"Something is Happening"

For those on our email list, I was going to tell this story in our next update, but as you'll see, we have more current updates we'll be including instead. For those not on our list, please sign up on the bottom of the page!

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I was standing in the lobby a couple weeks back as the 11:15 service was about to conclude and thought to myself, Why am I here? What is the point of being here? I didn't mean that in a big picture way, but thinking of the exact moment. Why stand in the lobby? No one even knew me yet. It's a huge rush of people getting out of the doors. I had nothing to offer the crowd. What was the point of standing there in that moment?

Then I saw a gentleman see me and beeline straight from the worship center doors to me. He clearly saw my staff name tag. He walked up and told me that he was looking to attend TVC Pathway for lunch (this is our monthly luncheon meant for guests to understand a bit more about TVC and how to take first steps in a church this size). I started to explain where it was, then decided it was easier to just walk him over next door.

As we began to walk, I asked him how long he had been coming to TVC and what brought him here. He told me about some personal challenges in the recent past that resulted in him moving to Dallas. While at work, someone gave him Matt Chandler's recent book Becoming Like Jesus. He told me about how eye opening it was and how it was helping transform him. Once he finished the book, he saw on the "about the author" section that this guy Matt was a pastor in Flower Mound. He lived in Flower Mound, but did not know about this Matt Chandler guy or The Village Church, so he decided to check it out, and once he came, he knew this was the place for him. Since then, I've run into him several times and he seems to be getting more involved.

God used an "about the author" section of a book to bring this man into the church. That was on no one's evangelism ministry plan. God is doing amazing things here at TVC. It's been made evident so many times in the short time that we've been here. It's not just people coming to listen to Matt Chandler preach a good sermon; people are being transformed. People are on mission. The Holy Spirit is changing hearts. There's baptisms happening literally every single week. The 2030 vision on the wall behind me mentions a goal of 300 baptisms per year. They've had to revise that because they hit the goal four years early. And it's not because there's better talent. It's not because of the programs or the structure (although those do have an important part). It's because God has chosen this church to be a beacon of hope in a time of need. It's because the Holy Spirit is moving in people's hearts.

It's both humbling and an honor to not just be witnessing it, but to be a part of it here. And I needed that guy to walk over to me to ask for directions to see it. I needed to be humbled, because it wasn't about me. It's never about me. It might be true that I have nothing to offer. Who cares? It's about God. Sometimes we just need to be there ready to receive people when he is moving in their lives.

This past week was a celebration Sunday. Take a look at this short clip of Josh Patterson (one of our lead pastors) talking about what all God is doing here at TVC. It's pretty amazing.