Launched

The deep has officially launched into weekly gatherings, which is a pretty sweet experience. What I find really cool, is looking back at the impact and involvement we have had in the community well before any Sunday gathering took place. I enjoy seeing everyone, or at least the people who stay a little later on Sunday, but for the last several years I have been doing something with the service so "gathering" is really a word play for the "post modern" dictionary. It is awesome for people to slow down and gather with others and sing songs of praise and have the Bible translated and/or taught to them for challenge and refreshment. From what I heard, yesterday was a wonderful time of gathering and it is really exciting to take another step forward as a community. I was hanging with the shorter people we call children, and we had a great time learning and discussing how God turned on the lights (you know the whole creation thing). It was great to have Chris and Jim, as the denominational powers, come and celebrate with us and really show their support. They have been awesome in so many ways throughout us getting started, so it was fun to eat and share stories with them, both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

The weather was incredibly supportive of our first gathering, you know all the freezing, blowing snow and sleet. I actually found that pretty humorous, and knew that we would celebrate and have fun regardless of the crazy elements. So I guess we start all over again for this week. My biggest challenge is setting up Kids life with as much simplicity as possible so our volunteers share their gifts, but are not run into the ground. We want to have Sunday morning be great, but recognize that this hour is not the end all. We will enjoy high fives, hugs and shared life and then maybe have a little programming mixed in. I am happy to say that the kids had more to do with how yesterday went than I did. I just made sure kids were safe and as engaged as a group of hyper-active kids can be. They sang, they danced, they shared a few thoughts, and then I read from the Bible. We all made light switch covers, which could remind us that God has turned on the lights, and then we teamed up for a light/dark relay.

It is an incredible blessing to be on a team with Rob and Nate, and we'll continue to walk in faith as God blazes a path in which we will do our best to follow. I guess this time of year it's more that He is plowing a path for us and we'll try not to get to distracted throwing snowballs.

God is good
Wallace D.