The Faith of a Child

Yesterday was our 4th core group meeting as Garden City Church...we meet for 90 minutes before the second service at the church that is helping us start...We received our FIRST offering...our first fundage was given by a 4 year old...Her name was Madison...Isn't that amazing?...This little girl was moved by need before us grow ups...Sometimes adults are schooled by children...She gave around 5 bucks...but for me personally when she gave that 5 bucks her faith spoke louder to me than all the sermons I heard on giving in faith in my life...The faith of a child is not calculated, it is not fearful, but powerful...I think its time for us adults to learn a lesson from a 4 year old...and begin to have faith like a child...and give!

A Caring Community

There is nothing better than doing what you love to do, what you are called to do and then to speak on that very subject. This Sunday at our Core Group meeting. I will be sharing on Garden City Churches first core value: A Caring Community. I am talking about "Holistic Small Groups." Some of the topics I am covering are: The power of a Healing Community, the Benefits of Community, we are created for community, the conviction of small groups, and more. Small group ministry is kind of a personal issue for me because a small group my dad was part of in 2002 when I was addicted to drugs was instrumental in getting me into Teen Challenge. At Teen Challenge, I began to follow Jesus Christ. My life has never been the same and it is all because of a small group, a caring community my dad was part of. If you want to hear the rest of my story and my teaching notes click (read more).

McChurched

The Mega-Church Movement has become a well oiled piece of machinery. The ecclesiological method’s this flavor of Church operates by are geared towards pleasing the consumer. The consumer has become the locus of authority, not Biblical Orthodoxy. Churches that have been impacted by such methodology have been McChurched. They have adopted an operating system that serves the stranger rather than the resident family members. Dr. John Seel, a professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary asked, “What if your household primarily met the needs of your neighbors not the people living there?” How would each member of the family grow holistically, if the home was primarily designed to meet the emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and social needs of strangers? The brand of church that has neglected the family of God to appease the consumer is the seeker sensitive brand of church. Al Speegle, Jr., a contributor to the Trinity Forum described the mission of the McChruched Churches, “A user-friendly church designed to meet the needs of today's people, and their lifestyles. Self-sacrifice, self-denying discipleship has been scientifically reduced down to a formula that has placed man at the center. If consumeristic ecclesiology is going to be combated, then the Mega-Church Movement Factor must be understood, sermon branding, church shopping and Drive-Thru Discipleship must be exposed and Biblical Orthodoxy must guide the ecclesiology of a church....click to read the rest...

Core Meeting Update

Week 3.... we had 25 people....Dunkin Donut Coffee....It is so exciting to watch a group of ordinary people bond to do something extraordinary like start a church from scratch...Today we wrapped up the first sub point under our first core value, which is "A Caring Community"...The Sub point was "Loving Relationships"...Love was the subject of discussion...everything we do, everything we say, everybody we meet...must be done in genuine, authentic LOVE...we talked about the source of LOVE which is God because if God is not pouring love into us then we will not pour love into others...also we said, Loving People is Loving God...You can't love God and not love people...The Children's pastor...Amanda casted vision for the children's ministry...she did a great job...Three things: 1. Roots 2. Shoots and 3. Fruit...Those are her goals for the kids who are part of the children's ministry...she wants then to grow roots, build shoots and bear fruit as they learn about God..next week I will be talking about "Holistic Small Groups" Very excited to take on the role of small group pastor...Stay tuned for next week's update...

Core Meeting

So far so God! The Beverly church plant has met for its second time today during the Sunday School hour at the church the lead pastor works as an assistant and the church that is supporting us. We call them our Mother church. Last week we had 31 people and this week 19 people. We are aiming for 100 people before we start in Sept. / 2008. We talked about the mission statement last week...which is "To glorify God by leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ who are catalyst of change and examples of human goodness." That is it.. We are going to be laser focus on being that. It is more about being, than doing...The doing always follows the being..so if we are being the right kind of person...than we will do the right kind of things...That is where our core values come in...today we talked about the first core value..."A Caring Community"...the first sub point under that is Loving Relationships...so we talked about LOVE...if we don't have unconditional, sacrificial love as our driving motivation for life..people turn into projects and become part of a religious agenda where we trying to put another notch in our spiritual belt by leading them to Christ...we agree that we are going to love no matter what...no what if they accept our Jesus or our church or whatever...we are going to love without looking for returns...we have to be intentional and purposeful as God was when he sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to die for our sins so that we can be restored to relationship with God and become fully reflective of the character of God in the part of the world that we live in...Stay tuned for next weeks core group meeting update!!!!!!!!!!

