We had our first real leadership meeting tonight, and I was real pleased with what we put in place. We worked out a general service order from the point of view for a visitor, and it seems like a good plan, on the face of it anyway. We also talked about some awesome coincidences (our worship guy’s friend received a campus bag, etc.), and some aspects of church planting that we needed to address (solidarity in leadership, having one another’s back, etc.).
Before we actually started planting, I had always heard that church planting brings a lot of opposition. Up until this past week, I hadn’t received any, and was praising God for it. I spoke too soon. This past week has been rife with opposition, from little things like the power going out to major things like a strike against my reputation from someone who really doesn’t know me. Oh well.
We’re all fallen. And I lean on Christ. ‘Nuff said.
Since we had a lot of new people, we went over the Guiding Document again, what kind of church we were going to be, where we’re headed as a church, etc. I then gave a devotion from Daniel 3: the basic reason that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego went into the furnace was for the glory of God in front of King Nebuchednezzar. Basically, the trials and fires we face aren’t for our faith: they are for those watching us go through them.