⛪️ TREE 598: Jeff Gill – Church and Jesus

I’m doing an autobiography thing because I think it will make you think, which is the point of TREE.

6

I like this illustration, but it doesn’t capture my experience of growing up in church. Yes, church is restrictive, but so is anything that people take seriously. And in the Gill family, we took it seriously. Church and life were inseparable.

The church I grew up in was one of the churches that my parents helped start in 1970. My dad became the pastor when I was quite young.

I was a pastor’s kid, but for me, church was less like a box and more like a really great neighbourhood. My best friends were there. All the grown-ups looked out for all the kids. Church was where I acted in plays, played in a band and learned public speaking.

The one bad thing about church when I was young is that the singing went on too long. I just wanted to get out of the main meeting and into the Sunday school class with my friends. After the meeting it was soccer on the grass out front while the adults talked.

7

When I was six or seven, I was struck forcefully and independently of any person with the conviction that if I died in my present state I would be separated from my family forever. I went to a corner of our living room, knelt down – I don't know why, I had never knelt to pray before – and I asked Jesus to forgive my sins and come into my life.

There were no rays of light from heaven, nor angels choirs singing. I did feel happy about what I had done. I told my parents. They were happy too.

I’m not a Kings Of Leon fan, nor did I grow up in the South, but this song and video get the vibe of my childhood so right.

Remember your roots. No matter how much you’ve grown, your roots are still part of you.

Grow slowly
Jeff