The first thing is a table

There's no shop yet. You already know that if you've been around the site — it says so on the front page, plainly, because I'd rather tell you than have you find out.

What I haven't said yet is what comes first instead.

It's a table.

Not a launch. Not a collection. A table with people around it — food, and the kind of conversation that runs long because nobody wants to get up. That's the first thing Hilltop does.

I keep thinking about how much of faith actually happens sitting down. Not in a service, not on a stage. Around a meal, with people you're comfortable enough around to say the thing you're not sure about yet.

So that's where this starts.

Here's what I want it to be. People who don't have it together — which is all of us, most days. No performance. Nobody needs to show up with the right answer or the right verse. You can bring a question you've been carrying around for a while, set it on the table, and nobody will flinch.

And it should be fun. I keep saying that because I mean it. Somewhere along the way "Christian community" started sounding like a commitment instead of a good evening, and I'd like Hilltop to be a good evening.

I don't have a date yet. When I do, the people on the email list will know before anyone else — that's most of what the list is for. Not marketing. Just: here's when we're gathering, come if you can.

The products will come. I spent twelve years in retail and I have plans for them. But they're not the thing, and I don't want the first thing anybody does with Hilltop to be buy something.

The first thing is a table.

If you'd like to be there, get on the list.