If you have not heard we are finally in our new location at 184 Broad Street and last Sunday was our opening day on Easter. We had close to 500 come to our services to celebrate and we sensed a special strong presence of God upon us!!!
If you are interested in watching the sermon we have posted the video online here.
Before resuming our series in the book of Colossians I am going to speak this Sunday about this new season we have stepped into. In many ways this is an epic moment in the history of Ren. We started in January 2003 with a very small handful of people and have over the years met in theatres, schools, storefronts, armory buildings, hotels, film fest offices, parks, houses and warehouses. After so much moving around from the westside to the eastside to the southside, God has now settled us into a great location in the heart of everything.
We are positioned perfectly to fulfill our vision of being a "house of prayer for all nations." We want to become a people who are in deep relationship with God, who are welcoming all different kinds of people. We want to become a beautiful mosaic reflecting the diversity of the people we see gathered together in the future kingdom (Revelation 7).
In this new location we are easily accessible from the highway and already have people coming from the south, north, east and west suburbs. Johnson and Wales University is in walking distance, and we are much closer now to Brown and RISD. The largest homeless shelter in the city is directly across the street, which will make it natural to get to know those whom Jesus called the "least of these." Three Providence high schools are across the street as well, and our hearts are burning to serve them. We are excited to revive our efforts to reach the nearby vibrant westside arts community. There are hundreds of forgotten elderly in high rise buildings within view and countless young professionals in lofts that need to know God's love. We are also in front of the massively concentrated and diverse neighborhoods between Broad and Prairie. My point is that God has positioned us for a new season of influence in the city.
So this Sunday I want to talk about the possibilities of ministry in this new building in this new season. I have had ideas brewing for months that I have not felt released to talk about until we were fully settled into the building, but now it's time to unveil some vision!!!
–Pastor Scott A.