Isabella Church of the Nazarene

  

      Our July 5th Sunday Steeple Chase was almost the opposite of the week before. We decided to stay close to home and headed to the community of Isabella and the only church in town- the Isabella Church of the Nazarene.
   
     This small but active church was started in December of 1948 and currently houses not only a Sunday morning worship service led by Pastor Nathan Twyman but a Sunday evening service called Isabella Espanol led by Martin and Irene Pizano. In addition, the church provides a weekly meeting place for Celebrate Recovery led by Rick and Ashley Chance. I was excited to see that unlike some small rural churches, this church has a very nice, informational website, and I would encourage you to visit to learn more about their beliefs and activities at www.isabellanaz.org.

    The worship service started at 10:45 and somehow even with a car full of cranky, July 4th walking dead kids (and parents) we managed to get there on time. The first person we saw happened to be our sweet friend who had invited us to attend, and we were pleased to walk in with her and let her show us where to go. 


Well, some of us were pleased anyway.

     The first glimpse of the sanctuary brought me back to my childhood at the original Lenora UMC with a stage at the front flanked by rooms on each side, and suddenly my mind flashed to a feather painted Sunday School classroom where I first learned of God's everlasting love for me. Sometimes it's the little things that make you feel at home.

    Church started with celebrating birthdays and anniversaries of the congregation by placing money in the offering plate and singing. Then the pastor made announcements with his sweet toddler girl (also suffering from the effects of too many late night fireworks) clinging to his leg or wrapped around his neck as he addressed the congregation. It was real and casual and endearing, and I could tell this Body of Christ is definitely a family of God.

    A teenage member who will soon be off to a church leadership camp read the morning's scriptures and then we began to worship with song. Having just celebrated the birthday of our nation, we appropriately sang God Bless America and America the Beautiful along with praise verse Step by Step and Great is Thy Faithfulness. We were accompanied by a piano, guitar, and drums and had several beautiful voices leading the way. We were also blessed with special music by a soloist singing a lovely song about being doubly blessed by God.

    The message came from the book of Ruth, and while the story was familiar, Pastor Skippy (as the website says he's called) brought to light several elements I did not know. For instance, did you realize that Boaz was the son of Rahab who helped Joshua's spies escape from Jerico by lowering them from a basket out her window?  And did you know that Boaz is in the ancestral line of  David that eventually begets Jesus the Nazarene? (Well I didn't! I love learning new things!)

     The message was enlightening, the people were friendly and welcoming, the music was uplifting, and we were feeling pretty complete when God went ahead pushed the service over the edge into fantastic with a beautiful, heartfelt testimony at the end of the service. We felt so blessed to be a part of this man's miracle morning has he shared with us how he had drifted away from God, become involved in a lifestyle of sin, and finally through the love and support of his mother and his church family has come back to a God who never turned away from him. I, along with most of the room, couldn't help but shed a tear as he proclaimed the love of Jesus and his new found life in Him.

     THIS is what church is all about! May God continue to bless this man, this church, and our family as we continue to seek to know the people within the walls of His Holy Sanctuaries and to discover Him beneath the Steeples that we Chase. Thank you, Readers, for taking this journey with us. God bless you as well!