Love it!

People and the way they connect and build one another up to become more like Christ.

This is the one reason why I love church.  Sure you have serving and teaching and organization and leadership and bearing one another’s burdens and music, and for some there might be other reasons why they love the church, but for me, that’s it.

Last night Carie and I finished another season connecting and building up (and being built up) a group of people who we have come to love as our family.  We mixed in there a few people who will be a part of our next season of community, and in the midst of all this, I’m reminded why I do what I do.  It will be another few weeks of awkward time getting to know a new group and having them get to know us.  No doubt there will be some lull in the conversation and an inability to decipher what someone is trying to say, but in the end, I’ll be back here in a year or two writing in this blog, on a natural high, telling you how I’ve come to love this new group of people.

We are expanding our influence, challenging one another to serve, love, and give more than we think, and moving to deeper levels of intimacy with the God who we serve and the Christ who makes it possible.

And in the process, we become different people

I went to Massachusetts General Hospital last night to visit a guy in our church who is going through some major stuff right now in the form of cancer.  He is a real trooper.  With his wife and two kids, there is no doubt in my mind they have shown considerable strength through the process.  I remember sitting in a Starbucks with this very same man only a few months or so before his diagnosis and he told me:

“I’ve been to a lot of churches around the country, and have seen a lot of crap.  Now I’m looking for a church where my family is going to be treated like family, because our family is not local, and we really want to connect.”

I said:  “So we’ll see you Sunday?”  (half-jokingly)

Last night as I drove to the hospital around 11:00 pm, I thought about this earlier conversation, and I prayed that his prayers had been answered through this time.

Then I arrived and found that a few members of his life group had been there before me already, and another member was currently watching their kids through this very difficult evening.

I think he found his church.

My life group had a cookout last night.  This is a new game that Ben Erickson taught us.  It proves that a group of adults can have a good time with one pen, dice, and paper.

Who is in this video?

Tonight, theres a lot going on in my life.

I could be watching game 2 of this series.
Or I could watch another new episode of Lost, which is on fire right now.

But I also have my life group tonight, where 10-13 of my friends will come together to laugh, cry, talk, play, philosophize, pray, eat, and basically do whatever close friends do when they hang out.  So despite the fact I love the Celtics, and that I love the idea that Jack wil eventually be free of the island, I’m headed out to hang with these peeps.

Good times.

Last night was the last official night for my life group, as we will be splitting and moving into the next phase of our life group lives.  Once again this has been a phenomonal experience for Carie and I, and last night was no different.  We have been so blessed by growing spiritually and relationally with the likes of Garret and Sue Walker, Phil & Leslie Kenney, Ben Daggett, Whitney Jones, Pam Watson, Mark Duclos, Nicole Lagace, MB Makara, and my long time friends Steve & Amy MacArthur. 
Every week, we’ve met together to pray, read and study the Bible, read other books like “Sex God” (don’t ask), and eat and fellowship together.  It’s been an amazing ride for which I’m thrilled to be a part and I’m still looking forward to seeing what God does with my next group.
Officially I won’t be leading my next group, but I’ll be a part.  For the rest of our lives (God willing), we’ll be a part of a group of people who help to lead one another into authentic community with God and each other.

How about you?  Are you a part of a group of people who love and care about you both relationally and spiritually?