They Aren’t Just Keys

This week we were handed keys to Hazel Dell’s first building.  On one hand, it’s just a building….it’s just a tool.  I am keenly aware that walls and an address do little to make a church.  That being said, this moment signifies something so much bigger than a building purchase.  It signifies another step in creating a church that will be around 100 years from now.

When we started North Creek, we had no guarantee that it would even last a month, but our hope was that we were a part of creating something that would see many decades of leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus.  Some of that is done divinely with a move of God.  Some is done relationally by creating a community that people want to be a part of and that their children want to be a part of as adults.

But another part of creating a church that survives through the decades appears far more practical.  As we use our resources wisely both in investing in people and tools, we can do our part to see that North Creek Church exists for years to come.  This building is a precious piece of that puzzle…it’s nothing fancy and it’s nothing ostentatious, but it is a slice of the future.  We watched this principle poetically play out with the gift of our Battle Ground campus.  Hundreds of people over dozens of years had sowed into a church, including a building, that has allowed us to continue valuable ministry to that community through a merge.  Now that same gift lives on again in the Hazel Dell facility as well.  We also know that the equity we are building will play out in multiple other campuses in the future.  Campuses that will be full of people whose lives are being changed by God.

And while the practical stuff is all important, it is never the most important.  As I strolled from room to room in the building this week, I dreamed of the full kids classes, teenagers pouring out through every crack, and people meeting Jesus on Sundays and in small groups.  I saw a lot of you there in my mind…the smiling faces I look so forward to seeing and the percolating coffee steaming away on the bar.  It’s a new place with a new address, but not much else will change about the church I love.

Here’s to another new season in the story of North Creek!  I can’t wait to see where God leads us next…

If you’d like to help with painting, yardwork, and construction, we will be there on Saturday from 10:00-5:00 pm.  We are also there most every day of the week until Christmas.  Stop on by to work, drink a cup of coffee, or pray!