Anyone who claims to be a christian can relate to the struggle of finding a church.  When it comes to moving to a place where you don't even know a handful of people, that search becomes a lot more complicated, and with a city as big as Austin you can bet there are plenty of options.  I began the church search immediately after finding an apartment and job.  It would start with a suggestion from some family friends; which is always the best place to start, but it ended after only the second visit, and it wasn't the same church we started.

A little bit about me and what I was looking for.  Having not been a part of a church in a while, the reasons being purely work related and the fact that I couldn't commit to anything besides the military, I wanted to find a place that not only fit my needs, but one where I could help fulfill their needs as well.  I wanted to get involved right away, and to skip the few months or years it usually takes to become part of the family and to be known by name.  There's this thing about being not only a member of a church, but an actual core part of the body, where your reputation and what your capable of tends to proceed you, and when the family knows you so well it's hard to get around.  Moving to a new place, all of a sudden, you lose that.  Now you're new, and despite how big a part you played in your last ministry, you have to start from ground zero in the next place.  The ins and outs, who's who and what they're called to be, this all builds over time with your relationships, and depending on how accepting the location is, it might be a while before you even felt as important as you did with your last family.

I'll be honest.  I love feeling important.

So I wanted to impact the community, and as my plans are currently, I didn't have the time to establish myself.  I needed to jump in, find my niche, and call it home.  I'd even skip the introductions if I could.

Austin Stone is a big church that meets at a High School on Sunday.  I went to an evening service to find a large congregation of young adults and kids.  Perfect, because I'm passionate about youth and I love what they're capable of.  The service was big, and the music was loud, and with plenty of room in the back for me to worship, should I ever feel the need, I immediately felt at home.  To me, being part of a big community church meant more hearts to impact with my ideas, and I have plenty of them.  The messages weren't bad either, and I could relate, so I knew I would have no problem getting the word of God in my life from this place.

Gateway was a church my mom heard about from a book called Soul Revolutions.  It has a main campus in North Austin, and a South Campus to fill the need elsewhere, at a local middle school only 10-15 minutes away.  I went to see if my mom would enjoy it, and with the intimate setting and the abundance of old people, I knew she would.  The music was, by far, the best I ever heard conducted, and the low tempo gave it a purely worship vibe.  That first week the South Campus pastor came on stage and did this cheesy rap, and I won't lie, it felt so cliche for a church.  The sermon, being prerecorded at the Main Campus that morning and broadcast on screen for us, utilized more cliche methods of illustration, but the message was one I could agree with wholeheartedly.  With no youth in sight I thought that it would be a good place for my mom, but nothing I could sink my teeth into, as it just didn't seem like my crowd.

In an effort to cut this shorter, I'll get to the point.
I took my blinders off next week, just to be sure, and this is what I found.

Austin Stone has the chops to be a good church by the looks of things.  They run very smoothly, and you know they're reaching people with the amount of services they have going on.  Unfortunately, it's just a bunch of christians worried more about image than they are in impacting the community.  If I were to compare bulletins from both churches, I would find no way to get involved with Austin Stone, and yet 5 different events I could be a part of within Gateway.

Speaking of Gateway, the music just kept getting better, and the illustrations...a lot less cheesier.  I was happy to find that they encouraged small groups, and I've even attended one.  After a "newcomer welcome lunch" and an unplugged service this evening, I now have enough acquaintances to count on two hands.  As it turns out, they do have a youth program that I've been missing, and it's only recently starting out by the sounds of it.  While talking to the youth pastor tonight, I could see God opening door after door just inviting me to step through, but I'll mention those later.

It doesn't take much for a person to see that God was definitely listening to my heart.  He saw my passion, and he delivered exactly what I needed, and not what I thought I wanted.  In fact, I can already tell that he gave me something even better.  Again, that's a testimony for later.

For now, I'm just praying that God does a work in me to get my heart on track, because it has been a while since I've been a part of a church, and my relationship has been dwindling.  I haven't lost my faith, just my drive, but I can feel it coming back.  This is a rough draft to a better story to come, so my next effort will have a little more insight, but in the meantime just know that God is good, and he can surprise you even when you think he's not listening.