Earliest 2nd Birthday EVER!

 We launched “publicly” on Palm Sunday, 2006 (that was in April!)  This year, Palm Sunday came on March 16 and caught us all by surprise!  It wasn’t the huge “bash” I had hoped for (that sort of happened on Easter with our best ‘post-launch’ attendance ever).  It really became a day of reflection for me personally to soak in the fact that we have been at this for over 2 years. 

Two years is really the length of time needed to  get all the “systems” in place (I don’t want to sound like a “wonk” here, but what I’m about to share took up so much of my time and attention in the first years.)  Here’s what I’m trying to say: by two years, the core church convictions should be rooted in everyone, the key assignments for weekly operations should be in place, and the default protocols for management should be guiding the ministry.  Did you understand that?  It basically means that the engine should be hummin’ and only requiring a little tinkering — no overhauls! (An overhaul after two years would mean needing another two years to get humming again!)

I mention this here because my work is becoming more manageable because of the aforementioned hum.  Despite the fact that there are still people needing visits, counseling, and prayer; and programs needing attention and oversight; the daily grind of “running the church” is noticeably less grinding now that everything and everyone is pretty much in place.

One thing that focused this for me was a presentation that I made at our “mother church” a few weeks ago.  I was given the opportunity to share the convictions of our church and the lessons we have been learning along the way.  Speaking to a group of people about our ‘reason for being’ focused my thoughts again on why we launched in the first place — and it was not to “manage a ministry!”  It was to proclaim Christ, to seek His presence in worship, and to make disciples (but these priorities are easily eclipsed  by so many ‘devils in the details.’)

By God’s grace, we are going to hit year three (by the Constantine’s Calendar, not the Jewish Lunar one) with new members joining, new opportunities to expand our reach, and new programs to tinker with as we seek to establish a church that reflects the visible manifestation of God’s rule — even at our young age.

New 2 Thousand 8 Year

Before the first month of ‘08 gets completely away, here’s an update on the latest.

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1. Our 2007 wrapped up really well.  Our church plant has maintained growing and consistent numbers over last year at the same time.  Our Christmas programs were also “sharpened” and well attended.  The spirit of the congregation is positive and I am still personally energized about the work.  I truly believe that each Sunday is an opportunity for Divine appointments and a time to thank God for His Divine provisions.

2. Our January started with 3 important details of note:  First, my trip back to SC (with family) for the ARP’s Church Planter’s retreat.  We were hosted by First Presbyterian Church of Columbia and Dr. Sinclair Ferguson.  What a fantastic place and ministry!  The physical plant is phenomenal for an inner city church, and those who hosted us were incredibly gracious.  It was actually the best kind of vacation really: No planning, and just soaking in great teaching!  The wife and kids had a wonderful time receiving southern hospitality!

3. Secondly, My week-long trip meant another guest preacher =-) Dr. Timothy Finlay, my former Hebrew professor presented a message from Genesis 1 on the creation of humankind.  So many layers of insight from this passage to help us establish not only our worldview, but also our anticipation of Christ’s work for a fallen humanity.  One of our parishioners said, “Preaching like that makes me want to go back to college and learn so much more about the Bible!”  Very nice!  Thanks Dr. Finlay!

4. Finally, January is also “Founders Dinner” month.  This is a free banquet hosted by our church for the entire congregation designed to celebrate another year of ministry together.  The night features: our children singing, video reviews, encouraging statistics, recalling of our founding purposes, sharing goals for the future (chief among them: possible new staff position, and additional elders), and a gift to the congregation… a stylish T for wearing around town!

It was a very enjoyable night with more than just happy people — it was a gathering of thankful family members who know God’s unique call upon their lives.  We’ll post the videos on-line soon!  We trust that the Lord will make next January’s dinner a major, MAJOR event as we welcome more saints into this communion.

Peace,
RevK

Well Served by 3 Preachers

There is a leadership team at our church.  It is comprised presently of 2 elders and the Rev.  One of the priorities established by this team is to remain connected to our denomination — which is quite a task for a fellowship on the extreme west coast dealing with family on the extreme east coast.  As a result, I must make regular trips back east.  And as a further result, we must seek “pulpit supply” (folks to fill in when the Rev has his routine interrupted by travel, etc.)

We recently had 3 friends fill the pulpit:

 Dr. Ken Priddy– Ken is a “church growth” consultant with the ARP.  He’s got great credentials, and a very clear message on what churches need to do to remain healthy.  He also had a great topical sermon based on this:  Israel is found in the scriptures to be often alienated or dominated by a foreign culture.  This hinders them from pursuing the proper worship of God.  Folks like Moses and Ezra lead the Israelites out of the dominating culture so they can pursue the worship God proscribes for His people.  APPLICATION = Today’s church is dominated by a “non-Christian” culture (or should we say a ”hostile Christian” culture?)  What should our response to this be?  Nothing revolutionary people! “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” Ezra 7:10

 Rev. Joel Pelsue — Joel oversees Arts & Entertainment Ministries in LA.  His message raised issues about Daniel in Babylon.  Joel established a premise proposed by Jonathan Edwards: The church properly functions when it accomplishes 3 things; 1) Pursues Theology, 2) Pursues Piety, & 3) Engages the culture.  When any one of these areas dominates or wanes, the effectiveness of the church wavers.  APPLICATION = Because of this trivium, Daniel would permit his name to be changed — it did not violate any of the 3; but when it came to eating certain foods, or bowing before an idol, or hindering his prayer life… these would have compromised one of the 3 priorities.  Because his convictions were set, his battles were defined, and though it brought conflict, as a result of it, he became a successful “minister” in 4 administrations.  Ergo, when the church maintains these convictions, they will equally gain success.

