New Day and Summit churches to worship together for six weeks
Long time friends and colleagues, pastors Mike Chandler and Dr. George Logan, will soon lead their congregations on a groundbreaking spiritual journey together. xxx
For six weeks beginning Sept. 10, two, well-established Morganton congregations — one primarily White, the other primarily Black – will worship together under one roof. Worshiping as one unified, Christian congregation. A series of services the pastors call, “ONE.”
“The beginning of it was when George texted me when he was preaching during my leave of absence. He said, ‘Mike, what do you think if we moved our whole congregation over to worship that day that I’m preaching while you’re gone,’” recalled Chandler, pastor of Summit Community Church, a primarily White congregation.
Chandler was in Florida on an extended leave of absence following the passing of his wife, Debbie in February. Logan’s text was an unexpected gift.
“I got the text and said, ‘Absolutely! That would be a taste of heaven. I think it would be wonderful,’” Chandler recounted.
Chandler returned to Morganton in time to hear Logan preach as Summit’s guest pastor and was in the congregation. Logan is the pastor of New Day Christian Church of Morganton, a primarily Black congregation.
“It was such a phenomenal experience that Sunday. We both just felt like God had done a great work. That started it all,” said Chandler.
“I think it was just that. I didn’t know if it would lead to something, but I think we actually did talk about it the first day. What would it look like if we did it – if we came back together again,” said Logan.
As Summit’s sanctuary at 407 S. Green St. has a larger capacity, the two congregations will gather there for the “ONE” worship series on Sundays from Sept. 10 through Oct. 15. Services will be offered at 9:15 and 10:45 a.m. and both churches will live stream the 10:45 a.m. services on their websites.
Logan will lead the “ONE” congregation the first week (Sept. 10), alternating weekly with Chandler. Logan will preach Sept. 10, Sept. 24, and Oct. 8. Chandler will be preaching Sept. 17, Oct. 1, and Oct. 15.
While details are still being developed, the pastors hope that the sixth service, set for Oct. 15, will be followed by a picnic and fellowship at New Day Christian Church at 1023 E. Union St. They are planning for food trucks, fellowship, and perhaps a cornhole game or two to celebrate the conclusion of the special worship series.
“It’s really not so much that we’re coming up with these fantastic ideas around the table. It is really seeing what does He want us to do? I wouldn’t say it was the brainchild of either one of us, it would be more of the Holy Spirit saying, ‘I want you guys to come together,’” said Logan.
“It just seemed right. It could have very well been the invitation to come here (Summit) was a setup for something bigger and I believe it was,” said Logan.
“I think too that the big question that rose up after that Sunday was ‘what could this look like if we had an extended time together. What would it be?’” said Chandler.
Although both pastors acknowledge that they’ve seen churches come together for a day or even a week, they are unaware of any other undertaking of this magnitude. There is no precedent in the area for churches coming together for six weeks.
“This is something I believe that the world – our culture – is craving, whether they know it or not. Our doing this is not us saying we want to make a statement, but by our faithfulness in doing what God is leading us to do, we will make a statement.
“But the statement is not the driving factor. It is doing what God wants us to do,” said Chandler.
Chandler said that he is anxious and excited to see how the community will respond and what that response will be.
He is hopeful that the “ONE” services will spark curiosity and perhaps bring people in to see how the churches are coming together. For those disillusioned, he is hopeful they will see an opportunity to give worship a second chance.
“Could it be a prophetic voice in our community? To say ‘Hey, we truly can come together. We truly can be one.’ To model something that the world just can’t seem to get right,” said Logan.
“You have your two different political parties. You have the North versus the South. The East versus the West. You have all those different factions and they never come together really. I think most people have become frustrated with it.
“Especially in the political arena as the two sides don’t ever seem to want to come together. I think the church – the body of Christ – we can be so very much the outlier to what is going on in the world by coming together and showing that there is something that puts us together as one.
“And, it’s not our political persuasions or the color of our skin, it is the fact that we’re in Christ Jesus,” said Logan.
Dr. George Logan
and New Day
In the early 1990s, while living in Los Angeles, Logan and his family were visiting family in Morganton. While on a run, Logan was inspired to start a church in Morganton.
“I went on a run one morning, coming up East Union Street, and that was when God spoke to me about starting a ministry here. And I didn’t particularly care for that to be honest,” Logan laughs.
“I’m from Black Mountain and I always saw myself going to Asheville to start a church but I couldn’t shake it and I tried to shake it for one year. Literally. Like I tried to shake it. To get rid of the thought, but it wouldn’t go away.
“And so, after one year, I hadn’t told anyone - just me and God. And after that one year, I had settled in my spirit that I was supposed to start a church here in Morganton,” said Logan.
When he told his wife, Kim, he fully expected her to respond with a firm ‘No,’ but instead she readily agreed to move back to her hometown. Logan said he knew then that God had worked it out.
Logan founded the church in 1994 with only eight people in attendance but the church quickly grew and within the first two years had expanded to include several ministries, including children’s and youth ministries.
Today the church continues to grow and remains focused on fulfilling their vision. “To impact all Morganton, Burke County, this nation, and even the whole world with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ [newdaycc.com].”
Rev. Mike Chandler
and Summit
Mike Chandler and his family were living in Aiken, S.C., in 2008 when he was asked to start a church in Morganton. The church would be one of several seed churches sponsored by a large church in Asheville.
Over the next several months, Chandler and his wife Debbie began reconnecting with people and resources in his hometown and in March of 2009, Journey Church held its first services in the auditorium of Table Rock Middle School.
As the church grew, the logistics of loading in and setting up sound and video equipment, instruments, and microphones became a more daunting task with each passing week. Within a few years, it was obvious to Chandler and church leaders that they needed a permanent home.
About that time, Calvary Baptist Church, founded in 1910, began actively searching for a way to maintain their large campus and to continue serving their membership.
Calvary needed more people. Journey needed a place for its people. Calvary and Journey held their first joint service on June 1, 2014. Contemporary praise and worship music filled the hallowed halls of the traditional church building at 407 S. Green St.
“We were all moved by God’s Spirit that evening in a way we had never been moved before. God continued to move and stir our hearts and by July the decision was made to proceed with the merger,” said Chandler.
Renamed Summit Community Church, the combined congregations held their first official service as one church on Oct. 5, 2014.
“God moved on that day in an amazing way and He continues to pour out His blessings on His people here at Summit,” said Chandler. “We exist to love God, love others, and invite all people to do the same. [sccmorganton.com].
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Pam Walker is the Central Burke Reporter at The Paper. She may be reached at pam@thepaper.media or 828-443-6103. Google XXX
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