I was in Abilene this past week, having been asked by my alma mater (ACU) to come speak at their annual Lectureship and share stories about Immanuel Austin and our desire to "bring church to people" before we bring people to church.
As I ran into former classmates, many of whom are now working for churches, I got to share stories about how rewarding the past couple of years have been. The way I found myself explaining it to them was by saying, "this is the first time in over two years that Rachel and I have had anything like a vacation...and all we want to do is get back home."
As I spent time with our house church last night and walked into BookPeople this morning, I realized how true that was. And I find myself recalling the incredulous looks of ministers and Christians who can't imagine loving church and following Jesus as much as we are.
And I remember that it wasn't that long ago that I felt the same way. And I wonder when we started settling for church as place instead of people, and not even that inviting or exciting a place.
We're not "getting it right" at Immanuel and we certainly aren't doing anything fancy or impressive. Yet, I find that this church is consistently a source of good news for me, a group of people that remind me what it means do the difficult and rewarding work of walking in relationship with God.
5 comments:
Your church missed you this week, too. Looking forward to talking to you tomorrow night about everything that happened,
Matt
Nothing like getting away to make you see home differently. Glad your view of home is so wonderful. Guess I'll have to come to Austin again to see ya though, cause it sounds like you won't be leaving much! I'll look forward to another time of hearing how God is working.
Glad to get to know you and hear about Immanuel last week. Sending out a link to people at DF to Immanuel's website and your blog.
Pax.
Great news, Kester. Maybe I could pop in some week and participate in the community?
People are way more interesting than buildings. :)
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