A few months ago, a church in the area donated their old steeple to our church. They were moving to a new building and the old building was due to be demolished. We finally secured help from a bucket truck, and today the steeple is secure on top of our building. We couldn’t have done it without the help of masny guys in our church. They sanded, painted, and framed in the support brackets.

 Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!

-Marc and Casie

Yesterday was our 3rd year anniversary. It’s crazy how fast time flies. We had 149 people in attendence, 43 of whom were visitors. By far the majority of visitors were friends and family of our people. Some have a church already, but about 25 or so are prospects. We had to open the overflow room and saw about 20 people in there. After the service we had a meal. The barbecue and chicken was tasty. Now it’s time to prepare for Peanut Fest in a few short weeks.

Okay, yesterday I posted pictures of our new classroom. Today I am going to post pictures of the same room after a little mishap. We’ll get to that in a second. The real story starts with Eddie and Dane. These two retired gentlemen in our church had a mutual friend named John. Dane and Eddie have been trying to witness to him for years. Dane said he has been his neighbor for over 30 years. Recently, John was diagnosed with cancer. The doctors told him there wasn’t much they could do. He was told to go home and enjoy his family. A few weeks ago Dane and Eddie visited John. He finally gave his heart to Jesus at the age of 72. His health made it difficult to be baptized so it was arranged for him to come by the church today and be baptized.

That brings us to the unfortunate event that took place. Someone (I won’t say who) left a hose filling up the portable bapistery. In the 30 minutes it was unattended, it managed to flood a good portion of the building (see the pictures). Fortunately carpet can be aired out, but all the laminate we just installed in the back class room has to come up.  The water spread into the auditorium, but did little more than dampen the carpet. A small portion of the fellowship hall will also need to be replaced. Thankfully insurance is covering everything, and ServPro of Suffolk did an excellent job jumping on the water cleanup. It’s a setback 5 days before our anniversary service, but it’ll all work out. Oh, and John was baptized with his wife, Dane, Eddie, David and me (Marc) there to witness. So a little good mixed with bad, but overall, just one of those days.

 

It took many groups coming in over a long period of time, but it’s done. Last summer we had some groups rip out some of the walls to open up a new classroom where the funeral home prep room once stood. Over the last few months group after group has come in and taken a bite out of the workload. Last month Jason Weaver came in and helped us frame up the room and hang the drop ceiling. Dean Bullard did the drywall work the following day. Over the last week we finished the flooring, paint, trim, and doors. Here is the new classroom, the hallway leading to it, and the workspace/storage room.

It’s been a long summer, sorry we haven’t posted as many updates as we usually do. The summer was full of amazing experiences for our church, teens, family, and me personally.

We went to JR camp in North Carolina. We got to take 9 kids from our church and 11 from a church in Richmond. It was a crazy week. The pool broke (awful). The weather was great though. We enjoyed spending time with the kids we brought and God moved in their hearts that week.

The following week we took out teens to Camp Jacob in Virginia. It was my first time speaking at a camp for teenagers. We had a great time playing games, and getting to know other youth groups from VA and NC. The Lord really used that week to speak to some of our teens who have been hit and miss at church. The teens would also want me to tell you that we almost died on the mountain roads…this of course is a severe exageration.

The week after that we had New Hope Youth group from Joelton TN come and run our VBS program for us. During the day they helped us pass out flyers and do some work around the church. The week was easily one of the best productions I’ve seen of VBS. They did a fantastic job, and the Lord blessed their efforts.

The week after that Casie and I hit the road. We stopped in Nashville to attend a friend’s wedding. Congratulations Tonya! Then we headed south to Alabama. We had three services in the Dothan area. Thanks Jason Miller for getting us in 3 churches! Casie and I decided to try and spend 2 days in Florida while we were down that way. This turned into a big mess. Our car broke down twice (this cost us time and lots of $). I have been in the state of florida 4 times I believe and have broken down three times…Florida and I don’t get along.

As soon as we got back from the deep South, we packed up and headed to the National Convention in Charlotte, NC. It was great to see family and friends from across the country. The services were great. We got to hear Courtney (our sister in law) sing in the adult service and hear some great speakers in the youth services. They even showed a sneak peek of the new Christian film “Courageous.” The Wednesday Night Missions service was moving, and Keith Burden did a tremendous job preaching.

