Blog Post by Brandon Adent

One Sunday morning several months ago, my wife, Anna, made a quick stop at the grocery store.

She hastily chose the shortest line and, though she was in a hurry, struck up a conversation with the checker.

Somehow, it came up that she was on her way to (or from) church, which lead to questions like, "which church?" and "when do you meet?"

"I've heard a lot about it," the checker explained. "I'd really like to go sometime. It's been hard to find time finding a church up here,  mostly because of my crazy schedule. Between working Sundays and school, it's always a struggle to find the time or energy to go interact with a room full of strangers."

Though Anna had to get going, she encouraged the checker to come to Redeemer some time, and committed the checkers name to memory.

Anna related the experience to me later that day, and from that point on, every store run we'd always check the aisles to see if "Theresa" was working. If so, it didn't matter if her line was the longest or not. We'd wait to ask how her day was going, how school was going, what she'd done with her weekend, if she'd had one.

After awhile, when Theresa was finally able to get a Sunday off, she came and hung out at Redeemer for a service. My wife and I were ecstatic that she'd been able to make it, and did our best to introduce her to a few others we knew, trying to increase the number of friendly faces she'd be able to associate with at Redeemer.

Some time later, she's a committed member of a Gospel Community and is getting more plugged into the Redeemer family.

Now, I don't bring this up to make my wife or I look super innovative or heroic. In fact, what makes this story so encouraging to recall is that it didn't actually take that much effort, and the payoff was huge!

All that happened was Anna started a conversation, which God used to create a friendship. Once we had a friend at the register, it was just trying to consistently build that friendship.

All this to say, treat your small interactions with intentionality. Sure, it can be a little uncomfortable, but it's a small price to pay for getting someone plugged into a local church community or experience the saving power of Jesus.

So smile, say hello, listen, respond. You never know the impact you might have over time.

10 Reasons To Be Thankful: A loss of awe for Jesus will manifest itself in our lives. Paul wanted to see the Galatians’ awe for Jesus recaptured. So throughout the letter, Paul gave them a long list of ways the Lord had served them, of how the Lord had blessed them. From the first four chapters of Galatians, here are ten ways the Lord has blessed you if you are His.

10 Missional Ideas For Your Family Thanksgiving: That’s why thanksgiving is a wonderful gateway for those who are far from God. As someone recognizes that Jesus is the source of all that is good – which is what happens in giving thanks – so that person learns to acknowledge Him and His goodness.

Adoption In Christ: A Story Of Unimaginable Good News: As amazing as that thought is, it’s not the 'age' of adoption that makes it greater than the universe. What makes it greater than the universe is something bigger, better, and infinitely more wonderful.

5 Ways To Have A Missional Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving is almost here and  you’ve likely got the Turkey, the guest list, and the growing excitement over the special dessert and stuffing your family makes. Thanksgiving is a fun family holiday and has the opportunity to be a place of great joy. As you plan for this fun holiday, here are 5 ways you can make it missional.

What Do We Mean By "Missional Living"?: Here are four ways that the local church can follow Jesus into missional living in the twenty-first century.

When Was Time You Really Just Enjoyed Your Money?: I firmly believe that every thing we have is actually God’s. We are not the owners of our money, but the stewards of God’s money. Most of us believe this and we try to live it. And there are many, many ways to faithfully steward God’s money.

photo credit: xadrian via photopin cc