Almost one year ago to this day, RiverChurch began to show its very first signs of life. A handful of people began meeting in the living room of one of our families, and for over six weeks, we simply prayed together for this new community of faith. A few weeks later we began meeting together on Saturday nights, where we prayed, we dreamed and we asked God to make a Church that truly reflected the Church that Jesus desires. Then in January, we officially opened our doors to the public by gathering on Sunday mornings. Since then we’ve spent an extensive amount of time examining what it means to be a disciple, and over the last ten weeks we’ve all made changes to our lives that would help us become the kind of Christ follower we were meant to be.
So for RiverChurch its Celebration Sunday, and as you can see we have a lot to celebrate. Besides the milestones that we’ve crossed over the last year, we’ve seen some significant life change in so many of our people. Some have stepped into the very areas of ministry they were destined for. Some have decided to “give church” one last chance and here they’ve found a safe place, in our community of faith. Some were without hope and hope is being restored to their lives, daily.
Perhaps the thing that, as the pastor, I’m most excited about is that today, we celebrate with those who have decided to go public with their faith in Jesus, by following his example in water baptism. I’m so proud of these guys because they’ve been here as we’ve talked about living the life of a disciple, and as they step into the waters of baptism today, they are saying, “I’m serious about this!” Man, that’s exciting!!!!!
So, yeah, its Celebration Sunday for RiverChurch. We’re celebrating with hamburgers, hotdogs, and all kinds of fun summer food. We’re celebrating with games; cornhole, volleyball, and even some splashing around in a swimming pool. We’re celebrating with worship outdoors in the cathedral of God’s creation. We’re celebrating, and I fully expect Jesus to be right there with us in the middle of it all celebrating with us.
Its time to Celebrate!