I attended a very conservative Bible college that changed for the better over the years. I can still remember buying a laminated Scripture reference note sheet that had one section titled, “Problem Scriptures.” These problematic Scriptures were ones the author felt were not intended for the Church today. These “not-for-today” Scriptures had to do with healings, miracles, and the gifts of the Spirit.

Ten years after Bible college, after walking away from all things church, my wife and I had two children and felt it was time to reconnect with God. We began our search for a church where we were living, in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

As a “not-for-today” person at the time, I found it odd that I found myself reacting negatively to church after church that preached a “not-for-today” message. The first three churches we visited went into great detail affirming that what happened in the Bible was somehow locked in the history of the Church and unattainable today because some professor in their Bible college said so.

I was fed up and disappointed with our search. I told Jan, “I am done looking for a church.” With wisdom Jan said, “Can we try just one more?” I agreed and much to my horror she mentioned a church in Eugene, Oregon called Faith Center. I had heard some wild stories about that place. None of those stories panned out. They were filled with bias, not reality.

On our arrival at Faith Center, I was immediately drawn to the honest passion the people had for God. I loved how they focused on Jesus and not all the foolish arguments about secondary issues I had been hearing for the past few weeks. We stayed, got touched by God, and were eventually sent out from Faith Center to plant our first church in Montana.

As the years have gone by, I have come to realize that Jesus appears in many different forms. Some of the ways He appears will actually violate our current understanding of Him. Most of our concepts of God are formed by our personal history and preferences and have little to do with a realistic picture of His life.