:: AIP#43 - FAQ's: What Will Student/College Ministry Look Like?

[Part 2 of 10 in answering some FAQ's about The City Church]

Following yesterday's FAQ about kids' ministry, and since we're on TCU's campus for the annual "church fair" today, it's only logical to next turn to the question of students (7th - 12th grade) and college-aged ministry. Just as we want even our youngest "City folk" to be connected as much as possible to the church body as a whole (and are structuring our children's ministry accordingly), we want that same principle to guide our ministry to adolescents. We don't want to create "many mini churches" under one label; we want to be one united family.

Since its creation in the mid-1900's, separate "youth" ministries (or student, teen, etc. ministries) have dealt with a well-known issue, "where do I go when I graduate?" This age-stage ministry (as it's technically labeled) often looks so different from "big church," graduating students or students who don't connect with "big church" search for something that feels and looks like what they're used to. When they can't find it, the well-documented statistic goes something like this: "70% of students in high school youth groups have left the church within a year after high school graduation" (bible.org).

Historically, churches in more urban centers, where 18-35-year olds flock after high school, have combated this by adding a college-aged ministry, young adult ministry, second/"contemporary" service, or something of the like. Two issues arise here: first, you haven't solved the problem at all; you've only prolonged it a few more years: what happens when they graduate college? Or become a "normal/not-so-young" adult? The problem is back. Second, you've created "a church within a church" - at least on some level, two or more at-least-mostly-separate bodies under one banner.

SO... what will student/college ministry look like at The City Church?

Short answer: a lot like it does with the entire church family, with students in Villages, All-Church Gatherings, and on mission, for the glory of God and the good of Fort Worth.

Long answer: In All-Church Gatherings, persons from junior high up will celebrate together, singing, praying, taking communion, hearing sermons and testimonies, and growing as one unified body. For college-aged students in the rest of "City life," we may create a freshman-specific Village to cover some "basics" for new folks, but our goal is for university-aged students to join cross-generational Villages, enabling the "older men and women pouring into younger men and women" concept from Scripture, while allowing younger persons to add more life and vibrancy as generations grow together.

We currently foresee giving junior high and high school students two options: they can either join an age-specific Village, which will meet each week like other Villages and will be led by college-aged or older adults for the cross-generational benefit, or they can join a cross-generational Village, interacting and growing with the rest of the body. Additionally, The City will host student- and college-specific events periodically throughout the year, understanding the value of peer connection and affinity.

Like I said in yesterday's post about kids, this is just the foundation; the first step of our ministry to students of Fort Worth. And since we're still in "theory stage," it will likely change some as we build it out. But it will take many of us working together for the glory of God and the good of our kiddos to see this unfold into the best kids ministry we can create. If you have questions, thoughts, or feedback, or want to be involved in impacting the lives of junior high, high school, and college-aged students, post below or email Ben.

Next FAQ: What is The City Church's Leadership Structure?

:: AIP#42 - FAQ's: What Will Kids' Ministry Look Like? ::

[Part 1 of 10 in answering some FAQ's about The City Church]

Two weeks ago, we had a group of parents, teachers, nannies, church children's ministers, and other great folks over to our house to dream up the foundation of "Kid City." An incredible, encouraging evening, we started with the question, "regardless of 'models' and what we're used to, how can our kids ministry best reflect the gospel, and what we see about kids in the Bible?"

Here are some of the answers we came up with:

• Kids should be part of outreach/mission
• The church body should become an "extended family" for kids
• We must do everything we can to instill parental responsibility for their kids' spiritual lives; we must promote the gospel call of pareting
• We should expect that kids will influence their culture, just as adults will influence theirs
• We must call kids to "step up" instead of "watering down" concepts, while at the same time keeping vocabulary, etc. simple
  
• Find balance of family worship and age-specific times at church gatherings
• Kids are an integral part of the body - they're not the "next generation"; they're part of the family NOW!
• And more...

Great concepts; great conversation. So how will this look practically? As of now, the plan is for Kid City to develop in three initial phases:

• Pre-launch (this fall's Village): Kids will join in on weekly gatherings, and we will all eat and talk about life together. Then each week, approved and background-checked folks who are part of our core group will rotate through taking the kids into a different room for "intentional childcare" - playing and maybe a few simple spiritual questions.
• Our "launch" (beginning January 2010, multiple Villages): We will ultimately leave the decision up each Village for how they want to handle childcare, but our hope and goal is that they will follow the pattern we start this fall: everyone is together for the meal and conversation, then people in each Village [Village people?] will rotate through ministering to their Village's kids each week. The main difference is that we're working over the fall to develop simple-to-lead, Jesus-centered, kid-friendly, and fun "lessons" for the 2010 Villages, so there's intentional kids ministry happening each week.
• When All-Church Gatherings begin (sometime in 2010): When we settle into the normal rhythm of "City life," parents will bring children to Kid City on Sundays where they a safe, fun, Jesus-centered ministry awaits them, while parents celebrate God together for the majority of our All-Church Gathering time. Toward the end of our time together, parents are welcome to bring their kids into the Gathering for closing songs and communion as a family. As another option, parents are of course welcome to bring their kids into the Gathering with them, for family worship.
  
  Either way, parents will be sent home with follow-up questions (answers included!) and activities to do with their kids each week, and will provide the basis for kids' discussion in your Village, continuing the same model as above. And the weeks we don't gather, but worship through serving our city and loving our neighbors, the goal is for kids to be right alongside the rest of the Village, doing their part to redeem the city!
  

There's the foundation, and the first step of Kid City. And since we're still in "theory stage," it will likely change some as we build it out. But it will take many of us working together for the glory of God and the good of our kiddos to see this unfold into the best kids ministry we can create. If you have questions, thoughts, or feedback, or want to be involved in developing Kid City, post below or email Ben.

Tomorrow's FAQ: What Will Student/College Ministry Look Like?

:: AIP#41 - Vision Dinner Audio ::

Here's an .mp3 audio version of Sunday night's Vision Dinner. You should be able to play it directly from this site, or you can right click (PC) or control-click (mac) to download it. You'll have to forgive the sound quality of the recording; we're still a pretty low-tech operation at this point! But many thanks to Andrew for recording, editing, and cleaning it up as much as possible. Holler if you have questions with the content or issues with the audio; thanks for listening in.

