“How long has our church been meeting in the high school?” someone asked at Small Church the other night.
“Nine years,” I said. It’s easy for me to keep track since we started using the auditorium the spring Allen graduated from high school.
Has it really been nine years? Nine years of hauling sound equipment for the worship band, setting up the nursery in hallways, and Sunday school in the foyer. No wonder the storage bins full of nursery toys and Sunday school materials are wearing out. No wonder the people who pack the trailer were dog tired.
But this spring, a little spring has returned to their step.
A little zip is zippadying their doo-dahs.
A little vim is vitalizing their vigor.
Why?
Because in a few months, our new church building will be finished. The sound equipment will stay put from week to week. The nursery will have four solid walls where our babies will be safe. The Sunday school classes will meet in rooms – maybe not completely finished when we move in, but they’ll be put to rights soon. Very soon.
Living through it, nine years seemed like an eternity of hauling tubs and hustling to get out of the building on time each week. But looking back, it seems like hardly enough time for a small group of people to find property and pay for it, raise half a million dollars, secure a loan for the remaining costs, and build a church. And looking forward, nine years seems like nothing compared to the enormity of the task – spreading the good news of a risen Savior so others will come to faith and spend eternity with Him.
Once we’re in our new building, what will God do then? How will he change us? What will the next nine years bring?
