The next 9 days are going to fun, interesting and I am sure a little bit draining. Jen & I are first in Florida for a gathering of leaders w/ the Orchard Group. (They are the organization that we have landed with to help facilitate our new church launch.) The purpose of this gathering is to build some new working relationships with their key leaders that will ultimately translate in to better decision making and an incredible resource for us as we head out on this new endeavor.
After Florida we then head off to Johnson, Tennessee for 3 days of “assessment” for fitness to lead and launch a brand new church. Jen has been a bit more worried about this part of our journey than I have, so I am sure that she would appreciate your prayers. The process includes some psychological examination as well as a general interview process that is the last bit of the ‘approval’ process for Orchard Group to be our lead partner in the project.
Once we have these things wrapped up you should starting seeing a lot more details here about our new church plans, the move details, the formation of our ministry team, the leaders that are speaking into the plant and also the other partners that are lining up to be a part of the project.
Here is a bit clearer outline of where we are headed over the course of the next year or so with our church planting efforts. We are taking a very deliberate process of planning and execution.
Jan. 2009
retreat with regional leaders of Orchard group
church planters assessment; pray that we pass!
Spring 09
bring together final pieces & partnerships in the community selection process
assemble a team (most anyway)
reading
packing
praying
thinking HARD through key items with a select group of leaders who are helping me refine this process.
June 09
MOVE into the Seattle area
Summer & Fall 09
continue to ‘work’ @ what I am doing now (gotta feed the kids)
fill in teaching / preaching for others
get to know people; build relationship in the community
enjoy the few months of good weather you get up there.
start raising CAPITAL for the expenses
do small groups.
Aug. 09
land on a specific community & neighborhood
enroll the boys in school
Jan. 2010
push “START” on official items related to the church launch
pull back from my other work efforts.
Sept. 2010
1st official church service
well… i can officially say we are getting closer to making a city choice for our next phase of life & ministry. (i know that isn’t quite a certainty.) I spent tuesday through friday am in Seattle with Brent from Orchard Group. Since Seattle would be new territory for Orchard, he & Paul Williams met with George [CEA] & Jim [E. 91st St.] developing a potential partnership for this new work. The 5 of us plus Dean sat and talked Wed. morning about ministry, churches and the area. After that Brent & I (some with Dean too) spent the better part of 2 days looking at the city neighborhoods for potential locations.
Jen & I have been praying for God’s peace & direction. We began this journey with a real desire to be open to where he would have us to go. The only real parameters that we put on our prayers were that:
- it would be out of the desert
- it would not be in the mid-west
- it would be a city in need of new churches
we will spend more time in prayer, but we are edging closer to landing on Seattle. We still plan to move at the end of the school year and hope to have the whole summer to explore our new land before the kids start their new schools and we buckle down to the new church biz.
keep checking back here; i hope to have some updates on the partners involved and the people who will be joining us in this endeavor.
Leadership articles now at www.RedBikeLeader.com
[wow - it's been almost a month since i have been on this blog; sorry about that - here are some ministry updates]
As many of you know, one of the projects that I am doing with my time this year is participating fully in the launch of “STRIP CHURCH” (www.stripchurch.com). Last night we had gathering here in Vegas for key donors, supports and fans of xxxchurch.com & fireproof ministries. Our goal was simply to roll-put our full ministry strategy and garner the initial support and investment to get this brand new outreach work off the ground. Over the next few days and weeks leading up to the new year, we will see what God has in store for the ministry in the support area. Certainly there is a lot of interest and enthusiasm.
For most who have not lived here (or near here), the very thought of living and ministering any where in the Vegas area certainly conjures up thoughts of craziness & wildness. Now add to that the fact that we plan to do ministry RIGHT ON THE STRIP and in the conventions/trade shows that are here year round, that adds an extra factor of “what?” to the equation when talking with people and explaining this new ministry.
check out the “ABOUT US” section on the site to start to get a picture of where this ministry came from and where we are going. www.stripchurch.com | PICS
check back early next week – there is another very cool project that I will be working on in PHX in conjunction with Factor1!
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