Where to start?

So I just go my first free coffee from Starbucks. Either the employees are confused and think I work here since I am here so often, or this relationship-building thing is starting to pay off…And I don’t mean in the form of saving $1.69. Right now I’m thinking back to the days not so long ago where my week consisted of organizing, planning, picking songs to sing and practice, and other office driven tasks that drove me a little bit crazy. I dreamed of the day when my job could be to just go meet people and spend my entire day with people…. people that may or may not agree with what I believe. So now I’m doing that. I’m at our community pool, I’m at the Starbucks, and I’m going to the bookstore and local restaurants. Anything to meet people. And I find myself trying to put myself back in the situation that drove me crazy. It’s more difficult than I previously thought to just love people. I’m trying to make it into something that at the end of the day can be seen. It’s the same reason I like mowing the grass. I like to see the fruits of my labor. But it’s different with people. First off, to think of people as “fruits of labor” is absolutely appalling. Seeing them as items, or “being in the box towards them,” as the Arbinger Institute would put it isn’t what Jesus had in mind. Secondly, on a more practical level, how can you know when your “labor” has been completed? So at the end of each day, I’m not sure what I’ve “accomplished.” I can only be sure that I will wake up the next day, meet the people God has in store for me to meet, say the things that they need to hear, and hopefully get another free cup of coffee.

A new city

After a long weekend of moving in, I had my official first day as
senior minister of Response Christian Church. What a weird day. No
office, no building, no members…no clue what I’m doing. It’s easy to
get caught up in the thoughts of what “I” need to do in order to make
this church materialize. I was reminded today that this isn’t about
what I do here, but what the fact that God has already primed the
people of downtown Indy for a transformation. It’s not about how many
people I will “win” to Christ, but how many lives are already being
prepared for the gospel that will be presented to them. What a relief
it is to know that the pressure really isn’t on me to use clever
schemes, target an “ideal” person, or employ any other idea that man
can come up with in order to achieve “success.”

The truth is already evident to me through the people I have met, that
some people are stoked on the idea of being a part of this, and others
could care less. Either way, it’s there choice. All I can be
expected to do is give them the chance to respond. As I’m walking
around town or riding my bike, I can’t help but to look at every
person I see as someone who might want to be apart of a life-changing
commitment to Christ. Not as a number, a target, or another notch on
the church roster, but as individuals that might not know what God’s
true church really is.

So it’s been a good first day. As I said before, weird, but good. My
main hope is that I can have the courage and faith to press forward
and listen closely to what God might be speaking in the midst of this
new adventure.