The rest of the summer we had group after group come in to help us with projects. Sherwood Forest sent a group to help us work on the building and pass out flyers. A group from Shady Grove also came and helped us for a few days. They hosted a big Youth Activity one night and we had alot of visiting teenagers. A group from Parkers Chapel came for two days and helped us pass out flyers inviting people to church. Before we knew it, the summer was over and Fall was upon us…we are praying for God to move in our church this Fall, as many people get back into church.

 

I recently had a dad tell me he was blown away by what he found his daughter posting on facebook. He couldn’t believe the language, pictures, subject matter, etc. He didn’t know how bets to handle the situation. I am finding many parents are asking lots of questions about the internet and their kids. I wish I had more answers, but here are a few tips I have discovered that may help.

1. Understand that they know more than you do about the internet. Teenagers and kids know how to hide their tracks online. They know how to cover where they’ve been online. They also know how to fool parents into believing they are model citizens online. Parents never want to believe their kids are involved in something they shouldn’t be. However, statistically, most kids are getting into trouble online (posting inappropriate pics, searching for inappropriate websites, posting information about themselves, etc) If they know more than we do, we can only rely on honesty. The best thing we can do is sit down and ask them to be honest with us. Find out what they are up to online. Ask if they are involved in anything that they shouldn’t be, if they need help with anything.

2. Help your teenager understand that the internet is permanent. Explain to them that anything they say, write, email, record, etc is paermanent once it is online. If you have a daughter I would encourage you to be upfront and honest and explain to her that many boys will ask her to text or email pics of herself. The same is also true for boys many times these days. Teenagers don’t have a grasp on how permanent and destructive one post can be. I would encourage you to read some of the many news stories about the dangers of texting and teens facing felony charges for inappropriate text messages.

3. Tell your teenager that typing it is no different than saying it. If you don’t allow foul language from your teen, you won’t allow foul texts, emails, posts, etc. Let them know this includes WTF, OMG, LMAO, and every other short form of curse words. If it’s wrong to say it, it’s wrong to abbreviate it so everyone still thinks it. Let them know the puinishment for typing it will be the same as if they said it.

4. Make sure your teenager has boundaries. I hope we aren’t foolish enough to assume teens can have 24/7 access to the internet without getting into trouble. I hope we also undertsand that kids will find ways to get online. I know a family with no tv, internet, or even a computer in their home, but they have cell phones. Their son told me he is struggling because every night he looks up pornography on his cell phone. I know a similar story where a boy used his friends ipod touch to get on his neighbor’s wifi every night to view pornography. His parents had gotten rid of the computer and assumed that would fix the problem. To help our kids we have to do more then rid them of opportunity (you will never get rid of every temptation). We have to help them set boundaries for themselves. Explain the dangers of addiction, the dangers of online predators, and help them understand that they can live within boundaries.

5. Make sure your teenager knows they can always come to you for help. If your teenager doesn’t know you love them, you will lose them. We have to make it clear that everything we dop to and for them is because we love them. We want what’s best for them now and in the future. I know too many kids whose lives had a huge scar before they even got out of high school because no one cared to help them understand the dangers online.

These are just a few quick tips. They won’t fix every situation, but hopefully they will allow you to open the lines of communication- which is key.

We see them everyday. Signs, ads, commercials for stuff that is too good to be true. The majority of scams and schemes out there tell you they can make you an over night success. Many people believe these infomercials, emails, and websites, because they desire so badly to get rich quick. Others usually refer to these people ignorant, foolish, simple-minded, etc. Here are a few verses dealing with obtaining wealth.

Proverbs 23:4
Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it.

Proverbs 28:19-20
He who tills his land will have plenty of food, but he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty. A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished.

Proverbs 14:15
The naive believes everything, but the sensible man considers his steps.

