God’s Twilight Zone
Picture this if you will… A church reaching near capacity as God continually works through them. Growing and growing, something needs to be done when a piece of prime commercial real estate becomes available almost directly in the geographic middle of their ministry. The property is purchased at an unbelievable price. Then as the capital campaign begins they are told the miracle pledge would be 2 million…
amazingly 8 million is pledged. Yet another confirmation. The architects are called, plans drawn, land surveyed. All waiting on the simple “go ahead”
But then it happens….
You find yourself entering… God’s Twilight Zone
(Click here for effect)
In the natural, Twilight begins… the sun goes down and the sky begins to darken. Specks of light begin to shine in the sky. First a faint glow, one by one they begin to appear shining brilliantly in the night sky… in the Twilight…
We were moving ahead, doing what needed to be done… Purchasing the land was truly a God thing with perfect timing and answered prayer. You see, God was clear… buy this land. It’s clear, God is moving us into a new realm of ministry. Plans were made, brainstorming sessions on what it should be like, what we would look like… It was all good BUT I think at that point there was a slight shift. We sort of decided this is what we want and what we think. But you see, the land was only the first star; the first speck of light in this new vision.
Then there was another star… and another… the funny thing is, we all saw the stars beginning to appear, beginning to shed new light, new direction. But no one really shared what they were seeing. Not at first anyway. Looking back, I’m reminded of Paul and company when the Holy Spirit prevented them from entering Asia:
(6) Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. (7) When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. (8) So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. (9) During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (10) After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6-10 NIV)
That’s what happened to us. My senior pastor just couldn’t give it a go. The Spirit wouldn’t let him. All of us on staff felt the same prodding. Now tell that to the congregation that pledged 8 million for a new facility on new property. Imagine this too if you will… without one site model, without one artistic rendering of the new property brought before the church. People continue to honor their pledge. You know, usually people need to see something, ANYTHING to keep the vision fresh.
But you see the vision wasn’t complete. The land was just the first star in this new illumination. I believe God is calling us to the market place. I know that’s nothing unique or cutting edge and you may think… “Yeah yeah yeah… jumping on the bandwagonâ€? Well… honestly… heck yeah! If God is leading this thing, then I want to jump on for the ride!
Do we now fully know this new plan? This new vision? No, but it isn’t that huge landmark facility visible for miles and miles. Well not tomorrow anyway. Remember Paul made it to Asia. He just needed to begin somewhere else. I still see a large facility. I still see this place, a resource center if you will. I see us reaching out into our surrounding communities, creating smaller communities of believers; separate and yet together, all part of the same body.
So what does that look like in real life practical terms? I don’t know, but we are talking to the mall. Imagine, renting a store in the mall that becomes your youth “sanctuaryâ€?. It can be open, maybe a coffee shop/bookstore of sorts. But on Saturday nights, the youth arrive, the band plays, worship happens… in the mall.
I began thinking; we have so many people in our community that will never set foot inside a church building. Why? Many reasons… and that’s a post all of its own. So how do we reach them? How to we provide an environment that will allow someone who would never consider going to church… to… well… go to church? You go were they are. We are also talking to a local night club. The current college hot spot actually. What if we could rent that facility on Sunday mornings? What if we played the same type of music (with slightly different lyrics)? Would one of those “I’ll never go to churchâ€? people be curious? Maybe thinking… “What kind of church is willing to meet in a bar?â€?
So that’s where we are… looking at the star and imagining the impossible… expecting the impossible. Will there be failures? Will there be conflict? Will we make mistakes?
Absolutely! But I say… bring em on, I’d much rather step out into the unknown and possibly ignite a spark that will change the face of our community than sit back in my comfort zone waiting for people to come.
