This is it - our final paternity newsletter. And this one is a bit of a gamble to write, but I have faith that God will help me out and this one will work out fine. Whenever I first started the process of prepping for this leave, I brought it to our LVL2 members. I had one member express genuine concern about the huge gap in time. There was fear that our inertia we had built up over two years would fizzle under the weight of the absence. I told them that I believed that wouldn't happen in the places that it mattered.
We might not start off quite right on Twitch. Streaming may take some time to get back where it was. Our YouTube may have suffered a bit by the different format for the weekly sermons. They didn't feel quite the same, I'm sure. Maybe it hurt our algorithm reach. However - both of these considerations are icing on the cake for me.
I have no goal to be a Twitch streamer. I don't want to be a YouTuber. I hope to never earnestly proclaim myself as an influencer (even if Twitter has that as the only logical tag for me). At Checkpoint, we are building something better. Something stronger. Something more important than content or an algorithm. We're building relationships. We're building community. We're making a difference together. We're making memories together. Time can't take that away from us.
Nothing can separate us from the experience that we are being given by the holy community found in the digital home we call Checkpoint Church. We can always improve our reach. We can always do better, shoot higher, expand our ministries services. But no matter what - we've already succeeded. We've already won. We've done the thing - we are community. I entered this two years ago asking if Checkpoint Church was possible. I write this as I am about to go on my leave and I have the bold answer: yes. Absolutely yes. And it will surely only get better from here. I cannot wait to be back with you this week - I know you'll still be there.