Out of the shadows, out of the cave

I began a journey in earnest this week. I am searching for the meaning of why God put me where He has. I feel like one of the guys in Plato's cave. I've been staring at shadows on a wall for twenty-something years and all of the sudden, God pulled me out and I've seen the rest of the world. The only problem is, I can't explain it to my buddies back in the cave. This idea isn't original with me of course. I'm just now getting around to understanding that times have changed. I live in an area of Tennessee in the 7th fastest growing city in the nation. In the "buckle of the Bible belt," I'm finding out that most of the people here aren't actually from here. They have different ideas on who and what God is. I'm a pastor who thought he had everything figured out. I graduated from seminary and began piecing together all of the best parts of different church models I had seen. The only problem is, I'm cobbling together a church that will be unable to speak to the needs of the people I'm trying to reach. That is, the unchurched. I don't mean the ones that grew up in church and have a Judeo-Christian background for the most part. I mean the folks that never went to church. They don't have the Christian roots to return to after college. I'm learning I must change everything about the way I "do church." The church isn't a place, its people. I must deconstruct and reinvent the very words I'm comfortable with if I am to show people who Jesus Christ is and what being a follower of Him is about. If you've actually gotten to this point in my blog, then maybe you think I'm crazy. I know I feel like that right now. All I know for sure is that God is showing me things and I can see the thread of how He's been preparing me throughout my life. Now, I'm on a journey to see where it leads me. One of the things that has jumpstarted my journey was Dan Kimball's book Emerging Church.