Excited to be a Part

When I was in high school, my family got involved with a small church plant. Over the years, the church met in hotels, school gymnasiums, and other churches. I was well accustomed to all the behind the scene work that goes into having a full-time church in a temporary home. The church we originally attended (the one that was the "parent" church) was very large, but we felt connected because we were plugged in to Sunday school glasses, midweek activities, choir and the youth group. The plant church was obviously much smaller, but it enabled you to connect with people at an even deeper level. The plus sides where that you got to know everyone a lot better. The downside was that you got to know everyone a lot better. In other words, there were no secrets at times it seemed. But, there's something good about really being connected to a church body.

For the past few years, hubby and I have been attending a large size church. We love the worship and are even more blessed when we get to hear the assistant pastor speak because we just connect with his preaching. But, we haven't really ever felt truly connected to this church. Part of it may be that they really don't have Sunday school classes because they prefer to focus on small groups that met during the week in various homes. Due to our hectic schedules that vary from week to week, we never really got plugged into one of these.

However, a few weeks ago we learned that the assistant pastor was going to be the senior pastor at a new plant church we're starting. At first we were bummed because we thought it was going to be further from where we live (we already have at least a 35 minute drive each way to the church we attend) and we were really going to miss his preaching. But, when we googled it, we were excited to see that it was actually only about a 25 minute drive each way instead.

Well, yesterday was the first "dry run" for the group of us who have volunteered to help with the weekly set up and tear down of our new church home. This time, we're having church in a movie theater. How awesome is that!? So, hubby and I were thoroughly introduced to the ins and outs of setting up the speakers and subwoofers and oh man is it going to be awesome at our first service next Sunday! We were even more excited because it's a great group of young people and young married couples (as well as a few in their early 40s) who are involved with this church plant. We had a great time connecting with the pastor (who is also our age) and met more people in the four hours we were there yesterday than we have in the entire three years we've been at the "parent" church. We're so excited to be a part of this new ministry and look forward to reaching out to the people and college students in this neck of the woods.