“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” — Helen Keller
Without vision, people perish. Without goals, you never reach the vision. All of it take steps. Interesting how the Psalmist speak of the Word of God being a light to his feet. Basically, they would attach little lamps to their sandals and as they would take a step, the lamp would light their way, step by step. And sometimes it seems that is how it works – you never know what the next step will look like until you make it. (Unless you have one of those nights where it’s a full moon and everything is so bright and you can actually see clearly!) But the point is that every journey begins with the first step and sometimes that first step is a big leap.
“Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
We are in the middle of many steps – moving the ministry to another building is quite a challenge physically. When you have been in a large building for 5 years, and then you are consolidating into a much smaller space, it is amazing how much you discover that you have. I have filled the equivalent of a two car and a three car garage with furniture and boxes and chairs and everything else in between. I am sensing a purging coming soon! Nope, not sensing… declaring it! All these steps we are taking to get moved and at the same time, we are taking steps to demolish, tear out, renovate and set back up. It takes time. It takes strength. It takes commitment. It takes money. But in the end, I know this will be worth it.
I think back over the past five years we have been here. I remember the first day I stood in that beautiful brand new auditorium in wonder that this was our new home. These spacious hallways and tall ceilings and mammoth bathrooms … I didn’t even know what to do with all this space! We took a white box of a room and transformed it into a factory – with actual windows from an old factory, real brick walls, fabricated steel beams, corrugated steel and hanging lights to create an atmosphere for our youth room / House of Prayer. We built a drum booth with foot thick walls and brought it in piece by piece and assembled it. We created a two story train depot with a built in motorized screen that came down out of the fascia. I have been in every part of this building, often till the wee hours of the morning, stripping and waxing floors, setting up after concerts and events, taking photos of all the activities that have gone on here. So much life has happened here – millions of pounds of food has come and gone to thousands and thousands of needy people in the community; people have come for counseling, healing, and hope and have left filled and healed! Messages have been spoken, worship and prayer have gone up to the throne of God, day after day. We have learned much on this journey. Five. The number of Grace. We have been given much grace on this leg of the journey. I think it is preparation for the next part.
Moving out is taking time – my assistant Joey and I have been making load after load to the storage area for the past month and a half and we getting down to the end of the moving stuff part. I am going to miss many things about this place for sure (especially my cool office!) but I know that they have big plans for it. Already they have begin painting (no more gold walls!) and I love the changes they are making to the color scheme – Go Brenda! I wish the Grand Horizon Center staff all the best on this new adventure. Can’t wait to see some of the concerts that will be coming this way. I pray blessing on those who come to the GHC to be a part of this center of community! May The Lord do great things here in the coming years!
Renovation at the Concord Center is progressing slowly right now. So much of my attention is focused on getting moved that I have not been there much lately. Scott Starkweather is holding down the fort and getting stuff done. We have a plan, and I know as soon as we get moved, I will be able to refocus on renovation. The outside has been completely repainted and I gotta say, it looks quite striking! I can’t wait to start seeking some movement on the interior, but it is funny how deciding on a scheme that works and fits and flows together is such a challenge. We have a vision for it though, and I know that it will come together.
Steps. And in the right order. If you do them out of order, you only create more work for yourself. And here we are… taking steps. And it is wild to see how The Lord is bring people to help out on this journey. Already so many have given financially and of their time and talents and prayers. The Lord is showing us that He is with us on this journey. So we leave here with hope, excitement and the knowledge that The Lord is going to do great things in the next phase of our journey!
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.