Download:
http://www.divshare.com/download/8292700-a18

Listen online:

:: AIP#40 - Vision Dinner Recap II ::

Twenty-one short days before The City Church's first Village begins meeting [details here; RSVP here], we had the second chance of the summer to gather folks together for a Vision Dinner. Round two brought over 40 people together as we ate ginormous burgers, hung out with other folks who are interested, curious, intrigued, or committed to The City Church, cast vision, answered questions, and while I'm biased, I think it was a pretty good time. Our friend Joe snapped this pic of the vision-casting:


The format was essentially the same as the First Vision Dinner [recap here], with many good questions as we consider together what it means to build a church community who's on mission for the glory of God and the good of Fort Worth. The presentation I gave was different than the first Vision Dinner, however, and I think another month of wrapping my mind around what we're doing allowed it to be more clear and concise. We recorded it, and I hope to make the audio available within the next couple days - if you want to hear our vision, and even if you came to the first Vision Dinner, I would ask that you check it out to get to know our heartbeat and DNA.

Until we get the audio up, however, I don't want to be "that guy" who dangles something out there without allowing you to reach it, so here's a quick overview of what was said:

The Mission of The City Church
Since man's first sin and God's righteous punishment, God has been on a mission to restore mankind to himself (Gen 3:21). Not long into biblical history, God started accomplishing this through a community of people, namely Israel (Exo 19:5-6). While Israel faltered in this, God the Father sent God the Son to continue his mission (John 1:14), and before Jesus returned to heaven, he established a new community, the church, who existed for the same mission (Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1Pet 2:9, which echoes of Exo 19:5-6). Thus, the church is called to be a community on mission, seeking the redemption of the people around us.

So as we build The City Church, we are one church, existing as communities on mission, for the glory of God and the good of Fort Worth.

To say it another way, the result of the Gospel (the clear call of God which restores us to Godself through Christ) is threefold: we are called to God, to grow in knowledge and love and to worship; we are called to community, to exhort, rebuke, love, etc. each other; and we are called to mission, to live as missionaries both locally and globally. These three "circles" below are the full result of the Gospel-centered life; corporately and individually, they must be our three-fold goal.


Living Out the Mission
So while all three areas are interrelated, the life of The City Church will primarily occur in Villages, communities meeting throughout Fort Worth to live as the church did in Acts 2:42-47 (eating together, intentionally talking about both life and God, praying for each other and meeting each others' needs); there's the corporate "community" aspect. Our first Village begins Sunday, Sept 13 [details/RSVP info above], and will move to various nights and times beginning in January.

Once a month through the fall, and increasing in 2010, we'll bring all the Villages together for All-Church Gatherings - not the primary focus of the church, but a gathering of the church, where we will celebrate: celebrate God through songs, prayers, responses, and creeds; celebrate Scripture through preaching; celebrate Christ through communion; celebrate what God is doing in our city and our church through sharing and testimony. We will grow together; we will worship together; we will celebrate!

And because the current American church culture falls shortest in fulfilling the "mission" circle above, we're intentionally carving it into our DNA: as much as we will worship together several times a month through All-Church Gatherings, so will we also take one of every four or five weekends and worship in a forgotten manner found in Scripture (James 1:27; Amos 4-5), though "caring for the widows and orphans" of our generation: loving our neighbors, serving our city, and carrying out mission in intentional ways, as a reminder of the missional lives we're called to live 24/7.

Finally, we said that as much as we're pursuing this corporately, this only works if each of us living this out individually: we're asking folks to check how you're doing in each of those three areas? Which aspect of your life has the gospel not yet changed? Where are you out of balance? Because only when we're one, unified body, will we be as strong as we possibly can be.

Next Steps
I'll close this recap the same way we closed our time together last night, with some next steps:

Calendar stuff (email me if you want a digital version of our Fall '09 handout/calendar):

• This Sunday, Aug 30: Cookout/hang out at Ben & Jess's (6pm-whenever; details / RSVP)
• Wednesday, Sept 9: Worship & Prayer for our city (7pm; details soon @ www.fwcitychurch.org)
  
• Sunday, Sept 13: Our first Village begins (5:30-7:30pm; details / RSVP)

Needs:

• Prayer: for our leadership, families, vision, and for our city/mission field
  
• Involvement/help spreading the word: holler if you want specific ways
  
• Financial support: only one month into fund-raising, we're nearly half-way to our Fall '09 goal of $40,000! We're thrilled with that, but still need your help [giving info here]

Thanks for reading the long recap; hope to see you at an upcoming City Church gathering soon!

:: AIP #39 - Coming this week: FAQ's ::

Just a heads-up to whet your whistle [what's that even mean?!] for the upcoming days here at our little "blogumentary": after two months of announcing The City Church, just under 40 installments on the blog, three group gatherings, a seven-stop training roadtrip, dozens of meetings, and dozens more email/phone conversations, we've compiled a fairly comprehensive list of FAQ's. Over the next week or two, I'm going to post answers, and would love your feedback, input, etc. Also, let me know if there are questions you don't see here.

Finally, I want to invite you to Jess and my casa this coming Sunday night: Aug 30, 6pm 'til whenever, as we grill out, hang out, and spend time getting to know each other before The City Church starts meeting regularly, 5:30pm on Sept 13. Cookout details/directions here; RSVP here. Info on our first Village (beginning Sept 13) here; RSVP here.

So... [drumroll] ...Here are the 10 FAQ's coming your way in the coming days:

• What will kids' ministry look like?
• What will student/college ministry look like?
• What's The City Church's leadership structure?
• When/where will gatherings start? (+ the three phases of starting)
  
• What will a Village actually DO?
  
• What will a typical week look like in "city life"?
• What kind of missions will we do/how much $$ will we give away?
• I don't live in/near downtown - can I still be involved?
• Why focus on downtown (and are people really moving there for this)?
• As we move into the fall, what are current needs?
  

:: AIP#38 - Roadtrip Stop 7: Austin ::

The final stop on this leg of this training roadtrip took me to the great state capital, which was really three stops in one: Student CPX, Austin City Life, and The Austin Stone.

Student CPX
My first stop in Austin was with Aaron Snow (Intentional Gatherings, Inc.) and Brian Orme (planting a "simple church" on campus in San Diego). They were part of Student CPX, a training for college students on how to grow faith communities on their campuses, and as I arrived they were praying over the students and sending them out to lunch. Aaron, Brian, and I dined at Trudy's Tex-Mex (which I recommend), where we got to share experiences from three different campus ministries, contrast differing views on the miraculous/healing gifts of the Spirit, encourage each other in ideas of raising qualified leaders in college-aged faith communities. It was a great time, with healthy conversation and good debate, and while I don't line up with some of their stuff 100%, I'm excited for the students and campuses they're impacting, and pray that God works in huge ways through the communities they help start.

