Review: 2/22/08 "Visit from the Pastor"

At the beginning of our first HFH coffee hour, Rob Strickland, the pastor of Highland Community Church, briefly shared of his vision for our group. Highland Community Church is a community of broken people who have come together in a common calling to reach and love an impoverished and neglected community of people in East Highland. Though the HFH coffee hour does not require attendees to attend our sponsor church, they will find ample opportunities to live out the Gospel by participating in ministry opportunities that bring the light of Christ to one of the darkest places in our city.

Many coffee hour participants have taken ownership of different ministry facets of Highland Community Church and we hope to increase this trend. Rob shared that there were specifically two ways that our group can corporately contribute to the vision of the church:

1. We are going to organize a neighorhood watch for the community of North Highland centered specifically around Highland Community Church itself. This effort should not be difficult as the Columbus Police Department provide the actual surveillance and protection for this area. However, we are needed to organize and submit the needed information to the appropriate officials in order to qualify for a neighorhood watch. Please let me know if you are particularly interested in this opportunity.

2. Our coffee hour is designed to not only provide discipleship for believers but also be a forum for presenting the Gospel to those who are from diverse religious backgrounds, apathetic toward religion, or simply atheistic. Rob and I both desire that the coffee hour be an open door for people to hear the message of Christ and its direct relevance to all of life. We highly encourage participants to bring friends, college aquaintances, work colleagues, and others to join us in this ongoing discussion.

3. There may have been a third item to add to this list but if there is, I have forgotten it. This may be edited in the near future.