We had our 3rd public worship service tonight (they are called Sanctuary if you hadn’t guessed) and it went really good. Here are a few thought…

1. We have a great core group of people coming…there aren’t many people who don’t follow Jesus at this yet…There were new faces, old faces that hadn’t been to Sanctuary yet, and a solid group of Vintage regulars…somebody’s rough count was around 50…20 more than last month! Not that I have ever cared just about bodies, but this number represents that fact that we are developing momentum and Vintage is building quickly on the foundation that has been laid these past two years. It was so cool to see old leaders talking with future leaders, and new people being taken care of by not-quite-as-new people. Our values of authenticity, grace, and community were on display tonight and it was really cool to be a part of it.

2. Our community grew together around communion and reminiscing about Jesus. We had an extended time of communion where we sat around and just talked about Christ and what He has done in our lives and what He means to us. Then we served each other communion (at our tables) and enjoyed the communion of loving Jesus together. There was an electricity in the air…I would call it the Spirit of God…I could not have been any prouder to be a part of our church tonight…the Spirit of God is truly knitting our community together…

3. It wasn’t just Americans…or French for that matter! I saw tonight that we truly are an international church. Not just diverse in our nationality or birthplace, but different in our place in life and occupation…from diplomats to computer programers, studying philosophers to cameramen, New Zealand to Germany and all the way back to Korea…all together and enjoying the common bond we have as followers of the Way…Jesus…

All the drama of getting stuff set up and taken down, tables being borrowed and delivered, equipment being rented and picked up (all without cars by the way!)…faded away in the enjoyment of worship and experiencing God’s love through the teaching. Keep praying that the details will continue to fall into place, but more importantly that the momentum that our baby church has will continue to grow us into further maturity…