AssemblyBoard

Hello There,
It looks like I'm about 2 years too late to connect with people.  :'(  I had no idea what had happened.  I began l looking up the Assembly on the internet because my daughter's boyfriend was preaching at his church and we wanted to hear him.  When we walked into the building, we saw that it was a Plymouth Brethern type fellowship, and WOW, a blast from the past. 
As you can see from the subject line, I was a part of the St Louis Assembly in the late 70s.  I met the "saints" on UMSL campus where Dan Notti was leading the Bible study.  I moved into the sister's apartment with Sheryl Kruse/Strangman and Nancy Robinson/Teater a short time later.  I moved into the brother's house (The House of His Excellency near UMSL) the day that Nathaniel Luke Martin was born to help Debbie after the delivery.  I remained there until Paul and Debbie Martin went to Iceland.  Then I moved to the sister's house (House of Hope) where I joined my former roomies, Sheryl and Nancy, also Dennis and Linda Patrick and a young lady that I led to the Lord, Toni Klamert.  During part of this time, I worked for Ken Teater and Jerry Robinson as a receptionist.  Although I felt compelled of the Lord to leave when I did because of serious issues, I was blessed by the relationships I had, and there were good times too.  If you were a part of the St Louis fellowship during this time, I'd love to hear from you, or if you know how to get into contact with any of those I've mentioned.  Primarily, I'd love to hear from Toni.  I've prayed for her often over the years.
Blessings,
Gay (Gilliam) Brown

Gay---

Welcome to the board. I don't recognize your name, but I was in the Assembly during
the same time period you were. I lived in the San Fernando Valley and went to worship
in Fullerton from appx. 1974-1979. If you visited Fullerton for Seminars I probably met
you. I've been amazed at the number of people from way back then who still remember
and connect after all of these years. Again, good to hear from you, and hope you can
find some of the people you are referring to.

God bless,  Joe

Hi Joe,
Thanks for the welcome.  I actually did visit Fullerton.  I went to a seminar in 1978 and stayed in George's home.  After all I've read on the internet....... AHHHH!!!!!  At the time, I thought I was "all that" for the privilege.  What a silly goose I was.
Blessings,
Gay

I know I will probably get blasted for saying this and even as I write it I don't know how healthy it is but what I have been doing to keep in touch with my friends is occassionally going to assembly meetings in Chicago.   Ahhhhhh sacrilege!!!!!  I am a member of a different church but when I miss my friends I go there.  And they would probably know where you could find your old friends. 

Thomasson,

Welcome!

I don't think anyone is going to blast you.  All of us who left before the fall know what it is to miss old friends who have rejected us.

Now the requirement to reject all criticizers and leavers is gone, (I hope).  If I were to go to one of their meetings, I have enough theological antibodies to keep me from being infected by any residual false teaching.


Blessings,

Thomas Maddux

Welcome to you thomasson,

I think it's great that you are able to keep in touch with your friends in the assembly and it's not at all blast-phemous  ;D.
I have had a couple of people contact me from the St Louis group.  One, Steve Harris, I actually knew back in the day and another who attended long after I left.  Although I would VERY much love to hear from those who I had friendships with, I want to respect the fact that they may not wish to have contact with me.  I'm pretty sure that some of them have been reading the board and have chosen not to respond.

Blessings,
Gay

To me, this was one of the most encouraging aspects of the Assembly collapsing is that in many areas the divisive "exclusiveness" was dropped.  A couple of summers ago while visiting California, I had great times with folks that I never thought I would be talking to again.  In most cases I saw, people were free to come and go from the Assembly as they pleased.  I thought this was great progress.  Much reconciling took place.

You are absolutely right in this.  A number of the people who left have been invited to interfaith meetings in the Chicago Assembly.  We recently went through a Beth Moore book that was suggested by a member of another church, that was very encouraging.

Man I just loved the Chicago saints!
The very best friendships I had in the assemblies were with those folks, including guys like Gene Reisinger and Gary Mau with whom I frequently came close to dying with laughter!
On many of my trips back to the Islands I would stay with Gene on my way to O'Hare and enjoy his gracious hospitality at the Kenilworth house ( a really ritzy neigbourhood  :)).
I know I managed to really tick of Nancy Newswander on the BB (and for that I am truly sorry) but I think she was one of the coolest sisters I ever met and loved her dearly as a friend.
Hey Nancy if you are still reading here I want you to know that I still think the world of you.
Thanks for showing me around the great places in Chicago so many times!
Verne

Gene Reisinger is my husbands dentist.  During my husband's initial visits Gene would give him a promise.  It really helped my husband who is terrified of the dentist.  Afterwards I broke into one of the hymns that we song on so many nights at Gene's office after watching movies Gene had rented for those fellowship times.  And Nancy was one of the sanest people in the Assembly.  Whenever things got really crazy her sense of humor was the only thing that kept me from going beserk.

What's an interfaith meeting?

Marcia

Maybe Ms. Thomasson is away on vacation, or maybe she is simply not going to reply to my question, or maybe...

Anyway it does seem strange that formers would be invited to an interfaith meeting.  Is that like Christian and non-Christian?  or is it Christian and assembly?  The concept of an interfaith meeting is foreign to me.

You know it is so easy to take what we possess and form it into something familiar and call it our god, yet it is still a false god.  The Israelites did it with their golden calf, and Moses blasted them for it big time.

Marcia

Where and when is the meeting?  Can any former member go ?  I'd like to check it out.

Sorry I have not been on the board for a while.  An interfaith meeting is nothing fancy.  It was just my way of saying that believers regardless of their denomination met to be encouraged by Beth Moore who is an excellent speaker.  We all met because as believers we just needed encouragement regardless of what church we were affiliated with. 

Uncle Buck I don't know if you could go because there were only women there.

Buck enjoys the company of women, while being a perfect gentleman.
I sure you don't talk much about tools and golf, so I'll stick with the boys.

Uncle Buck you could always go to the Bible Study.  They still have those in Forest Park.  And they are open to the public.

(I "fixed" it for you.  Thomas Maddux, moderator)


Marcia:

I am not sure what you are talking about when you say,"it is so easy to take what we possess........." I think I mentioned in my original post that I went to a different church as was no longer a member of the assembly.  The original topic of this post had to do with what do you do when you miss the friendships that you made in the assembly.  I was simply stating that I sometimes go to meetings to fellowship with old friends.  How is that making a false god out of anything?

The comment I made was not about you and your choice to stay connected.

Marcia

Oh okay.  I am just responding so that I can show off my picture.