Great connections

This week has been quite eventful and encouraging as I've had the opportunity to connect with several leaders in Orlando regarding church planting.  It started off on Monday night at the Vision 360 dinner.  This was the first time Heather and I got to connect with the staff and board members of our sending network.  This truly is a movement of God in our city and around the world.  Can't even put into words the Kingdom heart that these people have--they are so enthusiastic about church planting.  As we heard stories and got a further glimpse of the vision, I had this overwhelming sense that I have no idea what I've stumbled into.  This thing is so much bigger than our church plant.  It was obvious to me that God has put us here and that it has nothing to do with my planning or skill.  It is simply His gift and His grace. 

Then Wednesday I got the opportunity to connect with a pastor named Jason Dukes.  Jason pastors Westpoint Church.  Just love that God keeps allowing me to connect with like-minded leaders who share a vision for our city--I have much to learn from all of these people.  The reason for the meeting was to find out about a very intriguing coffeehouse concept Jason and his church pioneered.  They want to be intentional about being missional and creating points of intersection with the culture.  To that end they started House Blend Cafe.  It is their pilot location and they hope to spread the concept into other contexts.  Well if you take the time to link over to the House Blend Cafe site you will read about an idea that resonates with me because it is one of my hopes for the Winter Park area.  Once I stumbled upon their website I just had to connect with whoever was behind this.  My meeting did not disappoint.  I'll keep you posted, but this is what I want to see happen in our context.  I love the idea of resources, building, etc. being a reflection of a church's desire to live missionally.  It's a very creative and practical expression of how the church is not something one attends on a Sunday morning.

If you're in the Orlando area, and you want to talk more about any of this, I'd love to connect.  Shoot me an email at jamierhart@gmail.com  The information site for the church plant should be live in a few days.  I'll let you know when it's ready to go.  It'll give you more information about the vision and mission of the church plant and how you can get connected and partner with us.