God at Work

Being part of a church of 13,000 weekly attenders can feel daunting sometimes.

For us, it's become pretty normal. We attend 1 of 7 campuses where the pastor is shared over the video screens, we have our own campus pastors attending to each campuses people and needs, we have our own worship team though sometimes rotating between campuses, we attend 1 of the 2 main campuses where the pastor preaches live every other Sunday [the others are smaller and are considered satellite campuses where he preaches live maybe 1-2 times a year], and where we typically see maybe up to 2,000 people at one time.

Having grown up in a church of 250, this church somewhat overwhelmed me when we first started attending. 12 years ago though, it was smaller. We were on 1 campus with 3 services, having just gone up to 4 services when we finally found a location for a second campus [initially having started the process as looking for a location to spread out and keep it at one campus, but the Lord clearly directed and provided in a different, surprising way].

We can honestly say we have loved every second of it. Not everyone has. People have left the church.  I know it's not necessarily everyone's cup of tea and I can respect those who leave on good terms. Those who leave without talking to leaders or trying to get answers to their questions, that bothers me. This is your community. Don't just run away from it.

We love that our pastor reminds us that it doesn't matter where we are or he is, it just matters where our Bibles are and that God is meeting us in that place. The video screen thing doesn't bother me at all, it's like second-nature now. I get to sit under the phenomenal teachings each week of a well-known and well-loved, blunt, teach-it-like-it-is, unapologetic, Gospel-centered, incredible pastor and teacher.

As a part of such a big church, one of our favorite things is "God at Work". At random they'll show a video of a story of someone in our church, and how God has been at work in their lives. It's SO neat to get to know people this way and to get to hear how God's working throughout our church - things we wouldn't know or see otherwise.

Here is one such story. If you're at all like me, grab a Kleenex.