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Paul Cunningham
NORMAN, OK (April 21, 2008) – Pastor of Westmoore Community Church in Oklahoma City.
The same United Methodist pastor who encouraged Groeschel encouraged Cunningham, too.
Between the ages of six and 13, he described his special “drug” problem – “you know, drug to church every Sunday.” It was there he accepted Christ as Savior.
“I began to see God. There was no sense of a calling as a kid. But, I listened to a radio preacher who urged people to find God’s purpose in life. I was known to my friends as partying Paul. To go from partying Paul to pastor Paul was a huge leap. I just felt a nudge to share the good news of the gospel with others.”
It was in reading Acts 5 that he felt a call to preach, “but I didn’t know what to preach other than Jesus is real.”
“For 10 years, I tried to be a typical, traditional church pastor. But, that just wasn’t me – I felt like a fake. There was a defining moment – the choir was singing, the organ was playing – when I admitted what I had really known for 10 years . . . that if I weren’t the pastor of this church, I wouldn’t attend here.
“I began to pray. Isaiah 43:18 & 19 says ‘do not dwell in the past … I’m doing a new thing. Do you not perceive it?’ But, I didn’t see it.
“I knew Bill Clark’s name – he had planted a church. So I called him. I told him that his name had just popped into my head and that I felt I was to call him. We talked about the Covenant, and I knew that it was the place for me.
“The first thing Bill did was show me an old video on the history of the Covenant church – I figured if I could go through that and still be excited, I’d make it! Seriously, that video spoke of prayer and evangelism. Started Westmoore 14 years ago this July.”
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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