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.