Confessions of a Shiftless Mind

So, we had the big vision meeting last night. Up against the Canucks in the 2nd round of the playoffs (a completely unforeseeable occurrence), the attendance was not as strong as it could have been. I wonder how many more would have come out had the game not been on. Still, the worship time was very nice, and we did see some new faces.

Launching a new church is a demanding enterprise. Not many realize this, but good church plants do not start from nothing. They start with a team of committed Christ-followers who are willing to sacrifice big time to see a new work begun. It is a bigger network than just the people who are “on the ground” as it were. Our plant has a number of missions teams coming to Surrey from the USA to help with acts of service to the community and focus attention on the new church. It also has over 1000 prayer partners doing significant work in their offices, homes, and bedrooms interceding for us. All of these things are crucial to the process.

But back to the evening. I was asked to share how I got involved in the plant. When I said yes, I really didn’t feel nervous. About 3 hours before the thing started, I started to feel nervous. Once I got on the stage, I was pretty ok, but also self-concious. I felt like I wasn’t making enough eye contact with the audience, though the stagelights kept me squinting (I don’t know how the worship band and pastor do this every sunday!)

Afterwards, milling around the foyer with those who came, I was blessed by many fruitful conversations. I got over my fear of “asking the question” quickly, and asked several people straight out what they were thinking. That led to some really good exchanges. I know of at least two couples who made a firm commitment of involvement, and at least two more who are seriously thinking about it. I didn’t by any means talk to everyone. It was a very good night, and I wasn’t even sad I missed the hockey game (the Canucks lost, but nobody said the Ducks would be pushovers either).

In other news, my wife and I had a short conversation about a subject we haven’t discussed in at least 3 years. Let’s just say if we believed in luck, we would want to make a decision in May. I’ll keep you posted.