Austin City Life
Austin City Life is a couple-year-old church who operates in nearly the exact model as The City Church. Jonathan and Robie Dodson opened their comfortable couch for me to crash on, and I got to spend a couple days invested in both the Dodson family (including family breakfasts, a 3-year-old wake-up call "Good morning Ben, how did you sleep?," and a trip to their sweet gym!) and the life of their church. Sifting through a TON of great information and experience, here are some of the high points:

• City Group leaders' meeting: their version of our Villages, it was so encouraging to hear awesome things that are happening as folks reach out in simple ways to their neighbors and invest in community. A community of leaders, they ate together, shared stories of what God is doing in their church family, and prayed for each other, before a few simple announcements. I don't even know any of the folks they were talking about, and I left encouraged! [Sidenote from the meeting: Austin's 512 "One" is a tasty brew!]
• The need to ask questions: "what are obstacles to the gospel in Fort Worth? Where is Fort Worth broken? What does mission look like here?" etc.
• The necessity of focusing on "building from nothing," growing the church through conversion rather than "transfers" from existing churches.
• The importance of caring for leaders: dividing responsibilities, even in Villages, so one leader or couple doesn't get the entire load.
  
• Jonathan's encouragement to keep things simple: the "do more by doing less" principle
  
• The "family nature" of the core group - don't make it too formal.
• The goal isn't church growth; it's discipleship: to point folks more toward Jesus. [Jonathan's booklet on this, "Fight Clubs," is available here (still for free I think), and is well worth checking out]
• Incredible encouragement from Robie, on the pastor's wife's role in the new church, and on my need to protect Jess and our marriage over the coming months [Robie blogs about her experiences here - and I got a shout out too (Thanks Robie!)], and from Jonathan: "chase Jess's heart."
  
• ACL staff meeting: great breakfast at Kerby Lane (the original), and great to see three guys unified around the same vision, philosophy, and mission, with a focus on strategic aspects of Austin: the music scene, UT, downtown, their church community, and more.

I'm very appreciative of Jonathan, for his deep, well-thought leadership in this model of planting, to folks in the ACL family for letting me crash a couple gatherings, and to the Dodson family for allowing me to invade their lives for a couple days.

The Austin Stone
Finally, whenever I'm in Austin, I try to get some time with friends at The Austin Stone. I attended a service on Sunday (where Matt announced their new vision for going multi-site in Austin). I spent time on Monday with Todd and Olivia Engstrom and their home group. Todd, a longtime friend who has held ever job at the Stone except worship pastor (ha!), has some incredible thoughts on campus ministry and leadership development, and time with them is always refreshing. And in a quick stop by the Stone's offices and a few "hello's" I got to sit down for a few minutes with Michael "Stew" Stewart and Sean Eppers, Missional Community pastor and church planting resident, respectively. Their greatest encouragements:

• When you shoot for community, you get neither mission nor community; when you shoot for mission, you get both.
• Keep the gospel saturating everything you do.
• Your goal is to raise up disciples, then leaders, then leaders of leaders.
• Everything you need is in the harvest; don't focus pulling "already-Christians" away from their places of service.
• And they were generous in giving me some great resources as well.

All in all, time in Austin was refreshing, encouraging, and information-filled! And a preview, we'll probably try to take our leaders down there for an Austin Stone conference in February... they've got some top-notch leaders coming in! But most of all, it's exciting to see a community who does "church life" like we will. It works. And it's producing fruit for the gospel in the city of Austin. I pray we get to be part of the same in Fort Worth!

:: AIP#37 - What is This Weekend's Vision Dinner? ::

[NOTE: Links now fixed... Sorry!]

This weekend is the second Vision Dinner for The City Church! The first one was a great success, so we're excited to invite you to join us at 6pm this Sunday (Aug 23) at Matt and Angie Hudson's home. Please email Ben for the address or find it on facebook - I'm not comfortable posting a personal address so publicly at this point. Below is a bit of info about this Sunday's gathering, and answers to a couple questions about this weekend:

What Will We Do?
We're basically throwing a dinner party - we'll eat together and get to know each other, make new friends and have good conversation. Then we'll head upstairs to the Hudsons' loft, where we'll give a brief overview of the vision God has called us to, talking straight from scripture about what it means to be "a community on mission together." We'll answer questions, hear your concerns or issues, pray together for the new work, and tell you a few things that are coming up. Then we'll all head out - that's it!

How Many People Are Coming? Does it Cost? Is there Childcare?
We can't be 100% sure, but our best guess as of this afternoon is that there will be 25-30 adults there - a good group of folks, but there's definitely space for you! There is no cost for this weekend's dinner - so if nothing else, come for free food. And we are not providing any sort of childcare for these vision dinners, but since we view the church as a family, we welcome you to bring your kids of any age; we hope to wrap up by about 8pm.

Who Should Come? (or, "Am I Committing If I'm There?")
This dinner has absolutely no commitment tied to it! While we will take a moment and explain some next steps and needs (hint: prayer, involvement, and financial support), this evening is meant for folks who are interested, intrigued, involved, curious, skeptical, cynical, supportive, questioning, doubtful, or any other number of things regarding what The City Church is doing. That is to say, anyone and everyone is welcome to join us - it doesn't mean you're "committing" to the church; it doesn't mean you're "in"; it really doesn't mean anything at all, other than that you care enough to join us for dinner, hear our vision, and ask questions. Or that you're truly coming for free food. Either way, we're cool with it.

How Do I RSVP?
Thanks for asking! Since this is our first-ever gathering, we have NO idea how many people to expect - PLEASE help us out in a huge way by letting us know you're coming, so we can make sure we have enough food, etc. You may RSVP on facebook, or email Ben by 10pm on Friday, July 17. Thanks very much for helping us out.

Hope that answers some of your questions; feel free to email me if you have others. We appreciate it, and look forward to seeing you this Sunday, 6pm!

:: AIP#36 - Building A Great Core Group ::

As The City Church starts meeting weekly in September, we'll build a "core" of committed folks through the fall, as we prepare for our "official launch" in January. The following is from Luke Simmons, fellow Acts 29 planter in Lincoln, NE, who is in the "core phase" of his plant as well. His words are good and applicable as we build our core in Fort Worth. I hope you'll prayerfully consider them as you consider your involvement in The City Church! [Luke's blog here]

My contention is that it doesn’t matter how gifted or called the church planter is if his team is not on board in living out the vision of the new work.

So I made a top 10 list to help these guys start the church in a healthy way:

1. Your primary job is to create a culture that you and God will be happy about 10 years from now. This is a difficult thing to do, and part of the goal behind our current Core Values series. Who you are in the early days is who you will be later. Sure, some things change. But the DNA of who you are as a church and what drives you is formed quickly. Even though many core group members eventually move on, their role as culture-creators is essential.

2. Your new pastor and church will eventually disappoint you and let you down. People get into a new church thinking it will be utopia. It isn’t. Even if it is for a while, eventually the glitter rubs off. If you find the perfect church, leave because you will ruin it.