Now back to my title. What does this have to do with church? I believe the great majority of church leaders and pastors are falling for a spiritual version of the get rich quick scheme: grow you church quick. We watch videos about huge mega churches building new campuses and begin to desire to see our ministry do the same. We start reading about what other churches have done, and attempt to mimic their “success.” Millions of dollars are spent every year on book, conferences, resources, etc to show us how to grow our churches quickly. Don’t misunderstand me here, I am all for books, conferences and bettering ourselves and our ministries, but I am afraid many are walking away convinced success, growth, increase, can be built up in a year. Am i saying God can’t grow your church? No. Am I saying God doesn’t want to increase the kingdom? No. I am saying if we aren’t careful we’ll get so caught up in the “stuff” that goes along with growth, we’ll start chasing growth, buildings, success, and everything else except the main thing: growing the kingdom. Here’s my point: when a person starts trusting a scam, they start making poor decisions. When we as leaders start trusting in programs, ideas, processes instead of the power of the Holy Spirit, we will start making unwise decisions.

What is the goal? To grow the Kingdom? Let’s ask a tough question. For the kingdom to grow does your church have to have a 5 million dollar sanctuary? Or could your church send 100 missionaries and 5 million dollars around the world and do more for the kingdom? Kingdom mindedness takes the emphasis, glory, pride, possessions, away from us.

The sobering truth is this: anything worthwhile, takes a while. Apple, Microsoft, GE, Toyota, and Walmart didn’t become huge companies in one year, it took real hard work over a long period of time (sometimes generations). The hard truth is: impact takes time. People who want to get rich quick are always changing their minds. One day they want to start a business, the next they want to invest in a penny stock. They don’t stay focused on one thing long enough for it to work out for them. Many churches are acting the same way. One year the push is Upward sports, until it gets tough to find workers and growth didn’t happen as quickly as they’d hoped. The next year their main push is starting a new ministry (a new banner and cool name is all you need right?). The following year they quit that and start a TV ministry, but as that gets expensive and again nothing happens immediately, so they bail on it too. Ministry shouldn’t be a multiple personality disorder. It only shows our weakness for desiring quick easy success. There is nothing wrong with trying new things, but our generation is so addicted to instant gratification that we simply aren’t willing to wait on God to move and grow His church. We feel we must DO something NOW.  Our mission should remain unchanged as we use new methods over the long haul to grow the kingdom of God. Besides Jesus said He would build His church, so why do we exhaust ourselves attempting to do what only He can do?

We love reading about church planting. We are always researching to find out what people are doing to start new churches in places people might often overlook. CrossPointe has met in a house, a hotel, an elk’s lodge, and finally a funeral home. However, there are numerous models for starting a church in a school, rec center, or even outdoors. Over the next few posts I want to look at a few of the models for starting a church. Today I want to focus on the multi-housing model.

What is a multi-housing community church model? Until a few days ago I had never heard it called this. It is simply when a group of people start a church inside a Multi-housing community (Private Apartment Communities, Condominium Communities/Community Associations, Manufactured Housing Communities, Public Housing Communities Senior Housing Communities). In this model, a church planter moves into one of these communities with the intentions of renting the cummunity center/party room/conference center/clubhouse that many of these communities have. Many of these community centers have parking for outside visitors as well. The goal is to plant a church within walking distance of 1,000+ people.

Why use the multi-housing community church model? Here are some stats from NAMB (SBC Mission Board): An estimated 57 percent of all people in North America reside in multi-housing – apartments, expensive high-rises, mobile home parks, condominiums and townhouses.  An estimated 95 percent of them are lost without Christ. That works out to over 150 million people living in High rise, apartment, mobile home, and public housing communities. Most of these communities are closed. You can’t solicit, invite, or even direct mail most of them. Many are gated, walled, and closed off as a community within a community. This church planting model places the church community within a smaller community inside the bigger community. 1 out of every 2 new housing projects in America is using a community based model. It is quickly becoming the wave of the future, and people are starting to prefer living in a smaller community within a big city. The good news is: people want community- something the church has.

Another reason to use this model is the cost. If a community is looking to rent their clubhouse, it is usually very affordable. Most of them are large enough for 50+ people. The management is key. If you can form a relationship with the office staff this will help immensely.

