neighborhood good news

I am surprised by the way different people hear the gospel message.  For example, I met with a guy and his understanding of disciple making and evangelism was connected with church growth.  He framed all his outreach as how it grew the congregation and so he had no interest in working on community ministry.  I didn't pursue this discussion to far, but read the gospel in such a different way.

Later that day I found myself in the far northwest neighborhood and I spent a lot of time talking with Richard.  I talked to him and a couple other guys about food pantries as well as soup kitchen.  They were really excited about the possibility of something like that moving into the area.  There are no real social services in the far northwest so people have to travel a long way to get food.  This possibility would be good news to the neighborhood.  We talked about God and church and other religious stuff and it was interesting to hear their theological take on things.

The two churches I work for generously provided me with the opportunity to attend the AND Conference at Granger Community Church.  GCC is the local mega-church and, while their worship style doesn't speak to me, the conference featured some huge names.  I have idolized Alan Hirsch for years and he was the main speaker at the gathering.  I ran into Alan in the bathroom and had him sign my book.  I got to hear him speak twice and he gave me a copy of his new book.  I also got to hear Mike Breen, High Halter and Brandon Hatmaker.

The message is that the church has to change.  The church must go out to that part of the society that it does not touch and impact people missionally.  Just what I am doing!  I wonder if I am moving too quickly when I hear these guys talking about spending years doing evaluation and interviews before acting.  It was fulfilling to hear other talk about what I have felt since seminary.  The challenge is figuring out how to do it.