New (USED) Car

OK, so I recently sold a car that I really enjoyed but owed more on than a church planter ought to! With the uncertainty of income right around the corner, we made the decision to sell the Xterra. I liked the Xterra - comfortable, sporty, reliable, great at towing, room for the fam. Over the past weeks I have looked at hundreds (if not thousands) of vehicles. I have looked online, I have driven by dealerships, and searched the papers as well as local parking lots - exhausting and a little depressing! I concluded that my taste was much more expensive than the wallet. I have test driven some real rags!
So - this week I ran across an add online - made a call. We went yesterday and took a look and a drive - clean interior, drove good. So, this morning we met, signed paperwork, and made the exchange! So, we are the proud new owners of a new used car!
Now here's a fun game - see if you can spot the differences in these photos???

<--Old New->

Isn't God funny! To look at the new Xterra, you wouldn't really know it was any different than the old Xterra!!! Both black with gray interiors - same wheels, roof rack, EVERYTHING. Its a year older with more mileage and its a lot less expensive than the one I just sold. So - my new old vehicle is comfortable, sporty, reliable, great at towing and has room for the fam.

Packed Up

I spent yesterday, and a bit of today packing up the Mabel White office. Man I have lots of office stuff!
I would love to say that I had mixed emotions about the packing up of all my stuff - but I didn't! (I think its probably the politically correct thing to do) All I could think about as I packed my boxes is how much I look forward to digging into all of my books and resources again. I have missed the hours of study that are spent week in and week out for sermon prep and teaching.
Yes, I will miss the great staff I worked with for the past 2 years, but I am also seriously PUMPED about what God has in store as we take our next steps of faith with NCCd.

Gospel Work

I love to see God moving in a person's life - especially when it seems that God is destroying the darkness of religion with the beautiful light of the true gospel. For those of us who have grown up in religion and a gospel relegated to heaven or hell, this is sometimes a process years in the making.
I went to college with Chuck - we laughed a lot and had some fun times. We have reconnected through facebook and I am excited to see the Gospel light burning brightly in Chuck! Here's a link to some good thoughts on the Gospel and Worship.

Informational Meeting (TWO)

Before our September service we held an informational meeting to share with those interested our vision for New City Church. It was a great meeting, but since that time we have picked up quite a few more people! Some of our college students suggested that we do something like that again, and have a Q & A - so we are!

What: NCCd Informational Meeting and Q & A

When: Monday January 7, 3:00PM

Where: Shelly's Corner Cafe / 440 Martin Luther King, Jr Blvd Macon, Georgia 31201

Who: Anyone interested in more info on NCCd and able to attend a 3:00 meeting!

New City Leadership - Music and More...

If you read the post entitled New City Church and a Vision for Community you know that the primary context for the discovery and training of future leadership will be in our small community groups (Life Groups - based on followers of Christ "doing life" together). Our Life Group leaders will be equipped to spot future leaders and to begin the process of training those future leaders primarily within the Life Group.

We are still months away from the addition of our Life Groups, but that doesn't mean that leadership training is not already underway. In fact, I am excited to say that Chuck Ray will be taking a worship lead role in the coming weeks. Chuck has been with our band from the start, and has been a part of a worship team for quite a while. It has been our intention from the start to see Chuck move into a lead role. The hope was, and is, to see Shannon leading one band, and Chuck leading another. This will allow diversity in our worship music (which is reflective of the diversity of our city's music) and keep the pressure off of one single leader. Again - this has been intentional. It is our intention to raise up leaders from within the body rather than seek leaders outside of our particular body of believers.

We believe that raising up leaders from within is the New Testament model. Elders were appointed from within each church body (see particularly Timothy and Titus). There was no ad run and resumes taken to fill the leadership roles - God provided and continues to provide from within the body. This was also modeled by Jesus who trained His leaders from within, and then sent them out. Raising up leaders from within is much more likely to provide leadership on the same theolgical, missiological, and ecclesilogical page.

We also believe that this will allow us to more easily add campuses and plant churches in the future. Six or eight months ago when I first sat down with Shannon and Chuck to talk about the new church, I shared with them that we will be starting another campus within three years and we will be active in planting other churches as well. I explained that my expectation was that we develop three or four worship bands and leaders between now and then so that the worship teams can rotate between campuses and/or church plants. We will not have to search for a band and leader in three years, we will have raised up leaders between now and then.

I look forward to seeing God work in and through Chuck, as He has Shannon and will continue to do so with both. I also look forward to seeing God fill our church with potential leaders as He uses us to train and equip them to lead in the days to come.

Our Final Monthly Service

Last Sunday was our final monthly service! We had a great day. We missed a good number of our college crowd, but we were excited to see a lot of new faces. It was another great Sunday thanks to our many volunteers who helped across the board. Mostly, it was another great day because God has chosen to bless us - with volunteers, with a great place to gather, great people to work with, and especially with His presence! Looking forward to January and all of the new challenges!

New City Church and a Vision for Community

One of the essentials of the healthy Christian life is true community. When we look at the life of Jesus we see that He spent time with large crowds - multitudes of people adding up to thousands at a time. But most of his teaching seemed to take place within the smaller gatherings with his disciples. We know it included the 70 that were sent out, but even more, we see Jesus spending time with the 12. Within the 12, we see Jesus spending even more time with 3 - Peter, James, and John. These guys did life together. They ate together, traveled together, ministered together.
We see the same thing in the life of Paul. He preached to very large crowds, taught many, but spent a great deal of time with guys like Timothy and Titus.
It seems that the greatest development of disciples took place in the smaller groups who shared life. That is the essence of what I mean when I talk about community. We realize that the heart of Christian growth - discipleship and development doesn't take place during the Sunday morning time of corporate worship. Therefore, we will be a church with a heavy emphasis on COMMUNITY. (Notice I said - WILL BE - It will be a little while before we are ready to take any major steps in the area of establishing community groups - but it will come!)
I have been reading a number of guys and their approaches to community and wanted to point you to one of them - Drew Goodmanson and Kaleo church. Kaleo is moving toward community as I have envisioned it, so I encourage you to check out where they are headed. HERE'S a link.
In the end, NCCd will resemble 1st Century house churches in many ways - we will have people meeting on various days of the week functioning as the church all over the city. These groups will minister to one another, will learn together, will serve our city together and on Sundays, we will come from all over middle Georgia gathering for worship.

