A Three-In-One Building from a Three-In-One God

Yesterday morning I was invited to the VIP tent at Lighthouse Christian Fellowship & School in Antioch, Tennessee. Antioch is a Nashville suburb located on the southeast side of the city. ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has been busy at work this entire last week rebuilding Lighthouse Christian School because it was devastated by the flood that seized upon Nashville this past Spring. Anyway, the work will be complete today, and the new buildings, playgrounds, and tons of other extra surprises will be unveiled to the church and school this evening. ABC will air this episode of Extreme Makeover in early November.

God really is a good God! My connection to all this is that I pray weekly with a group of local pastors from the Antioch area. Al Henson (the founding pastor of the church and school) and John Yancy (the current senior pastor of Lighthouse Christian Fellowship) are true servants of God, and the fact that ABC Extreme Makover: Home Edition chose to target Lighthouse Christian School (LCS) for one of their projects was by no means an accident. Our group of pastors hadn’t been praying specifically for this to happen; we didn’t even know about it until Al and John were notified by ABC that they had been chosen, and we were at liberty to talk about it. But we pray every week for our community and for all the churches in the Antioch area. Lighthouse was hit hard by the flood, as were many people, businesses, and churches in the greater Nashville area. And I’m not going to try to defend why Lighthouse Christian School was more deserving of receiving this gift than any other school, business, or family in Nashville. I doubt it is about who might be more deserving or less deserving. But I’m certain that God is behind this selection, and I'm sure that God has His reasons.

Sure, LCS has been a staple in Antioch for years, breaking through cultural and social barriers all along the way. But they’re not alone in this. And LCS has always been generous in the way it gives to the community. Even when it was hit as hard as it was with the recent flood, Lighthouse was a key player in the flood relief in southeast Nashville. There were many key players. I know, because I saw the formulation of these relief efforts, and I saw the impact that these efforts had as a result of reaching out in the community. There are countless people, churches, and organizations involved in these efforts. But Lighthouse, even in the midst of a wiped-out school (one of its buildings actually floated down Interstate 24), was right there with everyone else helping others who were hurt in the flood.

Things happen for a reason. This new three-in-one school building that Lighthouse has received, which was made possible by Extreme Makeover and many local and national organizations who are just as important, will be a symbol of God’s goodness for many years to come. And isn’t it fitting that this new school building, three buildings connected into one building, reflects how we have one God with three distinct personalities? God was and is definitely in this thing—and I personally believe that the impact of this blessing will not be fully realized for a long long time. But to God be the glory!