They say that church planting is a wild ride.
I completely agree.
Two weeks ago I had a pretty interesting day of ministry.
When I got home Megan asked me "So, how was your day today?"
I paused for a moment and then I responded by saying, "A Hindu, a Muslim and a church planter walked into a bar. That pretty much sums up my day."
I'll be unpacking that statement - and my day - on the blog over the next few days.
"A Hindu..."
My day started in Lansdale by swinging by the post office to pick up the mail at the Renew mail box.
Afterwards, I swung by the public library just down the block to pop in and say hi to a new-found friend named Sam.
Sam is in his late-twenties, a medical student from India who was raised in a Hindu family. He moved to Lansdale to live with his aunt after completing medical school in northern India and is spending the next several months studying for his medical board exams. He spends six days a week studying in the library from the time it opens to the time it closes.
I had bumped into Sam a few weeks back in the library and had a fascinating conversation. During that first meeting I asked him what he was studying and where he was a student.
He then asked me what I did.
"I am a practical and educational theologist.," I responded.
"What's that? I have never heard of such a job."
"Well, my job is that I help people be attentive to God and then respond appropriately."
"There is a job out there like that?"
"Yeah, I teach and help people live out the ways of Jesus in their everyday lives. We also started an organization recently called Renew. The goal is that we renew Lansdale and the region physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually - in the name of Jesus."
"I had no idea that there was such an organization."
He asked me questions about Jesus and why we would be doing such a thing. I went on to tell him about Jesus and what he had done in my life - and the lives of many others - and how it compelled us to live lives that reflected the character and nature and priorities of Jesus.
He was absolutely fascinated and asked if we could get together some time and hang out because he had more questions about Jesus and what I was talking about.
I told him I would love to hang out.
Because I knew that Sam had questions and I knew he would be studying there since he does all the time I popped in to say hi and tell him that I had been thinking about him and wondered how his studying was going.
Once again, Sam and I had a fascinating conversation about Jesus and church and what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Conversations like these ignite something deep within me.
After a while I told Sam that I had to go because I had another meeting that I needed to go to: a meeting with the Imam of the North Penn mosque...
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