Hmmmm

I have been trying to write a post for the past hour. (And this is not the post I worked on.) Because the first family computer arrived in our home in the early 80s, I learned to use a keyboard before a mouse was standard. As a result, I am as likely to use keystroke commands as I am a mouse. Tonight, my keystrokes have failed me. I have accidentally deleted parts of that post two separate times. I am tired of rewriting what I have already written! Perhaps it is the Spirit trying to persuade me not to publish that post!

So, I am going to bed soon. But first, I going to write about how I see God working in our community.

First, an update on the rotating homeless shelter. Both Town Point and Trinity voted to support hosting the shelter at Town Point for 7 days, provided we have the servants to support the effort. We are gathering names of volunteers now, and a final vote will be the 2nd Tuesday of October. Both meetings were Spirit filled. There is no question that this is a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). I think there is also no question that this is the Spirit of Christ. Jesus is rather literally knocking on our door, asking if we will give him a refuge from the winter cold. I am so grateful to see the community in which I am blessed to pastor stepping out in faith to welcome people.

Second, it is such a blessing to see how God is using Jacob's Well. I had a conversation this week with a new person at JW, and she talked about much of a blessing it is for her, and how much life and excitement she sees present. Our average attendance since the mailing went out at Labor Day has been 140. Several of the leaders gathered tonight to work on logistics, and God continues to lift up new servants to fill more roles. Today, an article about Jacob's Well was published in Leading Ideas, which is a newsletter published by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Seminary. I received emails from people all over with encouragement and/or questions...very cool. What a tremendous reminder of how much work the Spirit is doing in our midst. I get so bogged down in the details sometimes, I don't rejoice in the big picture enough. As Lori Goldsmith reminds me well, growing pains are good pains.

Finally, I met with Patrick today about creating a new video ministry. We even thought of a possible name: Video Pericope. Pericope refers to a passage of Scripture. What do you think? Our first project is going to be about God's grace, and we are going to use an image of a front porch, front door, and then buying and moving into the house to describe God's grace before we know it's there (front porch-prevenient grace)...God's grace when we come to faith (walking through the door, deciding to move in- justifying grace)...and God's grace when we continue the journey of faith (moving our stuff into the house and living there- sanctifying grace) This is a very different place from where we began. Again, it felt very Spirit led. (Thanks to Steve Manskar for the imagery I read in his book Accountable Discipleship.)

So thanks be to God and good night.