Mission Alive

We praise God for the churches that are partnering with Mission Alive. This report describes a few of the growing number of partnering churches and lists defining qualities that motivate them.

Partnering Churches

Riverside, Coppell, Texas

Riverside is one of the two anchor churches of Mission Alive and is our home church. They partner with us in our ministry both by supporting Mission Alive and by providing their facility for church planter equipping labs (Discovery, Theology, and Strategy Labs). Our Bible class and Impact Group have ministered to us during times of sorrow and joined us on our spiritual journey to grow as His disciples. When we are in town, the preaching of Jarrod Robinson lifts our souls. Riverside member Lisa Gould has worked untiringly in mobilizing our members to feed church planters undergoing training at our facility. I am honored to work with elders and staff in their developing awareness of and commitment to missional renewal and transformation. One elder, Dr. John Cooke, has worked with as the Director of Assessment in our Discovery Labs for church planters and joined us half-time in January, 2007, as the Director of Church Planter Care. Another elder, Tony Chron, serves on the Mission Alive board and provides insight about administering a growing organization. We are grateful that the Lord has placed us in this wonderful family of God!

Preston Road, Dallas, Texas 

Preston Road is the second anchor church partnering with Mission Alive to equip church planters, provide church planter care, and work with churches to plant churches. They also provide partial support for Chris and Heidi Chappotin, who have planted the Christ Journey church in Southwest Fort Worth. The elders of Preston Road, like those of Riverside, have a developing awareness and understanding of missional renewal and transformation. We are happy to participate in many small ways in this transition. During the coming months Gailyn will do a Mission Alive Book Club at the Preston Road church for leaders from Preston Road and other area churches. We invite you to join us for these discussions from 6:45 to 8:15 on March 19, April 30, and May 28. The following books will be discussed:

• March 19: Greg Ogden’sTransforming Discipleship
• April 30: Randy Frazee’s The Connecting Church
• May 28: Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger’sSimple Church

Preston Road has also hosted one Strategy Lab and one Discovery Lab. Holly Thigpen and the Missions Ministry have provided food for the events. Robert Chambers, Chairman of the Missions Ministry, also serves as a board member of Mission Alive. We praise God for the elders, staff, and Missions Ministry of Preston Road!

East Cobb, Marietta, Georgia

“We must realize that the kingdom of God is greater than the East Cobb church,” said elder Jim Tidwell, explaining why East Cobb was becoming a church planting church. During this time Don Elliot, another elder, was meeting periodically with Glenn Robb, then the evangelism/church planting minister of the North Atlanta church, praying and strategizing about church planting in the greater Atlanta area. Church planting movements are born out of such dreams. As a result, East Cobb has become the partnering church in planting the Northern Hills church in Cherokee County, north of Marietta in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Tim and Annette Broadwell are doing a wonderful job in equipping a core group of about 60 people. The East Cobb church will host the Southeast Church Planting Workshop, August 17-18. We praise God for the vision of this church planting church!

Kaufman, Kaufman, Texas

Kaufman is an Antioch church. We were touched by the hearts of the elders after spending one evening with them. We found them to be mighty men of prayer with a passion for the mission of God and a desire for continued spiritual renewal. Above all, they are men who are willing to take risks for the kingdom of God. After hearing the call to become a church-planting church, they commissioned the Missions Ministry to learn from us. This ministry, in turn, not only learned about “Christ-formed church planting” but also worked with the elders to develop a process for the entire church to understand their identity. Following Antioch’s example, Kaufman spent 40 days in prayer and reflection about becoming God’s missionaries to their geographic region. After this period they selected their preaching minister and his wife, Ben and Shannon Stevens, as church planters to Forney, Texas. The contribution on their recent Missions Sunday was $225,000, which will finance the church planting as well as other mission endeavors. Ben and Shannon are developing the core team that will help with this church planting. Six families have already committed to working closely with the Stevens to plant a new church in Forney. We praise God for the faith and focus of the Kaufman church!

