What if there were a people passionately in love with God and others who were captivated by the idea that together they could live out the story of Jesus?
What if they believed that people of hope could change their neighborhoods by empowering the poor, strengthening the broken, embracing the lonely, seeking the lost and challenging the privileged to follow Him?
What if they had this notion that being an authentic community of believers means that the ideas of compassion, love, and forgiveness, are not just doctrines but a way of life What if they believed in a God of fresh starts and second chances- a God who transforms brokenhearted and wounded people into hope filled Christ followers?
What if they were us …?
Those words, and that vision, were a huge part of my wife and I packing up our stuff, our lives, saying goodbye to our families, and moving across the country. We had dreamed of being a part of a community of faith who might take that vision for a place and for people seriously and live it out together. We had seen glimpses, heard rumors, that such a place might exist...but we had never been a part of one.
Six years ago we moved from Sioux City, Iowa to Bangor, Pennsylvania. It was the furthest East I had ever been. It was like a different planet in many ways, and I said so. We moved to be a part of Hopesprings, a church that was offering us a place to live in exchange for partnering with them in bringing those words to life in a community. It was the dumbest, scariest, bravest thing I think we have ever done.
It was also the best.
Since then those words, and more importantly the vision they describe for a community of faith, have taken up residence in our minds and hearts and imaginations. We witnessed the growth of Hopesprings into a community of faith that embodies that vision and is passionate about seeing the Kindgom of God seep into the cracks of a broken and hurting community. We have been back to Sioux City many times to visit, and in the last few years every time I am in the City of Sioux I see more clearly the need for a place with that kind of vision. That kind of heartbeat. That kind of mission.
And so, we are doing another crazy thing. We are moving to Sioux City, the place where I was born, Summer grew up, where we graduated from West High, where we met, where we married, and where we began our life together, to be that kind of people in a community that desperately needs hope, help, and the love of God seen in the lives of people captivated by a question...
What if they were us...?
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