3. Work to create an evangelistic texture to every ministry environment. Evangelism is not just one program or an event. It happens all the time as people feel comfortable inviting friends and welcoming them into the community. Tim Keller’s resource on Evangelism & Church Planting in Postmodern Cities is very helpful here.

4. Always talk as though nobody knows who your heroes are. Christianity has its own little subculture, and different churches have their own set of “heroes” that they admire and talk about. But if you mention “Piper,” “Keller,” “Crowder,” “Luther,” etc. without explanation and assume everyone knows who those people are, it creates insiders and outsiders in a way that isn’t helpful. For us, and for Christchurch, it’s important not to assume people know who “East Valley” (our sending church) or “Tom” (our sending church’s pastor) are. One lady visited a group, kept hearing from an older woman about all the things “Tom” used to say and assumed that he was the lady’s deceased husband! Either way, to people who are far from God or not from your tradition, this is unhelpful and alienating.

5. Be known by what you’re for, not what you’re against. Is the church started from a positive vision for something or as a reaction against something? It makes all the cultural difference in the world.

6. Don’t moralize your personal preferences. Sometimes people are drawn to a new core group because they think it’s an opportunity to “create the church I’d like to attend.” But if those preferences (styles, times, songs, programs, plans) become sacred and moralized (i.e. “this is the right way to do it”), you’ll be disappointed (at best) or divisive (at worst), convinced that everyone else is sinful and bad.

7. Leave your current church on great terms (or go make it right if you didn’t). For a Christian who’s joining the core group of a church plant, this is really important. Don’t leave with baggage from your last church. If you’ve been in a position of leadership or responsibility, communicate with the people you’ve been working with. Don’t disappear out of nowhere, don’t drop the ball, and don’t smear mud on people or things that you didn’t like there. If you’ve already left and you’re guilty of division or gossip or dropping the ball, go apologize, ask for forgiveness, and make it right. Don’t bring your personal junk into this new work and think it won’t negatively influence the new work.

8. Relentlessly involve new people. I’ve realized that, in general, the “80-20 rule” where 20% of people do all the work is not the fault of the 80%. They would like to be involved. But once the 20% know each other and who they can count on to get things done, they stop asking people outside that circle. That’s why it’s huge to constantly be meeting and involving new people.

9. Be ready for change. I call this the “Brett Farve Retirement Principle” or the “for now” principle. One of my mentors says you should end every sentence with “for now” because the only constant thing in a new church is change. We’ve followed this advice and it is very good (for now).

10. Direction, not intention, determines your destination. This line was stolen from Andy Stanley’s “Principle of the Path” and simply means that where you’re headed is where you’re headed, even if you’d like to be headed somewhere else. The implication is that the things you want to be true of you in the future have to be part of the equation now or they will be very difficult to implement to the culture someday.

These are things that we’re still working on and trying to develop, and I’m thankful for the men and women who are striving to make them a reality in our church. It’s made the early days of this effort a sincere joy.

:: AIP#35 - Roadtrip Stop 6: Meanwhile, Back in Fort Worth... ::

As Jess and I were headed back from the great Midwest, where I had the opportunity to learn from many great churches, pastors, and leaders, I got a text about a "Missional Community" training happening back in Fort Worth! Hugh Halter and Matt Smay's book, The Tangible Kingdom, has helped us shape The City Church's vision, and while Hugh and I have gotten to email a little, I was sad to miss him in person. Matthew Hudson, along with other "City folk" Steve and Joe, joined the Life Stage 1 staff at Christ Chapel for a great workshop led by Hugh. Matt writes...

One of the books that has been influential in our planning for The City Church is The Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter, a pastor/leader in Denver, CO. I got the blessing of being able to attend a session with Hugh this week and spend some quality time “picking his brain” on how they have handled their shaping their community in Denver. The cool part about this is that I literally finished reading his book two days earlier. The most impactful thing I got from the book and my time with Hugh was the shift in paradigm for "evangelism" he purports.

"Belonging enables Believing" versus "Believing enables Belonging."

In a traditional church setting, most times a person attends, but feels awkward – until they become a believer – and then they can really plug in. In other words, you must believe before you can belong. One of the values of The City Church is this concept of "Belonging enables Believing." This means building Villages that welcome anyone – no matter what their current spiritual state. It’s the posture of Jesus to meet people where they are versus making people meet you on your terms. He demonstrated this many times in the New Testament when He purposefully spent time with non-followers and people with a “past” or “baggage”.

The City Church will be a place where you can be involved, engaged and belong – even if you are not a believer, no matter what you are struggling with, no matter your sin. Hugh shared an interesting story about one of the exercises he does with pastors in the classes he teaches. He breaks them into 2 groups and has 1 group list all the things a non-believer struggles with. Then the other group lists all the things believers struggle with. After they have finished, they compare lists – and you guessed it – they are the SAME!

Too many times people feel their story is unique; so unique that they cannot fit in anywhere. We put so much pressure on ourselves to be “Christians” and live the right way that we forget the scriptures. "For ALL have sinned." It’s that simple. The City Church will not be a perfect community. We will make mistakes. We will laugh. We will cry. But most importantly, we will be an Incarnational Community, where all are welcome and where belonging and relationships and love enable believing. A people, whose emphasis is on relationships and not churchiness. A family, where real people get to be real people. And real people get to see what Christ looks like in the real world. Our desire is build a tangible kingdom that the people of Fort Worth can experience with fervor and passion.

I thank Matt, Steve, and Joe for taking the time to attend; many thanks to Joey Turner and staff for allowing them to jump in too! And I highly encourage The Tangible Kingdom to anyone considering involvement in The City Church - you'll see shadows of its influence throughout our structure!

:: AIP#34 - Roadtrip Stop 5: Omaha Part 2 ::

Day two on the "Omaha stop" of my training trip [day one here] was spent with Coram Deo, a church with much the same structure as The City Church [Our structure, parts one, two, three].

Planted by Bob Thune, Jr., life in Coram Deo revolves around 20+ Missional Communities, which meet throughout the week and across Omaha. These Missional Communities eat together, exhort each regarding life and God, pray for each other, and live on mission together. In essence, they do the same "Acts 2 stuff" as The City Church Villages will be doing as we gather weekly.

They find a healthy balance though, in their focus on having a strong, essential Sunday gathering of the entire church as well. Coram Deo has learned much on this hybrid of "gathered and scattered" from Dr. Tim Keller (Redeemer, New York City).