South MacArthur, Irving, Texas

South MacArthur has a history of being a church-planting church. In January, 2004, they commissioned Micah Lewis and a group of 25 adults and children to plant the Sunrise church in Grand Prairie, Texas. It has been a joy working with Micah, who has participated in various Mission Alive labs and conversations. In 2006, South MacArthur took another step forward by partnering with Mission Alive to work with Charles and Julie Kiser to church plant in either Southern California or some area of Dallas-Fort Worth. The Richland Hills church then agreed to cooperate with South MacArthur to support the Kisers. I praise God for John Ogren, Communities of Faith Minister at South MacArthur, for times of creative interaction about the process of planting Christ-formed churches. Elder Terry Penn and preaching minister Grady King have also coupled with us in many ways, encouraging missional church renewal and church planting. We are thankful for the continued faithfulness of this great church to the mission of God!

Lakewood, Denver, Colorado

For many years Reg Cox worked with me to teach Ministry of Redemption for undergraduate Bible majors at Abilene Christian University. Over a period of years Reg became the preaching minister of the Lakewood Church of Christ in Denver, and I retired to launch Mission Alive. Our lives have once again come together around God’s passion within us to share God’s sovereignty with searchers and skeptics and nurture them to become Christ’s disciples within fellowships of faith. We praise God for raising up Lakewood as a partnering church with Mission Alive to plant Higher Point in the Reunion/Brighton area of Denver. Church planters Robbie and Cynthia James and teammate Darren Boyer are learning from Lakewood and Reg Cox as Lakewood also learns from Higher Point. Other partners in this church planting are the Rocky Mountain Christian Church in Longmont and CPR (Church Planters of the Rockies). We praise God for these partnering relationships!

Singing Oaks, Denton, Texas

Singing Oaks is partnering with Mission Alive to plant a church in Savannah, Texas (east of Denton down highway 380). Elder Joe Keck participated in three Discovery Labs representing the church to select Les and Heatherly McDaniel as church planters. The McDaniels are currently forming and equipping a team to plant the church in an area that will grow from 9,000 to 90,000 people in the next ten years. Jerry Browder, elder of Singing Oaks who also serves as treasurer on the Mission Alive board, commented that planting the church provides the Singing Oaks church with “practical, hands-on experience in reaching populations and communities that our church cannot otherwise reach.” The church “sees new models and new ways of reaching people among us.” He said, “We are observing God’s work in the world by engaging us in his mission.” They are experiencing God’s mission across the street (where a church has been planted in an apartment complex), across the ocean (where many churches have been planted among the Sukuma people of Tanzania), and across the way (in Savannah). We praise God for his mighty work through Singing Oaks!

Characteristics of Partnering Churches

Partnering churches are defined by qualities that lead them to unselfishly think beyond themselves as they participate in the mission of God.

Hearing God’s Call. Upon hearing God’s call, they step out by faith although doubting and struggling along the way (like Abram, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jesus Christ, Peter, Paul, etc.).

Perceiving God’s Presence. They understand that God is always coming to his people and incarnating himself through prophets and priests, through his One and Only Son, and finally through his Holy Spirit within the church. The church strives to be a community of God’s presence responding to his will.

Participating in God’s Kingdom. They know that the kingdom of God is greater than their local church. They follow the way of God, who gave of himself for the salvation of humanity. They desire that God’s will be done “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Understanding the Mission of the Church. They realize that the church exists not only to spiritually form followers of Christ within its community but also for the sake of the world.

Loving the Lost. They perceive the brokenness of the world without Jesus Christ. They perceive “with compassion” the multitudes who are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). They are “greatly distressed” as they see cities “full of idols” (Acts 17:16).

Discerning Crucifixion and Resurrection. They realize that the kingdom of God comes through great sacrifice and suffering. They understand, however, that the end result of sacrifice and suffering is resurrection life . . . both in this life and the one to come. They live by dying (John 12:23-25).

Perceiving the Need for Renewal. They strive to spiritually grow in the Lord, to be “transformed into his likeness” (2 Cor. 3:18). Church planting is one of the outgrowths of this transformation.  

With these theological factors at play, a close relationship exists between missional renewal and church planting. We are privileged to participate as servants of God in this missional transformation.