One of my dreams is to plant a church; in this dream, I constantly find my thoughts turning to community. When I envision a church, I don't see a big, fancy building with stained-glass windows or velvet-carpet pews. I don't see a podium or a baptistry, I see a people, a community: a community of people passionately seeking God and His kingdom, loving Him and loving one another. I have experienced this beautiful community in Cincinnati; the floor of my dorm resembled this community: we laughed with one another, wept with one another, shared one another's joys and sorrows and struggles. We worshipped and partied and yelled at one another. We confessed our sins, our shortcoming, and helped one another out, humbly and gently and lovingly. We gathered together, broken individuals filled with sin and dirt and God, knowing we need grace and being intensely grateful for it, worshipping before the throne of the God of radical grace, seeking His will for our lives and desiring to glorify Him in all of our studies, our works, and our relationships.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's words inspire me: "The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community [even if their intentions are ever so earnest], but the person who loves those around them will create community."