6 am……. I don’t remember the last time I saw the clock say that! It was an early morning but productive. Aaron (Creative Arts Pastor) Scott (Lead Pastor) and myself decided today that the Panara on Arlington is going to be our “office” for the month of February, that is before we make the move to Lyndhurst to start and make connections with people in the community.
Yesterday, 01.27.08, we made an unexpected trip (we changed our meeting location 3 times) to the Legacy Village Apple Store to buy Aaron’s new Macbook Pro. It was great going back and seeing familiar faces that I once worked with. Most are new but there are a few that are still around from the original staff. I was able to reconnect with people that I hadn’t seen in some time. My prayer is that come September they will be willing to come to Vision Christian Church and we as a church community can make a difference in their lives and in turn bring them to a relationship with Christ. Please be in prayer for that as well!
Today, 1.29.08, we were able to set out tasks for each of us to do from a list of what seemed like thousands! When in reality its more like 215. After assigning some tasks we got started!
One of my major responsibilities is to help both Aaron and Scott (Scott a bit more) with the Apple computers that we are using. Teaching them how to use the software, trouble shooting problems that come up, and basically managing all of the technical end of things. So today I had to help direct each of them on how to use software and basic operating system stuff. I didn’t know just how much God was preparing me for this job when I worked at Apple a few years ago.
One of the greatest advantages to not having an office (especially in church work) is the amount of people that you can meet when working in a public place. We had the privileged of meeting a gentlemen named Jack. Jack noticed us right away when we walked to his table at Panera, (its kind of hard not to notice 3 Apple computers, I mean seriously they are impressive looking machines.) he made eye contact with me and we both made cordial hello’s. He then began to ask what we were doing, we let him know that we are church planters and that we were preparing for the launch date. This opened up a conversation that everyone has an opinion on, faith and religion. During our conversation he told stories and made comments about the “church”, some that were good, but most that were bad. This brought Aaron, Scott and myself to the conclusion that this man was burnt by the “church.” Even though we didn’t get into what each other believed we where able to make a connection with him and start a relationship. Who knows where it will lead, but those are the opportunities that we (this includes you) should be looking and praying for. We will never be able to convert everyone we come into contact with, but we can make an impact on them in a positive way that just might lead them later in life to know the grace of God that you and I know.
Please pray for opportunities like this for Vision daily, and for the task that each of us have. We are still looking for a place to call “church” so please make that a specific prayer as well.
Thanks for your support and partnership in this mission!
In His Grip,
Jeff
