Is Heaven in this House??

Right now, I am reading a book called "Heaven Is In This House" by Bobbie Houston. Awesome read! Even came with a Hillsong music CD!!! It is full of amazing photos, but more than that, it's packed with amazing insight about how the "House of God" should be. As I have read through the pages of this book, I've noticed one thing repeatedly: our church is much like theirs. Not saying this in a bragging way, but in appreciation. I am so thankful that God has lead our family to HPC. What an incredible place to do life! I am so very blessed!

Today as I read, I found something very interesting to think about. In chapter 16, there are some questions that you and I can apply to Lifegroups, Church, work, etc. "How can we effectively welcome these people (people from your community)? How can we make them feel like they are the most important people on the planet? How can we make them feel like we've been waiting a lifetime to meet them? How can we negate fear and remove all the obstacles? And my favorite one: How can we effectively prepare the House for invited visitors, strangers and returning prodigals?"

Sunday, I had the pleasure serving at the Annex services. I truly love our church and the family I have there!!! I was a greeter at the interior doors there. A gentleman (an invited visitor) came in for the 2nd service and was waiting for some friends. He told me that he was meeting someone there. We talked for about 5+ minutes just asking each other questions. I invited him to come find a seat & get a coffee, but he said he'd rather wait by the front door. He asked some questions about service & HPC, and then he walked over to the front door. I watched him as he planted himself by the window until service began. Then while the greeters at that door were busy welcoming people in, he quietly exited when his friends didn't show up. My heart was broken for him!! I wanted to run out that door after him. "WAIT - DON'T LEAVE!" I am challenged to rethink the situation. Was there anything that I could have done differently as a greeter? Was there anything we (as a church) could have done differently?

I had an opportunity at the end of service though. A girl randomly picked me while I was standing around talking with people after service (she spotted the Elevate badge). www.healingplacechurch.org/elevate.php She was a visitor and needed someone to talk to. We sat down and she began explaining to me where she was and asked if I could pray for her. God is too funny because I felt the need to ask someone to pray with us, so I got my friend Natalie. What do you know??? Natalie talked with her on the phone about 3 weeks ago. Amazing how intricately God works out details for His children. At any rate, we talked with this precious 23 year old for a while and were able to encourage her and pray with her. I believe that God is in the business of connecting people. He's constantly making connections around the world. The only difference between Him and Cingular is that He doesn't drop calls! If you took a piece of string and tied it to every 2 points that are connected, first off you'd likely run out of string. Secondly, you'd have complete darkness because the entire earth would be one big ball of twine. How does He keep up with all those connections? How does HE do it? I just love God so very much!!