When I saw it for the first time, I cried. I held it in my hands and marveled. So much work. So much hope. So much beauty. So many stories. So much love. All wrapped into one book. The First Century of Service: A City Church by Dr. Linna Place captures what God was up to amongst our congregation from 1921 to the present and it places that spiritual narrative within the larger American and Kansas City history.

The book reminds me of the book of Acts in the Bible. Acts tells the story of the formation of the first church. Acts is all about the community. But the real subject is the Holy Spirit. After writing the story of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, the author wrote the story of the Holy Spirit moving among the people who lived in the first century and formed the early church. They made mistakes. They quarreled. They took risks. They experienced amazing success that shifted the course of history. They were imperfect but the Holy Spirit used them anyway and the good news of God’s love revealed in Jesus spread rapidly.

Dr. Place spent two and a half years of her life on this book about our church’s first 100 years. She hauled boxes of research with her for three summers in Michigan and spent months in the cubby hole third floor office and attic of the church sifting through archives, interviews and writing. We are so blessed that Dr. Place, a retired history professor from UMKC, would take on this project and give it her all. And she has occupied the pews for 38 years as a member, deacon and elder and she raised her three children in this church. For her we are not only a history project but a font of blessing. Her spiritual insight and hope for our future shaped the story she captured in print.

Like Luke, who wrote Acts, Linna encourages us to look at our formation. The goal is not only to appreciate how God moved through us in the past but also to discern how the Spirit might lead us into an unknown future. I hope when you read it, you will be inspired, as I have been, to launch the next 100. The good news of Jesus is still needed. May it spread rapidly through our words as it has through this amazing book!