Last Sunday I was attending church with the friends I was visiting, the message was not aimed at me, but it was good none the less, the music was good, and the church is doing great things... But even still, I found myself thinking "I miss my church." While I am always talking about how much I love my church it is easy to forget all the many reasons I love National Community Church (aka Theater Church) here in DC...
Thankfully the last several months have allowed me to finally get much more involved than I was for the first year or so I lived here in DC, even still, NCC has always been the one thing I absolutely love about being here. So much so that even the thought of moving away is a bit of a struggle because that means leaving my church. I genuinely appreciate the entire congregation as a whole, I enjoy that all six locations carry a distinctly different culture and feel from the rest, and I love how much I feel like I belong to my location. I have so much respect for our leadership, I am excited and thankful that I get to be a part of their mission, their vision, and I am constantly challenged to do better and be a better steward of what I am given. I have seen some absolutely incredibly approaches to training, praying, sharing, worshipping, and building community, and I am so excited to realize that someday I will likely get the chance to recycle some of these ideas! While nothing is perfect, I am always amazed at how straight forward, open, and humble our pastor (Mark Batterson) is about what he is doing, things God has/is revealing to him. I am inspired by the things that he is passionate about, and I am challenged to grow closer to God every week.
Recently I joined the production team at my location, and arrive a couple hours early every other weekend to set up the sound, lights, and projector. The people I work with both on my team and on the worship team are all incredibly witty and hysterical people which makes for an entertaining morning of setting up! I am so encouraged at not only how dedicated they are to Christ, but also to the community our church provides, I am inspired just by hanging out with them every couple of weeks on Sunday mornings.
Around the time I started helping with production, I also joined a small group, and what an unexpected blessing and encouragement that has become in my life. Between these two groups of people I have a much deeper connection to my church and the community that it provides... But, I have also found myself engaging and being more intentional in my own personal growth with Christ... It is pretty hard to coast when a small group asks questions each week, but even more than that, I find myself intrigued, asking questions, and looking up answers more than I was previously...
I say this all the time, but I love my church! And, lately despite the stresses and the chaos of my schedule I keep coming back to "I am so blessed."
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