By Jessica King
Contributing Writer
Hello! My name is Jessica King, and I am a freshman journalism/mass communications major at TJC, but my hope is to pursue religious media when I transfer to a university next spring. I am a Christian and the Lord has put the calling on my heart to share the gospel through writing, which is something I’ve always been passionate about. My ultimate career goal is to be a Christian author and speaker. In this column, I will write about my faith journey throughout my time here at TJC.
Today, I want to share with you one way God has been moving at Overflow and in my heart throughout this semester. Overflow is a combination of two churches, Friendly Baptist Church and Central Tyler, who hold a college worship service on campus at TJC and UT Tyler every Tuesday night. Friendly Baptist Church is my home church and I am the college intern there, meaning I work with Steve Lyles (the executive pastor of Friendly, and the speaker at Overflow) to prepare for Overflow each week. I help enter information into Orgsync, setup and tear down our venues and more. All that being said, Overflow is very near and dear to my heart, and Tuesdays are my favorite days!
Overflow has been an organization on campus for the past three years, and our most urgent prayer is for growth and consistency. However, a few weeks ago it was very discouraging because only about 10 students showed up. Those 10 were the college students from Friendly Baptist Church, including myself, who are steadfast in serving at Overflow and help organize the event. It almost didn’t feel worth it to even hold Overflow that night. I think we all felt like just packing up and going home. No matter how discouraged we all felt, we continued with the worship service and pushed through, knowing the Lord would bless our obedience.
As I was standing in the second row of the UT Tyler University Center Theater worshipping to “How He Loves” by the David Crowder Band, the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart “by faith.” What does that even mean? Throughout the book of Hebrews, Paul talks about faith. Paul lists the great examples of faith known as the Hall of Faith, which is a list of God’s faithful servants beginning with “by faith Abel” to “by faith Rahab.” The Hall of Faith shows how they remained faithful to the Lord and how He blessed their faithfulness in return.
By faith Abel, by faith Enoch, by faith Abraham, by faith Noah, by faith Sarah all remained faithful while on Earth. They clung to the truth that our God is a promise keeper, and they understood that God works on His own time. He makes everything go according to His will. They remained steadfast in serving faithfully because they knew one day there would be a harvest from the seeds they had sewn that would reveal God’s glory to all the Earth. This revelation would be something all of Heaven could rejoice in. Wow, this passage of scripture gives me chills (in a good way)!
Hebrews 11:39-40 says, “All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.” His love for us is so great that He doesn’t want us to miss out on the blessing of the harvest that would come from these great examples of faith. Because they knew this was God’s heart, they remained faithful. That’s the gospel, y’all.
I was reminded of the beautiful truth while I was singing that this is the way my friends at Overflow on that rainy Tuesday night, and every Tuesday were living — by faith. Their hearts resemble so much of the hearts of those in the Hall of Faith. They are each humble servants of the Lord who are faithful to show up week in, week out, rain or shine, to load and unload, to set up and tear down. There is a promise to be fulfilled in the distance through Overflow; one that will shine God’s glory over the Earth. One that will bring revival among this generation and make Heaven crowded. My cup overflows with gratitude that I get to humbly serve beside them; I am so honored.
So, yes, while that one night at Overflow was discouraging, there was so much encouragement in Steve’s, the praise band’s and the tech team’s obedience. My heart is so overjoyed that I get to hang out with these faithful friends every Tuesday night!
