In my second year of bible college I started listening to a Pastor from Seattle by the name of Mark Driscoll. He was intellectually stimulating, funny and uncompromising in his teaching. I really enjoyed following along with the progress of the church he is a pastor at and often daydreamed of moving to Seattle just to be a part of it. I'm sure I over-romanticized the idea in my head but I believe there really was a reason I was drawn to it - God was doing something in the PNW that made me get excited about the local church like I had never been before.
Fast forward to the end of the school-year, about one year ago this last week (the 5th of May), I decided to move with my family to Florida. I was offered a job with the ministry of the school I went to, would have been able to stay where I was living and continued having awesome friendships with people I dearly love. However I began to feel anxious and uncomfortable about staying in the Springs. The "peace" that I had felt was gone overnight. I talked with my parents and decided to move to Jacksonville with them.
Two days after deciding to move and having no clue why I was doing such a thing, I was browsing Facebook when I came across a photo (above) that Pastor Mark from Seattle posted. The caption read, "Got to pray for Pastor Matt Jensen of MH U-District Sun. He's feeling called to plant in his home state of Florida. We are happy to support him in every way, but sad to see him go."
My first thought was, "I want to be a part of that church-plant."
My second thought was, "No way will it be a plant in Jacksonville."
I added Pastor Matt on Facebook and periodically checked in on what was going on with the Jensens via Social Media. I found out they were staying in Jacksonville until they decided where to plant the church.
I started attending the Crossing Church near my house and met Pastor Matt there one Sunday. Matt invited me to coffee where he told me that he and his wife were heading down to Miami for the weekend to check things out and see if that was the spot to plant. I liked Matt and from what I could tell he sounded like he knew his stuff. A few weeks later Matt invited me to meet again.
"We're starting a church in Jacksonville - you in?"
Since September, The Image Church has grown from a dozen people eating dinner in the Jensen living room to dozens of people gathering on Sunday morning to open the Bible and talk about the Gospel of Jesus. We don't have music, the lighting is dim, sometimes the powerpoint doesn't work and there's this disco ball that hangs in the middle of the room where we meet - hear me when I say that on Sunday mornings there is no place on earth I would rather be than with my friends at The Image Church. There is something happening in Jacksonville and the North Florida area.
You know that line in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe? It's the one that every time I read it, it makes my heart jump just a little bit and a smile starts to spread across my face.
It's the same feeling I have about JAX. The city has had a long winter.. but I'm beginning to see hints of Spring. Beneath blankets of white snow, the grass begins to thaw. The cold air is beginning to fill with birds that are singing new songs. Flowers long thought dead are waking from their sleep. It's not very pretty at this point but if you squint at it you might just see what it could be.
The Image Church is not the answer to Jacksonville's problems, but it's one of many messengers to the good news of the Gospel - that God's own Son has come as One of us to live perfectly, though tempted and to die the death we deserve for our rebellion against a loving Father.
How sweet the news it is we share - a better answer to our problems than I could ever think possible!
I'm really glad someone took that picture and shared it on Instagram. Because of it I have met a whole bunch of people I call family and people I count as friends. Who knows the implications of that picture?
Whatever they are - God certainly has a sense of humor.
