Last Sunday, the 31st of January, we invited anyone interested to attend another informational meeting about Hillside Church. Personally, I was very excited about this meeting because when we first started getting together as a team, we only had a very murky picture to share with interested folks. We were able to talk about our values, but not about anything specific. We didn’t know what city we would start meeting in, we didn’t know when we would start services.
But finally, a clearer picture is starting to emerge.
It’s important to first know this about me (Mike). I need information before I make decisions. I don’t like to jump to conclusions blindly. In fact, almost every time I do, I end up regretting decisions. It’s also important for you to know that I like to inhale information quickly. Gimme all you’ve got, I want to know about this area, about the churches here, about the people here who are in need of Jesus. I want to look at factual, unbiased information. I love surveys, demographics and maps, but I also love people’s real stories.
These past couple of months have been so full of learning. Learning about the people, the area, and about church planting has been so fun and important to me. Learning about our resources, our coaching structure and our own gifts and abilities has been very necessary for me.
The good news is that, we finally have a good amount of information. We don’t know everything. But we do know some very important things.
So, for me, sharing this week about our direction was fun. I don’t know what it was like to listen to me, but I felt like a tea kettle. It is so fun to share the excitement of what we have learned and the directions that we are moving that it feels like I am boiling over with the passionate steam.
Just so there is no mistaking… I am so thrilled with the point we are at right now, We have a coach, we have demographic reports, we have a place to meet, we have some great ideas of direction…but most exciting to me, is our team that we are putting together.
To be honest, I was a little bummed that so many people had to excuse themselves to not be at our meeting on Sunday. But I was so encouraged by the response from the people who were there.
My goal was to share:
- What Are We Doing? - A Little picture of our desire to start a church that will be an Outreaching Church. A Church that will love all who are broken and will reach them by being the hands and feet of Jesus. A Church that will turn non-disciples into not just disciples, but disciplemakers themselves. A Church that will have a strong and lasting impact on the lives of people in this community.
- What Have We Learned? - We shared that this area is a growing area; an area that is populated by young families. We talked about how this area is not traditionally accepting of “faith issues.” We talked about how disconnected the people in this area are from each other. We talked about how people in this area do not have a positive picture of what churches look like and what churches do. We formed these conclusions from three large demographic reports that were done on this area as well as our interaction with our growing group of supporters.
- What is Happening Right Now? - I talked specifically during this time about how God is working in such surprising ways to provide for us. We talked about how many times we have been down to the last dollar and the last day and God has shown up. We talked about how amazing the place that we are looking to meet will be for us. We talked about our new coach and how helpful he is going to be. We talked about financial commitments that are coming in from friends and supporters. And of course, we talked most specifically about the amazing people that we are so excited to know in this area.
- What Are We Planning to Do? - We talked in very plain terms about our desire to hold an Easter Service, promoted by door hangers and an Easter Egg hunt. We talked bout building our launch team and our crowd by holding monthly services until September when we would publically launch.
- What Does Committing to Be on the Launch Team Mean? - We also held a time of commitment where we had each person fill out a card to let us know if they would be a part of our Launch Team. What this means is that they would commit to helping us with their time, talents and resources to get Hillside Church launched. We had a great response.
My personal favorite response of the night came from a new friend Clara (who was just meeting us for the first time) who said: “I am so excited about what you are doing and what kind of church you are going to be that I am shaking.” She shared her heart and her desire to help however she could.
We were truly blessed to hear her story and to have her on board!
And of course, not just Clara, but we are blessed by any of you who choose to support Hillside in any way that you can.