This last spring, the church I had been attending (Sagebrush Riverside, a.k.a. “the Mothership”) announced that it was going to fire up a multi-site location in the Nob Hill area of Albuquerque.  This campus would become Sagebrush Highland, would meet at the Performing Arts Center of Highland High School, and it would be shepherded by worship leader Jim Meyer.  I was a regular attendee at the Mothership at that time, but had not committed myself to membership in the church up to that point.  However, upon the announcement that the Highland campus would be starting in the fall of this year, and that it was in the Highland area, and that Jim would be piloting the effort, I felt God move my heart.  “Get on board there, Bruce,” He said.  “Sounds good, Father”- and so I did.

Over the spring and summer, a core group of Sagebrushians met together with Jim and the campus’ Administrative Pastor, Todd Bowlin, to get to know each other, to study the Word together, to worship together, and to seek out how God wanted the campus to come together.  I went through the new members class at the Mothership to commit myself to this community.  As summer became fall, the campus hope became a reality as APS gave Sagebrush a go-ahead to use the Highland PAC.  Jim and Todd asked people to consider where God might want them to serve, and the blanket call went out for everyone to come and help with campus setup and tear down: Sagebrush Highland, like every other Sagebrush campus besides the Mothership, is a mobile church. Every week, the auditorium stage- with its truss supporting three video screens, a drum kit, speakers and monitors and other electronica- has to be set up, along with every classroom that houses the kid ministries that happen during each service. The three youth classrooms are all set up with their own mobile multimedia stages, and chairs are brought in and removed each week for each classroom, among other things.  If you were going to help launch Sagebrush Highland, you were needed to show up early every Sunday morning to unload three trailers of equipment for setting up the campus, and you were needed to help pack things away every Sunday afternoon after the service ended.  Awesome.  At where I am at in life, being able to just move stuff around and set stuff up is something I am more than happy to do to help this location reach out and serve the area.

As we entered August, a month prior to the first service at the new campus, volunteers for setup were asked to help observe, and then participate in site setup at the Eldorado campus.  I went and did what I could to see what help was needed for getting a site set up- and the focus was largely on what happened in the auditorium each week to get their truss up, sound connected, and the multimedia components working.  Given the option, most volunteers for Highland hung around a lot to work in the sanctuary.  In the beginning, I wanted to work in that area as well.

After a few weeks of showing up to observe and help though, it was clear there were a lot of hands working in the sanctuary, and less learning about helping set up the youth classrooms.  I’m a guy who, when working with others, needs a sense of my role in the big picture, and who likes to contribute where I know I am needed.  I need some direction, some time to figure out a process, and then the knowledge that what I am doing is something I can own, so I can develop consistency and settle into my role, and develop competency in what I am charged to do.  I ended up feeling lost for those few weeks where I would show up to help at Eldorado, but have unclear direction on what I was there to do.  I decided to just become a kid’s room guy.  I started to tail the Highland Childrens Ministry director’s (Samantha Davis) husband, Brian, around the kid’s areas at Eldorado.  I just told him I would be there to help in this area of service after the trailers were unloaded each Sunday morning.

Once the Highland crew finished its time at Eldorado, it was go time for volunteers at Highland, and I just kept following Brian around.  Samantha would guide the classroom setups, and Brian would lead the muscle needed to move furniture and then tackle setting up the multimedia equipment in the elementary school room.  I just continued to follow him and Samantha around, moving furniture week by week, and letting him teach me how to set up the elementary school gear.

It’s November now.  We’re approaching two months in as an active campus now.  We’ve had one new members class finish already.  We’ve had baptisms.  We’ve fed people in Roosevelt Park.  We are a group of people connecting and working well with one another.  God is working in lives as Sagebrush Highland is getting off of the ground.  This is exciting to me.  As a group, we are striving to do what the church is meant to do- in Sagebrush parlance, “To Know Christ, and Make Christ Known” in that area of town.  The gospel is shared, hearts are touched, people are changing.  God is working.

However, there is another dimension of church life that is also developing at this campus. “In Reach”.

The whole thrust of this post was really to highlight what happens when you stay in the trenches with others for a while and go through work together.

A month-and-a-half in, I am now pretty independent on setting up the elementary school room electronics.  I know the routine, where the mobile TV’s need to be placed, where the backdrop banners need to be unfurled and placed, how the soundboard and speakers need to be arranged and connected so that come class time, they work.  I’ve just been a guy who shows up week-after-week.

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Yesterday, at the end of the day, after church, after packing up equipment and chairs and moving school furniture back in place, Brian’s wife Samantha pulled me aside.  “Bruce, thank you for what you have been doing here with us.  I appreciate the fact that I know you are here helping us week after week, and that I can count on you.  That means a lot to us.  This is for you.”

Samantha gave me a Ball jar containing the pre-measured ingredients for banana chocolate chip bread, which came complete with a thank you note and cooking instructions on a tag.

I was moved by this handmade gift and the thoughtfulness that went behind it.

Her gift made me think a little about the significance of In Reach and the power of little gifts.

In Reach happens when we work alongside one another, and recognize the value and talents that God has given to one another who choose to serve together in His work, and we celebrate and encourage each other for who He has made us, and for what the other can, and does, give for the encouragement of others in the Body.  In Reach happens when we realize we are not just showing up and doing to make the big picture happen- but when we realize we are a valued person and part of the church community.

That little jar of culinary kindness also changed the way I viewed my relationships with Samantha and Brian.  I realized I wasn’t just the guy that came in and helped to set up the kid’s classroom.  I was now someone of value in their lives- a cherished brother, and a friend. And that small gift conveyed huge thoughtfulness.

Thank you, Samantha, for the gift of recognition, and the lesson you showed me yesterday as well.

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Take some  time to share little gifts with people who have loved you and have had an impact in your life.