What's right with Helena

Helena is a great town. Good people, great spaces, lots going on.

Alive @ Five, our midweek, free music in the park festival is well under way. Live music is going on somewhere almost every night. I’m hoping to catch at least some of David and Deidre Casey’s show at Riley’s Irish Pub tomorrow.

This Saturday more great stuff is happening than I’ll have time for: a friend has invited us to an art show at his home; the Summer Outdoor Film Festival starts at Performance Park in the walking mall. First up: Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn. Great film. It starts at 9pm and it’s free. (Call 406.442.4647 for info about upcoming shows.) And also on Saturday, Tango Helena is hosting a Tango and Argentinean potluck. Details here. Too many great things on one night!

A couple of weeks ago we caught a great Johnny Cash Tribute band at the Mt. Helena Music festival. I also took in four of the five free lunchtime choral music concerts that Musikanten Montana put on for Helena Choral Week. And then we took the family to a fun Sunday afternoon Brewers game.

Just a few of the things I love about Helena. It’s a good place.

Church of Starbucks

Last night I went down to Starbucks to meet with Lauren, one of the people who is on board with our new church. (Usually I'm a Fire Tower Coffee kind of guy, but I make exceptions.) We were getting together to talk about ideas and possibilities for the new church.

When I walked in I saw Russ Danaher, who is also planting a church in Helena. He was leading a groups of people in a Bible study.

(Russ and I and Steve Bostrom, a Presbyterian (PCA) church planter, have been getting together for lunch a few times a month lately. It’s good to meet with other church planters for encouragement, to learn from each other, and to keep focused on the fact that even as we’re leading different efforts, we’re also working alongside each other.)

I ordered my drink from Samara, who is part of Steve's new Presbyterian church.

While I was waiting, Dan Green, who is a youth pastor with the Salvation Army here, walked in.

It was cool to see four churches—three of them new church plants— represented at the coffee house last night. God is certainly at work in Helena. Good things are happening. I can see lives being impacted. I can see people getting fired up about being a part of God’s mission here. I’m encouraged. Let’s see what happens and see how we can be a part of it.