I am excited about being at 2nd Street for a number of reasons. Here's a list of the main ones that come to mind ...

• Their “style” fits me and I fit them.
• They’re laid back, real, grace-filled, have a commitment to the teaching of God’s WORD expositionally (verse-by-verse).
• They want to reach whole families for Jesus Christ.
• They have a vision for the disenfranchised, the beat up and the burned out.
• They want to discover new ways to reach out and connect with GFU students (both undergraduate and graduate).
• They have a heart for the poor and the oppressed (in Newberg, nationally and internationally).
• They feel called to participate intentionally in recovery ministries.

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

- T.S. Eliot

Being offered the chance to “arrive where we started and know the place for the first time” is an exciting scenario that most people don’t get the chance to experience. Two of Eliot’s phrases have shaped much of the way I’m feeling about coming back to Newberg ...

1. to arrive where we started
2. and know the place for the first time

I also dig the words "We shall not cease from exploration" ... but maybe more about those six words another time.

"Arriving where we started" can happen lots of ways … luck, compulsive-obsessive disorder, or even by getting lost. But even when it happens intentionally, it’s easily more about sentimentality and maintaining creature-comfort than destiny.

But being given the opportunity to "arrive where we started and know the place for the first time" … now that’s something that can fuel creativity and birth vision.

So why come back to Newberg and to 2nd Street Community Church?

Sometimes a person’s hearts get woven to a job – and sometimes their heart gets woven to a place. After spending fourteen years as the George Fox University campus pastor, I strongly sensed that leaving GFU didn’t mean I had to leave Newberg. I love Newberg. I have a desire to understand more and more about Newberg’s heartbeat – what makes it tick. What it values. Why people come here and stay here.

I'm praying that my last two weeks at Ogden Church are full of joy, excitement and enough fruit to fill up a basket. If God brings me to mind, please join me in this prayer. Good night and Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg Lamm