Ft Wayne - Part 1

This weekend we are visiting friends and churches in Ft Wayne, Indiana. We pulled into town this afternoon (Saturday) at about 1:30pm and made tracks straight to the first Chick-Fil-A in town. Having grown up in the southern states, this chain is our family's #1 choice. My very first job was working at a Chick-Fil-A in Martinsville, VA when I was 14 years old. Truett Cathy (the founder) was a great Christian man who founded a company that still carries on with biblical business principles and is even closed on Sundays to allow employees to have a day to connect with family and go to church. Pretty cool.

Then we checked into the hotel and spent some time in the pool. The kids loved splashing me and playing "let's drown Daddy"!

Then we packed up and headed to Level.13 Church. This new outreach is being co-founded with our very own Kory and Becky Christensen from Faith Church. The lead pastor, Rob Tippey (and wife, Melinda), is also a friend from college. Their worship gathering is 6pm on Saturday. They meet in a storefront that is set up a lot like a coffeehouse. The service started with a family style meal and then the band came on stage and kicked into overdrive. They have really implemented a lot of the ministry models from Faith Church. I loved hearing the stories of "Echo-Ops" (their version of CIA) as they get out in the community to share Christ's love in a practical way. Also their HomeGroups have adopted a similar philosophy. Some of the people who are getting connected with this new church are really experiencing lifechange on a personal level. They have a lot of challenges that they're facing, but the potential is huge (and the band was amazing)!


We helped tear down all the "portable church" equipment (although we were probably more underfoot than we were helpful). And then we went out to Culver's with the Christensens. They wanted to hear all the latest Faith Church news and were asking lots of questions about the potential new facility plans. We pulled back into the hotel at about 11:30pm and I'm writing this just before bed.

I'm praying that tomorrow will be a great day back home and I know Pastor Lynn is going to hit the ball out of the park as she encourages people to "Lose Their Religion".

In the morning we'll get up really early to hit our 2nd church on the "Gorveatte Worldwide Tour"!