Tyler Thursday: An Evening of Encouragement

Jessie and I have been thinking long and hard about where we are going to settle on the issue of church. This has been a focus of our relationship ever since marriage was in the picture (which has practically been forever). Even before we had decided on what schools to apply to, we were thinking about possible churches to attend.

I know from experience that moving across the country will have a large impact on your church life. So we started looking around online and researching places that line up with what we believe and what we want in a church; we found that Dallas does church big. We tried attending a church on a survey trip to Dallas, and we ended up being shuttled to an overflow room of a satellite campus. Crazy!

One thing that a mentor of mine told me is that a good church is worth moving your family for. I knew it had to be priority, and it had to be about the people. Even if the website said all the right things, we knew the community needed to line up, too. Otherwise, we would be better off staying home and reading the website every Sunday.

It's amazing to think that while I was praying, God already knew where he was going to put us. We showed up to King’s Parish our first Sunday in Dallas, and there were about four cars in the parking lot. We thought, “Are we in the right place?” It was small. Probably about five-or-six-families small. But there was simple music, (check), there was good sound teaching (check), and there was COMMUNITY (check)! We were welcomed from the moment we arrived, and a lady even offered to let us do our laundry at her house! We had only met minutes before, and she was already offering to do our laundry? That is good community. The whole church went out to lunch with us and bought us lunch. That is good community.

We continue to attend church at King's Parish, and we can't help but think that we have found a new church home. So as not to be stragglers, we are also considering membership. We mentioned to the pastor that we had questions about what it looks like to be a member at King’s Parish, and he offered to come to our home and talk that same week.

Well that brings us to tonight when Pastor Winburne came over and shared about the church's journey over the last three years during the planting process. The thing that has stuck with me the most so far is a good analogy that he used. He said something like, “Being a member of a church plant is like going to the kitchen and making a great meal for everyone, instead of going to a larger church and running through the buffet.”

We are excited to be part of what God is doing in Dallas and part of the kitchen serving committee. I’m working out a contract now since we are a fairly valuble couple as a piano pianist and drum/bassist/guitarist, but we will see what they offer J. Pray for us, that we can listen to what God would have us do and make good choices.

Currently listening to: Secret and Whisper, Woven War

Currently Working on: About four trucks, because parts department never has the parts I need. I diagnose about four or five and then all the parts get here at the same time. AHH!

Currently thinking about: What it means to be a godly leader.