.
In Spring of 1997, we moved to the double-wide on Highway 66. It was here that we had the first feelings of being a real church (even though there were still wheels on the trailer). We could leave the chairs setup in the auditorium just the way we wanted them. We could leave pictures and artwork on the walls in the classrooms for a week—or for a month if we wanted. Scott Brazell came to work with at our youth during the three years that we were here. We saw God do some awesome things at this site.
In August, 2000, we moved into our current location—we have been here for more than five years—it just doesn’t seem possible! It is here that our women’s ministries and our children’s ministries have really taken off. We have a large number of children who were born since we have been here and a lot of work has been put into our nursery area. We have now been at this location longer than all of our locations put together!
Through the past years we have been served by:
Six different paid ministers;
Four different secretaries;
Six different elders; and
Fourteen different deacons;
We look forward with great anticipation to see how the Lord will work out possessing His land that the Lord has given us stewardship on Miller Road.
When we started Heritage, our slogan was, “From the Past—For the Future!” We can now look back on our past years together to see where we have been, the mistakes we have made, the things we have done well.
In 1 Samuel 7, it was Samuel who, after leading the Children of Israel in defeating the Philistines, set up a stone before the Lord and named it “Ebenezer” and said, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
Brother and Sisters, thus far the Lord has not only helped us, He has been our constant—Our constant shield; Our constant defender; Our constant refuge! Our Lord will continue to be our focus—the end all and be all for this congregation—the one who we praise as our Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.