To Give Away a Dream of Church

Sometimes there's a man. Yes, sometimes there's a man—and I'm talking about Stuart Hayes here—who is given an idea. A bit of truth, a piece of eternity. And the man becomes so taken with it, so transfixed and transformed by this piece of divine wisdom that it shapes who he is and in turn, contagiously shapes every person who comes to know him. Sometimes this man is so selfless, so courageous that he commits to give years upon years of his life telling others about the truth he has been given. And when that happens, little places no one would have expected (crowded, leaky basements and rural Southern towns) become outposts of God's kingdom, where this truth becomes so infectious that it births a community where lives are remade. People come to this to community and only stay a short while, but in that time they catch a piece of the glory of God that stays with them, somewhere deep, deep in them and it bubbles out long after they move away.

Stuart Hayes is such a man. And the idea he found fifteen years ago was that church is something far greater than we were told. Not a building, nor an organization, nor an event. No, church is a people, thirsty for God, living the gospel together. It's the "together" that makes all the difference.

Sometimes, if the man is so lucky, there is a woman who believes this truth too. Over years they create a home together that becomes a headquarters, a frontier where love is lived and God's truth is shared with passion and humility and mercy and conviction. They don't do everything right. But God is with them, and their door is always open. They love deeply, they hold loosely, they walk humbly with their God.

I can still feel myself sitting there some eight years ago now, across that worn dining room table which had seen so many young men and women before me and would see so many after, having the character of God kneaded into me. It changed what it means to be me. Because of what God did through Stuart and Shannon Hayes, I am not who I was. I am more of the man I was made to be.

Last weekend Erin and I drove to Clemson, SC to join some of our dearest friends in celebrating the Hayes family, who are saying goodbye to the church they helped create after fifteen years. One evening we sat reading some church questionnaires which had been filled out years ago. In them I found one completed by Stuart which asked, "What are your hopes/expectations for the coming year?" Stuart answered: "To give away a dream of church."

To give away a dream of church. A dream of a people, working together, to redeem the busted places on our streets and in each other. Few men and women have given as much as I've seen Stuart and Shannon give to such a dream. And through them God made this dream into an unlikely community that held such love, such truth, such beauty, such family, and such faith I doubt I'll ever see another one like it.

Oh how deeply I miss it; I can feel that solid lump rising in my throat as I type this. But Sunday, as I heard the Hayes family pass the peace of Christ to me for what will be the last time for a long time, I felt the truth of God echoing in me: that we are never alone, that folks like Stuart and Shannon live as stewards of a dream God has given us all, and wants us to share.

So may God's name be worshiped, may his kingdom come, may his family live in pursuit of redemption. Together. Amen.

Image: Erin Scott Photography