Renewed Passion

Bob Smith (Consultant), Justin Sweeten (Production Team) and I left the great state of Michigan for Oregon yesterday. We are helping a church in the area become more efficient with set-up and tear-down.

We found ourselves with a little down time and took the opportunity to meet up with one of the church planters we had worked with last year. Matt Payne is a church planter and head pastor of Church! at Bethany in Beaverton, Oregon.

Over huge plates of spaghetti (not that we were complaining, we hadn't eaten since the car pool began at 4am Detroit Time!), Matt filled us in on the nuances of planting a church in Oregon and regaled us with stories of his infamously lost-then-found church trailer (you can read about that here).

Then, Matt talked more in-depth about his church planting experience, his plans for the future and just how much he has felt the presence of God in his journey. We left extremely encouraged and inspired to pray for the de-churched people of Oregon (87% are currently not attending church and 78% of those do not currently identify themselves with a faith).

We also left very refreshed as we remembered why we do what we do. It is easy to get bogged down with the "daily grind", but meeting with Matt helped us to remember the greater cause and the sheer excitement of the gospel being preached to hungry souls. It was perfect timing heading into the Easter Season.

If you are in the Beaverton area, check out Church! at Bethany meeting at 9:15am on Sunday mornings. He has a dynamic worship team and a dynamite children's program. If you are a church planter, I think you'll be encouraged and interested by a read of his blog.

Happy Saturday!