SOLD

Sold! The Xterra is gone - on its way to Columbus with its new owners as I type!

So - WANTED - cheap (free is OK) transportation!

Reminder...

Just a quick reminder - Tomorrow is our final monthly service! We'll meet again January 6 to kick off our weekly gatherings.

Don't Forget: We are collecting canned goods and dry goods for the Macon Salvation Army. The Salvation Army does a great deal to help middle Georgians who need help - so let's help them help others! We'll have a drop spot in the foyer of the Capitol Theater.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Missouri Baptists Cut Ties With Acts 29

I have been watching this one for a few days in silence - waiting to see what would happen. It saddens me to see what the Missouri Baptist Convention is doing. Here's the story in part:

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP)--The Executive Board of the Missouri Baptist Convention met Dec. 10 in part to discuss their concerns about alcohol use and alcohol-based evangelism strategies within the greater Missouri Baptist family. They concluded by taking significant action on the issue. In an historic move members of the board voted by a nearly 3-1 margin to cut off state convention Cooperative Program support to Acts 29 Network churches/church plants in Missouri. The vote does not impact MBC churches who, on their own, are assisting Acts 29 churches.The controversy over Acts 29 began when one church, The Journey, started holding regular discussion sessions in a bar where some participants drank alcohol. The "Theology at the Bottleworks" (the name of the bar) sessions were the focus of a handful of secular media reports, including one on NBC's "Today" show. Acts 29 is a nationwide non-denominational organization that receives funding from multiple denominations...

The result is that all Acts 29 church plants, not just those with barroom ministries, are being de-funded. And the decision was not tied to just one issue. Board Member Vic Borden of Kansas City broadened the debate beyond alcohol by stating he is even more offended by The Journey's movie ministry that includes R-rated films."There is becoming more and more of an abuse of Christian liberty, and it is most prevalent in the churches that have been connected with the Acts 29 Network," said Marr, who was part of a theological study committee that examined this issue from February through July. "That's why this motion is stated this way."...
(full story)

The events that led to these actions in Mo took place at one church. As a result, 9 churches will lose funding. One new church is set to lose $12,000 in support for the pastor and his family in 2008. The MBC voted to go back on their pledge to support 8 churches and pastor's because one church apparently did not fully keep its pledge.

I ask again, where would Jesus be in all of this? A recent post should answer that for us! He wasn't called a friend of sinners, a drunkard and a glutton because he lived life apart from "such evils." Jesus should be our model.

Addicts, Divorces, and Homosexuals - Oh My!

Life is NOT really a bowl of cherries!

Life is filled with difficulties, hurts, and disappointments - thanks to sin and the fall. Life is not always pretty, perfect, or even neat. The truth is, life can be quite messy. That's the kind of week its been - a messy week, filled with the fall's consequences. As I have talked with people this week about the messiness of life I have been reminded that THIS IS LIFE. Life is not really what we see on Sunday morning at most churches - happy faces, happy places, pretty people. It is, however the reason that Jesus came. It is for addicts, divorcers, homosexuals, and whatever your problem might be that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It is for us - with all of our problems, weaknesses and hang ups that Jesus came - light to darkness. And I am reminded of Hebrews 2:17 Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. 18 Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.

An Invite to the local Christian TV Station

I received a gracious invite as pastor of a new church start in middle GA to appear on "A Pastor's Heart" on WGNM. I will be heading over to record the segment a little later. The show will air January 2, the week of our launch into weekly services - great timing! Part of the show is the sharing of a "devotional" - so here's the basics of what I will talk about:

John 17:15-20 Jesus High and Priestly prayer - prayed just before His death.
Jesus prayed for His disciples and their future.
BUT verse 20 says
that He not only prayed for those disciples present with Him - but for all who would believe in Him through them - that means that Jesus was praying for us as well!

There are many great things that Jesus prays for us in these verses that we could talk about, but the one I want to focus on is verse 15.

In verse 15 - Jesus prayed that God would do something and that he would NOT do something.
He prayed that God would protect His disciples - and us today who are true Christ followers from evil. (Some translations say the evil one - Satan, the Greek is unclear, evil or evil one.)
That is easy enough to understand one way or another - evil or evil one.
BUT
We have trouble - particularly in the cultural Christian, religious Bible belt with what Jesus prayed that God would not do:
I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world.

In verse 11 Jesus said of Himself - I am no longer IN the world, and yet they are IN the world.

We have - in our desire to protect ourselves from evil - which was not Jesus' prayer (God protect, not you guys protect yourselves) - We have withdrawn from the people who need the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have withdrawn from the "world."

Example - A new believer associated with New City, but currently attending another church has been told that she cannot go out with her "old" friends anymore because they drink and smoke go to bars. She doesn't desire to drink and smoke - she does desire to BE Christ in the midst of friends who do not know Him!
Jesus did not wait on people to come to the Synagogue - He went where they were!

We cannot be a light - or salt when we have withdrawn. The only people who see light in the church are largely churched people! The only people who taste salt when it is in a container are the people in the container!
The Church - the Body of Christ - we who believe are not to withdraw - we are to be in the world - where people who need Jesus are.

Our model for this kind of living is Jesus Himself! You know - WWJD? What DID Jesus do - he hung out with sinners, tax gatherers, and drinkers! (Matthew 9:11-12)

The segment is done conversationally with the host, so this should be fun!

This Coming Sunday's Passage...

John 1 - The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15( John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") 16And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Jesus v/s Religion

Macon GA is my home town. For the most part, my life has been lived here. So, I say this from life experience - Macon is a religious, bible belt city that needs Jesus!
Here's Mark Driscol on the subject of Jesus v/s Religion:

NCCd is an Official Acts 29 Network Church Plant

New City Church downtown is now an official Acts 29 network member and church plant! I am thankful to be a part of a great group of like-minded, Jesus loving, church planters. Here's the e-mail from Tyler.

Keith,

I would like to be the first to welcome you into the Acts 29 Network! All of your paperwork has been received and you’ve been officially approved as an Acts 29 church planter. As you know, your assessment team recommended you during assessment and the Lord is obviously working in New City Church. We are here to support you in any way we can as you move forward. We look forward to getting to better know you, serve you and offer any assistance that you may need. NCC’s information will be posted to the A29 website by the end of the day (you will receive a registration email once your church is posted allowing you to update additional information) and your church will be welcomed as a new member in the Network in the next A29 newsletter.