Tuesday lunch was shared with three Coram Deo staff, Bob Thune, Will Walker, and Justin Curtis. These men walked me through the early days of Coram Deo and allowed me to pick their brains on everything from training to elder development to kids, and in humility and laughter, they were willing to share some of the mistakes of Coram Deo's early days. Through their experiences (both good and bad!) and wisdom, I walked away with a renewed focus on...

• Strong leader development across the board, for elders, deacons, Village leaders, and everyone given authority
• Finding a balance between "mission" and "discipleship"
• An initial commitment before official "membership"
• And structuring the church in a way where everyone must stay involved (example: their Missional Community members all rotate through set-up, kids ministry, etc.)

Additionally, they walked through the formation, structure, and multiplication of Missional Communities, which is all essential as folks are living out mission and bringing new people into their body; and the need for a strong leadership structure across the board, as well as the roles and responsibilities of various leadership in the decentralized structure of this model of church. Time with these guys was great; I learned a lot; and it was comforting to see the unique model of The City Church in action, and doing great things in the lives of people and the city of Omaha.

Tuesday evening was a real treat, as was invited by Coram Deo staffer Bethany Putz to attend their Missional Community, and see the model in action. It was a great community, and functioned exactly as Bob and Will had described - I left even more excited about the prospect of what The City Church's Villages will become!

The next day Jess and I started the drive back to Texas, stopping for an evening in Kansas City; we're in Fort Worth for a couple days, and I leave Sunday for Austin to spend time with Jonathan Dodson and the good folks at Austin City Life, the last stop on this roadtrip. But while Jess and I were driving home , Matthew Hudson got a really cool training opportunity right here in Fort Worth... More on that coming next!

:: AIP#33 - Roadtrip Stop 5: Omaha Part 1 ::

It's taken a couple days to continue the roadtrip documentary. Wednesday found me working on a talk for my friend Matt's church and driving down to speak in Kansas City; Thursday was all day in the car; and yesterday was catching up from a week out of town.

Before any of that though, I had spent a couple days relaxing with Jess and her family in Omaha before resuming meetings with pastors and church planters. Monday I got to meet with Doug Stevens, executive pastor of Core Community Church, a nine-year-old Acts 29 church in Omaha, and Phil Human, who served at Jess' home church before launching out to his own plant Journey Church in Gretna, a suburb of Omaha within the past year. Like the previous stop's meetings, these two were varied and beneficial on very different levels.

Doug Stevens (Core Community Church, Omaha)
I got to enjoy a delicious pizza lunch with Doug at Zio's in Omaha's Old Market [my new favorite pizza joint, by the way]. He has been on staff with Core Community Church and Ethan Burmeister for about 18 months, and was able to tell me much about the organizational side of Core, and I got some great insight regarding kids ministry. Core gave me one of their membership notebooks, used in a demanding 9-week class which lays a firm foundation for the philosophy of the church. They set the standard high, so that by the time people are members, they have a firm foundation for church life.

They're very heavy on group ministry, which they've learned to divide into two types over the years: more "traditional" groups, and family groups, which meet weekly like other groups, but one week per month it's just the men; another week it's just the women; a third week it's the entire family including kids; and the final week adults come and the church provides childcare. They still provide ministry opportunities on Sundays for kids all the way through elementary, but have developed a Sunday environment which is kid-friendly after nursery age, as they hope for families worshiping together.

Doug (and all the staff I got to meet at their extremely-cool office) were very kind and encouraging, and one of the best pieces of advice I got was "start small and do things well; don't try to do things bigger than you actually are" - it was in relation to kids' ministry, but was a good principle as we develop the core foundation of The City Church across the board!

Phil Human (Journey Church, Gretna)
I had met Phil a few years ago, when he was on staff at a megachurch in Omaha; Journey Church in a more rural suburb of Omaha has been meeting since March. They are approaching church from a more traditional structure (which perfectly fits the suburban-rural context they're in), and we spent much of our time together talking about the differences in our context; how we can best approach the culture we're engaging, and the first few years of a church plant.

The most important things I took away from our time together - other than some good laughs and many kind words from Phil - were...

• Communicate! Everything revolves around making sure everyone is in the loop, on everything. Communication is essential, especially in the early, chaotic days.
  
• Raise the bar - it's easy to begin seeking approval and risk losing people; that will be a detriment... and even regarding people's involvement, after a church reaches a certain size it quickly becomes easy for people to sit back and "soak in," rather than be an active part.
• Make yourself known - one thing Phil seems to have done very well is make their presence known in Gretna - he's personally there as much as he can (even while waiting to sell his home in Omaha), they've done some great flyers and cards, and it seemed like everyone who came into the coffee shop where we met knew him!

I got some great material from both these guys; I'm and prayerful for their churches and their work for Christ, and am excited to see how their advice can apply to our specific context. I got to spend a couple more days in Omaha, but this post is already too long, so Coram Deo will have to wait until the next installment...

:: AIP#32 - Roadtrip Stops 3 & 4: Oklahoma ::

Thursday's "Training Roadtrip" agenda included two stops in Oklahoma: first, Ben Janssen has been in Oklahoma City for a couple years, and is currently meeting with a core group for Crosstown Church, with a launch in the coming months. Second, Ricky Jones is about three years into planting Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Tulsa.

(Ben Jannsen, Crosstown OKC)
Ben and I grabbed lunch at a great little local place near downtown Oklahoma City, and since we're both in about the same place with our churches and launch timelines, spent an hour and a half swapping ideas, talking about our experiences so far, sharing our Acts 29 experiences, and laughing at the crazy little intricacies of starting a new church. He had some great ideas regarding "pre-membership" (a 12-18-month signed "commitment" to allow people to involve themselves fully in the church until the full membership process is developed), kids ministry during the core group phase (they met weekly in a home, and a neighbor opened their house for kids to stay, with paid, approved kids' workers). It was a great time of mutual encouragement, and a nice stop in a five-hour drive.

Ricky Jones (Redeeemer Tulsa)
The first thing I learned about Ricky is that he is very gracious: google maps + bad traffic landed me at our meeting in Tulsa a full hour late, but he was very kind and forgiving. Redeemer Tulsa started in a very different manner than we're doing, but still had some great experiences and wisdom to share. They've met in a few different facilities, have developed a more full staff, and are solidly grounded in scripture as they engage the Tulsa culture for Christ. Some of the most beneficial ideas were the continual celebration of things that are important to the church (they party for baptisms, church birthdays, elder installations, and other "big days" in Redeemer life), the slow, uber-careful development process of all leaders and especially elders (they took two years before their elders were established).