Beverly Church Plant Update

The thing to do has been find a template for our website...The website is so crucial...You want a site that people feel comfortable hanging out in our corner of cyberspace as they check out the church...what we are about...when are our services...where....who are the staff...plus we want to be a resource for our church and others....we are going to podcast...open source our sermons, etc...Before a person walks in the door of a church today about 50% or so will have gone to your website first...so if our website looks ugly...then they will never get a chance to our handsome and pretty faces in the church...What we do have going for us is the right person who understands and knows how to design and build sites...He is a Godsend...you can check our his site...his name is Brian Duke...We met on Monday of this week at our office...I mean Starbucks to begin discussing the site...it has been a challenge...because he does not know everything...which limits some of the things we can do...We did come up with a tag line for the Church...It is: Garden City Church-Growing Together...If you want to see, which I would be interested in hearing some feedback..check out this site it has the templates we might buy for our site...let me know what you think...Hit this link...The template is the one with the picture of the road with trees on each site and it says, "Life is a Journey." which we also like that tag line for our site...The site I want you to examine is the first one, in the left hand corner at the top...

Signed My First Autograph

I got a funny story from the True Love Waits Conference, my wife and I spoke at. One active New England Patriot, David Thomas and one retired New England Patriot, Grant Williams spoke as well. After the first day, we were on stage, and kids came up to get autographs from the players. They started signing. So I said, in 6th grade I got MVP for Defensive Line in football. I signed TWO autographs for that!!!

Overall the conference was off the hook...I did an impromptu session on Myspace and Facebook and its effects on dating...One of the highlights of the conference was to hear David and Cassidy Thomas share their story...They began going out when they were in 8th grade, stayed together through High School, then went to Texas Tech together were David played college ball. They then got married virgins. They committed their relationship to purity. Now David is the tight end for the New England Patriots...What a story of commitment and dedication...

True Love Waits Conference

Liz and I have the privilege of being on a team of conference speakers this weekend led by Paul and Virgina Freisen...The conference is called: True Love Waits...It is a time for parents and children to get together and talk about sex in a non-threatening environment...If a father doesn't talk to his son or a mother her daughter, they will learn about some where...and that some where is probably in the locker room or bathroom and the content is not going to be Biblically based but worldly focused...Don't leave it up to your kids to ask you parents, but ask them first....Liz and I are doing a workshop called, "Its Never Too Late To Do the Right Thing." This is going to be a great conference and not just because we are speaking!!!! But because two players and their wives from the New England Patriots will speaking as well....David and Kassidy Thomas & Grant and Emily Williams...Check out the True Love Waits website for more information if you are interested in coming...If you can't come, here is a link to Liz and my talk on "Its never too late to do the right thing."

Witch Pastor

I met a real live, walking talking WITCH Pastor...I guess you can call him that, He did...He is a pastor in Salem, MA...The witch capital of America....His church is called, "The Gathering"...His church actually meets in "The Vault"...an old bank...The place is right on a main street in Salem...He said, The Gathering, his church, exists to bless the witches and neo-pagans not just in Salem, MA but all over the world...His ministry reaches to the UK...The churches website is very informative....I will be meeting with him some time in the future to talk witchcraft and paganism...This might possibly the beginning of a potential location for Garden City Church's second location..Stay tuned for that Blog.

Beverly Church Plant Update

Today we did it! We nailed down (for now) Garden City Churches 7 core values over a cup of Starbucks coffee! I think that was the secret to our most profitable meeting yet!!!

1. A Caring Community
2. Biblical, Practical Teaching
3. Strong Family's
4. Discover Your Purpose
5. Passionate Spirituality
6. Less is More
7. A Creative Edge

Everything we do as a church will be filtered through these core values...This gives us the freedom to say NO to things that can potentially side track us from fulfilling out mission. These core values are our guiding principles...They shape the way we do things...They also hold us accountable...The hardest part is that the leadership team must be constantly aware of these values in their own personal life....because as a church the leaders must embody these core values so that they turn into the values of those who come to the church!

Church & Culture

I don't think any class has influenced me more than a class I am presently in called, "Church & Culture." The professor has opened my eyes to a culture that constantly exerts pressure on you and me. We are being influenced from every angle. The cultural influencers (Apple, Playboy, Reality TV, MYSPACE, Hollywood, etc.) want us to be so busy that we don't think or reflect on what we are doing, we just react and consume.

