Fort Worth, TX, July 3, 2005. Angels Rejoice, We Rejoice: Sue Salazar was searching for meaning and focus in her life and for those of her extended family. Church planters Chris and Heidi Chappotin invited her to the worship period of their core launch team. She not only came but brought her daughters, their children, one husband, one boy friend, and her son. We rejoice that Sue Salazar, her daughter Tiffany, and her boy friend (now husband) Michael Davis were baptized into Christ on July 3, 2005. What was to be core team training has become a fellowship where searchers and skeptics come to hear the gospel. The church meeting with the Chappotins will launch the public phase of their growing fellowship on Sept. 25, 2005. Mitch Anderson, graduate Missions student at ACU and future missionary to the Czech Republic, is interning with the Chappotins this summer.
Lexington, KY, June, 2005. From Local Preacher to Church Planter. For many years Bryan Barrett has worked with local churches in Texas and Kentucky. He and his wife Robyn, however, have dreamed of church planting. They felt God’s call to an emerging part of the Lexington close to their home where no churches of any kind currently exist. Over the past few months they have gone through all the equipping labs with Mission Alive and have taken the step of faith into church planting. A large core team is forming in their home. Mike Boyle, elder of the Westport Road Church of Christ in Louisville and Associate Dean of the School of Education at the University of Louisville, serves as their church planting coach.
Coppell, TX, June 20-23. Discovery Lab for Church Planters. The second Discovery Lab of Mission Alive was held at the Riverside Church of Christ. Five church planting families participated. These families will develop vocational teams and plant churches in Austin, Denver, and Dallas. Mission Alive was also privileged to work with our sister organization Kairos to assess one of their families who will be working with a church in Oregon as they look toward church planting. Our next Discovery Labs will be on Sept. 8-11, 2005, and Jan. 5-8, 2006. The Discovery Labs enable both Mission Alive as a ministry organization and the prospective church planting families to understand their (1) gifts and ministries in church planting and (2) personal and family readiness for church planting.
Montgomery, AL, July 8-11. Visioning Mission Alive with a Visioning Church. Gailyn and Becky Van Rheenen spent an extended weekend with the Landmark Church of Christ dreaming with their Mission Vision Team and elders about developing a church planting movement in North America. This vibrant church is specially equipped to partner with Mission Alive because of their vision for spiritual formation in small groups, their mission leadership, and their focus on preaching Christ.
Houston, TX. Mission Interest in the Nation’s Fourth Largest City. Houston is America's fourth largest city and one of our biggest economic engines. With an estimated population of 2,167,000, it is also one of the fastest-growing major cities in the country. We have found great interest in church planting in this city. The Texas Gulf Coast Bible Institute is a newly developing training school for Hispanic evangelists. Mission Alive is working with this school to train many of their students as church planters. Bob Odle, preacher of the Woodland Oaks Church of Christ, is working with others on the board of the Bible school to host a Mission Alive church planting workshop in Houston on March 3-4, 2006. God is working in a special way in this city: A number of churches are developing the vision to plant churches and several Christian leaders desire to become church planters in this growing city.
Atlanta, GA. Southeast Church Planting Workshop. Mission Alive and the North Atlanta Church of Christ will co-sponsor the Southeast Church Planting Workshop, August 19-20, at the North Atlanta Church of Christ. Our focus will be: “How can Churches of Christ reach the growing mission field at home by intentionally planting churches?” Participants will be invited to partner with Mission Alive in launching new initiatives for God’s mission in the southeastern part of the United States during this generation. You may download a registration form to send to North Atlanta at http://www.nacofc.org/downloads/2005%20Church%20Planting%20Workshop-Registration%20form.pdf.
Dallas, TX. Dallas-Fort Worth Church Planting Workshop. Mission Alive and the South MacArthur Church of Christ in Irving will co-sponsor the second annual church planting workshop August 26-27 in Dallas-Fort Worth. Last year our workshop at the Prestoncrest Church of Christ focused on “Why Plant Churches?’ This year the topic will be “What Kind of Churches Will We Plant? A vision for missional church planting.” Speakers include Randy Harris, Grady King, Doug Peters, and Gailyn Van Rheenen. Church planters will also describe their ministries in beginning new churches. Contact Tommie Sledge at South MacArthur Church of Christ, 1401 South MacArthur Blvd., Irving, TX 75060 972-986-8989, tommie@southmac.org, to register for the DFW Church Planting Workshop.
Carrollton, TX. Calls, Calls, and More Calls. Mission Alive receives numerous calls from church leaders desiring to become church planters and to plant churches in their part of the United States. If you are interested in church planting, . . .
- pray about areas in need of church planting and your role in church planting,
- learn about Mission Alive by reading www.missionalive.org,
- discover the nature of church planting by reading articles on www.missiology.org,
- call us at (972) 939-4337.
Mission Alive is simply a clay lamp used by God as a funnel for his light (2 Cor. 4:7).
