Search for Church

Hey guys! Just wanted to update you on our search for a church here in Austin. As you know, our first church visit was a little disappointing and it left us really looking forward to...well, something else.

So, this last Sunday we visited Hill Country Bible Church UT. Our friend Dan has a friend who goes to Hill Country Bible, but another campus. Hill Country Bible has been planting churches here in Austin and this one at UT is among the numerous plants.

Sunday we set out driving to church and Troy said on the way that he wasn't sure he wanted to drive this far to church. Well, it ended up only being about 15 minutes and we were right across the street from the UT campus at church.
We went in and they were very friendly, the nursery wasn't as big of a deal there as the church before, but they were very nice people and very happy to have Audrey. (A little more like the nursery at Hope would be.)

Up in the "sanctuary" (just a large room with a small stage) we were surprised to see that they were setting at round tables for worship and the people we met at the front door invited us to sit with them.

Worship was really good, really loud, but really good. (and when I say loud, I mean heart thumping, front row at a concert loud) You couldn't hear yourself singing, much less the person next to you. But the band was really good and the lead worshipper spoke well in worship and was very authentic. It was good for Troy and I.

They had a time in worship where we were to find someone around us and find out how we could pray for one another and then we had a time of prayer.

A woman and a college girl shared in the service about their mentoring relationship and encouraged us to get involved in this kind of relationship. How bout that? We were pretty excited about that. How much more perfect for us could that be?

Then the sermon was very good. Troy and I had really been longing for really good, challenging, scripture centered preaching. We had also prayed for a pastor who would really open himself up and be known. And wow, this guy is preaching through Colossians and he was so scriptural and so authentic. It was so good, we can't wait to hear more. (and he was the college pastor, but we heard that the head pastor preaches much the same.)

After the service we were invited to lunch (which we couldn't do that day, but it was so nice to be invited.) and we talked with the college pastor and his wife. They were very welcoming. After talking he told us that he really thinks that this church would be a great fit for us and that they might start hounding us about coming there, but we could tell them to stop if we needed to. and we got an e-mail from him today. This was actually nice for us since we worried that coming to a Texas church there is always the possibility of going to a church where the pastor never even knows your name. We didn't want that.

And after the service, we actually saw several groups of people standing around praying together. Wow, that was refreshing.

So, the deal is with this church that their purpose is very strategic in reaching the campus of UT. Their strategy is for students to go into areas that are natural for them (their dorm, frat, club, etc.) and start a "missional community" (or a small group.) They have had quite a few of these started already and many many lost students are coming to these groups that would never come to church. And the adults of the church are mentoring the leaders of these groups. The adults could have anywhere from 1 - half a dozen students that they are mentoring.

And yes, there are a good number of adults our age. The pastors are our age (and have kids from 7 mo up to 3.) We saw several babies and pregos too.

Right now they have, I would say maybe 200 or so. But they said that during the school year it is more like 450.

If you know much about our moving here you know that we really have a desire to reach out to the students of UT and the lost in the city. This place really is very unreached. It's pretty exciting to find a church who is actively doing something about it. AND we both really have a heart for discipleship...and here is a church that really values discipleship and needs more disciplers. Yea!

So, what do you think? Doesn't this sound pretty perfect for Troy and I?
We are really looking forward to visiting more and maybe even connecting to ministry before the fall comes.

We would love your thoughts and prayers as we further check out this great church possibility.