Think about TV. With each show you watch, whether you like it or not, you are being instructed on how to live, what to buy, what the good life is, what to look like, etc. We are given "unspoken permission" or you can say, "an unconscious, yes," to do exactly what you are watching. It is called behavior modification. They are training us to respond in life from those experiences. Why do you think people want HDTV's or I-Phones, or you fill in the blank with that thing on your list? Or the person you want to look like. It is a fact, most people who get cosmetic surgery do so to look like a celebrity!

The bottom line is that we must exert pressure on the culture or we will conform. If you consume culture without thinking about it, you will become a product of the culture. For the class, we have to write an essay on a question that is impossible to answer. He says, there are not right or wrong answers, but better or worse. These essays will get you to think about the world we live in through a different lens. They have been the most challenging essays, I ever wrote and they are short! Take a stab at them...not me!!

Sex: The American Top Idol

Is Culture Dead?

The Great Divorce

The Resurrected Matrix: The Kingdom Of God

Re-Thinking Church Growth Strategies

Beverely Church Planting Update

(1) Last week, the lead pastor and I got to go and meet with the woman who is in charge of renting out the school, we have applied to lease. Great, hopeful conversation! We did see an auditorium that is not being used in this old middle school the town turned into the school systems office. Maybe a space for a second location, maybe not!!!

(2) Last week, we also had probably one of the most important discussions on our mission (what do we want to do or you can say, what is our goal). The churches mission statement is "To Lead People To Become Fully Devoted Followers of Christ." That is our method. But our goal, Jesus states in the Sermon on the Mount. It is actually his thesis statement. (1) We are to be "salt" and "light." Salt makes things flourish, it makes things better. Not table salt, but salt used in an agricultural setting. The SALT Jesus compared fully devoted followers of Christ was a form of fertilizer. It made thing grow better. It made compose piles decompose. In essence, Jesus was saying, we need to be engaged in and with the culture so that when we show up things are better and those people's lives around us are better. It also accelerates growth so if salt loses it distinctness it is in effective. (2) We are to be "light." Fully devoted followers are Christ are to be beacons of goodness and a catalyst for human flourishing. We are a like a light house. A light house distributes light. You are there, you cannot be ignored, you are broad casting a message on the hill and the hill is whatever your sphere of influence God called you. The Bible says, let your light shine before men so that they can see your good deeds. It is dynamic and it is self revelatory. You are and it happens. You are light that shines before men. There is an emphasis of being. The very nature of who you are speaks volumes, not just what you do. It is the embodied presence of you period that makes the difference. Those around you see self evident goodness. They see the deeds that you do that explain the message that is in you. Since it is a positive and good message, people know that you are genuine goodness.

Ask yourself, Are you Salt and Light? Does your purist of God influence those around you? Does your life make other people’s lives better? Is your walk with God inspiring anybody to be more like Jesus and does it causes non-believers to wonder why? Do you have enough of Jesus that your life overflows and spills into others? I have been asking myself these questions lately. Sometimes just asking the right questions makes all the difference!

Sexual Cosmos: Bringing Order to the Untouched Areas of Spirituality

As some of you know, I feel just as called to writing books as I do to pasturing and teaching. I have almost completed a book on SEX. It is basically a perspective on sex, dating and marriage that you will not find on TV or in the moves. It is based on God's word. God created the universe from nothing, bringing order from chaos and He can do the same thing with our sex lives. So I got an editor!! One of my best friends who is a missionary in Africa at the moment is going to edit the book. He is a GODSEND and a genius! The Introduction Chapter is pretty much done. Check it out. Here is a LINK to it. It will give you all the details, but remember it is geared towards Teen Challenge students in which myself and the editor are graduates of Teen Challenge, but I am confident it will speak to you and give you a perspective you can share with your friends, family, etc. Let me know what you think about it. Email any comments, questions and suggestions to sexualcosmos@gmail.com Happy Reading!

Beverly Church Plant Update

The lead pastor, on Tuesday, sat down and had lunch with a guy in the church he works at that is planting us, who works with non-profit organizations like churches who lease from schools, among other things. He gave us the run down on what to do and not do, what to expect and not expect. We learned a lots of good things like the school or whoever you rent from, are not like your typical landlord. You need to take the initiative and let them know what rooms, bathrooms, etc you need, don't expect them to communicate because they probably won't. We learned to make sure the lines of communication are open and that the person on staff, the janitor, knows exactly what bathrooms we need, etc. so that they are ready to go come church time. Just thought you like to know, about a churches bathroom situation!!!!!!!!!!!

