we had our first open house.

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On February 10, we hosted our first Open House gathering.

And people actually came.

We invited a little over forty people. Twenty-three showed up. For a first gathering in a city where, a year ago, we knew almost no one, that number felt huge.

Our shotgun-style living room filled up fast. Conversations overlapped. People squeezed past each other to grab coffee. Laughter bounced from the front door to the kitchen.

Six king cakes. Coffee everywhere. Someone brought a giant po’boy.

It felt loud, alive, and very New Orleans.

And it also made one thing clear. If all forty people had shown up, we would have run out of space quickly.

But the most remarkable part of the night was not the number of people.

It was the overlap.

Our neighbor across the street, Stuart, stopped by. We jokingly call him the “mayor of the block.” About an hour into the night, he walked in and immediately recognized one of the guests, Chloe.

She works under him at the hospital.

Two completely different relationships collided in our living room.

“Wait, you’re here?”

“Wait, you’re here?”

They stood up, hugged, and started laughing. And in that moment you could feel the room shift. What started as a new gathering suddenly felt familiar.

Then it happened again.

Later in the night, Noell mentioned she had been attending gatherings at Urban Impact Ministries. A guy sitting across the couch turned and said, “That’s where I work.”

She stared at him.

“That’s my dad’s ministry,” he added.

She had literally been serving with his dad at an outreach the weekend before.

Two more threads crossing in our living room.

What felt random to us suddenly looked very intentional.

And it made us reflect on something.

Almost exactly one year ago, Naomi and I drove into New Orleans at night to house hunt. The city felt massive. Daunting. We knew no one.

Now our living room is filling with people who know each other from hospitals, churches, ministries, parks, and neighborhoods across the city.

God has been building something the entire time.

And honestly, it started from day one.

On our very first trip back to the city, we met a woman at a restaurant who loved our kids and struck up a conversation. Turns out she was a realtor who loved Jesus. She ended up helping us get into the home we live in now before anyone else even saw it.

The Lord has been orchestrating connections from the beginning.

So here is what we are doing next.

We are setting up one-on-one dinners with the couples who came to Open House. We want to build real relationships, not just host events.

We will host another larger gathering in March and keep building a rhythm from there.

Open House on Tuesdays.
Prayer on Saturdays.

Simple. Intentional. Steady.

We are also realizing something practical.

Our backyard needs attention. Right now it is completely open. If we are going to keep hosting families and kids, we need to fence it in and turn it into a space people can actually gather in.

A backyard in this city is rare. An enclosed one would be a game changer.

We already have a contractor lined up. We just need the resources to make it happen.

If you know someone who would love to invest in expanding a space where people are meeting Jesus, reply to this email and I will share more.

And yes, the house conversation is still unfolding.

Our landlord, who is also our neighbor, wants to sell. She has told us multiple times she would love for us to buy it. The house sits right in the neighborhood where we feel called to serve.

Mentors have spoken into it. Family members have prayed over it. Even our landlord believes the house could end up being ours.

But we do not want to force anything.

We want to walk forward with wisdom, take the next right steps, and trust God to open and close the right doors.

Right now everything feels primed.

Community is forming. Gatherings have started. Prayer is growing. And God keeps connecting people in ways we could never orchestrate.

We are grateful you are on this journey with us.

Thanks for believing.
Thanks for praying.
More soon.

Zack + Naomi