I was having a conversation with a friend recently who is about as much “unchurched” as someone could be.  I was telling him about Soul City Church and all that God is doing to start this church.  And it struck him.  “I guess I never really thought about where churches came from before.  This is fascinating stuff.” His revelation is not far off from many of our assumptions.  When you drive by a random church on the street or when you pull up to the church that you are a part of, have you ever wondered, “Where did this church come from?  How did it get here?”  We just sort of assume it’s always been there, and is some cases…it hasn’t ever changed.

But the truth is that every Church has a Start.  And there is always a Story behind every Start.

There is always

• :: People who prayed that church into existence
• :: Friends from whom that church desperately mattered
• :: Unbelievable and often unseen financial sacrifice
• :: A movement of the Holy Spirit that prompted and pushed people into a Great Faith Adventure

The paint may have faded.  The lights may be turned off more than they are on.  The vision may be lost.  That faith adventure may have drifted into sytems and routines.

But somewhere…at some point there was a Story behind that Start.  Maybe you know it, maybe you don’t.  Maybe it’s time for you to experience it.  Maybe one of the greatest things you can do for your faith is follow God on a great faith adventure.  To be a Part of the Story of a Start.

If you’d like to hear the Soul City Story and pray about being a part of this start, please join us July 11 at 6.00p at 1130 W. Adams (in the West Loop) for our Soul City Core Worship Gathering. A time of Story, Vision, Prayer, Worship, and Gratitude.

If you can’t make it on July 11, you can Contact Us about how you might be a part of this start.

You deserve the right to be a part of a Story like this.  You deserve the right to see God move like this.  You deserve the right to daily depend on God like this.  At Soul City, we simply believe that,

Every person of faith deserves a great faith adventure.

We would love for Soul City to be a part of yours.

Gigi (our 15-month-old daughter) always seems to be hungry. I left the refrigerator door open for just a moment the other day and turned around to find this. If she could have climbed in and made a turkey sandwich, I think she would have.

Her constant food cravings got me thinking about my own preferred hankerings. If I’m honest, most of the time I am craving my perfect snack – salted tortilla chips with homemade guacamole.

I wish my cravings were for apples, broccoli, and celery –– but I’ve got a thing for chips and guac. The problem is that one chip never seems to be enough… I always want more. I certainly don’t think that a steady diet of chips & guacamole make for a healthy consistent diet.  Perhaps their only real benefit is the physical reminder they serve to my deeper soul longing.

You are I were created to hunger and thirst for God
To crave intimacy with him.
To long for more time with him.
To know his Word.
To see him in the ordinary and extraordinary moments of life.
To desire to be exactly who he created me to be.
To want more and more and more and more…

So today I’m asking God to help me long for more of Him just like I long for those chips and guacamole.

How about you?

Jesus had a beautiful way of taking ordinary items and turning them into the extraordinary.  At a wedding he took some ordinary water and quickly turned it into wine.  While on a hillside he took a young boys lunch of a couple fish & loaves and turned it into a complete all-you-can-eat buffet for the masses that were gathered to hear him teach.  We have been experiencing this kind of “Turning” throughout the process of launching Soul City Church. God is taking the things that have become ordinary in our lives and is turning them into extraordinary growth.

We have walked with Jesus for many years and we have devoted ourselves to ministry – but just like every other human being we often find ourselves having fear about the future – leaning into our propensity to want to control life – and clinging to our selfish desires for comfort.  It has almost become a daily experience where God will take our developed and far to ordinary skills of fear, control, and comfort and invite us into an opportunity for him to turn it into extraordinary growth.

God has been taking our fear about the future, finances, and finding a facility and He consistently has invited us to allow Him to turn it into faith.

God has been taking our desire to control the housing market, the details in our team building, the timing of how it all comes together, and He consistently has invited us to allow Him to turn it into trust.

God has been taking our desire for comfort as we leave our home, say good-bye to dear friends, and move to the unknown – God has invited us to allow Him to turn it into joyful sacrifice.

God loves to turn things around…

Where does God need to…

• Turn your Fear into faith
• Turn your desire to Control into Trust
• Turn addiction to Comfort into Sacrifice?

…will you let him?