W. Andrew McMillan
Andrew McMillan with his wife Kathy, are the founding pastors of the Comunidad Cristiana de Fe in Medellín, Colombia. Andrew was born in Charleston, West Virginia, and majored in literature and religion at the University of Virginia, before receiving his Masters of Divinity from Yale Divinity School. Though wanting to be a poet, smoke a pipe, live near a pond and publish mildly famous books, Andrew ended up pastoring a Baptist church in New Jersey for six years. In 1986, shortly after getting married, Andrew and Kathy followed God to Colombia, where they served Pastor Randy MacMillan in Cali for seven years. In 1994 they planted Comunidad Cristiana de Fe in Medellín.
Today the church sees attendance of 8,000 people every weekend, with strong leadership, 850 home groups and 17 new church plants. Andrew’s joy is seeing leaders having a blast together and pursuing the supernatural things of God. Andrew and Kathy have two adult sons, Andrew Michael and Christian, who both love God, love Colombia, and are studying in America.
It was hard work being a hippie. Doing acid and smoking pot made my feelings of insecurity even worse, and coupled with my depression, I was living in the cold fires of hell. I was on a quest to find meaning, maybe even God, but I scoffed at anyone who thought they had a some kind of direct connection. One day I saw the blue sky reflected off the glasses of a preacher standing outside his church. Somehow he seemed to posses the entirety of that blue sky within himself. I kept walking - but that blue sky pierced my heart.
We all hunger for something more, above the day-to-day and deep beneath the night-to-night, but we usually don’t expect God to break through the normalcy of our lives. And who wants anything to do with Bible-thumping religious people. But I have seen cracks in the boring routine of reality. Honest to God miracles have happened right under my nose. There is light brighter than the sun ready to break out on the dullest of days. There is a quiet voice louder than the constant noise of cities. There is a joy underneath the heaviest sorrows. There are people who smell like heaven. And there is a God who is able and willing to break into our lives.