 Brett Bonecutter — Brett was called to pastor a church plant in the OC, one that HAD many goals similar to ours; but the project had to close down.  His blog speaks rather candidly about the things he has learned as a church planter, and in my opinion, his advise is sound and has been implemented in our work with success.  Brett preached an excellent message from Philippians, chapter 1: Reasons to Praise and Pray.  His sermon offered an excellent critique of what true “fellowship” is and how it is really lacking in the “mega churches” (or is it giga churches?)  APPLICATION = “Fellowship” cannot happen for 15 minutes after church with a cup of coffee and a danish.  Until we really serve side by side with someone and truly learn to love people “up close and personal,” only then will we capture what “communion” really is.

What did they all have in common?  Not to be too self serving, but they all commented very consistently at how impressed they were with the friendliness of our congregation, and with the “atmosphere / environment” that our people are creating.  APPLICATION = Thank You Lord for establishing this new work with people who are really seeking to welcome people into communion with them.

SDG,

RevK

Best Month Ever

We planted with an awesome launch team.  If you met them all, you would conclude, “This church cannot fail!  Look at the quality of people starting it up.” 

Well, that is human reasoning — and never the “factor” in a spiritual endeavor.  Our launch team, over time,  had a few strikes against it:  First, a number of families that helped us “plant” moved out of state, thereby, depleting our core group.  Secondly, almost all of them were driving into the community each Sunday — so they were not actively involved in the community or meeting with the locals outside of church events.  Third, we were comprised almost entirely of young families (which is great for a “family experience” at church, but most were committed to spending time at home with family rather than mid-week fellowships).  Fourthly, the pastor (yes, me right here) started his preaching campaign with some objectives not entirely embraced by new visitors (more on that another time). And finally, our initial location was a blessing, but not a source of excitement.

Well, by the time we made our move to a new facility (a year and a half after our start), the VAST majority of our launch team has stayed with our work.  We’ve also been joined by some wonderful people who have replaced the movers (a gracious blessing!).  Secondly, most of these new participants are from our surrounding community (with a mid-week meeting in the area starting to grow!). In addition to this, we are identifying local community events in which to attend, rather than designing our own outreach events focused primarily on our campus.  Third, our young families — they attract young families!  So yeah, our mid-week meetings are all young and childless; but having kids around means having fun around, even if it is just on the weekend (moms know how to get together on their own anyway).  Related to this, we are even more thrilled about our new facility and its childcare room.  Fourthly, the pastor has been implementing some personal guidelines in order to enhance his preaching (more on this later).  Finally, the new location is SO CHOICE!  Great street location, and just a more “church like” space (you should hear the congregational singing now!).  Each week, our “designers” make improvements, and each week we are feeling more like we are at home. (Still need to figure out how to deal with the sunlight filling the room and the A/C buzzing overhead).

All of that to say that September ‘07 brought us a lot of blessings in how a church plant measures growth and vitality.  Glory to God.  And may He grant us more favor as we seek to make His name known.

 View from the inside is a view to the outside

RevK

A Moving Experience!

Greetings to all,

First, why a blog?  Just another venue by which contact and connection can be made — it’s the mission of Communion… Hmmm, maybe a new slogan in there somewhere…

Tonight, our church body assisted with a move to a brand new location.  We have been an “official mission” of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church since April of 2006, meeting in Irvine, Ca.  We began our Sunday Services in a former elementary school known as “the former Alderwood Basic +.”  The campus is in the community of Woodbridge and located on the Yale Loop.  The Irvine Unified School District had intended on selling the property — but boy, what happened to the market?  So they decided to upgrade the campus and make it a “high tech” training center (too sensitive to share with renters).   So in a magnanimous move, the IUSD decided to offer us another campus of theirs: the former Creekside Continuation High School (still located in Woodbridge, still off the Yale Loop).  The IUSD was kind to us.  They even sent a flatbed truck out with a few staff members to help us move all our equipment, our decorations, and all our supplies to the new campus (Remember the last time your heart just got happy from a gesture of thoughtfulness?)  Thank you IUSD!  And THANKS to our own faithful crew who worked well into the night to arrange our new facility (ya’ll gotta come see it!) 

From this…    

To this…

So now the blogging starts!  It sort of feels like a new “launch” of the ministry and we trust that our new location will bring more folks to share in our communion.  The “second quarter” is about to start and we’re in good field position. 

Here is where we’ll share some of the views from the sidelines. 

Time to march toward the goal.

Peace,

RevK

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