Mission Alive

Much has occurred this summer. New co-workers joined Mission Alive. Lives in newly planted churches were transformed. Church planters’ lives were touched in our annual Church Planters’ Retreat. Interest for church planting grew in Atlanta. Fresh Water is beginning to flow in New Orleans.

Thinking together for God’s Glory

Becky and I thank God for our new co-workers in church planting. We are experiencing the benefits of synergy and creativity which come from frequent interaction with co-workers Dr. John Cooke and Tod and Candace Vogt. Each brings unique gifts to amplify and expand the ministry of Mission Alive. John Cooke is a master counselor who compassionately assesses and counsels church planters. Tod Vogt is a trained church planter who intuitively knows the struggles and processes of planting Christ-formed churches. Candace, a lawyer by trade, is beginning to coordinate and plan Mission Alive activities (Some might say that she is bringing order out of chaos!!). We praise God for our team.

Transforming Lives, One Community at a Time

This increase in staff is needed to more intentionally and incisively equip church planters, provide church planter care, and work with churches for missional renewal and church planting. Christ-formed, outreach-focused churches have been planted in SW Fort Worth (Burleson), Denver, Atlanta, Forney (east of Dallas), Savannah (east of Denton, TX), Austin, and Lexington (KY). Partnering churches and church planters are working to plant churches in New Orleans, San Antonio, the province of Saskatchewan in Western Canada, Waco, and somewhere in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Our goal is to transform lives, one community at a time.

Church planters Tim and Annette Broadwell are equipping an army of 60-70 people in small groups and connection events to transform Cherokee County, north of Atlanta. They plan to launch as a public church at Sequoyah High School on October 7. We were touched by the testimony of Rebecca Brenner earlier this month at the Southeast Church Planting Workshop at the East Cobb church in Marietta. Rebecca told of her fear of church buildings and the “holy” people who congregated in them. She knew she did not belong. Rebecca, however, was accepted into the neighborhood connection events and a cell group of the Northern Hills family. She found that the Northern Hills family was a non-judgmental community “who accept people where they are, and then lift one another up as we live life together.” Within this fellowship she learned the story of how God in Jesus Christ would save even a sinner like her. In this growing fellowship older Christians are learning how to evangelize and searchers are coming to the Lord. Their web site is http://www.northernhillsfamily.org/.

Higher Point in Denver has grown to a fellowship of approximately 70 members. Higher Point is being built upon a foundation of home churches called Connection Groups, equipped through spiritually forming groups called Formation Groups and leadership groups called LINC’s (Leadership IN Connection), and inspired by dynamic Worship Gatherings, Children's Ministry and Community Events. They currently have six Connection Groups meeting each week, five Formation Groups, and one LINC. The church finds its identity within their smaller communities of spiritual formation, where searchers and Christians are nurtured to spiritual maturity and equipped as leaders. Higher Point member Maria Slotten says that in the Connection Groups “there is such an overwhelming sense of genuineness – you check your pretensions at the door and come in and God knocks you down in the moment and meets you in a very real sense. I wan’t prepared for that but it has been incredible.” During this preliminary period of church planting, the entire community meets every other Sunday night at Prairie View High School but plan to launch publicly on September 30. Their web site is http://www.higherpoint.org/.

The new but growing New River Church in Forney, Texas, is currently meeting in two house churches of about 25-30 in each group. House church leaders are being equipped so that New River can birth into either four or five groups next month. They meet publicly each Sunday in a sports center and have 45-60 in these unpublicized meetings. They plan to launch publicly in January, 2008. Church planter Ben Stevens will conduct their first membership class next month for about eight searchers coming into their fellowships. They are seeing broken-hearted, sin-filled people turning to the way of God in Jesus Christ. Their web site is http://www.newriverforney.com/.

We are witnessing transformed lives, one community at a time.

Church Planters’ Retreat

God in His spirit gave focus to His messengers.

Atlanta – A Growing City in Need of Kingdom Transformation

Understanding of and desire for church planting continues to grow in the great urban center of Atlanta, GA. In August the East Cobb Church of Christ hosted our third annual Southeast Church Planting Workshop. The Workshop was preceded by a conversation on church planting by a few significant church leaders in the city.

Workshop participants were able to learn from the first-hand experience of those involved church planting. Tim Broadwell, church planter of the Northern Hills church, led a discussion of church planting followed by testimonies from Northern Hills members, including new Christians, about God’s mighty work in growing this church. Then elders of the East Cobb church along with preaching minister Ray Hawkins described the history and process of planting this church. Another highlight was Tod Vogt’s excellent presentation on “Equipping for Church Planting.”

The kingdom of God is breaking into Atlanta and like a tiny mustard seed becoming a tree where birds perch (Matt. 13:31-32). Atlanta is more than the Braves . . . the Falcons . . . news of Michael Vick . . . CNN. It is a growing city in need of spiritual transformation.

FreshWater for New Orleans

Mission Alive invites you in join us in the spiritual reconstruction of New Orleans. Fresh Water, taken from the Ezekiel 47 metaphor of fresh water flowing from the temple of God making salty water fresh and bringing life where there has been death, seeks to “participate with God in the spiritual transformation of New Orleans by planting Christ-formed churches.”

God’s fresh water is already beginning to flow! Three families with the goal of church planting in New Orleans have come through Mission Alive’s June and July Discovery Labs. Several churches have already committed to partnering in bringing fresh water to New Orleans. White’s Ferry Road Church of Christ in West Monroe, LA., who have raised money for various disaster relief efforts, are now working to raise money for FreshWater. The Richland Hills church in Fort Worth is also an active partner in this endeavor. Mission Alive has asked Mark Berryman, an experienced African researcher, to work as an outside consultant to research the greater New Orleans area to determine priority areas for evangelism and church planting.

What can you do? What can your church do? First, learn more about FreshWater by attending a meeting during the Abilene Christian University lectureship (Tuesday, Sept. 18, 3:00 p.m. in the Missions Strategy Room of the Undergraduate Bible Department in the Bible Building) or by calling Tod Vogt at (214) 364-2756 or Gailyn Van Rheenen at (972) 939-4337. Second, attend a 2-day prayer trip through New Orleans in either late November or early December. Third, help us find qualified church planting families. Finally, pray for this ministry and for the spiritual renewal of New Orleans. John Ogren said, “Imagine a New Orleans where the sobriety of Lent and the Joy of Easter have eclipsed the debauchery of Mardi Gras. . . . Imagine a New Orleans known for its holiness. . . . Dream of a physically and spiritually devastated city rebuilding on the foundation of Christ and the hope he offers.”

• Sept. 18 – FreshWater Interest/Information Meeting, ACU Lectureship (3:00 p.m. in the Missions Strategy Room in the Undergraduate Bible Department in the Bible Building)
• Sept. 19 – Mission Alive Breakfast, ACU Lectureship (6:45 a.m. in the Living Room of the Campus Center)
• Sept. 20-22, Oct. 18-20 – ACU Course in Dallas on Planting and Developing Churches (email gailyn@missionalive.org for a syllabus)
• Oct. 5-7 – Retreat for Harding students at HUT on Joining God in His Mission
• Oct. 10-13 – Theology Lab for Church Planters (with Randy Harris)
• Nov. 12-16 – Strategy Lab for Church Planters (with multiple resource people)
• Nov. 29-Dec. 1 – Discovery Lab for Church Planters