Hi, friends. Welcome back to Celebration Week. This week marks one year as a podcast, and we're

celebrating by posting several special episodes this week. Today marks the third birthday of the

Father's House, Orange County. Good God, we have so much to celebrate because it has been a journey.

From our living room with 15 people dreaming about a church to now being in a

building, surviving a global pandemic and mandatory quarantine for over 15 months, to now welcoming

new friends and faces to our church is nothing short of a miracle. On today's short episode,

I don't just want to talk about what I've seen or learned. I've asked a few people to share what

the church means to them. Perhaps you don't go to church or maybe you went as a child.

Please know that it's not lost on me that you going into a new environment or community is

very uncomfortable.

Maybe that's kept you away from church or maybe you just have lost the desire to go because

you don't see the point.

Here's the truth.

So many people have reservations about church pre-COVID.

With so many things to do and people to see, church has become an afterthought for so many people.

Couple this with the fact that so many people wrestle with church hurt or someone has made them feel a certain way,

people are racking up a fence and not wanting to even be part of the capital C church.

Not a specific church, but the church in general. What we are now seeing coming out of a post-COVID life is people just want to give up on the church body, period. On today's episode, this isn't just to

celebrate TFHOC, but to simply celebrate the power of church. I want to thank Jose Delion for his idea

and also recording these audio clips for the podcast. He is the embodiment of the power of gathering as a

church and seeing his life transformation and change has been such a gift to me in such a hard season.

In fact, we call him Joe Z at church and he oversees our entire video ministry. We love him,

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