How Helping One Really Matters:
Winston-Salem's CMC

Each Sunday morning at Life of Christ Church in Winston-Salem (NC), a team of prayer partners gathers around those with special need. As the congregation enters for worship they pray together for God’s healing touch and sustaining grace for those asking for prayer support.

On Mother’s Day last year, one of the prayer team came to their pastor and said, “You’d better come hear this.” The prayer team was gathered around a young woman who had just walked into their church for the first time. Through her tears, Pastor Bernard Walker heard her story. The night before, her two year old boy C.J. had died. Evett had been driving by this new church when she felt drawn to come in and pray. After that day of the team praying for Evett, the child’s grandmother and the rest of the family came to worship regularly at the Life of Christ Church. Most have joined as members and have become involved in the ministry.

Pastor Walker says, “One day when we build our new church building, one wing of the property will be dedicated to little C.J. His family’s story is what our church is all about – offering God’s hope to hurting people.”

That attitude of hope reflects though the members and ministries of this two-year-old congregation. On the day of their interview and photo shoot with GROW, Pastor Walker and a team of forty volunteers loaded on their church bus to visit one of the areas’ homeless shelters in Winston-Salem. The group prepared and offered a hot meal after an inspiring worship service. Several in attendance committed their lives to Christ at the end of the service.

“We just keep looking for ways to make a positive difference for others,” says Pastor Walker. When the area’s youth needed some supervision, Pastor Walker and his son Shawn decided to form a church basketball team to compete in the “Late Night Basketball Tournament.” They recruited at-risk youth to join their team that first year and made a name for themselves. This second year, the team’s impact was even greater as they won two championships in the city-wide tournaments held at the Haynes Sports Center. Now before each game, the team asks Pastor Walker to lead them in prayer. Several of the young men have come to faith in Christ and are involved in their new church. A new contagious hope has begun in the lives of these young people.

In his message at the homeless shelter, Pastor Walker verbalized this new attitude. “I’m an example of the grace of God,” he preached. “You are all candidates to become disciples of Jesus Christ and we are here today to recruit you. You don’t need any money or a big job – you only have to believe that He is your God. You are called by God to declare His goodness.

“Being called by God doesn’t have anything to do with where you’ve been, what you’ve done or what you don’t have. God does still call and choose you. The journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step. Take that step toward God today. Say ‘I’m leaving here, I’m only my way to answer God’s call to me’.”

As he closed his message, Pastor Walker revealed why his hope was so real. He said, “I was raised in a Christian home but I walked away from God. I ended up in a life of sin and crime, where I ended up in prison. But I remember the day God called to me and I prayed in that prison cell.

“When God calls us and we respond to Him, He changes us in the spiritual sense. God is still looking for a new generation – not just the clean and proper. But He calls a new generation out of the highways and the hedges. Like Saul of Tarsus, we can relate to being called and chosen by God to declare His goodness.”

Helping just one has brought new hope many times over in Winston-Salem.