Monday Reflections

I made the statement last night at our core group Sunday night gathering that God has literally brought people from all over the country and world to help us start this church, and that's the honest truth! If I've understood everyone's journeys correctly, at this point four years ago, some of the people in our core team were scattered from Georgia to Kingsport, TN to Charlotte, NC to New Jersey and even to South Africa! The sovereign hand of God bringing this group together can't be denied. This reality reminds me that He is in control, but it also excites me because I'm sure He will far exceed our expectations over the next four years!

I'm on information overload right now. After attending a conference on Saturday with some of our core team, there's a lot I'm trying to process. The vision God has given to our church is very clear: We are to allow God's love to overflow from our lives so that Christ is exalted and lives are changed. But exactly how this vision plays out over the next few months as we are building our core and after our launch I believe is a work in progress. The vision will never change, but our methods must remain flexible.

A couple weeks ago God began stirring in my mind about the importance of discipling our people and unleashing them for ministry in accordance to their God-given gifts and passions. I had always assumed "small groups" were the best and basically only way for this to happen, but God is really opening my eyes to some different things. Yes, we'll still do small groups, and do them well, but I'm starting to realize that typical "small groups" can't be our only method of discipleship and ministry. It's only one method to help our vision become reality.

I think I'm probably missing a lot of "learning moments" as I watch Kaden grow right alongside the growth of our core team, but here's one I thankfully didn't miss... Kaden stood by himself without holding onto anything for the first time on Saturday. Yes, it was only about 5 seconds, but still, it was a first, and it made us so proud because he's not even 9 months old yet! However, he hasn't done it since.

Here's the application with church planting... As we're preparing for the launch of our church, I want to make sure that our first attempt to stand (publicly launch our church) doesn't last only one day. We must plan and be prepared to disciple, empower, and reach more people from day one. We can't be a one hit wonder!