Welcome to Acts 29!

soli Deo gloria,
Tyler Powell

If you haven't visited the Acts 29 site, you should. It is loaded with great resources.

The Christmas Jesus... or what's your picture?

OK, for some I know this scene from Talladega Nights might be a little sacrilegious - so if that might be you, don't watch - for everyone else this was a really funny scene!
So, what's your picture of Jesus?



Want the real picture of the Christmas Jesus?
Come catch a glimpse of the real christmas Jesus December 16 at New City Church!

Living in Community

Our vision for New City is much more than the Sunday Service. Sunday worship will be the time when all of our New City people gather together for a time of corporate worship. Our desire is to have great God exalting, Chist centered music and preaching - it will be a time of celebration together. But Sunday gathering will not be "church." Church will happen at various times of the week as New City people gaher in small groups and enjoy a place of community, discipleship, service and worship. The small group gatherings will ultimately be the place where church happens.
It was interesting to read a post from Drew Goodmanson as Kaleo heads in this same direction. Here's a portion of his post:

I spent the morning with Eugene, who heads up our missional communities at Kaleo. One of the challenges we've faced as a church centers on discipling people and seeing leaders emerge to give their life to be on mission. The following idea struck me from our conversation:
We often need structures to overcome our lack of community.
How can any person's life be changed by attending weekly programs? Isn't this just a portion of what Willow Creek 'Revealed' in their failure to create meaningful disciples? And they were THE model for the typical evangelical church. Kaleo is diving headlong deeper into life-on-life mission to San Diego.
(more)

NCCd - 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.

Dangerous Waters

Our first three services have been great. We have had a lot of people present and we have had a lot of people sign up to help with future services. This presents a great, great danger! The danger is that we get so caught up in the "success" of the Sunday event that we lose sight of why we really exist - our mission - to see the Gospel transform everything within our reach - ourselves, our church, our city, and the world. That mission involves each of us. Each of us shares in living out the Gospel and in sharing the Gospel.

Take a word of caution from one of our Acts 29 brothers, Pastor Jon Needham of Coram Deo:

Our Church went though a similar season, though we didn't grow as quickly. What I learned was that the 175 people showing up was just that...showing up. I was happy to see them and their butts in seats did wonders for my ego and pride. Over time, the vast majority of them left. The result was that we spent a year thinking we were doing something when in fact, we weren't doing crap.

I think the potential danger of growing in this way (primarily through attraction) is that you get a crowd together (which makes you feel good) but there's most likely no missional dna in that group. That crowd will reproduce itself including it's lack of missional dna. The effect is that the group gets excited about the group, but not about the mission. You end up creating more work for yourself because now instead of trying to lead a small group on mission, you have a large group that will be almost impossible to lead and/or change.

When you try to establish mission in the group, you'll find that many will leave and you will have lost time, lost funding (people and their money will go which may force you to make hard decisions) and lost momentum. I say this because its exactly what happened to us. We grew, thought we were doing something, ended up loosing over 2/3rds of our people and starting all over again at square one.

This was both extremely painful, and yet a great blessing as it taught me a ton. In the end, I realized the problem wasn't ultimately my people, but me. I had to repent and now, by God's grace, our church is headed in a much more healthy direction, but I created more work for myself by starting in a direction that was unhealthy. I had to back it up before we could put it back into drive.

That's my story. Hope it helps

I pray that God would continue to bring people to New City Church downtown, but I pray as well that we who are NCCd would understand the mission that is ours, that we would never lose site of it and that we would know that in order to be a true church, we must live out the mission He has given us. Fight with me for the mission - fight with me to be more than a Sunday gathering!

For more on who New City Church is check out the labels "Theology/Ecclesiology/Missiology and more" as well as "Who Is NCCd?". For a specific post see Church is Not Church Without The Mission.

The not so quiet quiet...

Not much posting right now, so it may seem like things are quiet - NOT SO!
Much, much, much is going on as we prepare for December and then weekly services in January.
We are talking with the Capitol Theater about weekly rental costs as opposed to monthly (pray that we get a good rate!),
we are talking about future plans and needs as we seek to make some lasting connections and become a regular presence downtown (that translates into - we are looking for additional space that would allow us access 7 days a week, 24 hours a day),
we are getting some invite cards ready for our December service to make it easy for our NCCd people to invite friends to the January service,
we are working on our next big mailer - set to go out Jan 2nd,
the Acts 29 guys asked me to get the rest of my stuff together so they could go ahead and move us to full membership, so I am working on that as well,
finishing up some info for potential financial partners,
working on Dec's message ideas as well as January's
Add to that
Amy's dad still being in the hospital (but getting better praise God)
Robby has surgery scheduled for next Tuesday in ATL to remove the rods in his femur (Motocross crash for those who might not know)
Christmas
and more...
Sooooooo, its not quiet at all. It is WIDE OPEN! And I am loving it. I am at peace right now with where we are headed with NCCd, at peace about the income questions that linger, at peace with all the stuff going on - just at peace! and excited... I am incredibly excited about the future that lies right around the corner. I cannot wait to see what else God is going to do in our midst when we go weekly. I am excited about the possibilities at New City - I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas!

Sermons Online

We now have the ability to record services and make them available online. Check out the "Media" tab at www.NewCitydowntown.org . Our November message on communion is now available. We'll add some music in the future.

Next Steps

Quite a few steps have been taken since I first thought about the possibility of planting a church. Each monthly service serves as another visible step. Behind the scenes there are all sorts of "unseen" steps being taken - lining up volunteers, work within the band, work in the community... As we are nearing an end to the 2007 year we are also preparing to close out a season of New City's life. We are closing out our monthly gatherings and taking our next steps toward being a real church. January 6th is a HUGE next step - it will be the launch of our weekly services! The visible step is obvious - we'll start meeting weekly! The unseen steps that are a part of this BIG step are really the crucial steps - and the unknowns.
Some of the questions:
Will we have enough workers for our children? Will we have enough tear down and set-up folks to carry us weekly? Can our band adapt to weekly services? Will we have enough giving to cover weekly rental as opposed to monthly rental? Will our people take hold of our mission - Gospel transformation?
I believe in every way God will lead us, empower us, and give us all we need for our next steps! I am excited about December's service - closing out a season. I eagerly anticipate January and with all of the "unknowns" I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in our midst!

Get ready New City, to be a part of Attempting Great Things For God, and Seeing Great Things From God!

