No matter where Corrina lived, she always felt caught between two worlds. The daughter of a US serviceman and a German mother, she never quite fit in—not in Germany, not in America, not in school, not even in her church. The church she grew up in focused more on what people must do rather than on what Christ has already done for us. Corrina knew her sins and because of them, she never felt she truly belonged. She longed for a place she could call home.

Years later, Corrina moved to Dallas, Texas, to care for her aging mother. Because of her own health needs, she moved into an assisted living complex, the same one where a member of our congregation lived.

I first met Corrina on a follow-up visit after she attended our Saturday evening worship, invited by that member. I still remember her words: “Pastor, it means so much for you to take the time to visit me. I felt so loved at your church.” At the time, I didn’t realize the weight of her words, but after hearing her story I understood what she was really saying: “I finally know where I belong.”

What made her say that after a lifetime of feeling out of place? Jesus did. Jesus’ full and free forgiveness gave peace to her soul. Where he is, she wants to be.

Corrina’s health often makes it difficult to attend worship, but she refuses to let it stop her. A few months ago, after she fractured a bone in her neck, I told her it was okay to rest and that I would come visit. Her answer was immediate: “If I let this become an excuse to miss church, then anything can be an excuse.” Sure enough, she was there the next day. She wanted to be where she belonged—listening to her Savior’s voice.

Corrina continues to face health challenges, but nothing can rob her of the peace she has in Christ. After a difficult diagnosis, she told me, “I can’t wait to see the room Jesus has prepared for me with my name on it.” She knows where she truly belongs—at her Savior’s side forever.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, Corrina has learned where she belongs: in the family of God here on earth and eternally with him in heaven. Who in your life is still searching for that place? A simple invitation to worship may be the way God shows that person, “You belong with me.”

Written by Pastor Ben Schone, home missionary at Calvary Lutheran Church in Dallas, Texas.

There tends to be so much focus on the “launch service” when you’re starting a brand-new church. Over the past 15 months, it felt like I was constantly pointing people forward to September 28, 2025. When planting a church, the outreach and preparation leading up to that big Sunday is a key focus of ministry. So, how do you invite people to a church plant’s launch service? What does outreach leading up to launch look like?

We at Living Stone Lutheran Church in Conway, Ark., decided to take a scattershot approach. As we continually learned more about our new community, we sought to find creative and effective ways to form relationships and connections with new faces. Although a new name, brand, logo, and new website are a huge part of marketing for a new congregation, our marketing consultant (Grace Ungemach with Lutheran.marketing) helped us figure out some great ways to carry out these pre-launch outreach efforts. When we met with Grace to figure out our pre-launch strategy, she walked us through a marketing model called the “buyer’s journey.” The conclusion we came to wasn’t all that novel. The best way for people to learn about a brand-new church in town is to have genuine conversations with us. The best way for someone to want to come check out Living Stone for worship is to interact with those people long before our launch ever came to be.

So, we came up with a number of outreach strategies. Of course, personal connections and friendships formed in the community have been the best ways to show Christ’s love. Still, on a corporate level, we came up with a few ideas. First, we held Food Truck Night three nights this summer. The goal of Food Truck Night was to make connections and introduce Living Stone to our community. Food Truck Night was an outdoor gathering with three food trucks, a bounce house, live music, yard games, and lots of fellowship! We were blessed with an average of more than 100 in attendance for each Food Truck Night. We were also able to hold a school supply giveaway to serve families in our community in late July. In August, we put up booths at various community events, such as a popular market that a local coffee shop created and a community outreach event at freshman welcome week at the University of Central Arkansas. In August and September, we were blessed to canvass hundreds of homes. We also held a three-week paper bag food drive that allowed us to connect with our neighbors and show love to those struggling with food insecurity in our county. Finally, we sent more than 9,000 postcards through a mass mailer and ran multiple Instagram and Facebook ads. All these efforts joined together to form our pre-launch outreach. Much of it seemed like throwing paint at a wall. Plenty of times, I found myself asking, “Is this effort worth it? Will this be fruitful?”

This past Sunday, September 28, 2025, Living Stone finally held its official launch worship service! The Lord blessed us with 96 souls in attendance. It was wonderful to have so many people there to encourage us, celebrate that big day, and most importantly, hear the gospel of forgiveness of sins through Jesus! As I looked out at the group of people in front of me, I thanked God that the faces I saw came from all sorts of avenues. Some came from our mass mailer. Some came from our food drive. Some we had seen again and again through our Food Truck Nights and personal contacts. Some saw our ads online, and some just came because they were friends and family of our members.

I think there’s a better analogy for our pre-launch outreach efforts besides “throwing paint at the wall.” We were sowing seed. We scattered and sowed that seed and let the Lord Jesus take care of the rest.

Written by C.J. Fury, home missionary at Living Stone Lutheran Church in Conway, Ark.