A Leader Needs A Dream

We went to church at a Saloon. What? Not inside but outside on a patio area at the Buffalo Chip Saloon in Cave Creek, AZ. Cowboy Church.

The preacher, Pastor Steve, had a dream. A dream to start a church in cowboy country. His dream, fueled through prayer and blessed by God, is now over five years old.

His dream teaches us three things.

1. Don't let your dream be held back by traditional thinking - a church is not a building, it is the people. The people at Church at the Chip refer to themselves and have a motto of ecclesia - a people who are called, gathered, and sent. Pastor Steve didn't want the church to be defined as a building but by its people. He didn't let the traditional "church" definition define where they would meet.

2. Be Yourself - the older I've gotten the more I have appreciated this. In our Beyond The Bench podcast we routinely ask our guests what they would tell their younger self. Be Yourself would be my answer. Don't worry about what others may say to detour you. Your dream paired with your strengths are a strong duo. I am inspired by Pastor Steve's willingness to be himself and pursue his dream.

3. A Dream is better when God is included - a person's dream given to God and used by Him is a good place to be. It, the dream, will always be the right dream when God is at the center of it.

There are lessons to learn everywhere and every day. Sometimes you can learn them when you attend a church at a Saloon.

Bonus: It was a special day at Church at the Chip. Junior Bull Riding was going on at the same time as church just a few hundred yards away so after the final "Amen" we got to go watch some bull riding. A first for me.