Sorry I have taken so long to write about the church's first Gathering, but here it is...
Our Sunday last week began on a great note. We gathered together with our Launch team to worship together and pray for the day ahead of us. The launch team consists of people who consider Discover Church home and who are committed to giving and serving to help get it off the ground and see it grow. We had a great time of just setting our hearts in the right place that morning and felt the presence of God before the hectic day began.
After meeting together we went our separate ways until meeting at our condo to start packing everything into the trailer at 1:00. The past few weeks all of the shopping and all of the equipment was shipped to our condo and needless to say, I'm am thankful to be able to see our floors again...It was packed! We packed the trailer in no more than a half hour, ate lunch, and headed to the hotel to unload at 2:00. This seemed to be the easiest part of the day because the pace quickly picked up and the set up began!
The set up went really well for our first time! I was so excited about the kids area and thought the Gathering looked great! Benj and the worship band sounded amazing and he had a great group of very talented musicians to help out! Over all we learned so much and where we saw things missing or not how we wanted it, God showed up in a mighty way. Screens, subs, projectors, mics, and much more ended up not being on time so we had to rent screens, go with out subs, and run to stores for other things. God provided abundantly and our first Gathering was a success!
That night we had 79 people total (including volunteers)!!! About 20 of those people filled out guest cards, meaning that they were not well-wishers or volunteers from other churches. It was a great turn out and we received so much encouragement from those well-wishers, supporters, and volunteers from other churches...we could not have done it without their prayers and encouragement and yours too! We knew so many people from home and from other places were praying and we are SO THANKFUL. God was so present that night.
On a different note, Discover Kidz looked great and we were prepared for kids, but we just didn't have any. At first I thought I might have been disappointed but I quickly heard God reassure me and I know if He wanted kids there, He would have had kids there! Instead I was able to have great volunteers ready to go when needed and I was able to experience our very first Gathering. This was a blessing from God and I am so thankful I was able to be there and watch it happen!
Tear down was a little confusing at times, but everyone really sacrificed their time and worked so hard! We are learning quickly what works and what doesn't and I cannot explain how amazing it is to see other churches coming together to help get this church started. The Church is a body, not a competition across denominational lines...we were so blessed by how sacrificial these churches were! (Thank You First Baptist-West Palm, First Baptist-Lake Worth, and Life Church.Tv! You guys are Awesome!!!)
Even in the short amount of time we have been down here in Florida, we are already seeing life change, marriages being restored, and friendships renewed! I hope to be writing some of those stories on here very soon to share with you what God is doing and hope that you are encouraged by this and what's to come!
Here are a few pictures and the whole album is on my Facebook page!
Please continue to pray as we prepare for our very first Second Gathering :)
