Monday, May 4, 2015

Be Careful Little Eyes

I remember the first time we had communion as a church. There were about 20 of us in our living room, which at that time was our entire church. And as people came to the center of the room to take the bread and dip it into the cup and remember what Jesus had done for us, they had to side step a little girl who had found her way to the foot of the table. She had a tube in her nose, couldn't walk or crawl because she had fractures all over her tiny body. But she could scoot. And she scooted right next to the table and literally watched every person come take communion.

I remember Shaina and I reflecting on that and saying "That is what we want our kid to experience about church." Not the meetings that stole her dad from her too many nights of the week...not the frustrating conversations of a disheartened/burnt out pastor and his annoyed and lonely wife...But of a bunch of people trying to figure out the Jesus way together. Less drama. Less committees. More community. More service to the people of our city.

And in many ways, C3 has raised that little girl into a sweet young lady.

And she is still watching.

She sees C3 support a group of first graders where we meet by helping them with their First Grade Factory pencil company (over 600 pencils bought last Sunday!)
She sees (and sort've helped!) our community move in a family and welcome them to Columbus last Thursday.
She sees our community partner last Friday with Graham Primary School to pull off a Food Truck Event for a fundraiser to help the school continue to invest in kids.
She sees Mr. Carl, a student at Otterbein move in to our house this past weekend for the summer to do a pastoral intern with C3 to see if church planting is in his future.

She's watching. As are many other kids.

Our job is to make sure they love what they see.

This past week, City Campus Church was recognized at the Stadia Church Planting banquet at Exponential Conference for their work in investing in kids in our community and in Ecuador and Mexico. Shaina and I accepted the Wess Stafford award on behalf of C3. We received money to continue investing in children at C3 and Shaina and I got a crazy gift to travel back to Ecuador to visit our Compassion sponsor kiddo, Yelixa!

What are the kids around you seeing when they observe your life?

I pray it is really really Good News.

150409 Thompson Video from Stadia Church Planting on Vimeo.


Thanks for all of you who are investing in our story through prayer or financial support. It is changing the world quite literally.

1 comment:

Nana Cindy said...

What an absolute honor to be a part of spreading the Good News of Jesus through C3! We love partnering with Stadia, sharing God's love, and blessing lives in Columbus, Ohio and beyond. Papa & Nana join Chaia in giving God 'two thumbs up'. Rejoicing in all God has done, and looking forward with expectation to what He holds for the future!