My Church Home

"But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away.  Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."  John 16:7, Jesus Christ speaking of the Holy Spirit

The sun comes up it's a new day dawning

It's time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing when the evening comes

-"10,000 Reasons"

In the Final Days, the Holy Spirit moves across the earth, shining through believers willing to testify.  I, Mike Endres, born June 11th, 1981, received the Holy Spirit in my early teens.  I was lead to faith thanks to my best friend Tom Searl, who invited me to attend his Church gathering.  Praise be to God.  My hunger to learn more about God compelled me to read the Scriptures from cover to cover within just a couple of years of putting my trust in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The excitement of new believers is a beautiful thing.  But, like the nation of Israel during its early years, believers can fall away, their hearts drawn away by idols.  Now, I would not say that I was living a life of debauchery, but I was not walking closely with God through my twenties.  I could never find a Church home that I liked, and I often made excuses for why I should not go.

Even at the age of 31 I hardly had time to attend Church gatherings.  I had a beautiful wife, two kids, one more child on the way, and a list of hobbies a mile long.  Despite all of these obligations, the Spirit moved me to find a Church Family.  I longed for fellowship with other believers.

Then I heard of HomeFront Church, where three families that I knew attended (the Martins, the Bartz, and the Peters).  I thought I would give it a shot.  I remember showing up in a dress shirt and a tie and feeling extremely overdressed.  I learned quickly that this was a "come as you are" Church gathering.  This was good because I knew my wife would be more comfortable coming to a place like this.  I had been scouting Churches alone.

The message on my first visit focused on Paul's call to make every effort to keep unity in the Church.  I enjoyed the message, but wanted to make sure that this was the right Church gathering for me.  Was the fear of God in this place?  Too many Churches were giving in to the politically correct secular views of the 21st century and forsaking Scripture on issues like Universalism and sexual morality.  After service I sent the Pastor, Josh Good, an email.  I needed to know that this was a Church that stood with God in spite of the World.  Thankfully, I received a reply back confirming that HomeFront Church stood firmly with the Word of God on such issues.  They walked in both the Love of Christ AND the Truth of Christ (2 John).

I attended for several more weeks without my family to make sure that this was our new Church home My wife, though a Christian, did not care if we attended a Church service.  But the thirst for God and His ways were returning to me.  The Spirit was transforming me.

A month later my 3rd child was born on September 16th, 2012 at 3:03 PM.  My wife and I did not find out the sex of the baby in advance like we had our first two (both girls).  I will remember forever that moment when James came into the world and I turned to my wife and said in shock, "It's a boy!" and she replied, "WHAT?!"  If James had been a girl, his name would have been Grace.  Little did I know that his birth was the beginning of both James and grace.