How to ELIMINATE Divorce!

I figured it out. What you are about to read will save millions of dollars worldwide and infinite pain and suferring. It is an easy formula. Albert Einstein invented "E = MC2" and I have thought of how to be "Married-4-Ever." Are you ready for it? If you read it, you must tell someone and do it!!
Marriage is not so much an issue of love as it is an issue of obedience to God. Obedience to God must supersede love. The command to all Christians married or not is to “love their neighbors.” Well, for married people, their closest neighbor is their spouse (even if they don’t sleep in the same bed!). Jesus also commands us to “love our enemies” and “do good to those who hate you.” The word, love, agape, is the same word in both places. It means unconditional and sacrificial. So guess what, your spouse will always fit somewhere between your best neighbor and your worst enemy, and guess, what we are commanded to love them both. But God does not leave us hanging. He would never command us to do something we are not capable to do. God will give you both the strength to love each other regardless of how you feel. In the very moments when you don’t feel like loving, just obey God and do it anyway. If you do this, divorce will never be an option, only staying married-4-ever!

Let me know, how it works out!!

UPDATE: Beverly Church Plant

I feel like I do not have time to think! So busy, but here is the BREAKING NEWS. We have "The Go" or as some like to say "The Green Light" to begin meeting with our core group (those are people who want to be part of the church before we are officially a church). And we even have a time table. Are you ready for this, it is after Easter! Some of the hardest things in church planting is putting together a Schedule, a time table of when and how things are suppose to unfold. We are there. We have the beginning of a time table!! That is actually very exciting. Stay tuned for more Breaking News!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sex: The American Top Idol

SEX: The American Top Idol

We live in a sex crazed culture where sex can sell just about anything from beer to car insurance. Today sex is nothing more than one of the many desires Americans satisfy without much thought like our appetite for food. When we are hungry, we eat, if the urge to have sex arises, look for the closest friend and benefit! The truth of the matter is that sex has escaped its residence in marriage and been placed on a pedestal for all to idolize. As brief as it might be, appeasing the sex idol emotionally satisfies, security, one of the deepest human needs. The sex idol is both unconsciously and consciously worshiped by millions of Americans daily via Internet sites, movies, magazines and TV shows. Promiscuous living is promoted, at the expense of martial fidelity, as part of the American dream. In order to tear down the sex idol, the original purpose of sex must be resurrected and the Biblical precedence for marriage must be re -instituted.

Marriage is more than sex!
The resurrection of God’s plan for sex will raise the marital climate in America. Sex is just one cylinder in an eight cylinder marriage. God created sex for a purpose and designed marriage as the one and only relationship that purpose is to be experienced so that the marriage relationship can be a reflection of the relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to the world. The uniting of married couples in the sanctity of the marriage bed mirrors the unity the Godhead. What if sex in marriage was more about God than about an orgasm? The words sex and God are almost never used in the same sentence, but have multiple intersecting points. Mainly, oneness, which is the idea of multiple units operating in harmony regardless of their distinct differences. Sex is an intersecting point married couples must experience oneness or sexual frustration and dysfunction will breed division.

Marriage will make couples holy before it will make them happy. When the goal of marriage is not sexual euphoria, like Soap Operas, romantic novels and movies promote, but maturity, marriages will go the distance. The goal of marriage is not to please yourself or your spouse, but to please God. A couple’s marital climate directly correlates with their spiritual climate. That is why, the apostle Peter says, “Husbands . . . be considerate as you live with your wives . . . so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” Sometimes the most spiritual thing to do is have a good marriage and in doing so both partners will feel secure.

Marriage is a kingdom partnership, not a combination of one night stands. Couples who have a kingdom purpose interwoven in their marriage understand that their marriage stands for something more than sexual intimacy. A marriage couple whose goal is to partner with Jesus’ Church and his apprentices on earth understand King Solomon who said, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Solomon knew that a team dynamic with God in the center can do more than a one man show. If God is reflected in marriages, then marriages will reflect God to the world. Marriage couples have an opportunity to be a conduit of the love of God to an unloved, insecure world.

