On The Move

The life of a new church means you are often on the move. Our baby is only three and a half months old and we have already had our second Sunday in our third location.

Here is a little history. Our first location was a high school. When we launched this past November, we knew the school was planning construction for Spring 2009 that would require us to look for a new location within the first five months. We used their "Black Box Theatre" (quite literally one big black box from floor to ceiling) for worship and the cafeteria for the kiddos. We folded up their lunch tables and created three classrooms for the children. Surprisingly, it worked really well!

Now, here were some of the obstacles we faced while meeting there. We found out the week before our launch that we could not have food or drink, meaning No Coffee, outside of the cafeteria. Initially, we had been told we could have food and beverage in the lobby area but I guess they changed their minds. Bummer. And they had decided we could no longer use the main entrance to the school. We had to come in through a side entrance and down a long hallway. Not very visitor friendly. Oh, and did I mention the huge weekly price tag? Ah, the life of a new church.

Our second location was at an indoor waterpark/resort hotel. There were several Sundays on the calendar when the high school would not be available to us and the first of these Sundays we found ourselves using the conference rooms at Key Lime Cove. To be honest, this location was ideal for the kids. We had two empty, enclosed, carpeted rooms. It was nice to have an actual room with four walls! We just brought in our brightly colored floor foam squares along with the toys and we had an instant nursery and preschool area! Now the room we used for the adults was not quite as conducive. It was long and narrow and not exactly sound friendly. But you can do anything for a week, right?

Our third and current location is an elementary school right down the street from the high school. My husband had driven by this location about the same time he checked out the high school. But at the time, he did not feel like it would be as an ideal location for us as the high school. Funny, now that we have been in the elementary school for two weeks, most everyone agrees it is a much better fit for us. For one, we can use the main entrance which has a nice lobby area where we have our coffee table set up. Can't miss the coffee now! The gym we are using for worship is right off of the lobby area and the kids are just down the hall. We are using another gym for the elementary school kids. Here is what I think is so cool about it-because it is an elementary school-there are kid friendly murals painted on the walls of the gym! Love it! And we have sectioned off another hallway for the nursery and preschool classes which is not ideal but it works.

The biggest obstacle we have faced here is making the gym equipped to handle a full band. We wanted to get pipe and drape but we did not have several thousands of dollars in our budget to spend. But God provided! Another church who had met there in the past but is currently meeting in a movie theater had all their pipe and drape in storage and has graciously allowed us to borrow theirs until we can purchase our own. Thanks Life Church! Oh, and did I mention a much more budget friendly price tag? This was a major reason we moved this month rather than April. And the fact the high school was unavailable three out of the four Sundays in April.

Ah, the life of a new church. Being mobile is just one of the many obstacles that you will face as a church plant. It will require you to be creative, to be flexible and to think outside of the box. But it has been so neat to see two different schools and a waterpark resort transformed into places where lost people can find hope. And to be honest, they looked better than I could ever have dreamed!

If you have already launched, I would love to hear about your location(s) and how you adapted it to fit your church environment.

What's on Your Shelf?

I'll be honest. As time has gone by, I have become less and less a fan of the whole New Year's resolution thing. I guess because I don't like failure (who really does) and most years my resolutions are rarely accomplished. So I did not make a resolution this year BUT I have been challenged the past few weeks to reassess those rectangular items stacking up on my nightstand.

So what books are on my shelves? Well, there are quite a few novels, most of them are Christian fiction, with an occasional spiritual growth book scattered here or there. Please know I do not want to belittle novels. There are many good ones at the local bookstore and I have learned much from those I have read. But God has been working on my heart. He has been revealing to me how I have replaced my spiritual growth reading with novels. I'm ashamed to say many times this means I have put aside my Bible to pick up the current novel I'm enraptured with.

Now how does this apply back to me not to make a new year's resolution? Well, in some ways I have but I hope this is a "new me" resolution that will last for more than just 2009. First of all, I have gone back to the first love letter ever written to me, the Bible. My personal reading time begins with my Lord and Savior. Secondly, I don't want to say, "I'm going to read X amount of non-fiction books over the next 11 months (is it really February already?)." I feel like I'm just setting myself up for failure. But I do want to expand my horizons and influence my perspective. And I believe one of the greatest ways for me to do this is through what I choose to read.

Amy Colon, a fellow church planting wife and blogger, did a similar post and shared some of her favorite reads over the past year. She made a few suggestions that I plan on picking up but I would love to know what some of your favorite books have been? It can be anything from spiritual growth to church planting to strengthening your marriage. I want to know, what's on your shelf?