Hey All,

This past Sunday, I had a chance to visit the church of one of my long-time (20 years) prayer partners. God taught me a few things as I reflected on this experience. 

Here's the background: my prayer partner served on the leadership Board of the very first church which I served as Senior Pastor. After I left, he and his family stayed for a while but then became involved in a church plant. For the last 11 years this church plant had been meeting in a school. Think about that: every single Sunday for eleven years! they had to set up and tear down their church. Set up; tear down. Set up; tear down. Fifty-two times eleven! That's a lot of set-up and tear-down!

The knowledge of this alone fills me with a great sense of gratitude for what God has provided us here at BCC. By His loving grace, this church body has been able to enjoy the use of these fine facilities in this location for more than 40 years. So I know that it has gotten to be a bit trying meeting in the gym, but even our small and temporary troubles are not worth comparing to that which other Christian fellowships have to endure. So praise God for His goodness and grace to us at BCC. And thank the Lord that He has provided for these brothers and sisters in Christ now as well.

So what were they finally able to do?

They took out a ten year lease on part of a shopping center, and have converted those 20,000 square feet into a church building with a nice worship center, a big lobby area, a number of classrooms, and a few offices. They are very happy to finally have a place to call home.

What else did I learn?

I was sitting in the worship center after the service talking with one of the men who was serving on their leadership board. He said to me, "You know the most difficult thing for us in moving into this new space was getting the sound to be just right." This was pretty funny to me because in the last month or so here at BCC, the matter of sound and how to get it just right has been front and center on our concerns as well. 

So I learned that many of the issues which we all face as churches when it comes to infrastructure stuff is very similar. It doesn't matter if we are in a fine church building like ours or a reconverted shopping center, we all want to make sure that people can hear the Gospel well, and have a good experience when they come to church.

What else?

I was impressed just how similar our churches are in many ways. We all want to have a pleasant fellowship experience in the lobby (including coffee!); we all want to educate our kids in the ways of Jesus; we all gather to sing and praise and hear the Word taught.

All over the world our brothers and sisters in Christ are doing church in their unique way, but we all are striving to share the truth of Jesus through the teaching of God's inspired Word. Remember to pray for others as you drive to church here at BCC each week. And thank the Lord for His rich blessings to us as a congregation. It won't be long now, but we keep trusting God and loving each other along the way.

In Christ,

Pastor Bill