Five years ago I moved to Louisville. The first church I visited was Sojourn, and I’ve been a part of it ever since. At that time, Sojourn had been meeting in our 930 Art Center, the former Isaac Shelby Elementary School building, for just under a year. Today we are having our last Sunday worship services in the 930, and next Sunday we will be having all four of our midtown gatherings in the newly renovated former St. Vincent de Paul Church.

As excited as I am to move into the St. Vincent’s building, there is a bittersweetness about leaving the 930. I got a bit misty-eyed during a couple of moments in this morning’s service, where I ushered, and I have a feeling the emotion will hit me again when I attend the final service this evening. A good portion of my life has been spent in the 930. As a Connect Team volunteer for over four years (minus a recent six-month hiatus), I have typically spent at least four hours each Sunday there. As an intern, I would spend at least an additional ten hours a week in the Sojourn offices, often at night or on weekends (usually cursing and threatening to exorcise demons from the stupid copier). As a prayer room counselor, I have heard numerous stories of heartache and God’s amazing grace in hard circumstances. As a baptism and member interviewer during my internship, I was able to hear and record many, many stories of how God changed hardened hearts and brought them to himself, often through the Spirit’s work in Sojourn. Some of the most important relationships of my life I’ve first met within the walls of the 930, and many of the gospel-saturated messages I’ve heard there have honestly changed the course of my life.

While the 930 will continue to be used for offices and other uses by Sojourn, today we bid it adieu as our gathering space. I bid you a very fond farewell, 930 Art Center. By God’s grace, I am not the same person I was when I first entered your doors, and neither are hundreds, even thousands, of others.