So I know it’s sort of anti-climactic to write about our first service four days past the fact, but I’ve sort of been trying to catch up!
Our first Sunday in our new building was incredible. Absolutely incredible. There are no words!
I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard in my entire life as I did last week, but sitting in the auditorium on Sunday morning made it all worth it.
From the outset of the service on thing was communicated loud and clear: God is faithful.
When people entered into the auditorium the stage was dark and the word “welcome” was all that was on our screens. We opened the service with a video that had verses about God’s faithfulness and it ended with the word ‘faithful’ on the screen.
Joseph Tenney, our worship pastor, then emerged and sang (acapella) words to an original song he had written about God’s faithfulness.
Our lead pastor Jackson then came up and talked about all of the sacrifices that people made to see our building become a reality.
Park had been a “church on the move” for over 20 years and has met in over 20 different locations across the city of Chicago… and now, for the first time in our history we have a place to call our own. |
Even in the midst of the excitement of it all Jackson said something that stood out to me… he talked about all the sacrifices people made… their time, their resources, their money… to make our building a reality… and he said, “but today isn’t about you or what you’ve done… today is a day to celebrate God’s faithfulness to Park Community Church.”
A short video followed introducing our new logo, and then the stage was light up and our worship team lead us in a time of worship.
What stood out to me as the definitive moment of our service was when we sang the song “God of the City.” The words of that song are so perfect for Park’s context and our vision for the city of Chicago. While we were singing the song, the curtains on our stage were drawn back to reveal the view of the city skyline from our auditorium windows.
I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place. What a powerful picture of our vision and God’s faithfulness to our church.
When Park first started, the vision of the founding pastor Matt Heard (now pastor at Woodman Valley Chapel) was that Park would “do ministry in the shadow of the skyline”… and here we were, 20 years later, sitting in a building that we could call our own, looking out to see the city of Chicago. The vision, literally right in front of us. Matt is coming this weekend to speak and we are so excited to welcome him!
Our lead pastor Jackson then kicked off a new message series called “What is the Church?” Now that we’ve got a building we don’t want to settle in and think we’ve reached a goal… we know there’s so much more ahead of us! He challenged everyone with the thought that we are the church and we have a responsibility to be doing life outside of the walls of the church, engaged with culture, and engaged with those who don’t know Christ. You should really take time to listen to the message! It was AWESOME.
He affirmed our vision and how we are all called to be a part of what God is doing. We even wrote the vision on the wall!
Anyway, it was just so overwhelming to see it all happen and be a part of it. I’m so thankful for God allowing me the opportunity to be a part of this. It’s truly been an honor and I get so excited when I think about what God has in store for us.
It was so cool to see people in our new space, hanging out in the cafe, and to just see life here. I know this is only the beginning… greater things are yet to come!
