Wedding Bells

I met with Ashley and Colin today to talk about their upcoming marriage and about their lives. What a great time. The really cool part is that Ashley is a waitress at 2nd Street Pizza (at the Capitol Theater). That's where Ashley and I met. Over the course of the last several months (and many slices of pizza at the Capitol) Ashley and I began to talk. She and Colin don't really have a church home or pastor, so they asked me if I would do the honors. I'm thrilled! I get to do a wedding for a pretty cool couple, meet more people that I don't know, and go to the Capitol for a reception!
On top of all that, I got an opportunity to talk about how the gospel transforms every aspect of our lives as opposed to empty religion which does nothing and specifically to talk about how the gospel impacts and changes marriage.
What a wonderful journey Ashley and Colin are about to embark on - I'm thankful that God has chosen to include me, and New City Church in their story.

What do you sometimes dream of?

For me - Its F L Y I N G...

No Page, that's not me!

Fire Destroys Sojourn Huntsville's Gathering Place

Pray with the many others from all over for Sojourn Church in Huntsville, AL. Fire recently destroyed The Olde Towne Brewery where the church gathered for worship. Pastor David Thew says that God is already doing some great things even in the midst of this loss and disruption. We can be sure, with the Sojourn worshippers that God is working all this together for good for those who love Him.

Here's a link to the story.

Not for Everyone

"We are a church for anyone but not a church for everyone." That's how church planter Scott Whitaker described his plant, StonePoint to me. Anyone is welcomed, but not everyone will want to be a part. What a great quote! I take the same position as it relates to the New City Church plant. That is why I post things about mission and vision and how those things will likely come to be.
For example, if New City looks like a church you would enjoy, BUT you want your children involved in a lot of church children's activities throughout the week, we are probably not the church for you. If you like the way New City looks, but you strongly believe that the church should teach/preach abstinence from alcohol, New City may not be the church for you. If you like a choir - you are welcomed at New City, but we will not have a choir - and you are not going to change that.
I had a great conversation today over coffee with someone who is prayerfully considering being a part of New City. They had some great questions on leadership, direction, accountability, and other things. To which, I sometimes had to answer, this is who we are, and where we are heading, and if you are not in agreement, maybe this isn't the place to plug in (there are after all, plenty of other churches to be a part of).
This may seem harsh to some, but I believe it is essential as we begin this new church. "Protect the vision God has given you" has been an often repeated battle cry from church planters I have spoken with and read. Again, it may sound harsh, but I am unwilling to sell out the vision that God has given me for New City Church in order to have someone be a part of what we are doing - there are plenty of other churches in Macon.

So, thanks Scott Whitaker - while New City Church will be a church for anybody, we will certainly NOT be a church for everybody.

Acts 29 - Phase 1 Officially Complete

Just a quick update...
Phase 1 of the Acts 29 Network Application Process is officially complete.
We have one more questionnaire to complete and then its off to Boot Camp in Raleigh in September. We will have an in depth assessment at the end of Boot Camp. Amy and I are really looking forward to Boot Camp.

New City Children

Children - Who is responsible for their spiritual life?

What will that look like at New City?

We believe that the primary responsibility for the spiritual well being of children lies with the parents, not the church. Following are a few of the passages we base this on...

Deut 4:9"Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children--"

Deut 6: 5"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."

Ephesians 6:
4"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

Therefore, we see our role as a church, as a partner to parents in teaching the children that God entrusted to them. We will seek to involve parents in their children's activities and learning in church, and we will seek to equip parents with the tools they need for teaching their children.

This basic principle will guide us in the future as we structure the activities of our church. While we are not certain of exactly what this will look like in terms of structure and activity, some things we are certain of...

* We believe that children should worship with their parents at as early an age as possible. We realize that children mature at different rates and some children will be able to worship with their parents sooner than others. Therefore we will provide age appropriate opportunities on Sunday mornings during corporate worship gatherings for children to pray together, learn together and worship together. Our ultimate goal is not separate children's activities during worship gatherings, it is families worshipping together.

* We will never be a church of 7 day a week church activities for children. We want to urge parents to include their children in daily spiritual activities as well as missional opportunities.

