In April of 2005, Kester and Rachel moved to Austin, TX with their son, Harrison (Harry), to plant a downtown community that would reach out to Austinites who might be less likely to get involved with a church. They began vocational jobs in the downtown area in order to dive into the culture they love and begin forming relationships in the local community. Kester has been working at BookPeople (largest independent bookstore in Texas) for over a year and a half now and continues working there today.God has amazed us through the spiritual friendships through BookPeople. God provided Rachel with a part-time job as a speech-language pathologist in a pediatric clinic in October, 2005.
In January of 2006, after many months of prayer and planning, the Lord brought together a core team of people who committed to helping start and shape this community. The team consisted of Adam and Erica Sweeney, Nathan and Melissa Jerkins, and the Smiths. What started off as The Jesus Community ultimately settled on the name Immanuel. It is a simple word that means “God with us” and speaks to the community we share with God and with each other, as well as proclaiming the One who is Immanuel, Jesus Christ. January through March of 2006, was spent praying, researching, and planning together for a fall launching of the Immanuel Downtown Community.
In March of 2006, weekly Bible studies began in the Smiths’ home, which continue to this day. People we had been growing in relationship with for months began coming to our study group on Wednesday evenings.
In August of 2006, God brought us Chris Morton through the Mission Alive apprenticeship program (missionalive.org). He is an energetic individual, hailing from Denver, and more recently Harding University and Atlanta, GA. After a great deal of prayer and planning, we began public worship services on Sunday nights at the beginning of October, 2006. We were blessed to have been offered a community room in the Central Christian Church free-of-charge. The building is centrally-located in downtown Austin and the church has a wonderful reputation in the community.
As our relationships have grown, so have our numbers, but what we are most excited about is the way that the group that is being formed is being formed in the image of Jesus Christ.
As we continue to search and learn and grow and change, we invite you along. You may be a Christian strong in faith or one who sees more weak spots than not. You may not be a Christian at all, but one who comes seeking a higher truth, a better way, and an abundant life. You may be someone looking for a group of friends who will accept you as you are and help you become all you can be. If so, we want to invite you along. We want to hear your story. We want to share ours with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment