Chapel at Waynesburg University is taking a weeklong break while students and staff go on spring recess. Before the break, chapel had two speakers lined up to share their testimony and story. President Douglas G. Lee most recently spoke to attendees, and the previous week, WU ministry invited a pair of guest pastors from The Table Church.  

On Feb. 17, Waynesburg welcomed executive pastor of The Table Church Jonathan Cordle and lead pastor Christy Gibas to share their story and testimony with students and faculty. 

University Chaplain Anthony Jarrell introduced the guest speakers by sharing that he previously worked with them at The Table Church for around three years. They are located in the Pittsburgh region and have multiple locations and ministry outlets.

As a surprise visit, Gibas shared a quick testimony of her own.

“Find a community of People,” Gibas said. She shared that the lack of judgment that the elders at her church gave her drew her into the Holy Spirit. 

Her eyes were opened to living and leading people through ministry, so Gibas shared her process of leaving her life within the corporate world to follow Jesus and what led her to The Table Church.

“I want other people to learn that this is how we make disciples with people. We make them around tables with people and we invite people who are far from Jesus in,” Gibas said. 

To begin his testimony, Cordle asked a series of questions to the audience about what it is that churches do in America. 

“Think in your mind what is the one thing the church exists to do in the world,” Cordle asked. 

Cordle then began to share what his life was like growing up inside the church and then straying away, but ultimately finding his way back to God.

“I had all these questions and ended up burying them and walking away from my faith and Jesus.”

He said he still was very open in a spiritual sense but thought that somewhere other than Christianity had the answers to his questions. 

Cordle returned to the church as a musician and met with the pastor on numerous occasions to speak to him about faith.

“I thought he was going to be combative with me, but he wasn’t, and it brought down my defenses and so I started having more conversation with him,” Cordle said. 

As he was moving further into his faith, Cordle also had his questions answered by those he met while returning back into the church. He said he found his calling within The Table Church and wanted to make it his mission to create disciples for Jesus.

“We are stealing out of Jesus’s playbook. Tables are the place Jesus often met with the lost. Tables are where the lost get found,” Cordle said. 

“If you want to make disciples, it helps to know what a disciple actually is,” Cordle said.

By reading scripture, you can find that it is someone who loves and obeys Jesus, he said. The Table Church offers many opportunities to gather at God’s table and become a messenger. 

For more information on discipleship and getting connected with the church or a table group, visit table.org.