Stirring the Pot - Calling Evil, Evil

Jesus did not hesitate to call evil what it was - EVIL! When he was confronted by the religious leaders he called them hypocrites and snakes. Amazingly to the lost world he was gentle and much more kind.
I pray that as NCCd becomes a church, God would raise up men in our midst who are not afraid to call evil, evil. And I mean in a real Jesus and Paul way - not directed at the world, but professing Christians - especially those in leadership who are supposed to be above reproach. I pray that God would raise up elders who are not afraid to call ME "on the carpet" when I am out of line. Here is what Paul said about this mess in I Cor 5:

1It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. 2You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. 3For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. 4In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are
assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6Your boasting is not good Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? 7Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one. 12For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.

Mexico Bound!

Well, not yet. Getting ready today for my last planned Mission trip as the Mabel White Missions Pastor. I will be heading to Nuevo Progresso, Mexico to work with missionaries Rea and Judy Thompson. We will be tiling about 1200 sf of floor in the medical clinic. Our goal is to help these great missionaries spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through them, we hope to help see the Gospel transform Nuevo Progresso!
Pray for us as we work for the gospel.
Pray for our families as we will be away.
Continue to pray for Amy's dad - Lynn Ivey. He is still in ICU at Piedmont Hospital.

Biblical Principles and Cultural Methods

Mark Driscol offers a good explanation of a view I share with him - the open hand of cultural methods and the closed hand of Biblical principles. Worth the watch...

Church is not Church Without the Mission

Jesus did not die on a cross so that we could start a cool church. He died to glorify Himself as the mission is completed through His redeemed people. Without the cross, we have no mission. Without a mission, we only have religion. Without a mission, we have no passion because we have no cure for the hopeless condition of humankind. (Scott Thomas, Acts-29)

The mission of NCCd is to see the Gospel transform everything within our reach - ourselves, our church, our city, and the world. More than simply being "our" mission, we believe this is His mission.
We understand that our church is more than a building, an organization, a man, or a service. We are a group of missionaries, a family of believers, a population of diverse individuals united by, striving for, and growing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I posted a link this week to the Acts 29 Boot Camp sessions that Amy and I attended in September - they are great, Christ centered talks about churches and the gospel. One of our New City guys has begun listening to the sessions and e-mailed:

Here’s one thought it has brought to mind so far. Since we have started with services in a bigger location (than a home) & our size (can’t call it growth yet really) has come because of people that share your vision for the church and those who have happened to be caught in the net, the growth is not because of a core that sees baptisms growing the church. What I’m trying to say is that I think we have to be careful to not be comfortable with all the nice things we have at NCCd (like the band, the atmosphere, friends, etc). Rather, we’ve got to try all the harder to make sure people hold on to the vision (or catch it) that we won’t have a true church unless we are growing by new converts becoming disciples.

The main point is that our core people haven’t seen yet that the church will only thrive (might I add - only be a true church) if we are making disciples by sharing the gospel outside of Sunday. So far, we can have a pretty good time as a community without doing that.

BINGO! He's got it! New City Church downtown will only be a true church as our people take up the Gospel mission of Christ - Glorifying himself thru the redemption of His people. Without people on that Gospel mission, we are nothing more than a nice (perhaps even Christian) club. Church is not Church until we are a people gathered in Christ and on His mission.

New City's 1st Picnic

Amy put together some pictures from our picnic a few weeks ago. The weather was perfect - picture perfect! Here's a link!

UPDATE on Amy's Dad

Amy is on her way back from ATL. Her dad is still very critical.
Here's the bad:
He still has a bacterial staph infection
His blood pressure is way too low and is being medically kept up
His kidneys are basically not functioning right now
His liver is so dramatically reduced in size that it is still unknown if it will support Lynn
Here's the good:
There are tons of great people praying for Lynn, and others will join in
It seems that Lynn's body is fighting the infection and with the medicine there seems to be some progress being made.
Continuous dialysis is relieving a great deal of the fluid pressure which has made Lynn's heart work harder and his lungs have less capacity - 3 liters + have been removed.
A CT scan shows that the liver is growing.
The docs and nurses at Piedmont Hospital are doing everything possible to help Lynn fight.
We've made it through the day with Lynn still living and fighting to live.
He is a child of God's - and as such he is surely in His hands.

Please pray for Lynn, Joyce and Amy, as well as the rest of the family and the docs and nurses working so hard to help him.

Acts 29 Boot Camp Sessions available!

