The Place to Be, Joseph Parriott

I grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts. I had a lot of friends growing up. I went to a prestigious, private junior high school and high school. My senior year, I received a number of awards including the school's top honor, given for excellence and scholarship in athletics. After a year off from school, I attended Boston University on a good scholarship. Last year, I graduated magna cum-laude with a degree in human physiology.

I received the Lord when I was ten years old. My life was not always wonderful, being influenced by divorce and family tensions. However, a consistent factor that helped me in my youth and in the rest of my life was the local church and its members. This is because I grew up not only in my own home but also in the homes of other members in the local church who lived near us. Even members I didn't know so well were ready to help me when I needed help.

When I was about twelve, the Lord answered a prayer of mine and that opened my heart to Him and helped draw me away from the physical, temporal world to seek the things above. Around the same year at a Christian conference, the Lord appeared to me (Acts 7:2). From that time I sought, to choose Jesus instead of the world. Through this, the Lord was able to preserve me from some of the emotional and physical damage that comes with the indulgence in the youthful American lifestyle. One big reason I was able to stand against the tide of this age was the fact that I had other local church members to pursue the Lord with.

My testimony is that the best place for me to know Jesus is in the local churches. The way the members are often shows me how Jesus is. (Whether it's been in giving me a ride somewhere, inviting me to dinner, or helping me with school or work.) The members always took care of me to the best of their ability, which I appreciate very much and I think their hope was always that in my life I would continue pursuing the Lord. Were it not for the care I received through the believers in the local church I would not know the Lord to the extent I do now.

Not only is the local church near Dedham my home, the local churches all over the world are my home too because the fellowship is the same. I've been to many Christian conferences and other events in the local churches for years. I've always had a wonderful time with the members and their families whom I've met, and came to love the Lord more. When I visit other local churches I have the same sense of “home” that I have at home. The meetings have the same sweetness. For example, when I visited Poland, there was the same atmosphere and feeling in the local churches there as in all the other local churches I had met with previously. This kind of experience is a testimony of the oneness of the Lord's life in each one of us. I think it is also the seed of the answer to the Lord's prayer, “That they all may be one” (John 17:21).

Hear Him (Jesus)

The Lord Jesus wants us to love Him. He told us the first commandment is to love the Lord your God. After I heard Witness Lee speak, I loved the Lord Jesus Christ. Through his speaking, I was brought to the Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus was brought to me. I felt like heaven and earth could pass away but if I had the Christ that Witness Lee preached, I would be okay.

Witness Lee's ministry stresses that we need to love the Lord Jesus and reminds us often that one day we will be the bride, the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9). This is similar to the apostle Paul's ministry who told the Corinthians that God had prepared wonderful things for those who love Him, and that he had betrothed the believers as pure virgins to Christ. I think that is why when I read or hear Witness Lee's ministry I am turned from sin to Christ, from the world to Christ, and from myself to Christ. Because of Witness Lee's ministry I can see that there is one focus in the universe, the wonderful Christ, our Bridegroom, and I can understand the Father's word in Matthew, “This is my beloved Son in whom I have found my delight,” and “This is my beloved Son, hear Him!” This ministry leads me to hear and love Jesus.