Just got back from a great pow-wow with our Western Regional Leadership team of the Vineyard, held in Temecula as the rain fell and the waters rose. While there, one of the pastors remarked that -- despite the fact that their church had moved to new meeting space -- he was encouraged to see that they were still getting "visitors". Something about that term grabbed me and I heard it in a whole new way.
It's not that I am not well-acquainted with the use of the word "visitor" to describe those folks who are coming to our church meetings to check us out. They are visitors and the word is appropriate. But this time, a different thought occured to me: what if "we" were the visitors?
In other words, what if we were the ones showing up for a "visit" on the turf of the people in the everyday places of our community? What if we were the ones who stepped out of our church space and stepped into their life space as a "visitor" to their world -- visitors who bear he gospel of grace, the love of God and an openess to connecting with their reality?
I quickly decided that, armed with this new insight, I am going to seek to be the "visitor" who comes to the lives of others. How about you?
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