Where is Your Red Dot

When you first begin the journey of church planting, if you are like us, you might feel a sense of anxious expectation as you are trying to meet people.  I remember one time, while driving past our community pool on the way to dinner, we saw some people in the pool and seriously contemplated turning around, throwing our swimsuits on the boys and running to the pool in hopes that the people would still be there.  There is a certain validity to this pressure we feel that stays with us during this phase of meeting people and making ourselves know to those around us.  It's that pressure to seize EVERY opportunity, no matter how you have to rearrange your life to make it happen.  Although this pressure is a valid feeling, we have recognized that we need to seek out ways to meet people and nurture relationships while also identifying key relationships and pockets of people that are going to take more of our time and effort to cultivate.  


At times it feels like you are all over the map when it comes to building relationships.  If you are like us, you have driven around your city to identify local businesses, restaurants and coffee shops you want to frequent.  You've also probably looked at what clubs and organizations in the city you can get involved in.  We pray every single day for open doors and opportunities to share who we are.  We have found that in this city the culture is very free when talking about church and faith.  So, for us, when people ask why we have moved to the city or what we do for a living they are not turned away when we share openly who we are and what we are doing.  Actually, we have found without exception so far, that once we have answered who we are, the conversation opens up and people begin asking us many other questions about the church plant.  This doesn't work everywhere, but where we live, our transparency has opened doors for us as we build relationships.  We realize that this doesn't mean everyone we talk to will walk through our church doors, but we do recognize that at some point our name and what we are doing might come up in people's conversations.   


So back to the map - we are finding now on this leg of the journey that while we are still building relationships in many different capacities (this must be an ongoing process,) there is a certain place on the map on which we must narrow our focus.  These are our red dots on the map, where all roads must lead to.  These relationships are the people we have met who have expressed an interest in walking with us on this journey.  These are the individuals we pray will become passionate about our church and in turn will begin telling the people in their area of influence about the journey they are on.  


For us, these relationships have been developed through a few avenues.  Some have been through sports interests, others through socio-interests (ladies groups/mens groups) and others have been community involvement groups.  Our city seems to be filled with young families that have moved here in the last 5 years.  Our city is set on a port and has endured two devastating hurricanes in the last several years.  The chemical plants have recuperated and are gaining momentum, which means they are in a hiring stage.  With hiring comes families moving into our city.  Many of the people we have met are people who have lived in our city less than 5 years.  


We are constantly asking ourselves, "Where is our red dot?"  As we are meeting people we try to identify the key individuals that we need to spend more time with.  We ask them to have lunch with us or invite them over to our home.  We open ourselves up to them and take the lead in being transparent with them.  We try very hard not to be overanxious.  We know we must let relationships happen naturally.  The most important factor is that people know we are genuine in our desire to know them and where they are at.  We don't see them as tools we are going to use to help build our church.  We want to invite them on a journey with us that we feel is going to be exciting and challenging, but incredibly rewarding.  


Enjoy the journey!  It is so exciting to be moving in a direction that doesn't yet have an end destination;  
we get to be a part of something that is bigger than we could ever humanly comprehend.  Find your red dot and go after it.


Be encouraged today!