Steps of faith remembered...

Tonight was probably my last Missions meeting at Mabel White. We have a really good missions team in place and they have been great to work with. As we concluded our meeting one of the team members said, Keith I remember a year ago when you started planning all of these trips with us - 5 trips to Mexico, 2 to NY, and several others to Mississippi. We thought there was no way. And when you said you wanted the missions fund to pay transportation we really thought there was no way. And here we are planning another year! We did it and we still have money left over at the end of the year. She was crying.
I don't know why I am amazed - but I am. I am amazed at what God does when we step out by faith trusting Him. I am amazed at the truth of His Word - we reap as we sow. We have sown by faith in missions - trusting that God would provide for His work, and He has - abundantly! 2 years ago I started our missions year with no trips planned and $0. We close out 2007 having set all kinds of Mabel White missions records - most given to Lottie Moon in church history, most raised at our annual missions fund raiser, most participants leaving the state on missions trips (87), 1st ever medical mission trips (3 this year), partnerships with NY, MS, and Mexico. And after the most full year in the church's missions history we will carry $25,000 into our 2008 missions year! That's why she was crying! God has been so good. I am thankful to have been a part of His work at Mabel White. I am blessed to have the privilege of leading a missions team to such steps of faith. Thanks again, God.

Happy Sunday!

PRE-Service
Up at 6am - trailer hooked up, the Xterra loaded - mostly from Saturday night (and I do mean LOADED), pulling in for ice at 8:00am, coolers loaded with ice and water, pulled up in front of the Capitol Theater at 8:20 to start unloading and setting up. 9:40 - A great time of prayer with the band. 9:45 - 10:30 Last minute stuff and lots of greetings.
POST-service
Load the trailer with the help of many. Do a final walk thru at the theater - final farewells and thank yous. 1:00 head to lunch with family. After lunch - head home with trailer in tow, unhook, unload the car, and at 2:25 sit down!
WHEW!
A great day.
Today's service was incredible. The music was awesome as usual - thanks to the band.
The coffee was great - thanks Hasel, Jolynn and crew!
Communion was so sweet - thinking of all that God has done for us in Christ and seeing a church share in such a beautiful thing for the first time was very overwhelming for me.
A number folks commented on how great it was to learn about communion and its tie to Passover.
Great fun to end the service with several very (VERY) upbeat celebrate Jesus songs.
Amazingly, our #s went up over last month - that's a good thing - thanks to everyone for getting the word out!
All in all - a Beautiful - Happy Sunday!
Thanks Jesus!

Closing A Door

Last night I taught my last discipleship class as a member of Mabel White Baptist Church's staff. As always, emotions are mixed. I have greatly enjoyed my role as Discipleship Pastor and the great opportunities that I have had to led the body of Christ in His Word. The last night of teaching reminds me that most likely I will never teach most of these fellow believers ever again. There are some great, great people that I will miss much. On the other hand, I am excited in knowing that as this door is closing, the NCCd door is opening wider and wider. I anxiously anticipate the days to come and the additional time that will be available for this new body.

On Communion

A Note About Communion…
This Sunday we will take communion together, our first time as church. So here's the short on our view of communion.
We believe that one of the most precious things followers of Christ can do together is to take of communion. New City Church practices “open communion.” “Open communion” means that we invite not only members of NCCd, but all believers to receive communion (also called the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper). We believe that the Gospel unites all believers in Jesus Christ and communion can be shared by all true believers in Him. NCCd further believes that the elements of the Lord's Supper are not to be viewed as means by which God communicates grace to the faithful, but as signs by which the faithful recall the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and declare that they have received grace and belong to the body of the faithful. Communion is essentially a community profession of faith, a celebrative thanksgiving in which the church declares its gratitude and faithfulness to God for all He has done for us in Christ.

Missions of Mercy - Holiday Gospel Project

Help for the Holidays!

Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays are right around the corner - add cold weather to the mix and local missions of mercy like the Salvation Army quickly run short!

You can help!

Bring canned goods to the November 18 and December 16th Services. We'll take them to the Salvation Army to help meet the growing needs!

Joe Thorn's 6 Rules of Cultural Engagement

In part NCCd's vision reads...

It is our dream that New City church downtown be a people engaging its culture at work, at play, and in worship.

We dream of a church that shapes culture, not runs from it or chases after it.

Below is a really great post from Joe Thorn about "cultural engagement." Its a little long, but well worth the read!

October 23rd, 2007
Six Rules of Cultural Engagement
What do people mean when they say “cultural engagement?” That phrase is often spurned as if it means thoughtless syncretism between the church and culture. In my reading it rarely means that. It is certainly not what I mean. I am a fan of that three-fold approach to engaging culture: reject what is evil, receive what is good, and redeem what is broken/lost. I think this is a healthy way of thinking about how we should respond to our culture, because our culture(s) is not one thing. It is made up of hundreds of things, bad and good, that demand our attention. I recently spent some time going over this three-fold approach with the folks at Redeemer, but wanted to emphasize that agreeing that we will need to respond by rejecting, receiving, and redeeming actually requires a lot of us. Before I get to that, let me summarize my take on the three responses.

Rejecting what is evil means that we object to all forms of injustice, immorality and idolatry. But rejecting things like genocide, abortion, and materialism is not enough. Part of our rejecting things in our culture means pointing to the way things ought to be, and even how the gospel points to such things. Think, the restoration of all things via the established kingdom of God at the return of Jesus Christ. Pointing out what is wrong is not enough. We must also point to God’s plan for righteousness to reign.

Receiving what is good seems to be more problematic for many Christians. People often think that we can only find good in something when it is all good. The problem of course is that nothing is all good this side of the resurrection, but many things still reflect the law written on the hearts of sinful man. The imago dei is still visible, and people often create or do things that reflect what is true, beautiful, noble, excellent. Receiving what is good means that there are times when the Christian, or the church, can walk beside the world and affirm the goodness of a communal value or cultural artifact. When our community decides it will take environmental care, the education of our children, or the health of the sick seriously we can say “amen.” But even then we have to show them that such goodness is not socially constructed, but reflects the truth and the plan of God.

Redeeming what is broken/lost is the direct application of the gospel to the culture in which we live. It answers the questions, “What does the gospel say to our broken marriages and homes; our selfishness and materialism, our prejudice and racism? What does the gospel say to the emptiness of personal religion and the bland spirituality held by the masses?” When we begin to answer this question, not in theory, but directly as it relates to our communities, we are seeing God in Christ redeem what is broken and lost.

