Open Door Church

The Z Team has chosen to walk in faith and let the Holy Spirit guide everything they do!
Planning is important and necessary to run a successful ministry. However, we are also
trying to follow the instructions in Proverbs 3:6, which says: "Seek His will in all you do, and
He will direct your paths" and Galations 5:16, which says: "I advise you to obey only the
Holy Spirit's instructions. He will tell you where to go and what to do . . . "

Please read on for an example of what happens when we allow God to direct our paths . . .

About a month ago, Shawn was looking for a bass guitar (he plays in worship bands). He
made contact with a guy selling a bass, who just happened to be a pastor. When Shawn went
to go look at the bass, he met the guy at this huge church in South Knoxville. It used to be the
old Sevier Heights Baptist church, but is now owned by Pastor Wayne Marler. The 85,000
square foot church building is empty and almost unused at this time. During his short time
with Pastor Wayne, Shawn learned all about a ministry run by Pastor Tim Macklan, a man
who almost died by falling off of a roof. After being in a month-long coma, he decided to
devote his life completely to God, and begin a new ministry, which is called Open Door
Church. Its purpose is to minister to the homeless by feeding them both the word of God and
a hot meal each Saturday afternoon.

Shawn came home, after buying the bass, told me all about the two pastors, the empty
church, the Open Door Church, etc. We definitely felt this was a "God Thing" so we decided
to go check it out on that Saturday. A group of us went down and asked if they needed help
with anything. They were so excited that we showed up and immediately put us to work
passing out food to the long line of homeless people. We smiled and asked each person how
they were doing . . . most of the responses were "I AM BLESSED"! We mingled during the
church service and talked at length to several of the homeless folks there. After the church
service was over, we were asked if we would be willing to help once a month by providing
and serving food, and possibly worship music too. After a few days of prayer and discussion,
we decided that God was calling us to help this ministry, so we said YES!!!

On April 1st, the Z Foundation was blessed to direct a large truck load of donated food from
Two Rivers Church, which Open Door Church will use to start a food pantry for the
homeless. A few of us went to this past Saturday's service, just to visit, and four of us were
put to work operating the video cameras . . . they were short on help and the service is
broadcast on a local tv station and into three adjoining states. Shawn, Matt and Jon went
down to the church recently and helped Pastor Wayne rewire his sound system. The Z
Foundation will be responsible for providing worship music and food the third Saturday of
each month.