I love my church. My church goes by the name Redeemer, but that doesn’t even begin to define her. Incase you are reading this and you don’t know the story on Redeemer here is the short version. Redeemer was planted in Lubbock a little under 3 years ago. Our commitment is to be centered on the Gospel in all we do, and to be a missional family in our city and beyond. God has grown us in every sense of the word, and I continue to be amazed at how he is using our people in gospel ministry.
Last night we had an end of the year members banquet. For once this was a gathering that I had zero responsibilities at and could just sit and enjoy good food and good people. As I sat last night and listened to story after story (some of celebration & some of struggle) it was obvious to me that Christ is truly building and leading his church.
Here are a couple of cool stories/things that stood out to me from last night:
1. I love our value of simplicity.
Simplicity is one of our family traits at Redeemer. We want to be as simple (or at times cheap) as possible for a few reasons. 1) To model to our people that God doesn’t need a huge production to work, but rather works through the everyday things of life. 2) We feel the church/christians can foolishly spend Jesus’ money in ways to make our lives more comfortable and more safe, which is contrary to Jesus’ mission. 3) The less money it costs us to operate the more money we can use to send missionaries, church planters, and to serve our city. I saw this value lived out in many ways last night at our members banquet. With a membership of 300 it would have cost a pretty penny to cater a meal for everyone so we decided to embrace our baptist roots and throw a giant Pot Luck. It was awesome! Tons of food, lots of cheesy dishes, and lots of full belly’s. I wish I had a picture to post of table after table lined with dishes and crock pots.
2. Our church is growing in diversity.
One of our desires is for our church body to mirror heaven. We want to be a church that resembles God’s heart for worshipers from every color, tongue, and type. Starting in 2008 as a predominately young (college/post college), white, middle class church, we have been fervently praying for diversity. As I looked around the room last night I was reminded at how far we have come. Although we are still young and white, we now have piles of families, lots of color, and quite a bit of gray hair in our crowd. There is no way there would have been so many casseroles at that pot luck if God didn’t bring us Grannies who want to be on mission!
3. The 20/20 vision is becoming a reality
From day 1 we have had a desire to be a church planting church. It is a conviction of ours that planting new churches is the most strategic way of reaching people and advancing the kingdom. In fact this is the new testament model! What we call the 20/20 Vision at Redeemer is our desire to plant 20 churches in the US and send 20 international mission teams by the year 2020. Last night at our banquet we recognized and celebrated this desire becoming a reality. Our first mission team is being sent to the Arabian Peninsula in mid January to make Jesus famous there, and at least 4 or 5 other international teams are in process of forming as I type. We also commissioned and celebrated our first church planter (Josh Reeves) who is moving to Round Rock, TX this week to begin a church planting endeavor. Several others from Redeemer will join the Reeves in Round Rock this summer, including Sami and I. This is just the beginning of what we hope will be a sending hub of missionaries and church planters across West Texas, the US, and the Nations.
These are just a few things that stood out to me last night and made my heart glad.
As you can see I love my church and what God is doing through Redeemer Lubbock and am so grateful that I get the privilege of serving on staff and leading areas of this church!
