Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Expectations

So like I said in a previous post, we have encountered a lot of change over the previous year. It has definitely been one wild ride. As most of you know, we moved here with the intentions of planting a church. I for one, had some big expectations of what that would look like. Thankfully,  it hasn’t exactly happened how I pictured.
It  took me a good 6 months to even realize that I was actually living in Oregon. I think there was still a part of me stuck in cyberland and lived vicariously through facebook, twitter, or whatever social media vehicle I could find to connect with my past life. I always thought it was strange that I only cried once (that was literally when I was pulling out of the Alabama driveway for the last time), but it makes sense now that I look back. While my body was here, my heart was stuck in the south.
It was not long after the reality set in that I realized things were moving slower than I wanted. I couldn’t decide if Iwere upset or relieved with the snail pace it seemed like we were taking. After about that first 6 or 7 months Q got a new job at the Eugene Mission as their chaplain. It was after this that I felt that everything  took off.
Q had a couple of job opportunities. One being a job at Hosea Youth Services. Instead of accepting the position, he recommended Mustache Man for the job. I’m gonna leave the details of that experience to Mustance Man. But without spoiling too much, it was so wonderful how everything worked out. I actually got to go to the interview with him because  that executive staff believe that the family is such an integral part of the ministry.
So here we are, Alec, a youth pastor to the homeless youth (which was way overwhelming for us) and Q, the pastor of the homeless adults in Eugene. It was there God revealed to the team that our job was to reach out to those living on street, those who don’t feel comfortable in traditional church, to those who need to be loved in a big way. And we just wanted to serve them. That’s how the vision of The Beautiful Mess began.
Although we often attend University Fellowship Church (UFC) on Sunday mornings, The Beautiful Mess meets on Sundays at the Hosea drop-in center. Our goal? To serve and love. We are currently referring to ourselves as a “missional outpost.” Don’t worry, in future posts you will find out what this looks like (and I promise there will be pictures and videos). So please, stay tuned…
Freckles

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