This coming week will mark the 20th anniversary of Shelby Crossings' first worship service in our current location--on Nov. 21, 2004. I remember it well, because it happened to have been the first Sunday my family visited Shelby Crossings. It would be almost five years later before God providentially led that I would be called as the second pastor of this wonderful church.

As many of you know, prior to coming to our present location in Calera, Shelby Crossings met for worship for almost four years at a school in Pelham. The move down I-65 to Calera was motivated by a couple of things, primarily the growth in this area where so many people were moving, and the need for a dynamic new church to reach them. There were plans for building a church facility even before the move; land was purchased, architectural drawings were done, and signs were put up on the property announcing that construction would begin soon.

But that never happened. There was a major recession, and some upheaval and struggles within our church fellowship. A lot of folks left, and construction got delayed. The dates on the sign for the projected move-in to the new worship center came and went, and there was no building. Eventually, out of necessity (and God's sovereignty), the land was sold back to its original owners. And about that time I became pastor.

We continued to rent these three buildings, while we got our house in order. And the facilities that were intended to be a temporary stopover until our building was built started to feel more and more like home. We continued to "build the church," even when we weren't building a church building. As we concentrated on the health of our church fellowship, God blessed us in so many ways. Eventually, by God's grace and through His abundant provision, a few years back we were able to buy all three of the buildings we had been renting, debt free.

And since we now own the buildings, we have been able to invest our time and money and energy into facility upgrades, transforming them from warehouses into....well, warehouses that are better fitted for church gatherings. We have made them more accessible, and made many other improvements to "retrofit" them into more functional buildings for church ministries. They may not look like traditional church buildings, but at least for now they are home. And as the old saying goes, "There's no place like home."

More importantly, over these past twenty years, as we worried less about buildings and more about being the church, we have invested more than a million dollars in missions causes locally and around the world, for which we may have to wait till eternity to fully see the return. Along the way, there have been countless stories in our church of lives changed, of families restored, of people who had given up hope finding it once again. The Lord has been good to us, and I am so very grateful.

I'm sure glad to be a part of this faith fellowship we call Shelby Crossings, and in this season of the year where we focus on giving thanks, I count my blessings daily to be able to serve such a great church. I am praying for you, as I hope you are for me, and I look forward to seeing you Sunday.

--Pastor Ken