In Closing...
One thing I got to reflect on as I continued to drive north was the difference in the two meetings: granted, Ricky was one of the most laid-back individuals I've ever met. But Ben and I are in equally-crazy, unknown places in our "churches-to-be," and we were both asking questions, considering options, and trying to build things as well as possible. We're both a little wide-eyed and anxious as we get new works started in our respective cities. Meanwhile, Ricky is three years in, has gotten into his "rhythm," has made his mistakes and learned to laugh at them, and has learned to take life as it comes within his church family. He was calm, endearing, and encouraged me to be sure to breathe and enjoy the ride.

I appreciated both men greatly - their hearts, their ministry, their willingness to share ideas and stories, and their experiences. Our time together gave some great ideas as I continue to research and get trained. I crashed for the night in Tulsa, with my friends Shane and Mallory (and their absolutely great, smiley 6-month old, Cole), and then headed north to Omaha. However, as I wrap this up, here's a few interesting things from Oklahoma:

• There's an old-school oil derrick in front of the state capitol
• I entered and exited at least a dozen Native American "nations" on the road - and I think half of the signs indicated that they were all Cherokee Nation - how's that work?
• There's a place in Tulsa called "Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness" - what's an "urban wilderness"?
• QuikTrips in Oklahoma apparently do not believe in the 49-cent 32-oz summer beverage deal that Texas ones have. $1.07 instead. Sad.
  

:: AIP#31 - Next Week: Kids' Brainstorming Tues; Vision Dinner Sun ::

Quick calendar calendar reminder for you - we've got two dates for you to put on your calendar for next week. Addresses and directions are available at the "RSVP" link, or email Ben for details. Please help spread the word about these two upcoming City Church gatherings, and please let us know in advance that you're coming. And please DON'T RSVP as a "maybe" - that really doesn't help us plan well! Thanks; see you next Tuesday or Sunday!

Kids' Ministry Brainstorming - Next Tues, Aug 18
[6:30pm, Ben & Jess' home; RSVP here or email Ben]

We need the input and advice of anyone who is a has kids, loves kids, or wants to work with kids in The City Church! So parents, teachers, nannies, etc. (whether you'll be involved with The City Church or not), lend us your brains! Our goal is to build the best kids ministry possible, and the best way to do that is to bring folks together, dream of long-term vision for the newborns, preschoolers, and elementary kids of our community, and then strategize our first steps toward building something stellar!

**Please tell Ben if you're coming BY THIS FRIDAY (Aug 15)**, so I can email you some ideas and research as a starting point, to get us on the same page for our Aug 18 discussion. Holler if you have questions; thanks in advance for your involvement!

Vision Dinner II - Next Sun, Aug 23
[6:00pm, Matt & Angie Hudsons' home; RSVP here or email Ben]

Come join us for dinner, as we share the vision for The City Church, as well as get your feedback and ideas. This is a NO-COMMITMENT dinner; we're just hoping to spend some time together with anyone interested, and to refine our vision for a new church community living for the glory of God and the good of Fort Worth. Childcare will not be available, but we believe the church is more a family and a people than an institution or event, so we invite you to bring your kids with you - we won't go too long. Holler with questions; thanks in advance for your interest and prayers as we begin this journey together!

**Since this is our one of our earliest events, we have no idea what kind of turnout to expect... PLEASE let us know you're coming: I know I've already said this, but we're asking you to RSVP at our facebook group or email Ben. Thanks!**

:: AIP#30 - Roadtrip Stop 2: Frisco ::

After initial meetings in Fort Worth, the first "on-the-road" stop of this training roadtrip took me to Frisco, where a small group of guys in various stages of church planting gather the first Wednesday of each month to talk through various aspects of "church life," hear from a couple folks with experience under their belt, and swap ideas, etc. Hosted by Barry Keldie and Providence Church, these have been continual times of encouragement over the past several months.

This month's topic was preaching, and Matt Chandler and Barry Keldie (lead pastors of The Village Church and Providence, respectively) led the afternoon-long forum. Below are a few notes from each of their presentations, plus a few practical notes/thoughts from the Q&A that followed. I'm detailing them because I think they're applicable and hope they're helpful for you and for anyone who will be preaching/teaching God's word in any context.

Philosophical Advice:
Matt began by showing the biblical basis for preaching, where from Moses to Paul and beyond, the primary means by which God spreads his kingdom is through the proclamation of his word. In his view, the primary issue for solid preachers today isn't "good exegesis" (although that's a huge concern for "less-than-solid" preachers!); it's clearly proclaiming the gospel, on both the macro and the micro scale.

While both sides are true representations of the gospel, both sides are only partial representations. To proclaim too strongly the "macro" gospel - that God is about redeeming a people; fighting injustice; has a mission for us - leaves out the personal nature of God's redemptive work in "me" - the individual. On the other hand, if preachers only focus on the personal nature of the gospel - that you are a sinner who God, in love, has redeemed - you're missing out on the big picture; the redeemed people God is building; you miss the focus on the mission God has called us to, as the gospel prompts us to live in grateful transformation.

The answer? We must clearly proclaim both. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [AND] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." - Eph 2:8-10

Barry had more practical advice, but presented the basis for preaching as Moses' speech in Exodus 19, saying that the purpose of preaching is that people would leave affected - not just more knowledgeable about God or the Bible - but deeply moved; stirred to something; pointed toward God himself and responding.


Practical Advice:
Between the two of them, they had great practical advice to follow up these foundations. Among them...

• Create a feedback loop, asking people to challenge & refine your theology, gospel presentation, delivery, etc.
• Spend as much time on the conclusion as you do on the intro & body of the semon
• Stay immersed in the Bible - more than books, podcasts, commentaries, etc.
• Don't assume the gospel; preach it continually and clearly
• Take strategic days "out of the pulpit," to allow other men to develop their gifts
• You want people to remember what you say, not that you said it.
• Start with shorter sermons, with more impact: "minimize width; maximize depth"
• Remember, your goal is that your audience MEETS GOD.

So that was Wednesday in Frisco. Thursday took me north to Oklahoma, where I had a great time with two guys in very different stages of their church plants. More on that tomorrow...

:: AIP#29 - Roadtrip Stop 1: Fort Worth ::

Greetings from the great Midwest!

I’m glad to write the first roadtrip update as I enjoy fine northeast Missouri Mexican food at my friend Jon’s restaurant in my friend John-Mark’s hometown. It’s been a great trip so far, with much insight, encouragement, and good discussion with pastors in various stages of life and ministry. As I head to Omaha to meet up with Jess and spend time with her family, I wanted to share the first couple days of my experiences as a celebration and praise.

Dr. Ted Kitchens (Christ Chapel)
My two weeks of training began Monday over a lunch with longtime acquaintance and pastor Ted Kitchens. Having arrived at Christ Chapel just nine months after its inception (over 28 years ago), plus ministry before that, Ted has decades of wisdom and experience, and has seen a church grow from nearly the beginning to one of the biggest, most impacting churches in Fort Worth. I had hoped to meet with Ted to hear about the various aspects of his journey, and while he shared that indeed, the thing I most appreciate about our brief time together is how he “pastured”/shepherded me.

