Friday, September 08, 2006

and the dance goes on

This past Sunday I officially resigned from my position as Worship Minister at church (which, by the way, has nothing to do with my previous post). The reason being I have the opportunity to be a part of a church plant that will be launching this February here in Knoxville.

(note: If you are like me, you are probably thinking to yourself, "Does Knoxville really need another church?" The answer: No. Absolutely not. But I do believe that Knoxville needs another kind of church...and that is what we are striving for with this plant. There is a gaping hole in the Church right now. You could put numbers around it and say it is the 18-35 year olds, but I don't think it is that clearly defined. Simply, there are people who are open to Jesus and faith and spirituality and all that Christianity truly stands for...but who are turned off by everything they perceive about the Church. We are hoping to connect these people.)

Saying good-bye is always hard (and...cue Boyz II Men). Especially when stepping into something so unknown. I never saw myself planting a church. I never saw myself having to raise my own support. I never saw myself doing something that took this much...faith. There are so many unknowns, so many things completely out of my hands. The one thing I do know, however, is that my wife and I have prayed a lot about this and we are confident, not only that we are currently being called to this church plant, but also we are confident that much of what we have experienced and done as a couple thus far in our marriage has been preparing for this move.

This story comes to mind:

My wife and I have a friend who recently began taking swing-dancing classes. She showed up to her first class nervous and unsure of why she was even there in the first place. Immediately the class broke off into pairs, one guy and one girl. Not knowing any of the men in the class, she watched everyone else laughing and pairing up while she stood to the side hoping someone would soon approach her. Sure enough, a young man walked up and asked her if she wanted to dance. She responded, “Okay. But this is my first time here and I have no clue how to swing dance.” He said, “Don’t worry. You’re going do great, trust me.” She then asked him, “How? I don’t know any of the steps.” He replied, “You don’t have to know the steps. Just follow me and enjoy the dance.”

We don’t know why God has led us along each of the steps He has. Some of the steps have felt awkward and uncomfortable, while others have felt so right that we’d have been okay if the dance just ended there. But this dance is bigger than any of us can comprehend. And while we are in many ways unsure of what this next step will become, we trust absolutely the One who is leading.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Bill....I've always known you to be an achiever! You're known to set your goals high and you work hard to reach them...ALWAYS! Just remember that as you close one door, another one opens. And it is so exciting to see that which awaits you. Enjoy this dance! Love and prayers to you and Betsy. I'm so proud of you.

Mark Nelson said...

My main question is...what were you doing up at 7:30am blogging?

Anonymous said...

and my question is about the word "expecially". what exactly is that?