Our Hope

Sunday night was a toughy for me going in. I was kind of a ball of nerves, saddled with the weight of this entire undertaking all in one moment.

When we sat down for our ten minute prayer at 4:30 (set up begins at 4:40), I noticed Tristan was back. And that was certainly a good sign and something to celebrate! Not only was she sitting there next to her dear friend, Ashley. But she was here in time to pray with us, and then assist with the set-up. And assist she did--in a big way!

Tristan presence represented a victory. Still, I was tense, feeling the frustration of staring square in the face of a Preview Worship Gathering, and wondering if anyone else besides Tristan and the Launch Team was going to show up.

Others were tense too. Moms were tense about how kids were behaving, the tech guys were tense because something was going haywire with the computer set-up for PowerPoint.

Some now-unremembered straw broke the proverbial camel's back and I left the cafeteria, headed into the library, and made a b-line for the far corner. I sat down in one of those little chairs, and simply prayed...

God, please--tonight--send this little church plant...hope.

Then I rose, and went back to the cafeteria.

5:15. Ushers to the front door.

5:30. time to start. Tech problem almost solved. A bit of a late start.

In came Michael and his mom, Juliana, and Juliana's friend, Dana (Dana for the first time!). As always, the Helwig presence lifted our spirits. Especially with the news that Dana and Michael had been baptized that morning!

Before Chris began the first worship song, he reminded us that Sundays are not what this church does; Sundays are a celebration of how we live church throughout the week. Then he called upon us to share how God had been present and at work all week.

So, when the worship songs had been sung (and my spirits were further lifted), I followed Chris' lead. I gave a "vision peptalk." I reminded everyone what we are about, what it all means, and how everything we are doing fits together.

A visitor walked in. A woman in her twenties. This one was totally unexpected. As the evening unfolded we learned that she had been the recipient of one of our 500 candy canes (with church invitation attached) which we had handed out the previous day as we marched in the Sherwood Christmas Parade. So that was a boost. But wait! There's more!

She had walked. The distance is around two miles.

She got lost. She still persisted. She arrived right on time.

We enjoyed meeting here, enjoyed hearing her say she felt welcome and "definitely" wanted to come back again. We arranged a ride home for her.

After the trailer was all packed up, someone handed me the Friendship Communication Cards. Realizing I had not yet heard our newcomer's name, I thumbed through them and found hers.

Her name is Hope.