I just got back from Vacation! It was great. Relaxing on the beach, enjoying my kids and my nephews and nieces, spending time with grown ups, seeing UP (which is a blog all in itself), cooking dinner with my wife, eating amazing foods, walks around the golf course and of course 3 great beginner bike rides around the area! It was a great time.
I’ve been at Christ Church for a solid year now and in that time a ton has happened! I got here and jumped right in – we had a camping event, started a new worship gathering which included Blue Christmas, had BBQ’s, started a new Sunday School Class, preached my first sermon to a full congregation in like 4 years, was given added responsibilities with the our awesome new Student Ministers, had a huge role in the Easter celebration and was granted my license for Pastoral Ministry! I was ready for Vacation.
But while I was there I settled in and started reading a book called Love is an Orientation. The book is about elevating the conversation with the Gay Community and is written by a guy named Andrew Marin. The book is fantastic and I recommend it to anyone who trips across my blog. The content of the book will be another blog in the future but as I was reading it I landed into a conversation with a friend of my father-in-law. She’s a counselor and is really cool. She asked me what I did back in Louisville and I began explaining to her what I do and how we are trying to do things at Antioch. Her reaction was epic!
I told her that in September, Antioch is going to move from it’s once a month setting to every other week. I shared with her that our worship is about community – community with the God-head and with each other. I told her that part of our vision is to worship one week, feast with a potluck/communion meal the next and then worship again the following. The idea is to worship together and then eat together. Basically, we’re spending community time together, sharing life!
As I was explaining this to her, she stared at me with widened eyes and said “man, I wish we had something like that.” She lives in a community and worships regularly but she wanted something that we were are aiming for. This young lady spoke to the need that is out there – a worshiping people who want to be community, share their stories, and make a bigger difference in a really hurting world.
Needless to say, I was pretty stoked. I have no doubt that God is in this and that our city of Louisville needs a community like this. I return from my vacation charged about this vision and ready to pursue it. My prayer is that God will place this same burn in all who are living in “antioch” and more will be added to the community.
I hope to see you soon!
Grace and Peace!