Indiana

Even though we, as a congregation, don’t believe that TV holds much moral content for us, I (Rita McVey) want to tell you how God used this modern technology to bring me to this church. I had been a member of [another denomination] for many years, but had found myself drifting away. My spiritual needs were not being fulfilled. I wanted more in-depth Bible study, so I could have a closer walk with God.

I began to look around at other churches, but they all seemed to lack that “fire” for wanting to learn the Word. All of the adult Sunday schools consisted of the same old “just-knowing-Jesus-on-the-surface” teaching. So I began watching the evangelists that were preaching on Channel 20 in Noblesville, where I live. Needless to say, there was plenty of fire there, but not much truth. Not that I really knew the truth, I was just going by a feeling that I had in my heart.

Finally, one Sunday when I was feeding my mother at the nursing home, I turned on the TV [and expected] to listen to yet another minister tell me how I was going to go straight to Heaven the minute my last breath left my body. I heard something different. It was the most sincere sounding sermon coming from a minister who I had never seen before [on Channel 20]. Everything he said “felt” right to me. It wasn’t sugar-coated to spare my feelings, and it had the ring of truth. I had to listen to the rest of the sermon. I wondered, What church [is] this?

Unfortunately, the TV never announced it. I was frustrated. Then I noticed I had been watching Channel 19 instead of 20. That was a good thing, because that meant the church must be local. Channel 19 is a cable public access channel. I made a mental note to watch Channel 19 the next Sunday at the same time.

When the following Sunday came around, I was at the nursing home feeding my mother again when the “Sunday” sermon came on. There was that same wonderful pastor giving another soul-searching sermon. This time I found out what church the pastor was speaking from—it was the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cicero. Oh no! I thought. This wasn’t going to work; I had a job on Saturdays! I wondered, Was I going to have to be satisfied with just listening to the sermons on TV every Sunday afternoon?

Well, that is what I did for a while, but then I couldn’t stand it any longer. The lessons were too irresistible. I wanted to be a part of this truth-telling faith. So I searched for the phone number in the Yellow Pages, but had no luck. My next move was to go to the Internet (God using technology again). I did find information about the Seventh-day Adventist Church and a phone number.

I was lucky enough to speak with George Dunder, a Cicero member who often answers the church phone during off-hours or for special events. He filled me in about a lot of things that I did not know (like the name of the fellow giving the sermons on TV who turned out to be the senior pastor, Ron Kelly) and informed me that there was a Bible study class on Wednesday nights, if I was interested. He also sent me some church bulletins.

My first Bible study group consisted of Wanda Elliott, Irene Inman, Cal and Donna Ferguson, and Larry McConnell, the Cicero Church Bible worker who was teaching the class. I was fascinated from the very beginning. I learned so much that I had never known before. And the learning hasn’t stopped. I am constantly finding out new truths and preparing myself for the Second Coming of Jesus. I also stopped working on the Sabbath.

On Oct. 28, 2006, I was baptized and voted in as a member of this church. And all of it came about because God called me to Him through the power of the television.

Rita McVey, Cicero Seventh-day Adventist Church member