Sex is more than marriage!
When marriage is more than sex, then sex is more than marriage, not vice versa. The re-instituting of God’s design for marriage will lower the promiscuity climate in America. Sex with a purpose is the best sex. Sex to satisfy just to satisfy an urge misses the mark of the poetry of sex. Sex activates the marriage covenant, but does not determine marital longevity. A home run does not have to be hit everyday to have sex. The reality is most marriages strike out more than they get on base, but the need of security is still met. If couples are going to feel continually secure in themselves and their marriages, then sex must not be like a trend that fads away, but an ongoing game. Even though sex is just one component of sexual intimacy, it is probably one of the most important. Sex is the only thing you can do with your spouse; you cannot do with someone else. Once sex is taken off the pedestal, it becomes one of the many venues couples experience marital intimacy.

Sex renews the marriage covenant. Just as Christ followers participate in the sacrament, Holy Communion, as a time to reflect and renew the covenant Jesus’ death instituted, married couples renew their covenant when they participate in the act of marriage. Sex is sacred. It unites couples spiritually. Soul ties are either strengthened or weakened by a couples sex life or lack there of. Sometimes the most spiritual thing to do with your spouse is to have sex. Sexual intimacy is marriage is the highway all other areas of intimacy travel on. Although sex is not an end in marriage, it is a non-negotiable means to an end.

Sex leaves a legacy. The whole world is watching marriage couples. They are just waiting to hear about the latest affair. What effects does each affair and divorce have on the generation to follow? Each generation that grows up in today’s divorce culture has been given the unconscious permission to have an affair and divorce. One of the best ways not to have sex with someone else’s spouse is to have sex with your own spouse. Sex is the protecting shield that guards a man or women’s heart from being stolen by someone who wants to meet the needs of your spouse when you do not. I heard at a marriage conference, “If you don’t date want to date your spouse, there are many who do." It is going to take couples who are willing to look out for the best interest of the present and future generations, not themselves to turn the tide and leave a Godly marriage legacy.

In conclusion, if sex finds its way back in the master bedroom and off the TV screens, Americans will experience a revolution in their homes and churches. The American Top Idol can only be worshipped if broken marriages produce broken families that in turn release broken children with no purpose to marry broken spouses. Our problem is systemic. It begins with married couples. Dad’s and mom’s who tear down the sex idol at home will create an environment conducive for their children to later marry well. Premarital sex can destroy a future marriage like no bodies business, but children who marry, according to God’s plan and purposes will experience sex in the creative order, not before but after marriage. These children, who have married well, will have children who marry well and on and on it goes. If families take the initiative to meet, their children’s need of security, then the boy down the street or girl up the block will not have a chance and the advertising agencies, which thrive on the principle, sex sells, will not be able to sell the sex idol, because it has been torn down!

Call to Customer Service

I don't know if you heard, but Howard Schultz, the founder and CEO of Starbucks shut down Starbucks nation wide for 3 hours to challenge his partners (as he calls his employees) to be more passionate about serving customers. A call to customer service is essentially a call to love your neighbor. Maybe you never looked at the message of the Gospel before like this but it is a call to customer service. Loving your neighbors, although fundamental, is eternally beneficial to humanity. Each human being was created to be loved by one another. Two thumbs up to Howard Schultz for calling his partners back to passionate service. It has inspired me to better serve the people in my life. Great to be challenged spiritually by a non-spiritual things.

Re-Thinking Church

Re-Thinking Church Growth Strategies!
The evangelistic arm of the American Church has been cut off by a culture that has been disenfranchised by the very people who represent the Church, Christians. Traditional methods of evangelism like passing out tracks and door to door visiting must be retired and the Church must rethink their external witness. At a Washington D.C. pastor’s conference, Craig Groeschel, the lead pastor of LifeChurch.tv said, “If churches are going to reach the people no one is reaching, then they have to do the things no one is doing.” Jesus said it like this, “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins . . . new wine must be poured into new wineskins” (Luke 5:37, 38). Traditional churches keep pouring new wine into a culture made up of old wine skins. By doing this, the power of the Gospel message has been watered down and the punch line has been played out. A four-part Gospel has been reduced to two. Instead of sharing with the world: (1) Creation (2) Fall (3) Redemption and (4) Restoration. The majority of American churches have defrauded both the people inside and outside the walls of the church by only focusing on the Fall and Redemption. If the goal of following Christ is not restoration, then most Christ followers will not see how they contribute to the restoration of Creation.

Internalize Before Externalization
The kind of changes that will solve the Church’s problems will be of a different order to the kind that created them in the first place. Internal changes must be made for external productivity. Three major paradigm shifts must be internalized by church structures; if the Church is going to reach those people no one is reaching and who have burst from too much wine.

