Whitney Bateman
What TPC Means to Me --- 9/25/2007

A few months after I received the Holy Ghost and began attending The Pentecostal Church, I made a comment at a youth function that I wished I could just live at the church. As humorous as it may be to picture myself living in a tent in the middle of the sanctuary, I couldn’t have been more serious when I said it. You see, the day that the Lord brought me to TPC was the best day of my life. My life had been so chaotic and full of turmoil, but on that day, God changed me and freed me from the burdens I had carried. I remember feeling so safe and so at rest when I was at the church. Even if everything around me seemed bleak, when I stepped into a service all my cares seemed to melt away under the powerful presence of God. From the very first day I set foot in the sanctuary of TPC, I felt something there that I didn’t want to leave. After searching all of my life for something to give me peace, purpose, and power, I finally found everything my heart desired in Jesus and His church.

The Pentecostal Church isn’t just a building where people gather a couple times a week. It isn’t simply a place to hang out, although my best friends in the whole world attend church there, and it’s not about coming every once in awhile to sing a few songs and listen to the preacher while remaining unchanged. What it is, is a place of refuge for those that need rest, a place of love for the needy, and a place of healing for the broken. It’s a place that is designed by God to be His reaching hands into the world, led by a pastor and a group of ministers who have a burden for the lost. It’s a temple in which we have the opportunity to gather together and seek after the King of Kings and to see His power manifested in ways you can’t describe. It’s a group of the kindest people in the world that love God and each other and place a priority on letting God have His way. To me and so many others, The Pentecostal Church is a safe-haven and a home.