I like this model a lot, and agreeing that it is best puts most of us in a position to do better than we have in the past in relating to our culture. Yet, it requires much more of us. In fact, if we believe that cultural engagement should essentially look like what we see above, then it requires at least 6 things of us.

6 Rules of Cultural Engagement
1. Be present.It sounds easy enough, but being present in the world these days is made difficult because of the Christian sub-culture the church has created around itself. Being present means being a part of the community God has sent you to, not just the community he wants you to help create. Do you know the people, the local issues and struggles, the values, practices and interests of your neighbors? There will be no cultural engagement unless you are there, hanging out, interacting with the world outside of the church. Need a place to start? Introduce yourself to your neighbors and invite them over for dinner, read the local paper, participate in local events, let your voice be heard when appropriate, be a regular at local establishments.

2. Practice discernment.You must be thoughtful in your engaging. Is [fill in the blank] something to reject outright (nothing good in it), something to receive as it points to truth or beauty, or is this an opportunity to point to the redemption we, and all things, have in Jesus? It is not always time to be the culture warrior, nor does Jesus call us to be spiritual pacifists. Sometimes we must fight, sometimes we share things in common, but we are always looking to heal.

3. Develop your theology.You cannot be a culture engager if you are not a theologian. You will be unsuccessful in “redeeming culture” if you are unsuccessful as a student of theology. I am not suggesting that everyone needs to be a resurrected Turretin, Owen or Edwards, nor am I suggesting that God cannot overcome our theological inadequacies. But to speak to the culture of sin, the gospel and the character of God requires that we understand these things. Where to start? Read good books that focus on theology and its application to life and community. Dialog with others about this very task who share a growing passion for both the gathered church and the sent church.

4. Find courage.Engaging the culture in this way demands great personal conviction. Like Jesus and the apostles, preaching the gospel in word and deed will both lead to you being favored as a helper, and hated as a meddler. It just depends on the issue. Everyone who labors in such work will encounter fear. Comfort and courage will only come from God who has promised that the we are blessed when persecuted, and the gates of hell will not prevail against his church.

5. Speak clearly.To properly engage your culture, whether rejecting what is evil, or receiving what is good, you must speak the language of the culture. For most this should be easier than imagined. You probably understand the language of your community, but you may not speak it - particularly when it comes to explaining the gospel to people. It is not enough to say the murder of the innocent is an abomination, or that all men are dead in sin and need to be regenerated and justified. We must explain ourselves - even better, the gospel - in words they can understand. Many of us need to learn to rely less on talking points and canned presentations that are connecting less and less to the post-Christian culture, and begin developing an earnest, dialogical method of engaging with our words. There’s no easy how-to for this beyond simply doing it, failing, and trying again.

6. Love.This is perhaps the most important rule of engaging culture, because most of the time you will not only be engaging ideas, but people; people made in God’s image, people who feel, people Christ calls us to love and serve. It is not appropriate to claim we love our neighbors without a real demonstration of that love. Whether we are rejecting, receiving or redeeming love for God and others must be what moves us to speak and act.

A Question to Ponder...

I am teaching First Timothy verse by verse on Wed. nights at Mabel White. The study of First Timothy has led to revisiting passages on Elders. When I say Elders, I include the position of "Pastor" or "Senior Pastor" as biblically, those positions outside of the context of a plurality of Elders do not exist. The "Pastor" / "Senior Pastor" IS an elder.
The question:
Is the POSITION (of Pastor) to be honored, or the MAN?

Here is one of the passages I have been chewing on...

17The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. 18For the Scripture says, "YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING," and "The laborer is worthy of his wages." 19Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. 20Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. 21I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality. 22Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.

Here's where I am tonight - The position of elder is a position of honor. I Timothy 3:1 says, "It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do." It is something that a man "aspires to." It is a position that requires a great deal of character and a life that is "above reproach." (Above reproach does not mean perfect or without error, or any fault. It refers to a character that is known to be good, godly, and 'generally' above reproach.)
HOWEVER
The POSITION is not honored above the MAN. The man is to be due "double honor" if he rules well, and especially if he works hard at preaching and teaching. So there is a qualification for the degree of honor given to the man. It is also interesting to note that while the position (and the man who has qualified for it) calls for special considerations when an accusation is made against an elder, it is also true that provision is made for how to handle accusations (5:19-20). A single accusation is probably not sufficient for discipline. HOWEVER, when there are numerous people who share in an accusation, then neither the man nor the position should be elevated to "untouchable" status. The man is to be approached. If he continues in the sin he is accused of, the he is to be rebuked before the congregation. Certainly his sins should not be covered up nor should they be excused because of his position. The man is not excused because of his position.
Here's my conclusion:
A pastor is not OWED honor or respect because he holds a position. He should hold the position because he is honorable and respectable. When he is no longer honorable and respectable, he is no longer fit to be an elder and should be dealt with in a biblical manor.

edited 11/19/07

Working for Two of My Heroes

This week I have learned a lot about laying tile! We have just finished my last Mission trip as a Mabel White pastor. Working for Missionaries in Nuevo Progresso, Mexico we laid about 1000 square feet of ceramic tile. I have hauled tiles, and bags of grout and cement. I have swept, filled buckets of water, mixed who knows how much cement and grout, busted cement floor by hand, cut tiles, and cleaned floors with dry rags by hand. My thumb developed a nice bloody blister and tile chips flying off of a saw blade bloodied up a perfectly good work shirt... and it was great! I don't have a lot of Heroes - that's wrong, I do have a lot of heroes, just not like a lot of people. Missionaries are my heroes. And what was great about this week was hearing and seeing the joy of 2 of my heroes when they saw our work at the end of the week! After years of people promising to get the medical clinic floor tiled, Judy was thrilled to actually see it happen. And What a joy to see Rea admiring the somewhat intricate cuts that were made in the tile floor where it joined some of the wood work in the clinic. Their smiles, and the smiles of the 2 men, Jose and Antonio, who we worked with made this week worth it!
Missionaries are my heroes - all missionaries... men and women, boys and girls - Jesus lovers who have been transformed by the gospel and are willing to do what it takes to see the gospel go forward and transform the lives of others! What a joy to talk with Rea and Judy about their vision and desire to see the gospel transform the culture in which God has placed them - and to share their vision. Though our cultural contexts are vastly different, our drive, and desires and passions are the same, seeing the gospel transform everything within our reach.
I look forward to being home - seeing my wife and children, and digging in to help New City Church be a church that is more than a building, an organization, a man, or a service - helping the NCCd people be a group of missionaries living out Gospel transformation, and seeing that same Gospel transform everything within our reach!

