At first the appointment process seemed to be super secret. Sorry, we can't tell you where it is or why we think your gifts match or anything more than 'it is a missional church' ... strange!
Then it all started to come clear. We were invite to serve at the Longs Peak United Methodist Church in Longmont, Colorado. Our arrival for the 'introduction' with the SPR group was interesting. A husband and wife team met us at a location away from the church to show us around town. We were anxious to see the church but they had been instructed to keep us distracted.
The church had been through some hard times with a split, a rebellious pastor, and a serious financial struggle. It was (and still is!) located in the middle of an intentionally designed retirement community. In fact, it was moved from a downtown location for that purpose. It had one classroom, a small fellowship area, a office, and the worship center. There was obviously no plan for children to be a part of the ministry.
The SPR group was also interesting. In the middle of a question sequence, one member of the committee made a long statement about his ability to know a lot about a person by the type of car they drove. We were safe, we had been doing youth ministry so we had a clunky Ford van. Apparently that was the correct answer. He drove a beautiful new Cadillac!
We were excited about our first worship service. On Sunday February 15, 1988 almost 90 people were present for worship. On Sunday February 22nd there were 35. That is not a good sign! However, those 35 faithful people wanted to move forward. They wanted to grow. Six and a half years later the average worship attendance had grown ten fold to 350 with new education space, an expanded fellowship area, and a plan for a new sanctuary. Those were great days! Thank you Longs Peak!
By now, Jim Calhoun was my DS. Jim loves to tell stories and dream dreams. He started dreaming about our next appointment.
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