In the glow...

Here we are two days AFTER the first official Sunday morning service of Vineyard Church of Rock Hill, and it feels like we're kind of hanging in the "glow" of everything this weekend meant.  I know this probably feels more significant to Ben and I just because this has been something like 7 years of God working in our hearts to plant a church, but I'm pretty sure everyone who was there Sunday morning would agree that God was moving.  If there was one way to describe this past Sunday morning, it would just be "the sweet presence of Jesus."  It was better than we dreamed it would be!  (Yes, I cried practically the whole morning.) :)

Funny story though... Sunday morning I tried my best to get the kids out the door.  I ended up waking them all up early (it somehow feels inherently wrong to me to wake my kids up... this is probably why we homeschool.) :) Not that we were going to be late for church, but I really wanted to get there early enough that I might actually get to help Ben and the others set out the signs and breakfast.  It was like herding turtles to get them to the van, so I may or may not have punched the steering wheel when I finally got everyone in, turned the key, and the van wouldn't start.  I actually wasn't surprised the van wouldn't start because a bolt has rusted off that holds the battery in place, so any time it wiggles out of place, the cable doesn't connect right... we just have to push the battery back into place and wiggle the cable to get it going again.  It shouldn't be a hard fix once we finally have the time to take it to the garage, but we've just put it off because October has been so busy. 
ANYWAY, I got out, tried to pop the hood... and it wouldn't open.  I tried again.  And again.  I came to the conclusion the latch was broken.  After 5 minutes (or maybe it was one, but just felt like five), I pulled out my phone to call Ben.  Somehow I had turned on the Bible app on my phone in my pocket, so when I pulled it out, the "verse of the day" was waiting right there for me.  It said, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for there is enough evil in today."  (Not sure what translation it was, I just remember the "evil" part.)  Argggghhh!!  About that time, Micah said, "Hey Mom, I think you forgot to pull the lever inside the van first."  What a smart kid.  In my haste, I HAD forgotten to pop it from the inside first.  Hood popped, cable wiggled, van started, we were on our way!   His eye is on the sparrow... :)

I wish you all could have been there to experience our first morning.  We had breakfast at 9:30 while the kids ran wildly around us... then sent the kids with Mike and Carrie to their classroom around 9:50... then Karl and Lindsey led us in worship starting around 10:10 (we purposefully started worship AFTER 10 - even though we "advertised" that the service starts at 10 - to place an emphasis on allowing people to fellowship over food first), and then Ben gave an awesome sermon.  I love hearing my husband preach, and he had a lot stored up.  :)  He spoke on Exodus 33 where God told the Israelites that they could have the Promised Land but that He would not go with them... and Moses's response that he would rather stay in the desert and have the presence of God than to gain the Promised Land but lose the Lord.  This is our same prayer for the church... as long as we have the presence of Jesus, it doesn't matter if we're small or large, thriving or limping along. Just give us Jesus!  This felt like the theme of our prayer time Saturday evening, and it felt like what we experienced a taste of Sunday morning.  The Lord is so good!

For those who like a little something to listen to, you can click on this link to listen to Ben's sermon:
http://rockhillvineyard.org/content.cfm?id=327

For those wondering about our attendance, I think we had something like 25 adults and 17 kids... the grown-ups weren't actually outnumbered like we thought we might be!  Besides the team, we had some folks who have already "joined up" with us, some others who are exploring the Vineyard, and a few friends who are already involved in other churches but who came to "show the love" on our first service anyway.  We even had one couple come who said they had been watching our website for months waiting to see when we would have Sunday morning services because they had been involved in a Vineyard church in Kentucky before they moved to the area and they missed it so much!  (We went out to lunch with them plus a bunch of other folks after church and we really like them... I hope they decide to be "keepers". :)) 

We can't wait for November 16th!  In the meantime, we'll enjoy "being the church" in everyday life, outside of Sunday mornings, and with other local churches.  I love me the Body of Christ!