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).

Blown Away ...

... by God's work today! I am really not sure that things could have gone better today. Big thanks to the band, to our set-up and tear down folks, and to everyone who helped out with our New City kids and the coffee bar. Thanks to God for showing up BIG TIME today.

Programs v/s Process - Willow Creek Repents

Just read an interesting post about some Willow Creek findings. It seems that after much study and research they have found that multi-million dollar programs with lots of participation doesn't really produce disciples of Jesus. Duh!
(read more here)

Getting the Word Out...

New Town Macon sent the following out in their e-newsletter today. It goes to roughly 3,800 addresses...

New City Church
This Sunday...
New City Church downtown, a church start, will be holding its second worship Sunday, October 21 at the Cox Capitol Theater [map]. The church is being described as "comfortable, casual, and truly contemporary."

What should you expect on the 21st? Lead church planter and pastor, Keith Watson says, 'you should expect casual attire, a comfortable and welcoming environment, band-led music with a "rock and roll" feel, a casual teaching style, and likely a good crowd. Our first service was a lot of fun and we had almost 200 in attendance.'New City Church downtown will offer a complimentary Coffee Bar at 10:00 AM with worship starting at 10:30 AM. A nursery and children's classes will be held for ages birth through six years old. For more information visit New City Church downtown online at http://www.newcitydowntown.org/

We also have an ad out in the current 11th Hour publication...

Update on Amy's Dad

Just a quick update on Amy's dad:
Yesterday was a day spent at Piedmont Hospital in ATL for Amy's dad's surgery for colon cancer that had spread to his liver. The surgery started at 8:15 am and lasted until 5:00 pm or later. The Great news is that the doc was able to remove the cancerous part of the liver and he believes there is enough of the healthy liver left to regenerate itself. There is no sign of cancer in Lynn at this time.
Pray - We are not sure if the liver has or will return to normal function
Pray - Lynn's surgery was EXTENSIVE and there was a great deal of blood loss - as a result, there has been great difficulty in maintaining a safe blood pressure
Pray - Lynn is still on the ventilator
Lynn is far from out of the woods on this one - while we have great praises, he still has great needs, so please pray with us for him.

For more info, you can check Amy's blog.

Great Dayfor A Picnic

It was a great day for picnicking! Beautiful sun, fall temps, footballs, frisbees, food, and lots of fun with friends! We'll have to do that again before it gets too cold!
I'll post a few pics of the fun later.
If you missed it - sorry!
Try not to miss next Sunday's service.

Giving to NCCd Just Got Easier!

Great news today!
I have finally worked through some details and we are ready to receive tax deductible gifts.
We are an officially incorporated non-profit church in the great state of GA!
We have officially received our IRS TIN#!
We now have a New City Bank account.

What this means is...
Checks can now be written to New City Church!
Checks to New City Church are tax deductible (as well as documented cash)

Checks can be mailed to
NCCd
107 Kells Court
Macon, GA 31210
or given at a service.

We will be closing out the designated line item with the Macon baptist Association next month.

For accountability and oversight:
All checks issued FROM New City Church will require 2 signatures.
Signers are: Myself, Clint Strange, and Greg Wood
John Wood of Christ Chapel has also agreed to review our accounts with his elders monthly as a source of further protection and accountability.

Why I Support Women Deacons...

That should get some attention!
Church plants often start with very little structure in place - usually just the planter and the volunteers. Such is the case with NCCd. In the mind of the planter (that's me), the structures already exist; the unknown is WHO will fill them and when.
I am teaching on Wednesday nights at Mabel White a verse by verse of First Timothy. It has provided a great opportunity to think, re-think, and begin to flesh out some of the future structures of NCCd. So here's where I am:

Plurality of Elders:
The New Testament model is clear - a plurality of elders.
Elders are male.
Elders meet the qualifications given in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1.
Elders are warriors - they are the defenders of the flock.
Elders are the "authority" in the church (authority in the NT seems to be tied to gospel leadership and doctrinal purity, not iron fisted "do this" leadership)
Pastors are Elders (equals / with a first among equals in the lead pastor/elder)
*An interesting note is that almost every detailed mention of elders and elder duties is tied tightly into the Gospel and defending the true gospel from false teachers.

Deacons
The primary role of the deacon is to serve the body of believers.
The word "deacon" comes from a Greek word meaning "waiter of tables." It is used in the NT to describe 1) waiting on tables/service 2)Ministery or minisering to people 3)As an office in the church. Acts 6 gives us info and insight into the first deacons. The first deacons were selected because there was a problem of some in the church not being served fairly. In order to free up the Apostles for prayer and the procamation of the Word, deacons were selected from the body of believers to serve. As a result, the word spread, people (including many Jewish priests) believed.
Deacons serve the body of the local church.
Deacons can be male or female.
and here's why I support women deacons:
1) Deacons are servants, not the church's authority. Elders hold the positions of authority. This is important because the male / female issue in Scripture primarily centers on the quaestion of authority (women not having authority over men, wives not having authority over husbands). If there is no question of authority then gender is not really important.
2) I Timothy 3:11 - In the midst of the character qualifications of a deacon, Paul adds, "Women must likewise be..." Some translators say, "Wives must likewise be..."
If Paul meant wives, then he is giving a further qualification to the deacon via his wife. That is, deacons wives must also be...
If Paul meant women, then is seems that he is allowing for and giving qualifications for women deacons.
The difficulty in translation is that the same Greek word is used for "woman" as for "wife." Context must help us determine meaning. Because there are no qualifications placed on the elder's wife (and the elder position has greater requirements), it seems silly that Paul would place this qualification on the deacon's wife. The naural flow of the text seems to be Elder > Deacon > Deaconess > Deacon & Deaconess conclusion.
3) Acts 16:1 calls Phoebe a deaconess. It seems to me that the context leans toward the office as opposed to a description of Phoebe as someone who just serves or ministers in the church.
4) It is documented historically that an order of deaconesses quickly arose in the 1st century church. The office or order of deaconesses existed in the East until the middle ages. (See Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament)


I realize this is a short post for both Elder and Deacon - more will come later as we continue to move toward structure and church leadership.

