And We're Off...

About 15 months ago, Ryan and I decided that we would launch City Church community groups on the Wednesday evening after the Kentucky Derby in order to take full advantage of the event's symbolism. Although we never mentioned this connection explicitly, everyone on the Launch Team noticed this connection and commented favorably about our wit and foresight.*

Anyhow, I am excited to announce that City Church community groups have launched! Community groups first met last Wednesday evening (May 8), and included a joint meal, teaching, discussion, and prayer. What a joy it was to see the people God has gathered over the past several months assembled in the same place to grow in Christ! Our community groups currently meet at the same location and share a meal and a teaching session before meeting separately as two groups for discussion. Community groups are open to everyone, and current community group members are actively encouraged to invite friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc. to these groups. Please pray that the Lord would multiply these community groups and raise up new leaders to lead them!

By the way, City Church now has a logo! Take a look...

I could tell you what it is, but I thought it would be far more interesting to hear your thoughts first. Feel free to contact me if you want to express your views and/or hear what it actually is.

Please Pray:
- That the Lord would raise up new leaders to lead new community groups
- That new people would join our community groups and come to know the Lord
- That people currently in the group would be loving and hospitable to those who visit our community groups

*Nothing in this paragraph is true. 

We Need to Look Like a Team Out There!

It is a joy to announce that the Launch Team for City Church is (mostly) set. This past Sunday evening, our two supporting churches in Gainesville (Creekside Community Church and Christ Community Church) gathered for a joint prayer service in order to commission the Launch Team. All who attended the service were encouraged. I was particularly moved when the pastors and elders from the two supporting churches prayed for the Launch Team members after they assembled on the stage of Christ Community Church. How exciting is that?! Elders from two churches from two denominations united to prayerfully commission a new team of Christians to go love Gainesville. What a testimony to God's grace.

There are currently 32 committed members of the Launch Team, including:
- People in their teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s (plus three kids!)
- Medical professionals, an IT professional, a business consultant, teachers, a salesperson, a wealth management professional, engineers, a Cru staff person, a public transit supervisor, a not-for-profit organization worker, graduate students, and undergraduate students (and more!)
- People of different ethnicities and people who speak different languages (five Spanish speakers and one Mandarin speaker)
- People with musical gifts, artistic gifts, technology gifts, and more

Check out the launch team uniforms by clicking here.

Most importantly, this Launch Team consists of people saved by God's grace. We want to extend this grace to others as we seek to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Please, please pray for this launch team. The launch team is excited and ready for action, but many members are facing unusually difficult and/or tragic life circumstances. Satan seeks to destroy, but praise God that the gates of Hell will not prevail against God's church.

Please pray:
- That all members of the launch team would experience significant spiritual growth as they serve on the Launch Team.
- That the right people on the Launch Team would have the right responsibilities.
- That the Launch Team would be about the business of making disciples as they build relationships in Gainesville.
- That the Lord would provide perseverance and healing to those on the Launch Team who are facing significant personal challenges.

Our Name Revealed...

CITY CHURCH

That's our name.

"An authentic community walking with God in our city"

That's our tagline (who and what we aspire to be).

"To be and make disciples of Jesus Christ"

That's our mission (what we're doing right now).

I hope all of this gets you pumped! In due time I will point you to our website, which will contain our very own logo. Click here to see one of our logo concepts...

Please pray for us as we work with a graphic designer to make final decisions about our logo, color scheme, and website. This is all important stuff!

This past week Kristen and I hosted two informational meetings for potential launch team members. Both meetings were very encouraging. A wonderful group of people is gradually committing to the team. On April 28, Christ Community Church and Creekside Community Church (our two supporting churches in Gainesville) will join forces to pray for and commission the launch team. This service will take place in the evening (most likely 6pm) at Christ Community Church. All are welcome to attend. More information to come...

Please pray:
- For the graphic designer (Nate) as he works with us to design our logo
- For Ryan and me as we explore our website options and make important decisions regarding our online presence (this is so important in our context)
- That the remaining people who are considering the launch team would make wise decisions regarding their potential involvement.

The Best Way to Use Water

I am thrilled to announce that an awesome woman from the small group Kristen and I host was baptized this past Sunday! She is a new follower of Jesus, and it is such a joy to walk with her as she delights in her new faith and desires to learn as much as she can. This kind of passion encourages and challenges everyone in the group. What a blessing it is to watch God work in such a visible way.

This past weekend I participated in part of Prelude to Revival, an intense week of preaching, prayer, testimonies, and worship hosted by Evanston Bible Fellowship (one of our supporting churches). On Friday evening four people were baptized! It is so encouraging to consider how God is working in the life of this church plant and in the lives of our supporting churches. If you want to check out the evening messages from this powerful event, check them out here. Warning: if you listen to the message I preached, do know that the first ten minutes of the message are a bit unusual since beer started leaking through the ceiling tiles (you read that right). Church planting is edgy...

We are still very much in the process of asking people to prayerfully consider joining the launch team. This process is certainly building my faith as it forces me (and Ryan) to completely depend on the Lord to direct the right people to the church plant. Keep praying with us as people make decisions!

We've submitted our incorporation papers to the State of Florida. Once we hear back from them, we can announce our name. I want to announce it now (really bad), but wisdom dictates that I wait.

Please pray:
- That the Lord would use the church plant as he draws more and more people to himself in Gainesville. We want to see more and more baptisms as people become followers of Jesus!
- That two members of our launch team would find great jobs. They moved here in December and are still looking.
- For the people who are thinking about joining our launch team. This is a huge decision! Pray for wisdom for us and for them.

   

Gathering a Team (or, "How to Build a Church in 5 Easy Steps")

We are now fully engaged in building our launch team, which (Lord-willing) will consist of about 30 committed, Christian adults who pledge to be a part of the church plant for at least one year. All launch team members are asked to commit to our team by the end of April (they even sign a contract!), and then the one-year clock starts running on May 1. We have 17 committed adults at this point (exciting!), and we are waiting to hear back from other families and individuals whom we have already approached. Potential launch team members still have about two months to make a decision, so please be praying for them. This is a significant decision! There are still some families and individuals we would like to approach, so pray for us as we make these additional appointments. If you're reading this blog and thinking "hey, I want to be a part of this, but no one has approached me" - well, now would be your time to approach me or Ryan and express your desire.

(In case you're still wondering, the "5 Easy Steps" to build a church do not exist. Adding that tagline to the title was merely a way of drawing you into this blog. So if you were hoping to see 5 steps, or if you were scoffing at my naivete, sorry to disappoint.)

 I am also excited to announce that we have selected a name for our church plant. Once this name clears all of the necessary legal hurdles I will gladly announce the name on this blog. Hopefully I can do this in a couple of weeks! We have also hired a graphic designer to work on our logo. This designer is a UF graduate (so you know he's talented and good-looking), and his name is Nathan Akers. We are also working on a website, and I'll let you know when that rolls out. We invest lots of time and prayer into all of this design work, and we invite you to pray with us. This is important work, not because good marketing will bring people to Christ (it won't), but because a professional look and layout is hospitable to those who want to know more about the church and because quality design work is expected in our cultural context.

Please pray:
- That the Lord would work in the lives of 30 adults (plus some kids!) and lead them to commit to our launch team. Pray that the people we have already asked would make wise decisions about our invitations.
- That the incorporation process that the church plant is going through (with the state of Florida) would go smoothly and quickly.
- Pray that our design work would glorify God and be an effective asset as we minister in downtown Gainesville.