What a fantastic beginning to a new young adult community! After a summer long preparation by an excellent CORE team, it was so exciting to finally see The Awakening begin. I met so many new people - people who were thirsty for community. I met people that are new to Dallas and even new to the church! It was an exciting time clearly influenced by God. I couldn't have hoped for a better launch. Here's a quick play by play:
We began at 7:00pm and already we were pulling out more chairs and by the end of worship we had about 100 people joining us. Cody Kimmel, our worship leader (Cody is also at Fellowship White Rock Sunday mornings at 11am) with his team of musicians lead us to the throne through some great worship.
I got up next for our teaching portion of the evening. I taught for about 25 minutes sharing the story of how The Awakening began and about the void in community this ministry is addressing. Then I shared some vision of what we want this ministry to look like and what someone can expect to happen on Tuesday nights. I also asked people to come for the next 4 weeks because we will be sharing more about who we want to be, our values and the culture we are trying to create. Finally I called people to not just commit to coming, but if led, to participate in the progress - to join us in building this ministry.
After a quick break to grab some refreshments, we broke up into Connection Groups where young adults were able to discuss the message as well as get to know several other people in their group. It was so cool to see 13 groups of 7-10 people gather together and talk about life, how they have experienced community or the absence of it and sharing their excitement for this new ministry.
After about 45 min - a lot longer than I expected, groups began to disperse and hang out in a larger group again. We had pool tables going, some ping pong and of course plenty of refreshments. It was just cool to see people getting connected with others and developing new friendships while sitting in the cafe area, the lounge below or standing around in smaller groups.
The room was full of conversation which created a contagious buzz and excitement. People didn't really leave until well after 9:00.
There were about 25 of us that continued our conversation across the street at Gordon Biersch until I don't know when. I left at 10:30 and people were still hanging out. Again, another chance to get to know people and become part of this community.
The Awakening seeks to lead young adults in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ through authentic social community. From what I saw last night, God is up to some pretty cool stuff here at Fellowship Dallas. Authentic community is being built and time will tell just what exactly this will become. From my vantage point, God has some pretty big plans.
Where you there last night? What did you see? What was your experience? I'd love to hear your story.
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