God's Dream

Last night's Real Life meeting was a powerful time!

If you missed it--let me bring you up to speed:
The first half of our discussion was spent looking back. We answered the question: when you think about this past year, and all our times together, what are you most thankful for? How has God blessed your life through this group and our experiences together? We spent a lot of time giving thanks and honoring and celebrating each other and what God has done in and through. The message students kept saying over and over was that God has created truly unique community where people are valued, accepted, encouraged and loved. AMEN!

The second half of our discussion was spent looking forward. We answered the question: what's next? What's the next challenge? What's God calling us to do now? What's God's dream? We talked about a few ideas, but the idea that really gathered a lot of excitement and momentum was the idea of building a STUDENT CENTER in the basement of the church (in the Activity Room and two neighboring classrooms). The Student Center would serve as a safe place for community kids to hang out at after school. It would be both a gift we give to our community, and a bridge we build to the unchurched kids in the community. It became evident during the conversation that 1) this is going to be hard work 2) that it will require the whole youth group and the whole church to get behind this 3) everyone's gifts and expertise will be vital in making this dream a reality and 4) it is SO WORTH it because we believe this is God's dream, and we believe He'll help us make His dream come true. Why do we think it's God's dream?

a) A number of Real Life students came up with this idea within days of some students in the community telling Pastor Bill "You know what this church could do for us? Create a safe place where we can hang out after school."
b) Since the idea has been pitched, countless people have responded to it favorably, including: the elders, the members of Real Life and many in the congregation. Already people have come forward offering their ping-pong table, pool table, Media Cart, TV, DVD-player, speakers, computers, furnishings and time.
c) There was a ground swell of energy, joy, passion, creativity and prayer when we began to discuss the idea around the Bonfire on Sunday night--and we're itching to get started.

So...here's the plan:

At our last Real Life meeting of the year: Sunday, June 15th, we're gong to meet at Pleasant Street, down in the Activity Room, and continue the process of dreaming God's Dream for this Student Center. We'll divide up into teams, sketch ideas, and even work toward assigning some tasks and scheduling some work days throughout the summer. Because it's the last Real Life meeting of the school year we'll also honor our Seniors: Katie, Kristen, Katelyn, Camille and Doug. Should be a special time! Plan on being there on the 15th!

Have a great week everyone. Feel free to click the pencil below to post your own ideas, dreams and reactions to this post.

Pastor Bill