ChosenRebel's Blog

Monday Discussion

[Four and a half years ago when I first started at Trinty Church. Updated.]  Went for a walk last night to count houses and pray. I am acting as the interim pastor (part time, 4 days a week) for a great multi-site church with a vision not to be big but to have a big impact for the King. In the morning I preached from the book of Judges, had lunch with a gracious family from the church, napped, called my bride back in Bolingbrook, caught up on the NFL playoffs on my phone, listened to a message by K. P. Yohannon, did some research on Luke 10 and decided I needed to get up and get out. It was about 8 PM when I started walking the neighborhood.

What I was praying and what I saw.

This was really my first foray into the community that Trinity Church in Watseka, IL is commissioned to reach with the gospel.

Prayers:

1. Lord, help me to love these people and help me to help Trinity Church reach these people.
2. Lord, while I am here, help me to help the congregation find the “men (and women) of peace” in these neighborhoods. Where is the non-Christian heart in which you are already working and through whom this community is going to see the transforming power of the gospel?
3. How do I motivate the Christians in this neighborhood to be bolder and more gracious with their neighbors?
4. Make me a blessing to this neighborhood and to Trinity Church for this season of service.
5. Lord, show me what it will take to penetrate this neighborhood and break the ice with the non-Christians here. Make me bold but sensitive.

Observations and Questions:

1. 58 homes, much more spread out in rural America than suburban America. 
2. Almost everyone is home on a Sunday night between 7:30 and 8:00 pm. [Just learned from an article online that Sunday night is the night most Americans can be found at home. 9/18/14]
3. Monday must be trash pickup day here.
4. What could I do on a Sunday night to meet non-Christians?
5. Extended families live close. (Saw a car drive from one house to another 500 yards away.)
6. No street lights. Going to have to be careful. Who am I kidding? There is virtually no traffic!
7. The sound of freight trains in the distance is frequent and fun. It reminds me of growing up in Pennsylvania and the haunting sounds of freight trains running through the valley. I love the sound.

So now I’m back writing this post and hoping that it might be a model for something that anybody, anywhere can do whether they live in rural, suburban, or urban America. 

Walk your neighborhood and pray.
Watch, observe, and pray.
Listen to the Spirit of God and act.

Let’s pray for one another and that God will use us to make a difference for the King.