Jason Crouch, Church Trustee?

I have previously alluded to the fact that my family and I are going to be part of the core group of people involved in planting a new church in Georgetown this fall.  We have our first real planning meeting tomorrow night, and we have established a place to begin meeting for our Bible studies, which will begin September 7th.  Along with our pastor Whit Anderson and another friend, I am one of three trustees for the new church, which is called simply Christ Church.  Denominationally, we are PCA (Presbyterian Church in America), which includes a "Reformed" Christian theology.

Thanks to a good friend of mine who has a lot of contacts in the running world (he is in charge of the Texas Independence Relay race), we will hold our initial meetings at the Run-Tex store, which is on the square in downtown Georgetown.  I am happy that there is a back way from my house, and I can get there in about 15 minutes or so now (this would have been a 30 minute trip before). 

The location where we will meet is next to the store itself, and I think it is often used to teach exercise classes.  It has hardwood floors and mirrors on one side.  Upstairs, there is a small apartment with separate rooms and a kitchen, which will make it terrific for child care during our meetings. 

I was thinking this week about my friends from high school and college, and what they would think if they heard that I was helping to start a church.  I was a different person back then.  Some of that comes with time, I suppose, and part of it comes with my faith.  I was president of my college fraternity, and I did most of the things that you would expect of a fraternity guy - no need for a lot of detail here.  In fact, I did these things starting well before college.  Whit was also president of HIS fraternity, and we share the same alma mater right in Georgetown (Southwestern University), but he graduated a few months before I started my freshman year, so we didn't meet there.

Come to think of it, some of my friends from the old days would also be surprised that my last name is Crouch now, because that was not the name that most of them know, since I grew up from age 5 to age 20 with a different last name.  That is a subject for another post sometime down the road.  Curious now?

At any rate, I am really looking forward to impacting people in Georgetown and the surrounding areas as things progress.  As I mentioned a few months ago, I felt VERY strongly led to participate in this after my close friend and spiritual mentor died far too young. 

This is new ground for me, and I am excited and a little anxious about what lies ahead.  I know it will likely include a lot of work, but I am ready to hit the ground running. 

Thank you to those of you who took the time to encourage me on this journey via your emails and some of your comments.  I will periodically update you on the progress here.  The goal is to have regular Sunday meetings by next spring.