It is the heart-blood of America. A small group of excited, determined people, acting on a combination of personal faith and blind risk, set out into the unknown to create a new life for themselves and their families. That same spirit that populated the American West also drove a small group of Christians on the island of Galveston, Texas, to start a mission in the "dangerous, not-protected-by-the-seawall" West End. That mission did well for a time, but soon the pastor moved on, and the core group began to decline significantly.
A gloomy second chapter does not have to follow a sad first one, though A Seaside Saga chronicles that Second Chapter as that core group and its new pastor make some deliberate choices to move beyond the boundaries of the traditional church and try to discover what would actually happen if a church in America designed itself after actions and principles discovered in the book of Acts. The results were surprising, refreshing, and not a little bit frightening, as the small group of believers faced the reality that some long-held traditions seemed to be more American than biblical.
Into this mixture of stories, memories, histories, and discoveries Pastor Kelley Vaughan adds his personal recollections and opens a window into the deeply-felt frustrations and fears, as well as the simple joys that make up a pastor's day-to-day life. He tells of being surprised, challenged, depressed, and elated as he walked with the people of Seaside Church through the journey of developing a Book of Acts Church in post-modern America.