I can't shake it, so I've got to write it down. We just got back from a vision meeting for a new campus that our church is looking at buying. It was great. I can see great things happening. We're staying at our campus in Gilbert. In May of 2018, I walked into Christ Church not knowing what I was getting in to. Christa had been ready to leave the church we had been attending for a pretty decent amount of time already. I didn't know it, but I needed to hear the word of God speak into my life. Not some topic that looked good on the marketing material.I was standing in this new church and I realized that I hadn't been alive for a while. I hadn't grieved my brother. I hadn't felt moved during worship, I also hadn't heard the phrase "here at Christ Church we go line by line and paragraph by paragraph through the Bible". They were in the middle of going through 1st Corinthians. Whatever the next verse is, is the sermon.
I began going to the church not fully knowing how broken I was. Life was pretty fragile. I was holding it together enough to be present for my wife and boys. In silent moments, my mind would wander and think of any number of things besides the main thing. The first thing I remember about our first service there was, it felt like I was home. Prior to our visit there, we had planned on going to a number of other churches to check them out. After the first service was over, we walked out to the car and I told Christa that I don't think we need to go anywhere else. She agreed. So we stayed. We got to know people. I went against my nature to stay quiet and not speak to people. I found myself receiving exactly what I needed. Relationships. I had been able to hide for about seven years. I didn't serve at the church we were going to. I just went. I thought that was all I needed. I was wrong.
We moved through all of the processes rather quickly and within six months we decided to become members of the church. I had neglected my personal discipleship for so long. I couldn't fake my way through it anymore. The accountability and conviction were impossible to avoid. I had to dive in, so I did. My story is one of many. I've heard the same thing over and over and over. Now change is coming.
Basically, every pastor that we are close to, is moving to the Mesa campus. It stinks. People that have eaten several meals in our house over the years, are changing the location of where they work and serve. There will still be many meals eaten at our house. We will still remain faithful friends and congregants, but it will be different and I don't like it. Jarod, why don't you guys just go to the Mesa campus too? It's just straight up McQueen Rd. Good question. The reason why? That would be the easy thing to do.
My decision to stay in Gilbert has a lot to do with the idea of being a person like I met when I first began coming to Christ Church. A person like Terry Horne who has been very influential in my discipleship. We went to lunch within a few days of meeting for the first time. His continued presence in my life at church and personally has meant a lot to me. And I want to be that for people that newly come to the Gilbert campus. I've also began training to know the ins and outs of the entire sound system. Like if something is wrong, I fix it, not call Corey Wilson to talk to him about it. I've been leading a small group for a year, I want to keep doing that because we always need small group leaders. There will be weekends when we do decide to go visit the mesa campus I'm sure. I will need to run sound there when Corey needs a weekend off. But it won't be the same.
An era that I am very fond of is coming to an end. And it's right that it's coming to an end. The opportunity to buy this now defunct church campus is a miracle. I'm amazed at the way it happened. The raw piece of land is probably worth about as much as the asking price for the what they want for the land and all of the buildings. It's definitely the right decision. Our lead pastor (Adam Bailie) says all of the time, "I'm worried that we've become a cruise ship, when we need to be a battle ship". It resonates. He's right. There aren't a lot of people that I would go to war for, he's one of them. From another campus.
I don’t know how this story ends. The new location in mesa isn’t even ours yet. I trust that the people that are making the decisions are praying and using God given wisdom to make these decisions. I’ve been friends with enough pastors to know that half the people aren’t going to be happy with whatever decision is made. What I’m sure about is that God has been faithful in the past, he’s faithful right now, and he’ll continue to be faithful in the future. I’m inviting you to come to church with the Tomblin’s in Gilbert. In September though, there will be a new location of Christ Church opening in mesa. The chairs were made for the husky gentleman.
No comments:
Post a Comment