The Local Church

My Experience of Christ with the Local Church in Berkeley

I became a Christian towards the end of my first semester at the University of California, Berkeley and began seeking for deeper experiences of the Lord Jesus and began looking for Christians who also sought the Lord Jesus in this way. In one of my classes there was a Christian who was very devout and did well in the class so I asked him where he met. He met with the local church in Berkeley. It wasn't long before I realized that these were some of the most devout and seeking Christians that I had ever met. The Christian books that they read, especially the ones by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, were very good. Soon I began to love Watchman Nee's and Witness Lee's writings. I got so much spiritual help from them, and the Bible came alive in my hands after reading the Recovery Version of the New Testament with footnotes by Witness Lee. Now many people think that I am a pastor because I know so much about the Bible. But I know so much because I got so much help from these two brothers.

At the time when I first met with the local church, my brother, who was going to Humbolt State, began to notice how happy I was and how fast I was growing in the Lord. (He had already been a Christian before me.) He would come visit me and finally he loved the meeting with the local church so much that he moved to Berkeley to live with me in a house with other brothers in the Lord (by that time I had moved in to live with brothers also), and eventually he went to UC Berkeley too. Both of us got so much help from the church. I can't even tell you how many times the believers in the local church had invited us to their homes for a meal and fellowship to help us through the problems of life. We also got lots of help with our papers and homework since several were professors, PhD's, or graduate students and upperclassmen. Sometimes the brothers and sisters would help us when we wanted to go on a retreat or conference or training but we couldn't afford it. One time fourteen of us had the opportunity to go to Indonesia for five weeks to visit the local churches and preach the gospel. It was one of the best experiences my brother and I ever had in our lives, and the whole trip cost us only a few hundred dollars because people in the church gave us so many donations.

Our parents love the brothers and sisters in the church so much that they always invite them up to their home in the foothills about two and a half hours away from Berkeley. Several times a bunch of us students from the church would go on small retreats and gospel trips and stay with our parents. When my brother and I graduated from UCB our parents were so grateful to the church that they wanted to thank the whole church for all that they had done for us. (Our parents knew that we probably would never have graduated from such a difficult university if it wasn't for the church.) So they cooked this huge lunch for the whole church in Berkeley. Our parents planned it for months. I couldn't even count how many people were there. It was a wonderful time and everyone really loved it.

I thank the Lord for the local church and all the experiences of Christ I have had in the church in Berkeley. I am sure that what I have enjoyed of Him and His Body are of eternal worth. Being in the church in Berkeley has really kept me loving the Lord and following Him no matter what the circumstances, and I totally believe that I'm doing so well in life because of the Lord, of course, but also because of the church.

Jason Davis | Back to List

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