From the Zebra Bag   Musings from a follower of Jesus, husband , father and pastor

Wow that has to be a record for me 243 miles to church! Well being on vacation here in South Carolina we are in range (well sort of!) of three of the amazing churches whose teaching we have been blessed with during One Prayer. The chance to visit one of them seemed too good to miss. Since all of them are the other side of the state from our vacation spot and knowing that Perry Noble was going to be preaching live at NewSpring(thank you Andy!) made this the logical choice ……….

So 6:30am we set out for the 11:00am service. We made it and as we arrive those who have been to the first service are leaving, necessitating a representative of the sheriff’s department positioned at the gate complete with flashing light! As we enter the parking lot, visitors are invited to put on their flashers and a small army of radio controlled attendants spring into action. We are directed to a spot and a smiling attendant is standing outside of the car to greet us. He hands us two vouchers for the full service coffee shop as a welcome gift.  He made it clear firstly they were very pleased to see us, enquiring where we came from and listening to the answer with interest. Then he pointed us to the doors explaining that should we need to use the rest room during the service we would need to return to a designated sitting area as to return to our seats would be too much of a disruption! As we entered the amazing building we were once again engaged by a smiling greeter who pointed out important locations, including “Awake,” (the coffee shop!) and of course….the bathrooms. Having made the necessary visits (to avoid future embarrassment!!) we joined one of the lines waiting to enter the auditorium. As we waited we observed the people around us, a good range of ages but predominantly young adults, smiling faces, with a sense of anticipation for what was to come. The doors opened to allow us in to a spectacular theatre style multi media auditorium and we soon sank into two  richly upholstered theater style seats…….

Ok that’s enough for today………. There’s much more to share including 32 baptisms and a great message from Perry Noble. But more about that later ….it’s time for today’s challenging question. Maggie and I missed the sense of family and community that is so important to us at New Life. Indeed at the end of the service the parking lot was empty within 20-30 minutes and we were one of very few standing talking with a staff member in the formerly packed foyer. So how do you maintain a strong sense of family and community as numbers grow?… (By the way I am not criticizing NewSpring or saying this dynamic was not part of their church life, I am simply posing a question that occurred to me during my short exposure to this amazing church where God is so clearly at work)