Man, yesterday was an interesting day.  For the third week in a row, we had some sort of wintery weather issues and yesterday was by far the worst we’ve had.  We had our lowest attendance so far yesterday, but the mood in the place was good.  Beyond that, I was able to spend a little bit of “family time” during the message, discussing some things that I think we all needed to hear.

We finished collecting food items and gift cards for North Hills Community Outreach yesterday and the boxes were overflowing with goodies that will be delivered over to their headquarters in the next day or so.  It’s exciting to be just a few months old as a church and be able to help make a difference for those less fortunate in our community.

After church we all got together at Ami and Billy Moore’s house to eat and watch some of the Steelers game.  Ami and Billy were great hosts and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the game in HD for a change.  It spoiled me to the point that it was hard to come back to the house and my standard def television.  It was also fun to just be able to hang out with some of our folks with no pretense or anything.

This weekend reminds me of one of my favorite descriptions of what I believe the church should be: a FAMILY on a MISSION.  A family in that we love and care deeply about one another (see John 13:34-35).  On a mission together with God to reconnect men and women to himself (see 2 Corinthians 5:16-21).  In my experience this duality is extremely hard for a lot of churches to balance.  Either they’re a strong family with little or no concern for the world around them going to hell, or they’re on a mission without a healthy connection to one another to the point that people fall away from the body.

In terms of Iron City Church, I am praying specifically this week for: more connections to people who are far from God, the health and protection of our church family (we’ve got some people struggling right now), a full house for next Sunday’s conclusion of our Conspiracy series, and a continued buildup of momentum within those who are already committed.