The Gathering Network: Kansas City

12175. South. Strang Line. I don't even have it memorized yet. I have to look it up every single time I need to write it down or type it in. It'll come though, it'll roll off the tongue as easily as 8301LamarOverlandParkKansas66207 does.

I have to admit, I wasn't a fan of Olathe to begin with. I remember driving out to a prayer deal at the "Rhodes Facility" as it was called at the time, cursing the I-35 traffic and just irritated in general that we were considering buying a piece of property south of 119th Street. I figured my heart would change in time, though, only I didn't realize how much.

I've only been in the building a handful of times. I remember shopping with my friend Jennifer when it was actually a furniture store; she needed a couch. Then I remember wandering around it when it was a shell, praying for names on notecards that we'd scattered on the floor. We had a staff lunch there once, and then I had a quick audio-visual tour as things were starting to really come together. Then Ryan Heckman and I spent an afternoon out there making that wooden contraption that we piled our stones in on Covenant Sunday. It wasn't as if I really had my finger on the pulse or anything, but I'd seen the thing coming along and had at least started to think we were in for a pretty cool move.

But last night. I didn't expect last night. We all (Heartland + the Gathering) got together for worship and prayer in that time slot that we used to call New Community—first Wednesday nights at 7. I don't know how long it took me to get there, probably 20 minutes or so, but instead of being irritated the drive felt short. When I pulled off the highway it felt strangely like home. When I pulled up to the building, it just looked so pretty. There was a warmth and a life to it.

God does that to a place.

Take the earth, for example. It was "formless and empty," then Yahweh God spoke and it came alive. He breathed life into it. That's what he did to that building out there, out in Olathe, the one at 12175 South Strang Line Road. Somewhere between the walls being painted green, the floor being polished, and the wooden accents going up, Yahweh spoke and it came alive.

Last night I stood at the back of the auditorium between Patty Johnson and Jason Hamilton as Tom Brawner gave us instructions from the stage. We were to pray for awhile, then gather to worship in song. He was painting a picture for us with his words, and he had in front of him a sign that Jim Gum had saved—the sign that said, "RHODES." Tom said, "We used to call this place the Rhodes facility ... now we call it something different. We call it the home of Heartland Community Church and the Gathering Network." There was a lot in that sentence for me—enough to bring tears to my eyes.

All at once I felt the sadness of being separate from Heartland. But I also felt the joy of being a baby organization with a commission. And then I felt the grace of still being hand-in-hand with Heartland. Knowing that they bless us and we bless them, and that they love us and we love them, and that they believe in what we're doing and we believe in what they're doing.

When we came together again in the atrium about 45 minutes later, I stood looking around as we all sang You are the name above all names ... You are worthy of all praise ... and the sight of it all brought tears to my eyes again. This place, this place we now call home, all aglow in green and orange and shiny gray, full of love and voices and music, was entirely beautiful.

I wondered how Adam felt in those first days, when it was just him and Yahweh and all the animals he'd just finished naming. I wonder if he wondered about what was in store for the Earth, about the people who would walk on it, and how much beauty we'd find in it. I wondered if he had a sense of being at the beginning of something huge. I wondered if he got all teary-eyed some afternoon while taking it all in and said to God, "Dude. This is EPIC."

Because that's what happened to me last night. 8301 has a thousand precious memories attached to it, but 12175? We got to be here for its birth. We got to see God breathe life into something formless and empty. And I stood there last night teary-eyed taking it all in I said, half-out-loud, to God, "Dude. This is EPIC."

Welcome to our new home, friends. God's already there; it's already holy ground.