Who is using this model? Many denominations have started using this model for new church plants, as well as a mother church models (a church adopts an apartment community in the area, and begins mid week Bible studies in the apartment community). In our denomination I have known of a few missionary teams using this model lately. One team in particular is Jeff Goodman and Josh Bennett. Recently, I asked Jeff a few question about their church plant in Marana AZ. Marana is 15 miles north of Tuscon, where 90% of the population is unchurched. They started holding Bible studies in an apartment community that both Jeff and Josh moved their families into. They are not even a year into the plant and are seeing God move in a mighty way.

Here are Jeff’s answers to some questions I had about the church model.

When you guys moved your families into the apartment community, did you know you were going to start using their facilities to meet in? Was that your goal? Yes, we moved in here planning to use their facilities. It is a community within a community. We see people getting their mail, walking their dogs, playing outside, etc. We were upfront with the office staff when we moved here about our plans, none of them went to church but they were very helpful. Building community even through a church plant helps them retain leasers.

 Is it hard to rent the facility in the community? Are there times when it is over-booked?  Nobody ever rents the facilities here but us. We have had superbowl parties, christmas parties etc.

Does the apartment community model have some drawbacks?

 

 

 Can people from outside the apartment community join the Bible study (are there places for them to park)? We have plenty of parking in the main lot and overflow if we need it inside the complex. People are allowed to come from outside the complex.

How many people at your Bible studies live in the apartment community? We are around 70% apartment people to 30% outside people. 90% of our group are unsaved and far from God, but that is the type of people we are looking for, the lost! They love each other are thrilled to have met friends and work super hard. They are all very excited about helping us launch our church about a mile away. We will still have several things at our apt. complex rven after our launch.

Is it expensive? We pay $50 per use to rent the community building it is normally 75$ but our apt. Manager got us a 25$ break and we did not even ask them to do that. We have a large open area with a kitchen, a conference room and a movie room, which we use for a nursery along with 2 nice bathrooms.

What’s been the hardest part when it comes to planting a church in Marana? Hardest part-meeting new people is always a challenge, but living here at the apt. complex has truly helped. The city of Marana told us we could not post a sign about our bible study on or near the sidewalk it is their property. The office manager at our apt. complex told us to put it next to their sign by the road. She said Marana doesn’t own that property. No other problems from the city of Marana.

What are some highlights so far for you guys?  All 3 of the office staff now attend our bible study and Jessica (ast. Manager) was our 1st baptism. We love that 90% of our people are unchurched, those are the people we want to reach!

To find out more about Jeff and Josh and the Marana church visit their website http://www.themaranaproject.com/

 

Our kids are going to camp this summer, and as always we need to raise some money to offset the price of camp. So we are looking at a few of our options for raising some dough. Here are some ideas I found, have used, or have seen others use. These could be used for camp, missions trip, leadership retreat, etc.

Car Wash/ Yard Sale- we’ll probably do this in a few weeks now that we have our own location and lots of room for stuff and washing cars.

Bake sale

Teen Auction- auction off teenagers at your church for 4 hours of labor, boys could do yard work, while girls clean, etc.

Dinner Sale- Have the teens prepare and serve a huge banquet style dinner, sell tickets before hand and at the door.

Donut Sale- Krispy Kreme sells fundraising boxes at a discount so you can sell them for a profit. Have the kids sell them at school, or from your church parking lot with a big sign during rush hour traffic.

Babysitting Night- Have the teens watch kids at the church so all the parents at church with kids can go on a nice date, ask for donations, or charge 1 or 2 dollars per child per hour.

Silent Auction- Have the kids make something, arts and crafts, woodworking, or donate something. Have an auction at church where people sign their name to a bid for an amount on each item during a 20 minute auction viewing period. Announce the winners afterward. Paintings, Drawings, Custom t-shirts, Birdhouses, Framed Photographs, etc. Michaels has tons of premade crafts ready to just add paint.

Talent Show-Have the kids sign up to perform a talent: singing, comedy, drama, instrumental, etc. Sell tickets to the show before hand and at the door.

Arm Band Sale- order custom armbands from somewhere like armbands.com(usually 8-23 cents a piece), and have the teens sell them to their friends for $1.00. The arm band could advertise your church, mission trip, youth group, or the camp.

Fundraising Letters- Help the teens write letters explaining about the camp or missions trip. In the letter ask for a donation. Have the teens send these letters to all thier relatives and friends.