Busy day today. Breakfast with Carl at 5:30, staff meeting at 9am, worship meeting at 10am, Christ Together lunch from 11:30-2pm (and session meeting tonight!). Busy but good. In our Christ Together meeting (with Katy area pastors) I brought up our current challenge in adopting a geographic area to reach with the gospel, which goes hand-in-hand with one of the key lessons on leadership from Nehemiah: do your own reconnaissance. This is our challenge, especially if we define our “target” area as the neighborhood in which our church campus is located. It is a challenge in that our church members are spread out all over Katy (and Houston). Only some live in the immediate neighborhood.
Idea 1: There is a group of churches working together to help the Sundown neighborhood and they are currently in this “reconnaissance” stage. This Saturday is an opportunity to come alongside them as they conduct surveys with residents in the area. Anyone interested in coming along with me, let me know. “you’ve got to be on-sight to gain insight.”
Idea 2: Prayer walking around the neighborhood was also mentioned. While this is not anything new, hearing it brought up as a part of the strategy gave me a sense of “renewed vigor” in trying it with Cornerstone and our neighborhood. So, I went for a “prayer jog” in the neighborhood. I put my jogging clothes on (the gym bag was already packed) and jogged from the church campus to Westgreen and back on Park York. That’s not far, but its a start. Anyone interested? It could become a weekly thing.