Missional vs. Traditional
Traditional Churches have basically one strategy for evangelism: invite people to the church building. This strategy has institutionalized the salvation experience and de-powered Christ-followers. The responsibility of salvation is not only the mission of the pastoral staff, but each individual Christ-Follower. Missional Churches primary concern is to be committed to God’s missionary calling in the culture it is sent. The new strategy to adopt is to equip and release each Christ-follower to creatively and innovatively use their gifts, talents and abilities to advance the Kingdom of God in their personal sphere of influence, not just in Church services and functions.
Case Study:
Mark Driscoll who pastors, Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington has successfully implemented the Missional-Incarnational strategy. He has taken a hand full of people in the least churched city of America to over 5,000 in attendance by emphasizing a missional approach opposed to the traditional.

Incarnational vs. Attractional
The traditional strategy the Church has duplicated for the last 17 centuries is the Attractional Church. Alan Hirsch describes it by saying, “The church bids people to come and hear the Gospel in the holy confines of the church and community.” Attractional churches operate as if they have a monopoly on God. A core assumption, Alan Hirsch states, is “that the Attractional Church is based upon—the assumption that God cannot really be accessed outside the sanctioned church meetings.” On the other hand, the Incarnational Church adopts a Go-To-Them, rather than a Come-To-Us approach. The Incarnational Church is a sending church. The goal is not only to get people into the church, but to get the people of the church into the world. The Incarnational Church does not focus on church growth as much as personal growth. If Christ-followers grow personally, then the not-yet-Christians at their work places, in the grocery stores and cafes will encounter a real life embodiment of the person of Jesus. Just as God infiltrated the world in the form of a human, so should Christ-followers infiltrate the part of the world God has designed and called them to be incarnational.

Case Study:
The mission of the Imago Dei Community in Portland, Oregon is “to take the Whole Gospel to the Whole Person to the Whole World, equipping people to become mature in Christ.” This church has adopted the incarnational approach to ministry by equipping “followers of Christ to operate as his hands in the world by virtue of bringing the healing touch of Christ in the name of Christ.”

Culturally Relevant vs. Biblically Relevant
Most recently, churches have built a reputation for being seeker-sensitive in their weekend services. Their services have been watered down, the worship is over amplified and as Billy Hybel’s confessed, most attendees are just attendees, not fully devoted followers of Christ. Instead of attracting seekers to Church services with culturally relevant sermon series,’ churches should use their services to equip Christ-followers to be attractive to seekers. The Biblically relevant service trains, equips, and restores Christ-followers to be incarnational in the part of Kingdom, God has called them to. This service welcomes all, but is primarily geared to equip the saints for works of service. The lifestyle of each Christ-follower becomes a living animated church service that incarnates wherever they go.

Case Study:
Dr. Rob Rhoden is the lead pastor of Commonwealth Chapel in Richmond, Virginia. In his venture to revitalize a church, he shifted from a centralized service to a de-centralized. His primary purpose for weekend services is to train and equip his church to be evangelistic and incarnational. Since his church has embraced this approach to ministry, they have become a pillar in their community.

These three shifts will not just revitalize the evangelistic arm of the Church, but will empower Christ-followers to be part of the restoration of Creation. When the missional church partners with God’s mission to restore the whole of Creation, the emphasis on evangelism becomes secondary to the restoration of God’s image in each Christ-follower. The churches that becomes Incarnational, rather than Attractional, empowers Christ-followers to be responsible for the communities they live in, the places they work in and families they raise, not just the churches they attend. The shift from culturally relevant to biblically relevant services will equip Christ-followers with the tools and training to be a fully reflected image of God in the corner of the Kingdom of God, they have been called to. When the ultimate goal of following Christ is not how many times you lead somebody in the salvation prayer, but how close you can look like Jesus, then each Christ-follower will purposefully live out their faith in every arena of life, not just in their churches.

BREAKING NEWS

Garden City Church Plant Update

We have been a homeless church and now we have a home. It is a school building, we were recently approved to lease. WOW! It is fun to watch a vision come to life. You might think having a church portable church is weird, but it is actually patterned after a Biblical model found in the Old Testament. God's presence dwelled in the Tabernacle, which is just like a portable church. It was a portable temple. For you info, a temple is just a place where God dwells. The Old Testament word is borrowed from the Summerians who defined a temple as a big house. When God moved to a new location, the Israelites tore down and then would set up again where God wished. Basically, the same principle applies in the portable church world. We believe God has called us to this school and we will set up and tear down every week. We do think there are great benefits of having a church building, but for this season, we are called to be portable.