One of the biggest tasks that we face here is becoming indigenous. Right now our car tags, driver’s license, souther drawl and cell phone numbers give us away. But, within the next year, we hope to be seen as a family residing in Colorado. Our goal is not to bring southern culture, spirituality, and cuisine to the west, but to become westerners for the Gospel. We are spending time out in the community and region, learning with each trip out of the driveway. For us, this year is just as much about learning the people as it is learning about the nuts and bolts of church planting. Part of this learning happens in the neighborhood we will plant in, but a lot of it can happen just minutes from our house.
Speaking of learning, we had our second weekend learning intensive, Cultivate, last weekend. This session focused on developing healthy leaders and churches. If the leadership is not healthy, the church will not be either. We looked at symptoms of burnout and how to avoid it, as well as talked about some practical ways to remain healthy through the stress and pressure of ministry. So far we are sponges, soaking up the lessons coming our way, but we are also looking for areas to be wrung out so we don’t sour.
All of this learning, whether relational, experiential, or formal, will hopefully lead to us planting a healthy church that will impact the neighborhood, city, state, nation and world. We are thankful for the opportunity to follow God as He leads.