Refreshing

Today I attended a meeting with Christian Pastors that actually left me in a positive mood. This meeting is a cross-denominatinal group of Pastors who actually see the Kingdom as more than their own church/denomination/"ism" or anything else...

The egos were very limited and the openess was genuine. I did not hear a bunch of whining about how hard planting is (although it is). I didn't hear one churches statistics (although some are growing like a weed). What I heard was a group of guys (and some of their wives) who -no matter how different- embraced the idea that they were a part of something much larger than themselves.

This meeting was the first of what everyone hopes to be is a continuing resource for planters of all denominations. We all believe in the One Jesus, One Church, One Heaven, etc. We disagree (I'm certain although we didn't talk about it) over many perephial issues but the conversation focused on what we can do together. I don't care what denomination you are, you still have to set up a church if you are portable. It seems that this meeting will be less of a lecture and more of an interaction. It will be less about titles and more about outreach and shared experience. We've all decided to meet again for 3 consecutive months while trying 3 different approaches to the meeting. This will keep the meetings fresh and provide some experimentation.

The Pastors who set this up are actually doing a good job of listening. I trust and hope that they will continue to ogranize this around what is best for these planters and less about what one-track system they want others to support. This city is huge and we need all types of churches to get it done.

For some of you this post may be pointless... but for me its theraputic because I HATE MEETINGS... especially pointless ones. If this goes the direction that most of the 30 people in the room want it to go, it will be a healthy addition to my calendar once a month. But then again maybe there are some of you who love pointless meetings...