My friend Norm Funk’s church, Westside Church, just celebrated their 10th anniversary yesterday. Here is a great recap video they did to commemorate the day. So, why does that matter? Why does Westside matter?

The first time I met Norm, I had just moved out to B.C. with my wife Erin. It was September 2004. I had taken a part time job as a Young Adult intern at a local church, so, I had asked around who I should talk to about Young Adult ministry in the GVA. Someone told me to grab coffee with Norm and pick his brain. “He’d know what is going on.” So I set up a meeting. I arrived at Starbucks, bought him a coffee and we sat down so I could get the skinny. But I noticed something odd. He was a little distracted the whole time. When we talked about general ministry he would say stuff, but when the conversation turned to starting new churches etc., he lit up. It took me a couple of years to realize why. It was around that time, that he had been called by God to leave his present church and plant a new one in the city of Vancouver. He was overwhelmed and excited by the whole thing. And there I was a 24 year old, green, new kid in town, yapping on about who knows what. A year after that day at Starbucks Westside Church was launched and it never looked back, and here are three reasons why that matters.

(1) It Survived! – Canadians need to celebrate any time a church is not only planted, but survives. Statistically we need hundreds of new churches started in the GVA to reach the growing population. And 80% of new churches actually shut down in the first two or three years after planting, not to mention the fact that thousands of long-established churches shut their doors every year across North America, so anything beyond 2 or 3 years is a win for the kingdom! Ten years out, large and healthy, from a guy feeling a call, and gathering a few people? That’s a miracle in our country.

(2) It is focused on Jesus! – Westside is focused on Bible-teaching and the gospel. I know it may sound weird to say it but not every church emphasizes teaching the Bible each week. When your goal is simply growing bigger, it’s hard to make straight-up Bible teaching, and the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the focus. We are tempted to stray into all kinds of different programs, events, ministries, and theologies that work and are palatable for modern people, but Westside has stayed the course and every week teaches the Bible and focuses everything on Jesus instead of religion and other nonsense.

(3) It plants churches! – Starting new churches needs to be in the DNA of every church. It’s one of the key ways new people are reached for Jesus. It is, as some have said, the greatest evangelism strategy under heaven. It’s why Village Church focuses on it, build it into our budget every year, has an apprentice program, and works with church planting networks. Over the past ten years, Westside has formally planted two churches in the city. They raised up leaders, sent people and resources out, and watched them grow into maturity themselves. In 2007 when I felt God calling me to start a church, I had no one to to turn to to help me figure it all out. So, I went back to the man I had had coffee with years before. In fact, I heard a rumor that a group of planters gathered at the Westside offices to talk and pray and strategize every month, so I just snuck in and learned everything I could. Month after month, for years.

In these and a myraid of other ways Westside is important because it makes the city it belongs to better – loving and serving Vancouver. Gathering and scattering on mission. It transforms lives by pointing people to Jesus. It has great vision, great Pastors, and a focused mission. It has moved from small beginnings, meeting in a movie theatre with a few, to a growing, dynamic, baptizing-dozens-at-a-time church in the heart of the city of Vancouver which is no small feat – which now meets in an amazing facility (The Centre), which is another miracle of God – a gift which feels like a “well done good and faithful servants” kind of thing to a ministry that has pointed people to Jesus for a decade.

Over the years, Village and Westside have partnered together – hosting leadership conferences, which we will be doing again early 2016, pointing people to become part of one anothers churches on many occasions, and Norm and I will be swapping pulpits one Sunday next year which should be fun!

Westside matters because of every life that has been touched by it including my own. I am honestly not sure Village Church would exist without Norm and Westside going before us, and for that I am ever thankful. So, next time a young leader, or regular Joe asks you out for coffee in the midst of your busy life, think twice before waving it off, it just might change the course of their life – and maybe to some degree or other, years down the road, even come to touch yours again as well.