* Our Life Groups (home groups) will include their children in the ministry and service projects that are taken on quarterly.

* Any future children's activities such as Kid Stuf will be designed to include the whole family and will be a tool by which as a community of believers, we partner with parents as they teach their children.

Missional v/s Attractional, a recent conversation...

Two recent conversations have led to this post and I want those considering New City Church to be very clear on the fact that New City will be primarily Missional rather than Attractional.
I will use a summary of the 2 conversations to explain the differences.
The church that I am presently on staff with is primarily an Attractional Church. As such, the majority of our programming is geared to do 2 main things - 1) attract our current members and keep them coming, and 2) attract other people to the church with the hope that they too will come. Attractional church programs gear everything (or most everything) toward drawing people to the church. Once at the church, the hope is that they might hear the Gospel and come to Christ. Attractional churches have reached many people. Our church staff is talking about adding some fields to our current campus. There is even talk of offering Upward Soccer in the near future. You know - If you build it they will come. The idea is to attract people to come to our fields and play. We hope then that they will come to our church. Then, when they come to our church we hope they will come to Christ.
Missional churches, on the other hand, probably would not build fields to house upward soccer. Instead, missional churches would equip and encourage their members to get involved in the city recreational soccer league. Missional churches would urge their moms and dads to become coaches and assistant coaches in the city leagues. They would help their members be salt and light in the world, not at the church. Missional churches desire to see their members take the gospel to the culture rather than trying to attract the culture to a place where they might see and hear the gospel.
Here's another example. My present church (along with most churches) has participated in Church League basketball. Most of the participants in Church League basketball are churched or have some church background. An attractional church hosts church league basketball if they are able. A Missional church, on the other hand puts its church team together and signs them up for public recreation basketball. There, the church team will have the greatest opportunity to make a gospel impact on its culture.

I bring this up because one of these conversations took place with someone who would say he is missional, yet his philosophy of ministry is clearly attractional. New City Church will be primarily Missional - equipping and encouraging believers to BE Christ in their culture, to BE the incarnation of the gospel in a lost world. There will certainly be elements of New City that will be attractive to people - just as there were elements of the ministry of Jesus that attracted people. But our goal is not and will not be attraction by programming. We will never have everything for everybody.

I pray that we never host a church basketball league. I pray that we never feel the need to have the latest and greatest to attract new growth or hold our current members. I pray that God would raise up in and through New City Church a group of missionaries who desire to be Christ in our city.

For a great article on missional church read Ed stetzer's A Missional Church.

Online Sermon

I had a great lunch today with someone who picked up one of our fliers downtown. It is good to hear other people's story and good to have an opportunity to share. As I left the meeting I began to think about something - for me and my family, preaching/teaching is vitally important in the decision making process of whether or not we want to be involved in a church. I have been to some churches that there was NO WAY I could be a part of because of the horrible preaching.
People are committing to join us in this plant who have never heard me preach or teach (that must be the power of vision - or a sign of desperation!).
So, I asked Scott Park to put a link on our web page for a sermon I preached here at Mabel White in February. It is from a sermon series on relationships and deals with the husband / wife relationship of Ephesians 5.
So, if you want to hear it - here it is!

A Sound Position on Alcohol

I checked the Acts 29 Network's written position on alcohol. I figured it was probably sound, biblical and well written. I was right. So, why re-write!? Here it is in part (or the whole) :

First, we believe that all drunkenness is a sin (Deuteronomy 21:20; Ecclesiastes 10:17; Matthew 24:29; Luke 12:45; 21:34; Romans 13:13; 1 Corinthians 5:11, 6:10; Ephesians 5:18; 1 Peter 4:3).

