This past weekend I led a team of 5 to go on a short term mission trip to New York City. It was awesome. We spend the weekend working with Forefront Church in Manhattan. They meet in the Blender Theatre. It was a sweet location with a great group of people! We served the homeless with them, gave out free coffee and granola to people in Union Square and had some good conversations with people on the street.
I talked with their pastor, Brian Moll for a while over lunch on Saturday. He really had some great perspective that was good for me to be reminded of. He talked about being committed to the city for the long haul and thinking long term. He told me how that changes his conversations. He is not worried so much about being "church growth guy" who has to make things happen at his church. He is just committed to staying there and letting the church grow naturally over the long haul. It takes a lot of the pressure off.
That was great for me to hear. It reminds me that I need to dig some deep roots into Richmond. We are here for the long haul. It's the only way we'll be effective, and it's the only way I'll keep my sanity.
5 comments:
Hey guys...
I wrote about you in my blog.
You guys rock.
Check it out.
Jake,
Change your security settings on your blog.. It won't let me post without a google account. It's being funky. You might want to allow anonymous posters...Thanks for all you wrote on your blog. You are too kind my friend.
Hey, I changed some of my settings...maybe that will help.
I'm going to see Crowder tonight at Bogarts.
Jake
Hey Chris:
Good to meet you yesterday at the VA Vision meeting. Just read this blog entry. You're probably already familiar with him, but check out Mark Driscoll's (Mars Hill in Seattle) stuff on Nehemiah, where he does a killer job practically applying stuff in Nehemiah with Mars Hill's mission in Seattle to "be a city within the city."
And you're completely right on not being a "church growth guy." It's way too much pressure. Just provide the soil and let God take care of the growing.
Aaron at Discovery
Chris,
Sage advise from one planter to another. I shall heed it. Thanks for sharing.
IHL,
Richie
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