A Whole New Level of Mission
It's amazing to see a vision become a reality.
The last three week's have been incredible in that respect. We relaunched our Orillia location on May 10th with signifcant upgrades throughout our Orillia location.
And on Sunday May 24th, we celebrated the Grand Opening of our new central facility at 20 Mills Road in Barrie, which also now houses our Barrie Campus.
As a result of your hard work and God's exceptional grace, over 1500 people joined us at Connexus last Sunday—over 1000 of those in Barrie alone.
The most amazing part? So many of the people who joined us for the first time didn't previously attend church. That's our vision. And our mission is to lead them (and many others) into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
I'm so excited because we didn't just launch a building, we relaunched our mission.
If you missed it or would love to relive a few moments, here's a two minute recap from Sunday's Grand Opening services at Mills Road:
[tentblogger-youtube 6dmJ_ne6UTo]
Pictures say far more than words, so here's are a few that capture great moments and some of our key environments.
The Auditorium
Waumba Land
Waumba Land is our preschool environment for kids aged birth to kindergarten.
Waumba Land is Swahili for “creation”, and we focus on giving kids a first impression of their heavenly father.
We want every child to know that God made them, God loves them and Jesus wants to be their forever friend.
UpStreet
UpStreet is our environment for kids from Grades 1 through 5. In UpStreet, every child learns that they can trust God no matter what, that they need to make the wise choice, and that they're called to treat others they want they want to be treated.
The Foundry (Transit and Inside Out)
The Foundry is the name for our student wing. In it, students in grade 6-8 gather Sunday mornings for Transit, and high school students in grades 9-12 gather Sunday nights for Inside Out.
The goal? To give students a faith of their own. The Foundry is the place where faith is forged.
Ribbon Cutting
We were thrilled to have Jeff Lehman, Mayor Barrie, and other city councillors on hand to help us cut the ribbon Sunday morning.
Connexus Executive Direct Jeff Brodie, who directed the building projected for Connexus, cut the ribbon on behalf of all of us at Connexus.
So Many More Stories
The best part of the Grand Opening and the Orillia relaunch, of course, was meeting so many new people.
Every Sunday at Connexus is somebody's first Sunday, and we're so excited to see what happens next.
The goal was not to open a building, but to move our mission to a whole new level.
Keep praying. Keep inviting. Keep giving more boldly than ever.
The best stories are just beginning to be written!
Guess what?
We get to do it all over again this Sunday at our locations at 20 Mills Road Barrie and the Galaxy Cinemas Orillia. Service times are 9:00 and 10:30 a.m.!
Who are you bringing? #EverybodyBringSomebody
– Carey