"It's not half empty. It's not half full. It's OVERFLOWING!"
Awhile back, someone said to me: "Blessed Hope CC is a very unique church. Since I moved to the west side, I've been trying to find a church like BHCC and I've found out there just aren't any!"
I agree, BHCC is very unique. God is building something at this church that is completely unique from any other church. Sometimes I worry that our people will take what we have for granted here. I feel bad for the people who've been here awhile and then left because I've been around long enough to know how hard it is to find something as special and wonderful as we have at BHCC.
It's not easy to grow a church in this area, yet, BHCC is growing at an amazing, healthy rate! Since we began holding our worship services at the theater 2 years ago, our weekly attendance has doubled and the number of people who call BHCC home has tripled. (It takes time for unchurched people to become weekly attenders.)
God has added about 30 new people to BHCC in the last year alone. We continue to add new serving teams and additional small groups and have plans to add many more this Fall.
The church has never felt more alive and healthy to me than it does now.
The members of the Lead Team are all very close and we have great chemistry together. We like hanging out together outside of church as friends and family as well as in serving the church together. Every person on the Lead Team has a big servant's heart. This is just as it should be as far as I am concerned. We are even planning a camping trip together in August.
Yes, God has built and continues to build an incredible foundation & church in BHCC. Sometimes I feel like a bystander or an observer just watching Him do all the real work. I am ever aware of how little control I have and have come to learn to love the fact that I know it's all about Him!
There have been plenty of hard times & frustrating moments for me in this journey. Nothing has happened in the way or as fast as I thought it would, but I've learned that this is actually a good thing, God knows exactly what He's doing and His timing is always perfect!
I've learned to hold everything very loosely in the church, always reminding myself that this is His church and He's the One building it. Some people have come and gone through the years and though it often breaks my heart to see some people leave, I know that it's all part of this mysterious journey & God's ultimate plan.
The church definitely feels like a living organism to me. It has this incredible life of it's own that still totally fascinates me. I feel bad for anyone who never gets to experience this supernatural life form. It has a heartbeat, a temperature, a health status and an ebb and flow just like every life form.
It grows, it changes, it evloves and transforms with every person that leaves or enters into it. I wish other people could see the Church of Christ the way I do. If they did, I know they too would fall deeply, deeply in love with it! They'd see it as truly the Body of Christ and be totally awed at the miracle of it all.
The local church is Emanuel....God with us! Christ gave His life so that the church could live and it breaks my heart when I hear people talk down about the church. I realize that they don't know what they're saying, but I know what they're saying! I don't judge them, but it simply breaks my heart as I know it hurts the heart of God as well. The Church isn't perfect, but it is sacred!
We have a baptism coming up at our house in July, and for me, it is the highlight of the year in the Church! It is like a holy of holies festival to me. It is a tremendous celebration of all that Christ has done in our midst. People have been rescued. The lost have been found. A new birth has occurred! I always sense the presence of many angels rejoicing with us at these celebrations. Every soul counts! Each one so precious unto the sight of our Lord! I can't wait!
My biggest regret in the past is that I haven't enjoyed the journey more. I heard recently that the first five years of a new church is all about growing the senior pastor and the next five years are about growing the church. I think that could be true in our case. I've made so many mistakes. I've learned so much and the biggest thing I've learned is that for good or bad, it's not about me!!!
Every Sunday morning I'm ever aware that as I step into theater number 11, I'm stepping into holy ground. It becomes HOLY because we gather there in Jesus' name. It is sacred because Christ and His Church are sacred! Reminds me of what Jesus predicted before He went to the cross:
John 4:22-
"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
The location of where we worship matters not. It only matters that we worship in spirit and truth!
I can't wait to see all that God has planned for us in the future. I'm especially excited to see what He is doing with our KWAM group too! Step by Step, day by day, we are becoming all that God intends for us to become in Jesus' name!
He has RISEN! He is alive and on the move at Blessed Hope Community Church.
Holy, holy are you lord God almighty
Worthy is the lamb
Worthy is the lamb
You are holy, holy are you lord God almighty
Worthy is the lamb
Worthy is the lamb
Amen!
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