As a church planter I have studied just about every church planting model. Every model is pretty much the same. Pick an area in the suburbs, hire a worship leader with a V-Neck T-shirt, get some cool lights, and preach in Chuck Taylor’s. That’s not the model we are embracing at Connection (although I do think people would like to see Daniel in one of those low cut V-Neck’s).

4 years ago God gave me a vision for Connection Church from John 4:34-38 (to hear the story listen to the podcast Movin’ On Up). This Sunday God will fulfill that promise as we launch our new campus at the Green Country Event Center.

One part of that scripture that keeps popping out at me is when Jesus says, “Wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.” When Jesus said that He was pointing to the Samaritan people. This would have freaked out the disciples because the Samaritans were the outcasts, the forgotten, the ones no Jew wanted to associate with or befriend.

In the same way this freaked out the disciples it freaks out most church leaders. It’s why most pastors plant a church in the suburbs and very few plant in the Samaritan fields. That’s not a knock on suburb churches. Many of my good friends pastor churches in the suburbs and people in the suburbs need Jesus just as much as everyone else. It’s just not what God has called us to do.

While churches are running to the suburbs we will be running in the opposite direction. We will not run from the poor. We will run to them. God is calling Connection to reach the outcast, the forgotten, the rejected, the poor, and the lost.

These Samaritan fields are ripe for harvest. Somebody’s gotta bring in the harvest. It might as well be us.