For those of you who might be new to Reston just like me, let me tell you a bit more about the community where the church is located. (Realize here that I'm am not a church or community historian yet, just a learner).
In mid-60s, when the Lake Anne waterfront area was designed, there were no churches in Reston. It was a new development with only a select group of families with dreams of forming a community where they could work, live and play surrounded by diverse voices. The founder of the community felt that the Lake Anne Plaza would not be complete without a faith community for new families in the region to worship.
As the church began meeting with guidance and some early funding from the Mount Vernon Baptist Association, many of the earliest families were not Baptist. The church was welcoming to all and ecumenical in nature because it simply had to be so to serve the needs of the community (a flavor that has continued to the present day).
The church sits on the edge of Lake Anne in the middle of the plaza square. Neighbors to the church include several restaurants, shops and other businesses. If you walk along the waterfront, there are several condos, townhouses and other homes. Even now, Washington Plaza Baptist is the only Christian church in the plaza (there is a Buddhist temple on the other side of the Lake, though).
One of my goals over the next several months is to meeting all of the business neighbors in the Lake Anna Plaza-- not only to build relationships that will help to more effectively pastor my congregation, but be a good neighbor too.
For the next several months, my hope is to meet someone new in the community each day I'm in the office.
I have already had great success at my "plaza meeting project." I went into the Lake Anne Coffee Shop yesterday and found the cashier already knew my name! I also attended the Lake Anne Merchant Association Meeting yesterday and met almost all of the business leaders on the plaza. I'll be writing more about my discoveries onthe plaza through in coming posts.
But, for now, I wanted to leave you with more pictures of the community that is my new home in the post above.
