Networking and a new name
 
One would think I would have known that the “last shall be first” and that one must first serve rather than be served. Jesus said it, I believe in Jesus and try to follow him so when I meet with all these contacts and do all this networking, one would think that I’d be eager to put myself last and want to serve each and every person. One would think. Instead, the first thing that too often has come to mind when meeting all these people is trying to figure out what this contact can do for me. What kind of information does she have? Who else does he know? Will this meeting bear fruit, e.g. lead to someone wanting to be a part of our new church? This kind of outlook usually leads to frustration because no matter what, I will never be satisfied. It wasn’t until I started reading a book about networking that I remembered Jesus’ simple, but life-changing words. The book is “Never Eat Alone” and here’s an excerpt: “That’s what I mean by connecting. It’s a constant process of giving and receiving—of asking for and offering help. By putting people in contact with one another, by giving your time and expertise and sharing them freely, the pie gets bigger for everyone.” Even though the sentence doesn’t explicitly say this, when I read this particular chapter, all of a sudden, the light came on. I should be going into each of these meetings praying and looking for ways that I can be a blessing to them. How can I serve them? How can be helpful? How can I be generous? I came to this realization a few days ago and it’s made a world of difference in my attitude. I was enjoying the networking thing before, but now I really sense God’s presence in the midst of each and every meeting. It’s a much, much better way to live my life. By the way, we have a name for our church! Here’s what I wrote in our e-newsletter a couple days ago: “You may be wondering...what is Urban Village Church and how did they get my email address?  Trey and I are happy to announce the name of our new church!  We're both very pleased with how the process went and are thankful to all who gave us feedback.  It goes without saying that we really like the name, too. “So, what does the name mean?  All along, we wanted to emphasize our commitment to the city and ‘Urban’ certainly does that, but we also wanted to evoke a sense of intimate community.  We hope ‘Village’ brings that out, too.  But there's something else, and I'm thankful to Trey for bringing this up.  We've done online surveys, focus groups, and individual meetings about the name and I thought we'd covered our bases, but yesterday Trey noted, ‘I've been reading the Scriptures...’  He reminded me that the gospels are full of references of Jesus and the disciples going to villages.  One great example is from Luke 9:6:  ‘(Jesus and the twelve) departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.’ “Our hope is to do the same thing, to reach Chicago's villages by bringing the good news and opening ourselves so that, through us and others who become part of Urban Village Church, the Spirit can heal and renew people's physical, emotional, and spiritual lives.”
Friday, August 28, 2009