another sort of chandelier

... speaking of which, when Eric and I go on vacation, we check out as many interesting churches (preferably recently 'planted' ones) as possible. We used to avoid church on vacation, honestly. But having started a church from scratch ourselves, we now think of each one as a sort of canvas. We've seen first hand how much creativity and energy, time, sacrifice, life, and relationship go into the thing. What has another group of people in another place done with their community piece of spiritual art? We assume that people start churches because they have a vision for something that's not there. What was their vision? What was the need? Are they accomplishing it? Can anyone? How are they trying to make it work? Seeing these things reminds us of what we love about our spiritual community and also inspires and challenges us.