One week to the day after we decided to start Echo Church, we were at a meeting for the One Church for Our City movement in Costa Mesa. A little while before the meeting ended a pastor snuck out a few minutes early. As he did so he handed me his business card (having heard that I was part of a new church plant) and said we should get together for coffee. Little did I knew where this would lead.
Soon thereafter we arranged to meet for coffee. During that time, this pastor, John Blue of Pacific Pointe Church, showed an incredible amount of enthusiasm about what we were doing. He asked questions, offered some wisdom, and encouraged me thoroughly. As we were winding down our time, I was thinking how this relationship was the result of God's blessing.
The blessings would continue however. That morning John invited us to join his church for their Palm Sunday worship service (which was 1 week before the launch of Echo). We heartily agreed.
On that Sunday, this church that had no prior relationship with us made us a key piece of their service, interviewing us, having their elders come up and pray for us, and even taking an offering for us (we found out later that they raised $1,200 for us that morning). John went on to ask that ALL of their members pray about whether God was calling them to join us at Echo.
We were blown away by the open-handedness of not just this pastor, but the entire church. What an incredibly Kingdom-minded approach! We walked away that morning feeling blessed, encouraged, and attached to this community. We were no longer alone in this; we were partnering with other members of the One Church. That day a new level of anointing came upon the work of Echo. Our God is good!
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