Why Monthly Services???

I have had several questions recently about why we only meet monthly right now and conversation with others who are ready to go weekly. Maybe this is a good time explain what we are doing right now and how it differs from some other church starts.

Some church planters start by bringing some people around them, sharing the vision, and building a core of people who will commit to the vision. When that core grows to a sufficient number the church launches.

NCCd is basically starting with services and building a core from them. Friends, family, and others God brought our way served as Greeters, Band Members, Coffee Servers, and Kids Teachers for our 1st service. At that service we had 12 new volunteers sign up to serve in our October service. We will plug those volunteers in and hopefully begin to connect them to those who are already committed to the church plant - growing our core. The goal is to continue to add to our core October, November and December in preparation for weekly services starting in January.

Then we can expand our Kids Ministry and work toward the start of our Life Groups.

So - that's what we're doing and that's why we aren't quite ready for weekly services!
Every volunteer is important. Right now our volunteers serve in the following areas:
Set Up / Tear Down (meeting in the theater requires we arrive early to transform areas into kid friendly ministry areas, set up the band, and coffee bar - then take it all down when we're done)
Greeters Greeters are the 1st smiling faces visitors and attenders see. They are also our first question answerers and helpers.
Ushers Ushers help with seating, are our people counters, and take up our offering and info cards.
Coffee Bar These servants help set up the coffee bar, keep it clean and stocked, and make sure that coffee and water are available.
Nursery Help keep track of, play with, love on, and teach our newborns through age two
New City Kids Workers Help with our 3 through 6 year olds. This takes place after the singing portion of our main worship time and during the preaching portion of our main worship time. Kids enjoy a high energy video driven Bible study as well as prayer, play, and more.
Band Our hope is to soon add a second and third band to our line up.

If you want to be a part of building NCCd - come on!
Shoot me an e-mail

Labels

On the right side of the page, under the "blog archives" is a new section called "Labels."
I am trying to categorize blog posts for your viewing simplicity. This will make it easier in the future to find what you are looking for. For those who are new to the blog and New City Church this will be helpful as you explore who we are and what we do.

For the sake of Clarity...

There has been some question and some misunderstanding recently about who is "supporting" New City Church downtown. So - let's make it clear!

Mabel White Support
My Salary:
As of the 2nd half of September it was reduced by 10% at Mabel White.
My Insurance is unchanged
October - Salary reduced by 20% - insurance unchanged
November - Salary decreases by 30% - insurance unchanged
December - Salary decreases by 40% - insurance unchanged
As of January 1 - No pay or benefits from Mabel White - off staff.

Other Mabel White Help:
Mabel White paid for the mail out sent before our 1st service.
We are borrowing one of the Mabel White trailers to store and haul our church set up stuff.
Our band practices at no cost at Mabel White and we have been able to print and copy at Mabel White.

The Following Needs Are Not Met by Mabel White, but Are Being Met Through the Gifts and Offerings of Others:
Children's ministry curriculum
Children's ministry needs like - craft supplies, flooring, room divider walls, television, dolls, toys, snacks, drinks, decorations...
Salary differential
Rent for the theater
Advertising (such as 11th hour)
Coffee (weekly)
Water (weekly)
Band expenses / Sound expenses (wireless mic)
and all other!

God has been faithful to provide for every need that has arisen and we are thankful! Thankful for faithful givers, and those who have supported us in so many ways.

Big Night for Christian Music in Macon

Friday November 2 @ the Grand - downtown Macon
Todd Agnew
and Rush of Fools
and Joy Whitlock
Tickets $16 General Admission
Or - Be a New City Volunteer!


Brad Powell from the Cox Capitol Theater called to ask if New City Church might help with the show. We need about 20 counselors and 7 stage hands.
Let me know quickly if you can help - e-mail pastorkeith@newcitydowntown.org

Picnic in the Park

New City Church, Picnic in the Park
Sunday, October 14th
4:00 PM
Central City Park
(near the playground)
Bring your family's picnic and drinks and bring a dessert to share with everyone else. Bring a frisbee or outdoor game, invite a friend - especially a friend/neighbor/co-worker... who doesn't have a church home - and let's enjoy a fall afternoon together before our next service.

A few needs for our kids...

It will not be long before our next service - I can't wait! We have a few more needs for the kids areas...
Wooden Puzzles
Magna Doodle or 2 or 3
Big Blocks - Duplo or Lego
Post here if you can help out or e-mail me pastorkeith@newcitydowntown.org.

Acts 29 Next Steps

We received our official letter from the Acts 29 Church Planting Network last night - we have officially moved from the "assessment" phase to the "candidate" phase. We have about five more tasks to complete.
Part of the reason I am up at 3 something in this morning is because I woke up with my mind spinning about the next steps and where we are as a church plant. I am greatly encouraged! We were told that we needed to:
1) Plug in with an A29 Coach as soon as possible - I was ready to do that months ago! Point me to the coach.
2) Successfully break away from our current church - We are working on transition issues at our current church with that end in mind and in sight!
3) Work on raising support that will provide for our family - some foundation work has already begun in this area - In fact I met with one potential partner this past week and I am meeting with others next week! I have outlined our expected needs for the next year as a church and as a pastor.
The encouraging part of this is that we were already working hard in these areas and I see them coming together in a great way. As I look ahead to the other tasks, I feel the same way.
Jesus is building His church - how great it is to watch, and to be in the midst of!

Shots by MeAgan

Some first service shots by a good friend - Meagan. Thanks MeAgan!

