Asa playing before church. *sigh*
When we first moved to Atlanta we were fresh out off of a church staff. And it was not a nice exit. We were moving back home to lick our wounds, enjoy our new baby Lydia and try to figure out what God had for us. As the months progressed, we got more settled in Atlanta, began to enjoy being near our family, added a new baby Asa to our family, my husband started his own business and we realized we were happy just attending and volunteering at our church. If you’ve been around my blog from the beginning (THANK YOU!), you know this was a struggle for me–to go from pastor of hundreds of kids to mom of 2.
The first church we ever visited in Atlanta we only visited because it was a big “famous” church and we wanted to see how they did church so when we finally got back on staff at a church, we’d have some good research under our belts. Well, four years later, we’re at the same church and loving exactly where we’re at.
I am a “coach” over 3 classrooms in the preschool department, my husband and I lead singing for about 150 four year olds and we’ve bonded with our leaders, our other volunteers and parents. But we also drive 45 minutes to get there every week. And although I think it’s worth it, we finally realized we couldn’t do this forever.
Lydia will be starting Kindergarten this year. I want her best friends to be at church. But if we live 45 minutes away and her church friends live 45 minutes the other direction, how in the world will they be BFF? We’ve never been a part of a small group, never made any friends near us, rarely even gone out to eat with friends after church because we’re always going the other direction. Not to mention driving 2 kids for an hour and a half every Sunday, missing naps and having late lunches–and what that does to my sanity!
So, when we found out that a church in our area (LIKE RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO OUR HOUSE) was going to become the 4th campus to our 3-campus church, we got excited! In fact, we volunteered to be there before we even stepped foot into the church!
Next Sunday will be our last week at our campus. (Which I am very bummed about, of course–we’ve made some great friends there! *sniff*) Then we’ll be attending this new campus {which will be modeled and run exactly like the main campus} as volunteers and regular attendees!
Last Thursday I took the kids to the “new church” and we helped make new curtains, open new boxes of supplies and meet new people. I found out some people in our neighborhood have a 5 year old boy that goes to our new church, met some old friends of my brother’s and generally, people that shop at my same grocery store! I’m so excited to have some church community around me! I want to be able to talk to local people about the schools around me, find people who share the same values so we can go out to eat every once in awhile or even start a small group.
Since we’ve moved to Atlanta, I’ve hung out with MY friends {you know, people I’ve known since I was 4 or met online), but my husband and I need OUR friends. We need local couple/family friends and I am excited to find those people at our new next-door-neighbor church!
Do you have a church community near you?
{and because I really really like it, one of my favorite Impress Your Kids’ posts: GO TO CHURCH.}
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