But, wow, oh wow! It has almost been a year since our family began this journey diving in full time with the church plant. You can read my post about that last year here. We have had some serious ups and some serious nose dives down. It has been a journey and a season like none other. And God... He has just been so faithful, so intensely evident, and His grace has completely saturated this past year.
This past Sunday, Church@The Square was packed out. Providentially, the setup team had tried a different setup arrangement, so we were able to fit everyone who came into the BSU building where we are meeting on Sundays. It was one of those services where every technical glitch imaginable happened, but God's Spirit just kept moving and stirring us as we worshiped together.
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As we closed the service singing and praising Jesus, I couldn't help but tear up thinking about how God has brought our church family together. What began as an idea has taken on flesh and is thriving and living just as Bryan and I had hoped and prayed. If you walk in our church doors, you'll notice that our setup is very bare bones, because we are channeling all of our resources into making the Gospel known near and far away. You'll see that there is no cookie cutter norm of how anyone should look, because we have faithful white haired folks full of wisdom to younger thug looking guys with tattoos. We are all praising Jesus. God is weaving a beautiful tapestry of people together to proclaim His name all along the Gulf Coast and farther. Wherever we go, wherever we live, wherever we work, that is our mission field. We are learning to be intentionally on mission and to leverage our gifts, skills, mistakes, and resources to making much of Jesus and to making disciples.
Seeing the church grow and thrive, Bryan and I just sit back and rejoice at what God has done. We know every misstep we have taken along the way. We had so many plans on how to reach out, how to let people know who we were and what we wanted to do that never happened. During one of the most crucial stages of launching the church, God completely sidelined us with my tough pregnancy with Pax. Now, I believe He did it, so we would just watch in awe and worship now. We can't take any credit for what has happened. We just get to rejoice and raise our hands in adoration to the Savior who is still saving lives and redeeming brokenness in our world. In a city where many people are considered unchurched and turned off by church, God is working powerfully.
Folks, the Gospel isn't just a story. It's a breathing, powerful testament of how the God of this universe madly and jealously loves you so much to send His precious Son Jesus to die to save you from your sins and restore you to what God created you to be. It's about Jesus defeating death by rising from the dead and about Jesus inviting us into His Story so that the entire world will know how good He is and how only He can makes us whole. It's worth giving your life for. The Gospel changes you from inside out.
This year, watching Jesus awaken dead hearts to life and making the lame walk again has been priceless. Jesus is alive. His Church has a reason to stand together and rejoice. God is doing something incredible in Gautier. Jesus is making Himself known. I am so very thankful for all of the roads that led us to Church@The Square. May God continue to use us for His glory dear church family. May we be united in Jesus and love each other and those around us so well that people know Jesus is alive. You are dearly loved by God and us.
Happy Thanksgiving Church@The Square!
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