Tassie Hospitality

We found a church to try yesterday called Door of Hope.  It is a large church that is in an old factory.  The service was good and we were surprised to see the pastor from Willow Creek in Chicago, Bill Hybels, in a video clip advertising for a Global Leadership Summit.  After the service we met a man who lived in the Chicago area for six months, is a doctor, and his wife works for Willow Australia.  Turns out Bill Hybels has been to Launceston a few times to speak.  Small world!  The man invited us over to his house for lunch.  We felt like we were going to be intruding because it was Father's Day here yesterday and it was going to be a Father's Day lunch but he said we were more than welcome.  We had a great time meeting his family and talking about Chicago and the differences between Australia and the States.  He told us a cute story about when they first lived in Chicago and woke up to a lot of snow.  They sent the kids off to school but soon after the kids were back home because it was a snow day.  They didn't know anything about snow days since it doesn't really snow in Australia.  It was a great afternoon and we are going to go back to the church on Sunday in part because we enjoyed the service and style of worship, but also because we were made to feel so welcome.  It just goes to show what a difference it makes to reach out to newcomers at church.