Rick Apperson - Killed by the Church, Resurrected by Christ

Rick Apperson has given us an honest and moving narrative of how truly hard it is to find a healthy church in times of cultural captivity. No form or expression of the visible church is left out of his penetrating story, yet he retains hope for the visible church because of the power of Jesus resurrection. This book could change your life by causing you to alternatively weep and laugh, but then you just might love the church in a new and healthier way in the end.

John H. Armstrong,
president of ACT 3 and author of Your Church Is Too S mall

Rick takes the reader through a valley of the shadow of deathonly sadly, this valleys shadow is cast by a series of disastrous church experiences. But through, it he freshly encounters Christ and learns that surely goodness and mercy follow him all the days of his life, and he will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. A book for all those who love the church enough to want the best for her.

Mark Buchanan, www.markbuchanan.net

KILLED BY THE
CHURCH,
RESURRECTED BY
CHRIST

RICK APPERSON

Copyright 2014 Richard Dean Apperson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale

House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked GW are taken from Gods Word. Copyright 1995 Gods Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-5378-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5377-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5379-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014917312

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/20/2014

Contents

To the Lord Jesus Ch rist.

All that I am, all that I do, is because of You.

May this book be used for Your g lory.

D espite the title, this book is not an attack on the church. First, this book is meant as a loving wake-up call to the body of Christ! Second, this book is about perspective and how it changes when one finds his or her identity in Christ. I pray that this book will fulfill those two purposes.

All names of churches have been abbreviated, changed, or generalized. No names have been given for the people involved. Locations of these churches have been mostly ignored, unless there are such overwhelming positive attributes that I want to publicly acknowledge them.

I end the first six chapters with What I Learned on the Way to the Resurrection. These are items that I draw out of the story, which I feel that the church today should take note of. You will find that I end chapters 8 and 9 with Things I Learned After the Resurrection.

In addition, each chapter ends with some discussion questions under the heading of Taking It Deeper which are designed for personal and/or group use. I also include prayers that you can use as they are or as thought starters, if you so de sire.

I guess you could say that Ive always had a sort of love/hate relationship with the church. At times, Ive loved being a part of the goings-on and felt a real connection. At other times, Ive wanted to run away as if the church carried the plague!

I should probably back up here and explain what I mean by the word church. Some use this word to describe Gods people around the world, who collectively make up the bride of Christ (Revelation 21:910). Others use church to describe a specific group of people who gather for the purpose of community, worship, and spiritual growth (Acts 2:4647). For the sake of this book, Im speaking about the latter.

So with that out of the way, let me tell you a little bit of what this book is about. I chose the title for a reason. Over the years of my faith journey, I, like many others around the world, have been burned by church. Ive had some disappointing experiences and sometimes encountered situations that you would expect to read only from a Hollywood screenwriter.

Ive also been blessed beyond measure by some amazing churches around the world.

The good, the bad, and the in-betweenthats what this story is about. It would have been very easy to toss the baby out with the bathwater and let the issues and problems I encountered in the church chase me away from fellowshipping with others. In fact, for a time it did.

I could also have used these situations as an excuse to walk away from the faith, period. However, God in His mercy kept that from happening. I wont say the whole search for what is authentic and good within the church has been an easy experience. In fact, there have been times when I just wanted to give up. I thank God that He had other plans.

Throughout this book, Ill also include stories of others who have been burned and blessed by their church experiences. I pray you will be encouraged, challenged, and that in the end your faith in God and His church will be strengthened.

Speaking of challenges, lets be honest for just a moment. The church needs a wake-up call. We (the church) need to be aware of whats going on around us and in our congregations. How often do we as a church take our spiritual pulse?

I started paying more attention to the pulse of the church after attempting to memorize the seven letters to the churches found in Revelation 23. If we read the seven letters, as recorded there, we find that Jesus words for the churches were twofold. He spoke about the good things they had done but also pointed out the negatives. He gave them warnings and things to work on. They were encouraged not to rest in the past but to strive to go deeper with Him!

Taking that idea, Ive started thinking about my own church experiences, both good and bad. How often does a congregation discuss its problems (aside from the need for a bigger sanctuary or when to have the next outreach event)? Some arent aware, or would never admit, that they have any problems to begin with. If anything goes wrong, it must be persecution or an attack from Satan. I dont disagree that Satan wants to destroy Gods church, but if were honest, sometimes we are our own worst enemies.