Today was New Town Macon's Annual Meeting. I and a host of downtowners attended - elected officials, business owners, media... The meeting was a celebration of the past year (18 new businesses opened) as well as a preview of several things in the works (over 100 new apartments in the near future with more after that - recent studies suggest that downtown could have 189 new residents per year for the next 5 years) - exciting things ahead!Included in the 4 page color booklet of info was the 567 logo and the following paragraph:
One of our business success stories is New City Church, which meets at th Cox Capitol Theater. Parishioners come from all over Middle Georgia - Forsyth, Milledgeville, Warner Robins, Lizella, and Macon - to worship. In fact, part of the church's vision is to encourage members to move their families or businesses to the city, and four members recently moved downtown to be closer to the church. New City also runs the 567 on Cherry Street as a gallery and "listening room" for local artists and poetry reading.
New City was the only 'business' highlighted. That is really exciting - especially when you consider we are less than 1 year old and we're a church. On top of that I was approached by someone I had never met who wanted to talk with me about our volunteering to help with some downtown projects. She and I talked about Missional Communities, Our worship gatherings, music, and the fact that she and her young family had no church. Both grew up in church but have been away for years. She was interested in a visit. Do our presence, activities, and the 567 really make a difference downtown? Probably bigger than most of you think!
