Home. That word evokes emotion, but – in our modern era – the feelings generated by hearing that four-letter word are not the same for all. When verbalized to some, warm and welcoming vibes come to life immediately; for others, the lid to Pandora’s Box opens to emanations of harm and hurt. Without knowing a person’s history, it’s a subject sometimes better avoided. Whassup with that?

            From the Covid Era shelter-in-place lockdown, many people traded social interaction for virtual relationships. In my world, pandemic isolation was followed by leukemia limitations. I spent years out of circulation. Some of my newest friends were people I’ve still not met. One couple I’d cross the road to meet personally: Ben and Erin Napier, from Laurel, Mississippi.

            They’re contemporaries with our kids, but they’ve become the saviors of a Southern city that has experienced significant benefit from their focused attention. Ben is the son of a pastor, whose childhood was marked by the transience of his dad’s ministry calling. Erin was raised in Laurel, a small-town of 17,000 with a 140+ year history and not much future on the radar. In 2016, they joined forces to set in motion a mission to reverse Laurel’s decline and create a resurgence. How?

            Chip and Joanna Gaines launched Fixer Upper a few years earlier, with their sights set on Waco, Texas; the Napiers put their own creative energies into an equally transformative commitment to enable some big wins for a small town. Home Town is the HGTV reality program tracking their effort to draw refugees from urban origins into idyllic neighborhoods that would reset their aspirations.

             Don’t mistake Ben and Erin for remodeling contractors: instead, they aspire to be creators of community. How can people come to a town in which they have no personal past and fit in? Erin explains: “Perhaps the most difficult part of assimilating into a new community is embracing the unfamiliarity. After all, the only way forward is through. It’s being awkward in the beginning. You’ve got to just force yourself to be awkward and go to places where you don’t know anyone, and then before you know it, you’re one of them.”

            Over the last decade, the ethos of Laurel has been transformed by the personal commitment of one couple out to make a profound impact. The real time measure of success for the Napiers is decidedly positive, and trending upward.

            I wonder: if one couple can make that kind of impact in reinvigorating one average town, what could one couple or family dream of doing to bring new life and vitality to one average church?

            You probably didn’t know Ben and Erin’s names; it’s likely you haven’t heard of Richard Ackerman, either. He’s a Presbyterian seminarian whose online handle is Redeemed Zoomer, with 700,000 followers on YouTube. What’s his movement, and why should it matter?

            Operation Reconquista is a cohort of GenZ Christians – currently claiming 4500 members – working to steer America’s Protestant mainline churches back to theological orthodoxy. They embody a sense of these historic church’s past vitality, when they were characterized by authentic faith instead of today’s social justice departures.

            Given that the bulk of mainline members and leaders are elderly, a grassroots insurgency of young faithful firebrands makes sense. What if fresh wind and fresh fire from the Holy Spirit could inject new wine into old wineskins and bring the dry bones back to life?

            There’s a temptation to be a spectator to decline, but the Second Law of Thermodynamics – inevitable entropy – does not have the power to contradict the Spirit of God working through the People of God to bring about the Purpose of God.

            Chip and Joanna are changing Waco. Ben and Erin are transforming Laurel. Richard is claiming errant denominations. Tell me: where is the Jesus neighborhood where you’re planning to create a turnaround?

 — Bob Shank