Sunday morning the team spent time at a local church established in the downtown Houston area that was founded by Chris Seay by the name of Ecclesia. We all served in whatever capacity we were capable of beginning with the set up for the service; chairs, candles, stage props etc. There were some unique aspect of this church unlike most churches in our area. The location or building was used for multiple business; there is a coffee shop open on a daily basis and also an art gallery displaying artwork from many artists including locals. The area where the church is located has been built up a lot in the recent years as we were told by Tiffany who is on staff with the church (sidenote: Tiffany went to Hillsong Leadership College in Sydney...awesome!) Because the location is in a residential area they receive on again off again animosity from he residents but try their best to serve them and love them like Jesus loves.
During the service (which was incredible) we split up as a group and helped with offerings and serving communion. First service I served communion with Nelson and Sarah Culver. This was the first communion serving that I or Sarah had participated in, and I know we both enjoyed the experience. I found great joy in these words: "the body of Christ, broken for you"...think about that for a minute. All I can say is Praise God an Amen, for he is good! After the service we enjoyed fellowship with members and locals and spent some time in the air conditioned coffee shop. The second service was identical to the first with us serving communion and assisting with offering. Being able to step along side the church was incredible and hopefully convicted the group to be more than a but in the seat, no matter what church we are going to. We are here to serve and advance the kingdom! After two powerful services by Chris Seay we settled in at the church for some pizza with staff members. The fellowship and conversation was as if we had known each other for years or were old friends picking up again. The welcoming we received from Ecclesia and the staff was amazing...
(This is the Houston team in the coffee shop at Ecclesia)After a morning and afternoon at Ecclesia we ventured a little deeper into downtown Houston to do some shopping at the Galleria. The Galleria is a huge mall that actually has an ice skating rink in the center of it. We did not ice skate, but still it was a sight to be seen, I mean really; have you ever seen a ice skating rink in the center of a mall? We ate dinner as a team at the Rainforest Cafe and enjoyed the downtime after a busy few days! We "swiftly" ate, paid for our bills and ran for the van so we could make it to a Robbie Seay Band concert at Copperfield Church. Robbie Seay is Chris Seay's (from Ecclesia) brother. The concert was pretty awesome, hands were raised and God was praised! The concert was followed by another stop at a Starbucks-I am pretty sure we have been to a Starbucks every day on this launch!
We met Aaron Edwards and Travis Reed who is the owner/founder of The Work of The People which is a company that shoots videos and short films that we use in our gatherings at times. Having the opportunity to sit and listen to their visions and some of their stories/testimonies over coffee was something that was not particularly easy for Nelson to schedule, but he pulled it off and I am glad he did. We are driving back to our host house now and my guess is that it will take approximately 10 minutes for the entire teams to fall asleep. We will be headed back to Ecclesia in the morning to help install a cork floor in their student center.
Thanks again for all the prayers and support, you guys rock!
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