MIDLAND Guided by the examples of the first Christian church in the Books of Acts and Ephesians, a church should become a family that’s interdependent and mutually beneficial, says Adam Elliott, minister of Main Street Church of Christ at 101 W. Parker Ave.
“It should be a place where you not just come and be noticed but come and be needed,” Elliott said. “The gifts God has given you are vital to the life of the family. There are things each of us can accomplish that others can’t.”
Elliott is 32-year native Midlander who graduated from Midland Christian High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in Bible and preaching at Lubbock Christian University. He and his wife Lindsay, a kindergarten teacher, have two children.
Elliott was an outreach minister at Fairmont Park Church of Christ until joining Main Street, which averages 50 people at its 10:30 a.m. Sunday services, two years ago.
Preparing for his work as the junior high director at Unlock Ministries’ July camp near Merkel, he said his approach to the pulpit is to “take where God is leading me individually and use it for the good of the whole church.
“American culture is so fractured that it’s hard to keep our lives in a rhythm that goes together,” Elliott said. “But we have all the potential in the world to become part of the masterpiece that is the family of Christ. There is not one of us alone who can fully represent who God is, so we have to do it as a family.”
Elliott had wanted to preach since he was in junior high, and he was attending a summer retreat as a high school sophomore with Dale Myers and Neil Truex at Lake Colorado City when he firmly declared that ambition. “I preach from the heart in a conversational style,” he said.
“I feel a burden to the couples and young families to unite the wisdom that spans the generations.”
Unlock Ministries Director Ben Wall said Elliott “is a thoughtful, creative guy who is constantly thinking about how he can make life better for the 200 students he helps me mentor on Tuesday nights in the Golf Course Road Church of Christ gym.
“Adam is laid-back and doesn’t get rattled,” Wall said. “He’s not dependent on other people to get up or get down. He carries his own weather with him. He speaks a lot to the kids and comes up with games and crazy ideas to design elaborate stage sets. A lot of creativity goes into making something that kids will enjoy doing.”
