Rev. 2:1 "To the Angel of the Church in Ephesians write:"

Chris and I along with a group of others from Jacksonville traveled to Turkey in October of 2005, and on that trip, we were able to take a tour of the seven historical sites where the seven churches were located in Revelation. It was breathtaking. One site in particular really impacted me, Ephesus.

Fast forward to May of 2007. Chris and I are working on our church planting proposal for where we are at now. We were working on it at Panera Bread, what we called our mobile office, because of the free internet. As we were sitting there working, we noticed a guy at the table across from us working on his computer. He had a shirt on that had the name Chicago on it with some bicycle race. I noticed him, and then kept working. After about an hour or so, he got up to leave, and I introduced myself. I asked him if he was from Chicago, and he said, "yeah, how did you... oh, my shirt." I said, "yeah, I noticed your shirt. If you don't mind me asking, where in Chicago are you from?" He said, "well, do you know the neighborhood West Ridge?" My heart jumped. You see, Chris and I, Connie and Savannah had been praying for weeks for some sign, some supernatural showing that this was the right decision. That this was exactly what we were supposed to do. We had a lot of the "tangibles" lining up, but there was just something missing. Back to Panera. When he said, "West Ridge", I said, "Whoa, that's actually where we are moving." He said, "Really? Why are you moving there." I said, "We're moving there to plant a church. It's on the corner of Peterson and Fransisco." He said, "I grew up on Sacramento (the next street over), I know where that is. I went by there almost everyday." I said, "What's your name", he answered, "Joel." And when he said his name, it wasn't like I heard in in my head, with my ears, it was something different. I heard it in my heart. Deep down in my soul. He then looked at me and said, "I have to get going, but I'll see you guys up there."

Ok, when he said that, it was borderline bizzare. He then walked out, and I looked at Chris and said, "We should talk to that guy some more, and ask him about the neighborhood. He probably knows a lot about what we are working on right now." SO, I looked out the door, and no more than 6 seconds had gone by, and he was gone. Vanished. totally gone. I went back to working, and then attended the midweek service at SCC that night. I sat there in the service and couldn't stop thinking about meeting Joel that day.

Then it hit me.

To the Angel of the church in Ephesus write.

To the Angel of the Church in Sardis write.

I sat there and re-read those verses.

Jesus love His Church.

He will build His Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

We believe in His Church, and being a part of it.

You can be a part of it. Of His church.

The Church in West Ridge.

Loving God. Loving People. One moment, one relationship at a time.

To the Angel of the Church in West Ridge write...

We believe that our letter is being written.