I remember when the God of Scripture started to put the desire in my heart to start a new church in Austin. We didn’t have a name, we didn’t have a geographical focus, we didn’t have a meeting space, and we didn’t have people.

It was just an idea that Jesus put in my head, “What if men, women, and children could find their greatest joy in Jesus, and then live out their lives in such a way (full of character, joy, confidence, quality of life) that the people around us would want to know Jesus.” That was the initial idea.

Now, today our elders have more clarity of what it practically looks like for our church family to live out that idea, but in 2009, really 2008 it was just an idea, and it is a little grainy, but I tried to illustrate that idea on a video that is still on YouTube:

Isn’t that fun? Is that the Postal Service playing? Probably a copyright infringement in there somewhere?   We got 8K views on that video, and we use to get permission requests for people to use the video, but did you see that phrase at the end?

GO, GET, SCATTER

In the beginning we would use the phrase, “Go, Get Scatter” to help people understand what we were trying to accomplish as a new church. We are going to “Go” where people live, work, and play, and we are going to “Get” them for Jesus!

Sounds a little aggressive, but it simply means we want them to know Jesus, grow in Jesus, and then we want them to “Scatter”, meaning we want men, women, and children to know Jesus, grow in Jesus, and then scatter to the four corners of the world of living such beautiful lives that the people around us want to know Jesus.

Now, if you know anything about our church families history then you know the last 10-years we have seen a pattern of people scattering.  It isn’t uncommon for us to meet people in this part of the city, and then people move further out, take jobs in other cities / states / countries, get married, and every time tell me you are leaving I am excited for you, but also I am like, “Where are you going?” You just got here!

And, it is in those moments where the Lord leans in and reminds me, “Go, Get, Scatter!” This is why we started the church, and of course, I saw the whole process lasting longer, having more structure, more organization, but you need to know at the core of our churches identity we want to be a people who experience the power of Jesus, and then become a conduit of His power in the lives of other people, and this is at the core of our church family because this idea is at the core of Jesus.

Next we will look at John 17:13-21.