Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Go to Panera for Fellowship


Panera Bread is a great place to meet and have fellowship around the fireplace as we drink some tea or coffee and eat a sweet roll. This afternoon Karen and I went out to Milford to get the kids from school while Julie and Dave celebrated Dave's birthday.

I needed to download a patch from the Internet but I did not have the password for Dave's WI FI and I was stuck. What could I do? I was frustrated for a few minutes before I remembered that there is a new Panera Bread in Milford and I jumped into my car and drove up to seek their free WI FI connection.

I stopped in front of the store and opened up my browser and was immediately rewarded with a connection. because it took so long I had to leave and pick up Lily from school but I returned to Panera and did my computing. while there I overheard two mature males discussing the Bible and Jesus. They carried on their chatting for thirty minutes and got up to leave, when I said, "sitting by the fire and discussing the Lord is pretty sweet isn't it?"

The two men stopped and we had a great little chat although we had never met before. With believers no formal introduction is needed and we exchanged cards, blog information and web addresses. The address for the leader's church is one I suggest you look up. http://www.prodigal180.com/ tells all about their vision and it seems very good to me.

Both of these men are Seasoned Believers who have served and followed God for many years. But now they are interested in getting off the "padded pews" and into some meaningful ministry.

I am fascinated by the numerous fellowships, groups and chatting societies that gather at Panera. Maybe we need to learn from the Bread Company how to develop an attractive space for people to gather.

Gary Sweeten

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