I’m pumped about this weekend, not only is it a holiday weekend, and I think we are cooking out all 3 days plus tonight at various locations with a variety of people, but I think Sunday will be the highlight. We are making the 1 hour drive to our friends’ house to visit their church. Our good friends, Brian and Laquita are part of a new church and currently they have 5 families, including the pastor’s family. That’s about all I know, but I have heard great things.
I have seriously wanted to visit since the moment I heard they were doing this, it’s a fascinating story what led to this group of people starting this church and I certainly can’t do it justice if I tried to. I remember first hearing the news of them starting this church, I was on one of my many business trips to Indiana and I called to talk with Brian. We attempt to keep each other accountable and what better time to be kept accountable, but when I’m alone in a hotel room, eh? So, I called to chat one night when he told me of their plans and from that moment on, I have seriously wanted to see what they have going on there. It’s probably been 6 months now and at the time of our first conversation, they hadn’t started yet, so I don’t know exactly how long they have been meeting.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I really have a soft spot for the smaller churches, so much potential and so many choices for the direction you can take things. Big churches are great, mega churches are great and so much good work is being done in many of those churches, but don’t forget what so many more smaller churches are accomplishing. I think I’m turning into a big cheerleader for smaller churches, even though I might be shunned by some and even though my own church is probably considered a mega church, by some definitions. I’ve heard it said that a mega church is 1000+, but I would consider it to be 3000+, minimum. Maybe because that’s bigger than any church I have been a part of. My church is averaging over 2000 on a Sunday and growing, so I think of us as a large church. In my mind, church sizes are like drink sizes at a fast food restaurant, small, medium, large and mega.
As I mentioned here, I believe there is alot we can do to help smaller churches, and don’t miss Laquita’s comment on that same post, she shares a little about their experiences in other startups, one where they had support of a larger organization and one where they didn’t. It’s all good and God can use a variety of situations for His glory.
By the way, let me publicly proclaim that Laquita is one of my favorite commenters, I don’t even have to pay her, all I do is shoot her an email and tell her to check out what I’ve just posted and she’s all over it, and she usually has alot of good insight, except when she sides with my wife. They are both bad influences on each other. (Did I just say that? man, I’m in trouble!)
Oh yeah, as Laquita mentions in her comment, Brian is their tech guy, so I know they are in good hands, he will take good care of them. It shouldn’t be long before Brian gets his own church tech blog up and running……..hint hint (not the first hint, nor will it be the last…heh)
I’ll report back sometime next week about our experience in their church. I’m also thinking it might be time to invite a guest blogger to share some of her insight and experience with church startups etc, especially this time around. What do y’all think?”