Secondly, we believe that many horrendous sins are affiliated with drunkenness. Therefore, getting drunk is a sin that can lead to other sins, such as incest (Genesis 19:32–35), violence (Proverbs 4:17), adultery (Revelation 17:2), mockery and brawling (Proverbs 20:1), poverty (Proverbs 21:17), late night and early morning drinking (Isaiah 5:11–12), hallucinations (Isaiah 28:7), foolish behavior (Isaiah 5:22; Jeremiah 51:39), murder (2 Samuel 11:13), vomiting (Jeremiah 25:27; 48:26; Isaiah 19:14), staggering (Jeremiah 25:27; Psalm 107:27; Job 12:25), madness (Jeremiah 51:7), shameful nakedness (Habakkuk 2:15; Lamentations 4:21), sloth (Joel 1:5), escapism (Hosea 4:11), and depression (Luke 21:34). In summary, sin leads to death and the sin of drunkenness produces only death and misery.

Thirdly, we believe that Christian leaders are to live their lives in such a way as to set a positive example of holiness for others to emulate (Hebrews 13:7). This includes elders, the male senior leaders in the church, who are not to be drunkards (1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:7).

Fourthly, we do believe that all Christians must at varying times and in varying ways give up some of their Christian liberties in order to love people of weaker conscience. Christians must make every effort to not lead them into sin by exercising freedoms in their presence (Romans 14:21; 1 Corinthians 10:31–32).

The Brewing Battle...

Is is right to insist on "rules" that are not biblical? Should we (as a church) impose man made "do's" and "don'ts" on those around us? I am not suggesting that we don't follow the laws of the land, neither am I suggesting that we toss out clear biblical teaching. I am referring to the question surrounding The Journey Church and their "Theology at the Bottleworks."
The following article is from Christianity Today:

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra posted 6/29/2007 08:55AM
Church planters who receive
money from the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) must now teach alcohol abstinence. The policy change was sparked by the Journey, a growing interdenominational church that borrowed $200,000 from the MBC to renovate a church two years ago. One of the Journey's outreach groups meets in a St. Louis microbrewery. Related articles and links

"Theology at the Bottleworks was started to reach people who are actively opposed to Christianity, by discussing contemporary cultural issues in a neutral environment," explained Darrin Patrick, founding pastor of the Journey, which attracts about 1,500 people weekly to three sites. Those who attend Theology at the Bottleworks grab a beer and discuss political or spiritual topics, such as the role of women in society, the legal system, or animal rights.

The outreach caught the MBC off guard, said interim executive director David Tolliver. "We need to engage the culture, but without compromising our biblical, traditional Baptist values," Tolliver said. "For me, that includes abstinence from alcohol."

Patrick said that the Journey adheres to the same theological confessions as the MBC, the state division of the Southern Baptist Convention. Because the Journey received the money by loan, not by grant, the new policy does not affect the church. But future borrowers will be scrutinized more closely, Tolliver said. Previously, church planters were asked to sign a statement agreeing to abstain from alcohol. Now they must teach "the strong biblical warnings" against drinking beer and wine. Though the Bible does not expressly forbid alcohol consumption, the new policy states that alcohol consumption is not wise.

The policy addresses an ongoing SBC debate. Baptists have championed alcohol abstinence since the late 1800s, but a growing number want the SBC to reexamine the issue, said Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School.
"There is growing discontent, people saying that we shouldn't be mandating things that aren't spoken clearly about in Scripture," George said. "It's hard to argue that the Bible requires total abstinence."

After heated arguments at the annual SBC meeting in June 2006, messengers passed a resolution affirming abstinence. Mark DeVine, professor at Midwest Baptist Theological Seminary, sees the new MBC policy as part of a struggle between traditional churches and the young "emerging" church. The Journey's Patrick serves as vice president of Acts 29, a church-planting network led by Seattle pastor Mark Driscoll. Driscoll describes Acts 29 as "theologically conservative and culturally liberal." About one-quarter of Acts 29 churches affiliate with the SBC.

The controversy may not stop with alcohol. MBC executive board member Michael Knight, who chairs the theological study committee, has proposed that the MBC sever all contact, financial and otherwise, with Acts 29.
Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today.

I believe there are a lot of good reasons for a person to abstain from alcohol. Similarly there are a lot of good reasons to abstain from a lot of other things. The real question is, should we enforce as a "law" within a denomination something that cannot be biblically supported? Then, should we disassociate with those who do not follow our "law" or withdraw support from them? I think I am just tired of such garbage. I know it is a controversial issue in SBC circles, but only because WE have made "biblical" something that isn't.