When Secret Church Became “Secret Church”

There was a lot going on behind the scenes of Friday’s Secret Church simulcast. Many of you now know that many of those beneath-the-surface preparations became even more frenzied than usual due to security concerns. So many people, including some of you, exhibited flexibility and grace in reacting to the last-minute changes. God’s hand was clearly evident. Here’s a brief account of what happened.

Friday’s Events

On Friday morning we received a security threat to the Secret Church live gathering at The Church at Brook Hills. We got a hold of the appropriate authorities, and an investigation began. The leadership at Brook Hills thought it wise to exercise caution and cancel the gathering on their campus. However, they, along with the team at Radical, felt that the message was important enough that every effort should be made to continue with the simulcast.

That’s when the real scramble began. We could not have asked for a better production team. They totally changed locations and had all technical aspects of an entirely different simulcast situation up and ready within a matter of hours. But they’re not the only ones to whom we owe sincere thanks.

Thank You: Secret Church Simulcast and Live Event

We’d like to thank The Church at Brook Hills for exercising wisdom and discernment in handling the security threat and the major changes that followed. Additionally, we’d like to thank the local church that became our undisclosed backup location. In addition, we’d like to thank Valleydale Church, Christ Church United Methodist, and Philadelphia Baptist Church for graciously opening their doors to host Secret Church participants who had planned on attending live. We’d like to thank all our host churches and small groups for their prayers and their patience as they took the last-minute changes in stride and endured an overwhelmed phone system and unexpected technical difficulties at the start of the Secret Church simulcast. Lastly, we’d like to thank the volunteers at Radical who answered phones, ran errands, and supported our staff.

In this amazing display of support, unity, and last-minute assistance, we are reminded of Joseph’s words to his brothers at the end of Genesis: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” (Gen 50:20). We know our threat is hardly comparable to those that many Christians overseas face every day. They are the very people who inspire and motivate Secret Church. We’re confident that God means all of it for good.