From a hillside in Gainesville, GA amid a sea of 45 tents to a hostel common room in Bogota, Colombia, these people have been my constant.
Amid a sea of changing scenery and people.
In the sixty-two different places I’ve laid my head down to sleep this year.
They have been there.
And, they have become my family.
Back in college, I took a trip to Turkey. Part of our itinerary included the names of several of the churches of Revelation: Ephesus. Pergamum. Sardis. Laodicea.
Walking around those cities, we didn’t find a church building.
The churches that Paul was writing were not confined to a building.
Those churches were made up of the body of believers in those cities.
You see, the Church isn’t building.
The Church is the assembling of the body of Christ for the purpose of Christ.
And that is what Wonder Church, my squad, has been across three different continents and in eleven different countries.
We’ve worshiped together all over the World.
In the Atlanta airport by the baggage claim after our first flight was cancelled.
On a dark street side at an Indian bus stop in Hyderabad.
In a homeless shelter where the lowest caste of India are given a place to die with dignity.
On a Nepali roof top.
At the highest point in Kathmandu near a Buddhist temple.
Under a pavilion at a Thai orphanage.
On the ground floor of a Cambodian apartment.
In a church in Communist Vietnam.
In the stairwell of a hostel in Ho Chi Minh city, and in a Starbucks with our songs rolling out into the city.
Under the stars in Ethiopia and alongside the sunrise.
In a Rwandan home lit by my lantern.
Dancing in Rwandan churches.
In our cold living room apartment in El Alto, Bolivia with our friends from Germany.
On a mountain overlooking Cusco, Peru.
In our apartment in Quito, Ecuador.
With our Colombian hosts in a chorus of Spanish and English.
This Friday, we scatter across the United States and enter into new Church communities.
But, I will never forget how each of them shaped and molded me more into the image of Christ as we pursued Him together.
As I look forward to reconnecting with my Church back home, I strive to remember that Church is not tethered to a building.
Buildings offer ways to help us pursue the purpose of Christ—but they aren’t mandatory.
What is important is that we are united in pursuing Kingdom.
Thank you, Wonder Church, for doing that with me this year.
I love you forever.
