The Day I'll Never Forget

For many, and rightfully so, today (September 11) is a day of remembering people that were lost.  I recall someone mentioning something to a few us in between classes at Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  I was in my first semester of seminary.  Who could ever forget that moment, day, and week.

Nevertheless, for me, today is a day of remembering people that have been saved.  Four years after that fateful day across our country, we launched regular Worship Experiences at Church of the Way in the cafeteria at Simonton Elementary School.  On September 11, 2005 we embarked on a journey that has been like no other.  Starting a church has by far been the craziest, thrilling, frustrating, draining, satisfying, and hardest thing I've ever done in my life.  New people showed up on that day eight years ago.  A team of dedicated volunteers and a handful of part-time staff had worked so hard in the months prior to make it a special day.  People came in the weeks that followed that we didn't know and that didn't have a church.  Some of them are still with us.  We didn't know where it would take us.

We didn't know that we'd unplug the cafeteria's ice cream freezer one Sunday and have to pay to have the ice cream replaced.  We didn't know that so many people out there were hurting.  We didn't know that we'd still be meeting in a school eight years later, albeit a much larger one.  We didn't know the economy would tank.  We didn't know that some of our core group would leave.  And I didn't know that I'd still think about them...8 years later.  We didn't know that talented new leaders would come.  We didn't know the friends that we would make along the way.  We didn't know about all the babies that would be born (and there's been a lot of them.).  We didn't know about the tears we'd cry together and the pain we'd share.  We didn't know if it would work.

There was just so much we didn't know.  But we knew Jesus, and we knew he'd called us.  Some people questioned me about starting a church on September 11.  I told them that we'd always remember our church birthday.  Moreover, God needed this day back.  It's his day.  It does not belong to death, hate and ugliness.  It belongs to new life, salvation and redemption.  All of us were changed 12 years ago.  I like to think things changed 8 years ago to.  The baptisms, healed marriages, changed lives, and redeemed souls tell a better story about this day.  What a privilege it has been to serve this amazing people called Church of the Way.  Happy Birthday!  It's been a fun eight years.  Can't wait for the next eight!