Published Wed, Nov 05, 25.
Written by Kristy Klitz.

"God, What Are You Doing?" Reflections on the October Pop-Up Dinner

Photos (below) - Behind the scenes from the October dinner, from loading up the truck, setting up the table in the "Breezeway" of Old Town Clovis, to making the final touches to the table as guests begin to arrive.

I (Jeff) found myself during our Pop-Up Dinner last month, continually asking "God, what are you doing?" It seemed God was doing something as we began to sit down together around the table, but I wasn't quite sure what it was.

The Pop-Up Dinners that we host as a ministry every other month are so different from each other. For instance, the previous dinner in August was a very lively group of guests, with all kinds of God-ordained connections being made around the table. It was crazy! And, this dinner in October, was no exception... it was different from all the rest of the dinners. Unique in its own.

If you're not familiar with the Gathering Table Pop-Up Dinners, it is a table that seats between 10-20 people and brings people together from all different walks of life, including from different parts of the city, different jobs, backgrounds, and so on, to hear each other's stories. The goal is to build empathy among each other, and the purpose of these dinners is for the gospel to be boldly shared in a way that is natural - by sharing what Jesus has done in our lives.

About a week after the October dinner, we met as a team to debrief and to share about what we have seen God doing through these dinners this year. What was cool is that by sharing collectively, our perspective of what he was doing was much bigger. Things that I didn't see, someone else did. For example, one person on our team shared about her best friend who came to the October dinner. She shared that her friend came to the dinner expressing that she didn't want to share her stories with a bunch of strangers, and yet she ended up doing just that. We learned that it was a big deal for her to share part of her story that night. And that there had been tension between her and her friend recently, and that it seemed after the dinner that the tension was gone. We also learned that one of the people who came to the dinner was not a believer, and that God was moving on her heart that night as she heard all the testimonies of God's goodness and mercy in real life stories. 

As we shared as a team of what we saw God doing, it became evident that God is always at work - he is never just doing one thing. The theme for the October dinner was "forgiveness". Many of the people at the dinner shared heart-breaking stories of being hurt or wronged by others. And at the end, we got to share the Good News of the gospel, that though we all fall short of the glory of God - sinners who have wronged God by disobeying his commands and law - that God sent his Son Jesus so that we can be forgiven. And because God has forgiven us, we can forgive others and find freedom in our relationships with others that can be found no where else.

God is always at work - he is never just doing one thing.

I was challenged personally after this dinner, to more and more have a posture of always asking, "God, what are you doing?" To always have one ear tuned to heaven. (I have a long ways to go to be walking in this!) And also, that our perspective grows so much more when we share with each other what we see God doing.

You can be praying with us over the Pop-Up Dinners, especially for our team of people who have been helping Kristy and I lead this ministry. Our next dinner is planned for early December in Old Town Clovis. Pray that the Lord would bring who he wants to be at that dinner, and that he would help us to see and partner with what He is doing.

If you are interested in coming to one of our upcoming Pop-Up Dinners, please feel free to check out our website and Reserve a Seat. It would be great to have you join us at the table to hear one another's stories, and see what God is doing through this ministry.