I should probably say that I’m not entirely sure that we’re done with church visiting, but it sure feels like it. Let me explain a little bit. I’m aware that we haven’t visited very many churches (only 5). And of those churches, we were only seriously looking at 4 of them. Now, in my mind, this is an answered prayer. I didn’t want to spend all too long finding a church. It’s hard to go to a church that you don’t know and somehow gauge if you should sign up and join. It’s fun to see how other people worship and how they do certain things, but it can also be frustrating to never find that church that you fit in with.

But we all knew that God wouldn’t let that happen right? I must confess, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure that we were going to find a church that had a powerful working vision, a tight community, and a good theology (not to mention good music/worship/preaching). I admit that I was a bit skeptical that we would find the “perfect” church. After all, there are no perfect churches.

But of course, God came through for us and we think we have found the right church for us. Enter Providence Church, a new plant that launched this past March and is located in Frisco/Little Elm. This is the church I posted about in my last episode of Church Visiting. It’s a plant of The Village Church, located in Dallas. Now it’s not a plant in the sense that it’s an identical “daughter church” of The Village, with duplicate vision, theology, and purpose. It’s actually very unique in those respects, yet it’s receiving some sort of financial support from The Village.

The pastor is Barry Keldie, who was previously on staff at The Village and has had a desire to start a church for years. He is close friends with Michael Armstrong, whom he teamed up with to plant this church. Michael had probably been the most influential person in the formation of my musical worship style and philosophy of worship, so I’m obviously more than comfortable with his leadership. We also have our friends, the Bradshaws, who are actively involved and are excited to have some good friends to connect with. We’ve gone out to eat a few times these past couple of weeks and it’s been nice to have some friends to hang out with.

We visited again Saturday night, with the mindset of prayerful consideration towards this church and God’s will for us. Afterwards, we felt a good deal of confirmation in our hearts. The pastor, Barry preached an amazing message in regards to the hurricane disaster and the correct theological response. His thoughts echoed a lot of what I’ve discussed here, denying the idea that God had nothing to do with it, but also denying the idea that God was actively judging a geographical location for the spiritual sins of people. He was really “bringin’ the Word” on this, examining Scripture in a responsible fashion, and sharing some solid theology. He had people crying on this one and God did some really cool things at that service.

So why do we feel led here as opposed to other churches? First of all, we trust the leadership. This may sound like a small thing, but if there’s one thing that I’ve been taught about in the building of a biblical, effective church, it lies in it’s leadership. There’s nothing more frustrating than mediocre leaders and pastors who aren’t passionate. The people leading this church are hardcore, bad-to-the-bone church builders who have a great deal of wisdom and that’s something I value a great deal. There are other things that make this an easy decision too. Worship is great, and there’s a good chance I can get involved at a fairly deep level (I’ll know more on this next week). The preaching is amazing. We have friends there who are trying to start a small group. The church is still on the ground floor, so we get another chance at being a part of something great and being there in the beginning stages. We believe God can use us a great deal here. After all, we’ve already been through a lot of what they are just about to go through and we are more than passionate about helping emerging churches “emerge”.

So, there is still much to be written about this, but I’ll call it quits for now. I’ll find out in the coming weeks what sort of opportunities might be available to us to volunteer and serve, when and how we will join, etc. and I’ll make sure and keep everyone posted on it.

In other news, I just had a great cup of java. As noted in my sidebar, I’m drinking French Roast and this morning I finally did the math and decided to brew this morning with my french press. I’m a genius! That was some good coffee.

I also finally sat down and dug into Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller yesterday. I know I’m way behind the trend on reading this (Miller’s new book is already out), but I never had the cash to buy it until recently. Man, this is a good book. I admit that I underestimated how much I would like it. I thought it was just going to be blunt, honest thoughts on faith that I could really identify with, but man, this guy can write. His language and imagery is amazing and he has a beautiful way with words. I’m enjoying it quite a bit.

Now I gotta go look for a job. How much fun is that?