The Acts 29 Boot Camp that Amy and I attended was recorded. All of the sessions are now available at the Acts 29 site. Below is scott Thomas' follow up and the links to see or hear the sessions. ENJOY!

305 attendees were trained at our recent Acts 29 Boot Camp in Raleigh, North Carolina hosted by Vintage21 in their beautiful new digs. This is the largest boot camp we have had outside of Seattle. We assessed 36 couples as potential Acts 29 church planters. This is the most we have assessed at any one boot camp. We approved 23 planters - our best percentage. It was a Boot Camp on the "juice."
Tyler Jones, our Acts 29 east region coordinator and founding pastor of Vintage21 assembled a fantastic team of volunteers to serve the boot camp. It was well organized.
Acts 29 boot camps provide the theological compass for church planting. We do not provide lots (any?) of how-to tips. We rather present a compass in seven-parts that will help a church planter navigate through a difficult journey. How-to tips are not bad, but a pastor armed with character, a Bible, a mission from Jesus, the gospel message and a passionate calling will usually figure out how to lead people on mission for the glory of Jesus Christ.
Jesus did not die on a cross so that we could start a cool church. He died to glorify Himself as the mission is completed through His redeemed people. Without the cross, we have no mission. Without a mission, we only have religion. Without a mission, we have no passion because we have no cure for the hopeless condition of humankind.
Jesus said, As the Father has sent me into the world, even so I am sending you. (John 17:18; 20:21)

All media from the Raleigh boot camp will be available here.

An Urgent Plea from Amy...

please pray!!!
My Daddy is in critical condition. Please pray for his vitals to get stronger, the swelling to go down, for no more fluid retention, he is now on dialysis, he has a bacterial staph infection causing a fever...pray for that to go away! Daddy is on the ventilator and hooked up to so many things right now. Pray for my Mom, please. Dr. Sellers said we need to move only in a positive direction, no more negative things need to occur. Pray for my family as I really, really want and need to be there with Momma. I just ask you to pray!

Anny's Story - an Update

Below Is a portion of a previous post about Anny, one of the band's original members...
New City Church's purpose is to see the gospel transform everything within our reach - ourselves, our church, our city, and the world. One of the statements describing our vision states: We dream of a church that celebrates the arts and looks for creative ways to engage our culture, a church willing to cross traditional lines and take significant risks to bring Jesus into the public square.
Engaging our culture. As our band has been taking form, one of our band members introduced us to a friend of his who plays acoustic guitar and sings. The discussion before she ever came centered on whether or not we would have band members who may not be followers of Christ. We agreed that we would be willing to take that chance for her sake - hoping and praying that the words of the songs and the fellowship of the band might be just what God would use to draw her to himself. She came to practice, unsure that she would "fit in." She did "fit in." She had not been in church in 25 years - she stopped going to the Catholic church as soon as she could. And so week after week she has come to practice and sing some very Christ centered songs, even purchasing some cds on her own to hear more music. This week I received an e-mail from her. Here's what it said in part:
hey chuck, i've been thinking it over ... anyways i've decided that after the first church service that i would start going to church with my boyfriend and his boys. this means i am having to back out on playing and just try to learn more about what all this worship music is about. i kinda feel like a hypocrite up there. i'm having a great time but this is what i feel like i must do. Her boyfriend is a follower of Christ.

Today I got an update - and I am so excited about it! On November 4th, at Calvary Chapel - Anny will be baptized!
Celebrate with us what God is doing in our midst! I am so thankful God has allowed NCCd to be a small part of his great work in Anny's life - He is amazing. Pray for Anny, today and give praise - we have a new sister!

(The original post)

More on Sunday

Just a few more things from Sunday...

The band sounded great - we intentionally desired to have a very upbeat time together - and we did!

The Song line up:

Let God Arise - Tomlin

No One Like You - Crowder

Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall

Mighty to Save - I don't remember!

You Never Let Go - Matt Redman

Fire Fall Down - Hillsong

The sermon was "Redeeming Love" and was an overview of the Gospel story from Hosea.

I tied that in with our vision and mission - our call to be a people who live and proclaim that great Gospel story.

We stayed ahead of the 50% curve (most plants lose 50% in attendance right off the bat). We had a good number of returners as well as a lot of new faces.

I didn't give a shout out to our ushers and greeters - but they too were great! I even heard that a couple of them were sharing their Gospel testimony prior to the start of service!

All in all it was a great day - great servants working all around the theater, and great work by the great Ghost (Holy Spirit).