Encountering Christ BEFORE worship

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Dana, our hospitality person, recently shared a few experiences from a morning at church:
There was a man who shared with me that his two sons were killed in a car accident just last week....a woman told me that her doctor diagnosed her with anemia, giving her closure on a long road of health uncertainties....One woman needed assistance cleaning up a coffee spill.... a man asked for prayer because both of his children were having extremely difficult days....There was a gentleman all dressed up in his best jacket and tie, anxiously waiting to join our church.... a man who had fallen away from church, returned for the second time this month with a smile from ear to ear.... Those are just a few of the stories that happened between 8:35 and 9:00.  I encourage all of you to come to church as early as you are able.  I promise you, God will use you and your gift of hospitality, your eyes will be opened and you will leave changed.
If worship is an encounter with Christ and Christ's people, then worship actually begins long before the opening song. We need to seek God in every person we encounter. And especially for first time guests, the most important welcome doesn't happen from the pastor in the pulpit; welcome starts in the parking lot--from the people in the pews (or the purple chairs) who make up the body of Christ.

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." --Hebrews 13:2

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