Ted was very encouraging about our journey to this point. He asked many questions about our preparation, plans, structure, leadership, and other church-related questions, but more than that, he asked about me and Jess: our hearts, our marriage, our personal journey toward planting, our motives, and things of that nature. He had a couple of exhortations for me as a young man moving into a weighty role, personally and “professionally,” and I am very appreciative for his willingness to be available for questions and time together, as The City Church works alongside Christ Chapel and other good churches to reach our city for Christ.

Jon Sherman (Trinity Bible Church)
I spent most of my high school years attending a little church in Willow Park, TX called Trinity Bible Church. At the time, it met in what looked like a large living room in what looked like a glorified house on the south side of I-20. Literally my last day attending that church before heading off to college was the first day of Trinity’s new senior pastor, Jon Sherman. Over the past decade, Jon and I have talked a couple times a year, and because of our mutual connection to TCU, have stayed more connected, even in a “one-step-removed” manner.

Jon learned of what we’re doing in downtown Fort Worth and invited me out to Trinity to talk about it. Like Ted Kitchens (above), Jon spoke into various stages of life at Trinity, encouraged me regarding leadership development and patience, relying on God and keeping marriage and rest a priority. He also “kept the door open” for further conversation and prayer, and surprised me by indicating that since Trinity Bible was my “home church” as a kid, and their passion for church planting, they’re willing to partner with us with prayer and some financial support, and an ongoing relationship as “cousin churches!”

I thank God for the vision, wisdom, generosity, encouragement, and partnerships of both these men and the churches they represent, and look forward to joining them in the fight for the Kingdom of God in the city we all love, not that the name of any individual or church might be made great, but for the glory of God alone!

I should mention that also had the opportunity to meet with Aaron Snow (Intentional Gatherings) before I left town, but for the sake of this post’s length and because I’m going to spend more time with him and others in Austin next weekend, I’ll save that discussion for later. The coming posts will cover the first traveling portion of the roadtrip, as I attended a preaching cohort with Matt Chandler and Barry Keldie on Wednesday, then met with two planters in Oklahoma on Thursday. Until then, thanks for your prayers for this trip, and please continue praying for discernment, wisdom, clarity, and direction as we ask questions and learn from folks who have walked this path before us. Thanks!

:: AIP#28 - Who's Helping Start The City? ::

I just realized that while I've mentioned that we're learning from several churches and authors as we plant The City Church, I haven't posted yet is the list of amazing churches and organizations who are helping us get off the ground with prayer, funding, training, personal involvement, and more. We're not out here on our own; in fact, we're ecstatic and honored to be in ongoing discussion with the following partners, who are involved in some way with planting The City Church:

The Village Church (Flower Mound, TX) - the "Texas flagship" church for Acts 29 Network, The Village is providing great resources for us, and we're in conversation to know exactly what further partnership looks like with them.

Acts 29 Network (Seattle, WA) - A network of 200+ pastors across the US, Acts 29 is committed to planting biblical, missional churches in strategic cities around the world. Acts 29 assessed and approved us as planters, and is providing coaching support.

Providence Church (Frisco, TX) - As pastor in a four-year-old church plant, Barry Keldie was part of our Acts 29 assessment team. Providence will provide funding and some of the directional oversight of The City as we develop elders/leaders.

Northwood Church (Keller, TX) - NorthWood Church’s GlocalNet missions ministry has planted over 100 churches around the world in the past 15 years. NorthWood is partnering with us by providing coaching, funding and church planting relationships.

Vision360 (Orlando, FL) - A multi-denominational church planting hub, Vision360 DFW is providing support, specifically by connecting us with local Christian business leaders, churches, and organizations who will also come alongside our efforts.

The Baptist General Convention (Dallas, TX) - While we are not a "Baptist Church," our relationship with local and statewide associations brings coaching, resources, funding, and tuition breaks for folks who attend Baptist schools.

Apartment Life (Hurst, TX) - This great organization encourages people to live on mission in apartment complexes, by helping cover their rent as they do so. Perfectly fitting our vision, they're finding strategic complexes in and near downtown for our people to live.

In a "less-formal" way, we are receiving coaching, funding, resources, prayer, and encouragement from several other churches and organizations, including The Austin Stone, Trinity Bible Church, Christ Chapel, The Rooted Church, Fellowship Dallas, Intentional Gatherings Inc., CrossPointe Community Church, other individual Acts 29 pastors and churches, and more.

Finally, quite possibly our greatest partnership as we start a new church is YOU! While we are indescribably grateful for these organizations, The City Church won’t take shape without strong commitment from incredible individuals like you! Several folks have already committed prayer, involvement, and personal funding; we're honored to have you on board as we work together for the glory of God and the good of Fort Worth!

:: AIP#27 - Training Roadtrip: Intro ::

One of the main things I'm doing this summer is spending time training. In addition to spending time with people, developing vision and strategy, asking for support of all kinds, and planning out the fall and the next several years, I'm reading a ton of different church planting material, and spending as much time with various pastors as I can.

The next two weeks is devoted almost exclusively to training, as I head out tomorrow to spend time with different churches and pastors across the midwest USA, who are in various stages in their church plants, and many of whom "do church" in the model we're working with. Armed with a list of questions developed after our first Vision Dinner, I'm meeting with pastors, attending services, involving myself in communities, and experiencing various parts of "church life" in different locations as I make my way to Omaha, where Jess will meet me and we'll spend a couple days with family as well.

I'll be posting brief updates along the way, but mostly I'm putting this out there so you can pray for me: for my time with various churches; for wisdom and discernment as I hear various ways of doing ministry; for a humble and understanding spirit as I learn from wisdom and experience; and for safety in travel.

Here's where I'm headed over the next couple weeks:

• Mon-Tues, Aug 3-4: Fort Worth, TX - Dr. Ted Kitchens (Christ Chapel), Jon Sherman (Trinity Bible Church, Willow Park), and Aaron Snow (IntentionalGatherings.com, currently in Las Vegas)
• Wed, Aug 5: Frisco, TX - Preaching lab with Matt Chandler (The Village Church) and Barry Keldie (Providence Community Church)
• Thurs, Aug 6: Tulsa, OK - Ricky Jones (Redeemer Tulsa)
• Fri-Sat, Aug 7-8: St. Louis, MO - still up in the air, but potentially 2-3 different churches in our Acts 29 Network, + a bit of time at The Journey
  
• Sun-Tues, Aug 9-11: Omaha, NE - Bob Thune (Coram Deo) and Doug Stevens (Core Community Church) + hang out with Jess and her family
• Wed, Aug 12: Kansas City, MO - speak at my friend Matt's young adult ministry (Covenant Chapel) and potential meet with Kevin Cawley (Redeemer KC)
• Sun-Tues, Aug 16-18: Austin, TX - Jonathan Dodson (Austin City Life)

Thanks for your prayers; I'll look forward to sending quick notes from the road!

