This past weekend was absolutely amazing as we got to host our first public vision meeting for the planting of Restoration City Church in Washington, DC.  We had about 40 people show up and express interest in joining our team!  That’s crazy when you think about it – 40 people from Raleigh-Durham showing up to talk about how God could use them in planting a church in Washington, DC. Unreal!!!  My heart is still so full and I am so excited for what God could do through this team.

I don’t know that I have one big summary thought from the weekend.  At this point, it’s more a collection of random thoughts.  But here they are:

1.  I love planting a church!  There is absolutely nothing like seeing Jesus be faithful to His promise to build His church.  It’s thrilling to watch God work and I love seeing Him bring something new to life.  I can’t imagine doing anything else right now and am so grateful this is what God has called me to do.

2.  It feels really good to use your gifts.  As I was driving to church on Sunday, I realized it had been well over 6 months since I had gotten to be in a room of volunteers and cast vision for what God is doing through a ministry.  That’s not a complaint about those months…I just hadn’t realized how long it had been.  And I had forgotten how much I love it.  If you can’t get inspired by people showing up to see how they can leverage their lives for God’s glory, I don’t know what would fire you up!  It’s just amazing and I love times like those.

3.  I’m so grateful to our team.  We had a small team of people who helped pull the whole meeting together and they did a great job.  They served so well and I’m so grateful to call each one of them friends.

4.  This is only the start.  Our goal isn’t to host a successful vision meeting.  Our goal is to plant a church that God uses in a powerful way to reach the lost in Washington, DC.  This isn’t the time to sit back and congratulate ourselves on a good start.  This is the time to pray bigger, trust more, work harder and believe all the promises of God.  This is a time to prepare for what’s ahead…but I do love the first indication that it’s going to be an incredible ride!

Now starts the really fun part – seeing Jesus turn a room full of strangers into a team that loves one another and is determined to see restoration come to Washington.  When I think about that, it really does seem like the best is yet to come!