Matthew Starner

Today we had the meeting for the Christmas program that I talked about here and came away with our story. The ideas came together pretty good and I think, by then end, we were all pretty excited about the idea! There were some pretty creative ideas that were presented – some that we really liked but just don’t have the ability to successfully pull off – yet! I’m really glad that there were ideas pitched that we couldn’t do right now because it means that we’re truly dreaming big. If you have the ability to do everything you’re dreaming about, then you’re not dreaming big enough!

Things should start coming together rapidly now as we get collaborating on the script and get the whole process under way. (Sorry folks, I can’t tell you what the story is all about yet, but just be prepared for a fun and entertaining approach to the Christmas story!)

HOWEVER, that was only one of the exciting moments of my day thus far! I had a meeting with a gentleman from the First Reformed Church in Byron Center. They have a multi-use building called the ROCK (Reaching Others for Christ’s Kingdom) where we’ve held several events, including last year’s program. It seems that a few folks from the church caught a glimpse of what we did (I think at our dress rehearsal) and were extremely impressed. Not just with the program, but with the set-up and equipment as well. They were so impressed with what we were able to do that it inspired them to improve their equipment and this year, they’re going to be doing a Christmas program as well! How cool is it that little, young ole’ Journey helped to inspire a pretty well established (nearly 100 year old) congregation!

They also wanted to know if they could promote our event to their people and invite them to attend! My answer: OF COURSE!! They host a series of events with the goal of getting their members to invite friends and help people get reconnected with Jesus and they want to promote our program as one of those events. Partnership is what Journey is about and we’re thrilled to be able to offer this as something that they could use to help their people introduce their friends to Jesus.

I hope that this opens up some doors to future collaboration between our churches. When churches realize that we’re not competing with each other but that we’re all on the same team, we can be so much stronger and more effective. It makes me so happy when I find people who get it – that it’s not about adding numbers to a particular church but to God’s kingdom.

I can’t wait to see everything come together!!