:: AIP#16 - First Vision Dinner Recap ::

Sunday night was a great time!

With no idea what to expect from the first interest gathering of The City Church, God is obviously moving in people's hearts as we work together to build something new for his name in our city! Just as a thunderstorm gave way to a beautiful sunset, 30 folks arrived at Casa de Hudson, with numerous backgrounds and various connections to The City Church. After we prayed for the meal, we spent about 45 minutes eating, talking, and getting to know each other. The feast was massive, and somehow the rain made the burgers extra tasty. The conversation was good, and it seemed like there was already an excitement and a unity around the room.

After eating together and getting to know each other (a model of "the breaking of bread" and "fellowship" which will be an intentional part of every Village in the City Church), we moved upstairs to the Hudsons' great media/meeting/awesome room, where we spent about 25 minutes walking through the vision for The City Church: how we got here, why Fort Worth needs an church focused on taking the gospel to the 74% of the city who is unchurched, the structures we'll build to make sure we keep that focus, and so forth.

After casting the vision, we came to one of my favorite parts of the evening: we listened. First all together, then in three smaller groups (led by our three "directors"), we opened up the floor for questions, feedback, concerns, pushback, confusion, and general comments. We got some great, affirming feedback, but we also got some very good questions - specifics about the "Village/All-Church Gathering/Mission" model; about kids ministry; about visitors and assimilation; about what "mission" practically looks like; about leadership and accountability; and much more [as a sidenote, our Board met last night and started prayerfully walking through some of those questions, and as I head to Austin, Plano, and Omaha for training in the next few weeks, I'll be taking the questions with me to learn from folks who have already done it in this church model].

We brought everyone together, gave some next steps regarding timeline and need (which you'll see in the next couple posts), and then we prayed together and dismissed folks - some stayed until nearly 10pm, as we continued the great conversation and enjoyed more time together. I got home exhausted, relieved, and excited beyond words: God is raising up people to try something new; to be involved; to pursue the Great Commission in a way that looks a little different. We are excited to see how this continues to unfold, and we couldn't be more thrilled after our first-ever City Church gathering!

Thanks to all who came; please let us know as you continue to have questions - and for everyone, mark your calendars now - our next Vision Dinner is Aug 23, 6pm at the Hudsons', and we should have said this Sunday night, but NO, it will not be identical to the first one: after another great meal and conversation, we'll spend our time further explaining the Villages and asking the question, "what does it look like to be a community on mission?"