Curators
Living Love 2
The Resident
Every decision made about this experience. The marketing, the room, the set list, the sermon, and the post outreach are made with this type of person in mind. We call them The Resident.
WHO
A professional in Memphis who is on the verge of their next level, with more responsibility, more visibility, and more weight on their shoulders. They are high functioning, intelligent, and in most areas of their life, competent beyond their years. Also, their families depend on them.
Character Archetype
THINK
Olivia Pope in seasons 1–3- Competent. In control. Running from the love she most needs.,
Beyoncé from Lemonade -Wounded and Healing but refusing to disappear.
Annie from Sinners- She has lived. She is a master at love and craft. There is still more she can give.
T’Challa -The weight of expectation on his back, and still showing up.
Kendrick on Mr. Morale. Jay-Z from 444- healed through something with the help of the community
Juan in Moonlight- Belonging where he never thought he would.
They carry themselves with the gravity of someone who has already survived something, and they know the importance of community.
The Contradiction
They know how to build a better life, but often they disengage rather than do the work. They talk about improving their relationship with God and even consider becoming more engaged in church. They dress for church in their minds, but too often it stays dressed as an idea. Moments when The Resident tries to cross into something that could genuinely heal them, and they stumble on their journey, but they never give up. They are looking for a space where they can really BELONG.
What They Want
Stability. Love. Acceptance.
They are not lost. They know God is real. They know they can be better. They are watching the world around them dissolve into chaos, and they are holding on, but they are tired of holding on alone. They want to belong to a loving space.
What is Broken
The Imposter at the Door
They believe they do not deserve to belong to something this good because they worry if they are worthy of it. They believe that God, community, and unconditional love at this level are for other people who are more put together, less complicated, and more spiritually disciplined.
“The wound underneath the surface is: I am unworthy of belonging to something of value. And so they live in isolated rooms, letting the ego be the only company they keep.”
The Core Wound
A misbelief they lived with was that the power of community and acceptance was never meant for them.
They have watched people in positions of social power, institutions, churches, and leaders fail them. These failures came from places that were supposed to be infallible, leading to the rejection being internalized as personal. They do not distrust institutions because they are cynical. They distrust them because they were hurt by them while being told they were safe.
This creates a person who is simultaneously longing for community and fiercely guarding the door to their own room. They want the living room. They just believe the living room was built for someone else
Key Insight
“I almost didn’t come to church.”
The Resident is one of the most competent people in any room they walk into professionally, intellectually, and relationally. And yet they struggle every single time they try to come to church. Every time.
Our marketing should name this experience so precisely that The Resident reads it and thinks they’re talking to me before they ever walk through a door.
The Belonging Arc
This is the complete journey The Resident takes from isolation to arrival. Every marketing post, every detail of the room, every moment of worship moves them one rung up this ladder.
The Positive Arc Psalms 24
Rung 1 · Before They See Us
Invisible Recognition
A post, a reel, a word, something names their exact experience. “I almost didn’t come last time.” They don’t know us yet. But they feel known.
Rung 2 · The Decision to Come
The Pratfall Overcome
They get dressed. They don’t sit back down. They fight through the resistance, and they get in the car. This is already a victory.
Rung 3 · Arrival
The Room Receives Them
Before a word is spoken, the space says: your seat has always been here.
Rung 4 · The Wound Named
They Feel Seen
Worship begins, naming the room they have been living in. Not with judgment. With love.
Rung 5 · The Truth Revealed
Psalms 24 Breaks In
The King of Glory doesn’t ask for worthiness. He asks for the door. The Resident realizes: belonging was never contingent on being enough. It was decided before they got here.
Rung 6 · The Response
They Open the Door
The altar call. The hand raised. The tear released. The Resident chooses, perhaps for the first time, to belong to God, to themselves, to the community we are building in Soulfood.
Rung 7 · After They Leave
The Living Room Stays, and we pray. They drive home still feeling it ready to tell someone about it ..
The Negative Arc
What Happens If They Never Come
They stay in an isolated space
The Resident stays in their room, and the ego remains the only company.
They become ghosts of themselves still competent, still functioning, but fundamentally alone.
Their Wound Becomes Identity
Unworthiness dressed as self-sufficiency. They overachieve. They overperform. They consume themselves trying to prove something to a room that isn’t even watching.
We can show them
Show them both arcs as
mirrors held with mercy. Let them choose which story they are writing on July 26th.
Guest Experience – V. Hall
The scent entry for each guest should have the notes of Linen Fresh
Greetings should be given by trained greeters. They are not to just hand out bulletins but to welcome people into our house into our living room. They make eye contact and say “We’re so glad you’re here” with their entire bodies.
Every legendary experience has one detail that guests talk about for years. A handwritten card or some unscalable, personal action we can take for those who come. It must be tailored
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