Our church stands half a block from the law school of the University of Cincinnati. Our neighborhood has the lowest percentage (10-15%) of owner-occupied homes in all of Cincinnati. We have single parents and Ph.D.'s and students and the homeless. If there's a loud party going on at 1 a.m. and someone calls the police, the police say, "Why did you move in there?"

Our mission is to share the love of Jesus in Uptown Cincinnati and to develop lifelong kingdom leaders.

The Bible text that's moved me recently is Ezekiel 47, which re-imagines the temple. What is measured is not what happens in the building but the river flowing out of it—what is produced by the people and presence of God. Where there used to be death, there's now life; people are fishing in the Dead Sea. I saw that as a metaphor for our church and the impact we could have on the two or three blocks around our congregation.

The Cafe

My first year at University Christian Church, an artist in the church said, "I've never felt ...