If you’ve ever watched a satellite launch, you know that it’s an enormous production. A ton of preparation goes into the event, potentially millions of eyes are watching, and there is a tremendous risk being taken that results in the payoff of having a shuttle in orbit. And when you see the rocket on the launching pad, you realize that most of the stuff that starts up into the atmosphere is fuel. As it nears its orbit, the nearly empty fuel tanks fall away. Once in orbit it coasts with little effort. The same is true for a church launch.
Launching requires huge teams of people making sure that everything is precisely calculated. It requires huge amounts of rocket fuel to propel it upward at very high rates of speed. And every split-second of launching is filled with great risk. A single mistake can be quite costly.
Orbiting is literally when something falls toward the earth and misses repeatedly, creating an arc that resembles an object in flight, but the truth is, it’s much more like floating than flying. Or as Buzz Lightyear might put it, orbiting is basically “falling with style.”
When were in the church launch phase of Grace Hills Church, we carefully planned every single detail the best we can and leaving the results in the hands of the Holy Spirit. We were taking risks. We were consuming a lot of fuel (funds, that is) and requiring a lot of people to be intensely concentrating on various aspects of ministry to make sure we launch well.
