Friendship Christian Community Church shares a long and storied history here in the North County area.  On the one hand, we have been an independent fellowship for over 15 years, but on the other, most of us have been serving in ministry together in Sebastian for some 25 years. Cheri & our family arrived in town in June of 1998 as the pastoral family of Main Street UMC here in Sebastian.  For nine wonderful years we served a growing congregation of faithful folk . . . until the Bishop (as is his authority under the Methodist system) decided we should serve at a different church. After one more year, in June of 2008, I preached my last sermon as a United Methodist pastor and on the first Sunday of July I preached my first sermon as an independent preacher leading this faithful congregation at Friendship Christian Community. We began as a “church without walls,” with no permanent home.  There is no question that those were difficult years, but our focus was on a ministry of service and through small groups meeting at members’ homes we established a strong (and nationally respected) prayer ministry (our Prayer Warriors) and an international outreach through a close partnership with Samaritan’s Purse (Christian anti-terrorist relief & our annual Christmas Shoebox drive). After five years as nomads worshipping from house-to-house, the Lord opened the windows of heaven in 2013 and we were able to purchase our current, first-class facility at a more than reasonable price.  It has been our blessing to open our doors every Sunday since then (even throughout the COVID fiasco) to preach the gospel without fear or favor and sing God’s praises in heartfelt abandon.