Upset that they are building churches next to us?

Never counted, but there are pretty good collection of churches on Rt. 193 (our road). There are 4 churches within 3 traffic lights. That was BEFORE they started building 2 more!

1. Abundant Life Church is building at the corner of Forbes and 193...just 2-3 blocks up the street on the same side as us.
2. Christ Dominion Church is about to start building in our front yard! They bought the 1.5 acres for sale immediately to the west of our entrance (yes, the land that we had placed a contract on in 2007...they did not accept our offer).
   

First, let me say this:

• I really WANT to connect to the leaders of the Abundant Life Church, but have not made the connection yet. If one of you want to help make that connection for me, that would be great. I want to speak to the Pastor.
• I have already connected with the Pastor of our immediate neighbor. You can read all about our meeting by clicking here and reading my post about it from a while back.

Some of you are noticing these churches and kinda asking questions. Questions like:

• Why so many churches?
• Will this hurt us?
• Aren't there too many churches in one area?
• What do I/we think about these new churches going up around us?
• Are we upset over this?
  

I have been meaning to address this on my blog. Here are a few initial reactions/feelings that the Lord has been placing in me:

• The truth is this: my original reactions and feelings were not as positive or Christlike as they should have been. God has dealt with me.
  
• Now, I am thrilled that they are moving in.
• Would to God that every piece of land for sale in this city, state and nation be sold to a church!
• Until there are no lost people in PG county, we need more churches!
• These churches are not being built by accident. They are in God's providence. I am pretty sure that God was not surprised or jealous when they broke ground.
  
• They are not our competition, they are our companions.
• If I have any influence over it, we will be networking and ministering together for the glory of God! Who knows what is ahead.
  
• We will welcome them to our neighborhood and share our findings. They will learn from us and we will learn from them.

The Baltimore-Washington Metro areas have over 8 million people, the 4th largest in the nation! Of that population, it it intensely diverse.

I say this: lots of different people will require lots of different churches to reach them all!

So, keep building!!!