:: AIP#26 - Our First eNews ::

This past weekend I sent out the first eNews for The City Church. Click here to view it online, and if you want to receive it, please fill out the brief sign-up at www.fwcitychurch.org.

As a preview, here's a "table of contents":

• Welcome to the City Church
• Get Involved with The City
• Three Ways We Need Your Help
• Following the Journey
• Prayers - August 2009
• + Upcoming Dates to Know

Hope you find it informative... Enjoy!

:: AIP#25 - One Year, Past & Future ::

Just a quick note: I realized yesterday that it was July 30, 2008 when I first spoke with my friend Kevin about their church's new church planting residency. That was the phone call that started this process (read the story here), which means that on some level, we've been specifically moving toward planting The City Church for a year now! And what a whirlwind of a year it's been!

I thank God for this year - for his goodness and sovereignty in all things; for all we've learned; for the doors he's opened, and the discernment and direction he's givn; for humbling us and allowing us to serve him in so many ways; and for bringing us exactly to the place he wants us. And I pray for the coming year as well: knowing we've been doing this for a year makes me excited as I wonder where we'll be in 365 days...

:: AIP#24 - The Spiritual Side of Finances ::

After posting our current financial need and a three-year overview of our budget (+giving vs. outside funding) last week, I came across a few thoughts that were encouraging to me, as I make our need "public." I hope they're encouraging to you as well:

1. Money Is A Spiritual Matter
It's easy - I know because I do it! - to consider the prayer and personal involvement in ministry the "good, spiritual" side of things, and the finances, business matters, etc. the "logistical, necessary" side of things, only necessities to make sure the other things happen. However, when I consider that Jesus spoke more about money then he did heaven and hell, I have to stop in my tracks and consider that finances are equally spiritual! Some good words from fellow planter Jonathan Dodson (full article here):

Many of us have a gnostic view of money. Community is good; giving is bad. Missi0n is great; money evil. Prayer and Bible reading are truly spiritual, business, finance, and administration are sub-spiritual. This is not a biblical view of the world. We were baptised into one faith and one Lord who is both Creator and Redeemer. He is lord of the physical and lord of the spiritual. To quote Rob Bell, “Everything is spiritual” for God... Gnosticism is a dualistic philosophy that exalts the spiritual over the physical, the eternal over the ephemeral. Paul wrote against it extensively in the New Testament, warning Christians not to degrade the physical in the name of the spiritual...

Our money should be governed by the gospel and move towards mission. But that is uncomfortable. We would rather live with the comforts of unspiritual spending, than invest our whole lives into the mission of God. Our idols of comfort, clothing, and standard of living hide beneath our functional gnosticism. God is calling us to repent and believe that Jesus is Lord over our entire lives, finances included, to bring us into a life of joyful giving and worship.

As I write this, Austin City Life is approximately 55% self-supporting, and our outside support is in decline. We have had public church gatherings for just over a year, though we existed in decentralized form for a year prior. We are experiencing gospel renewal, radical community, and growing mission. But is Jesus Lord of our finances, our budget, our discretionary income, our savings? We need to consult our hearts and our spending patterns to find out who really is lord of this part of our lives. We also need more financial support, to be a community that loves with our giving and not just with our being.

I acknowledge that I need to repent of this view, in both my own life and in asking folks to be involved in planting The City Church - money's weird to talk about; it hits us more personally. And thus, it's harder to boldly ask for than asking for prayer or help spreading the word about our new church!

But just as necessary, good, and right as giving time, effort, songs, friendships, prayers, and involvement to God, so also are we called to "honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce" (Prov 3:9), "for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt 6:21)

2. We Are Not Unlike Missionaries

For every short-term and long-term mission trip I know of, I have encouraged and counseled people who have a hard time asking for financial support that (a) giving is a way that the entire body of Christ comes together and meets each others' needs and that (b) it's a way for folks to be involved in the mission, even if they can't physically take the time or travel and be there. In a twist of irony, we are now in a position not unlike missionaries, headed toward a mission field and trying to reach a great, broken city for the glory of God! We're now the ones asking for support, and because of my own pride and self-reliance, I'm having the same hard time as those I've counseled in the past!

One of the hardest parts for me is that in my mind, it's exotic or exciting to know someone's headed to China or even better, "a closed country too politically-sensitive to name so all we can say is North Africa" - meanwhile, we're just headed to downtown Fort Worth - we're staying where we are! And that makes it hard to see ourselves as missionaries. But that's where we find ourselves, and so now I'm giving myself the same counsel I've given countless others.


3. We Need Financial Support, As Much As We Need Prayer And Involvement!
With all that said, please consider helping us on the equally logistical and spiritual quest of building this new work of God - and please consider helping make our need known as well! One thing we've come to realize is that support in all three ways - prayer, involvement, and funding - is broader when we move past relationships we know, & include folks they know ("friends of friends," networking, etc). As we see God provide through folks we don't even know, it would be honoring if you would consider making our needs known to friends and families, hometown acquaintances, business owners you know, your home churches, and other folks with a heart for the gospel and the church.

As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 9:7-12:

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written,

“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever.”

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.

We are extremely humbled and grateful for the support and pledges we've already received as we move into the fall; we deeply appreciate the sacrificial, joyful ways you're involved in building the kingdom of God. Thank you. We don't take it for granted.


WILL YOU COMMIT TO FINANCIALLY SUPPORTING THE CITY CHURCH?
If so, there are two ways you can give:

• Mail: Send a check to P.O. Box 470919 - Fort Worth, TX - 76147
• Online (*NEW!*): As of yesterday, our secure online giving site is now set-up and ready to go; click here to give to The City Church online.

Additionally, we have three giving options:

• One-time gift: A single contribution toward The City Church start-up costs.
• Monthly giving: While each transaction (via mail or online) is independent, you can choose to give a recurring donation in the amount of your choice, for as long as God leads.
• Annual giving: Until we reach our goal of being fully financially independent by 2013, you can make annual contributions toward each year's budget.

**All contributions to The City Church are fully tax-deductible; non-profit status pending.**

If you have questions, comments, etc. please email Ben or check the appropriate box at www.fwcitychurch.org. Thank you for your consideration, and financial or otherwise, thank you for your support of The City Church!