Community

I believe very strongly that we were created for community. We see it throughout Scripture - Adam was incomplete without Eve, families became the center of community, Israel was not simply a nation but a community - within that community there were smaller communities and tribes. They were God's PEOPLE, plural.
Salvation is not individualistic, though it involves individuals - it is much more than that. The New Testament images of the church show us that the same is true of us as individuals - or as a community. When we come to place our faith and trust in Christ we are brought into the family of God, we are formed into the temple of God, we are many parts who make up one body of Christ.
We were created for community. It is one of those longings that we all share. It is a need that exists and that God has indeed provided for in the family of believers. I was reminded of that last night when someone told me that they learned that a number of people from New City had gone to the Off Broadway deli for lunch after church. They expressed in all kindness that they wished they had known, because they would love to have joined us. It was one of those things after church that just happened - it wasn't planned - I had no idea who was going to be there. We joined some of my out of town family there. Still, the words pierced my heart - not because I had done something wrong, but because I had not done something right! I had not encouraged our people to ask a stranger to join them for lunch - to open their sphere of friends and relationships and be conscious of who was around them. It is the desire of my heart that New City Church be a community of believers - that will take intentional effort. Effort on my part to teach it, to model it, to teach it some more and some more and to model it again and again. It will take an intentional effort on everyone's part - but that is what living the gospel in community means! It means being intentional. It means opening our hearts, and our eyes, and our friendships, just like Jesus did.
So, my promise is that I will seek to lead in the area of community. My plea, join me in being a community. Invite someone you don't know to join you for lunch - or maybe someone you do know, but haven't spent much time with.

Total Church by Chester and Timmis

I am just about to finish up Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis. The book is not yet available in the US but you can still get it at the link above. Great read - especially as you consider how the gospel is to be a central part of who the church is and what the church does. I thought I would share a quote from a section that contrasts the view that we often have of "spirituality" as quiet times and withdrawal from the world and materialism with a "passionate engagement" spirituality - the section is entitled Gospel and Community in Practice, Spirituality and the gospel mission:

In John 15 Jesus calls on his disciples to 'remain in me' (v. 4). But this is not a passive pursuit conducted in silence. This is active faith in our union with Christ, a faith that produces fruit in the world (v. 8). We are to remain in Christ's love (v.9). But remaining in Christ's love is synonymous with obedience to Christ's commands (v. 10). Christ does not take us out of the world, but sends us into the world to 'go and bear fruit' (15:16; 17:15-18). His command is 'to love each other as I have loved you' (vv. 12, 17). Biblical spirituality does not take place in silence; it takes place bearing a cross. It is not a spirituality of withdrawal, but a spirituality of engagement. You do not practice it on retreat in a secluded house; you practice it on the streets in the midst of broken lives.

Yes, there were times when Jesus withdrew for prayer and if you want to call that a "quiet time" OK - probably not the same as we think of as "quiet time". BUT, there is obvious truth to the paragraph above - spirituality is much more than withdrawal - it is engagement - engagement with a broken world who needs the gospel - not simply the gospel of heaven and hell, but the real gospel of redemption, of empowerment, of comfort and strength, and all that God is for us in Jesus Christ. So - if you want go and get all spiritual (and I pray you do) - get off the couch and into the world and engage with the gospel!

I have offended a brother...

The following post has offended a brother. That was never my intention. Officially, unofficially, on the record and off the record - I love Mabel White (the people are terrific - they have loved me, encouraged me, and been very good to me).

If you like roller coasters, you might like church planting! I'm not sure I have ever experienced so many ups and downs in a single day.
Here's the run down:
down - terrible night of not much sleeping, a lot of thinking about church stuff
down - tuesday is staff meeting day at mabel white
For everyone to know - I think I work with some of the most fun people around - this was no dig at the staff, they are great! I am not real big on meetings.
UP - STAFF MEETING ONLY LASTED 35 MINUTES see above
down - i spent an hour and a half talking with my pastor about how much my pay was about to be cut (that was like the biggest down hill of the biggest roller coaster in the world - i think i might have even screamed!)
The screaming was to carry out the roller coaster picture only. I admit that I was thrown for a LOOP (pun intended) when I was told by my pastor that my pay was about to be cut by 40% - it was not what I expected. The idea was that pay would be adjusted based on a sliding scale from 40% to 60% between now and December while my insurance benefits for the family would remain unchanged. The elders allowed me some time at their next meeting to talk about the decrease in pay. The adjustment was made that my salary would be adjusted as follows - 90% pay for the remainder of Sept, then 80% for Oct., 70% for Nov., and 60% for December while medical benefits for me and the family remain the same. I am thankful for that provision. Very. It has been a gift from God.

I repented the same day that my pastor and I had the conversation (had to go back to my pastor and tell him i submit to his authority and the elders authority - God will take care of me and the fam.) I repent again for offending.
I apologized to the brother who was offended and I asked for forgiveness for being offensive. I say the same now to anyone who may have felt that I was trying to hurt my church. I love Mabel White - I love my elders (who have a really tough job) - I love my pastor and pray for him and his family. I in no way meant to offend a brother or throw rocks at my church and staff.
The rest of the previous post is HERE.

the Gospel Speaks to the Death of a Baby

While we were in Raleigh for the Acts 29 Boot camp I received a dreaded call from a good friend. Kristie had recently (about a month ago) given birth to a daughter - Kendall. Kendall came at only 6months and weighed less than 2 pounds. We prayed for Kendall. Every time my phone would ring and I would see it was Chad calling, I would be momentarily gripped by fear - afraid that Kendall had taken a bad turn. That's what the Thursday night call was about. I awoke several times during the night and begged God on behalf of Chad and Kristie - I pleaded that little Kendall be strengthened and that she hold on - I prayed that she would live and grow. She didn't. Chad called Friday morning to let us know that during the night Kendall lost her fight.
I don't know why - though I ask.
Why would this family have to endure such a loss?
Why would such a hard conception, carrying, and birth be followed by this?
Why would YOU allow THIS?
Nothing.
I do not know why.
Today I will do the grave side service for 2 good friends who have lost a precious and beautiful gift. The truth is I have no idea what to say - but this...
The Gospel speaks to this day. The story of redemption includes this day - it includes Thursday night. THIS is not what we were created for. This is not what the garden originally looked like. This is the result of sin's curse, passed on from one generation to the next. I thank God that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has intervened and offers us hope - even in a day like today. I praise God that today is not the end for Kendall - or for Chad and Kristie. I praise Him, that in Christ, for all who believe today is only a sad and horrible pause in what will be forevermore. I do believe that Kendall is now enjoying fellowship with her heavenly Father - the fellowship that as believers Chad and Kristie will one day enjoy as well. I long, especially on days like today for that final day - the day when our redemption is ultimately consummated - and in it there will be no more suffering, no more pain, no more death - and we will live in the glory of our Savior. I pray for Chad and Kristie, even now, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ would speak to their heart - that they would not only know the hope of their future in Christ, but that they would know - fully, completely, experientially know that Jesus Christ is their rock, he is their strength, he is their comfort, their joy, their delight. I pray that they would know that he will never leave them and never forsake them. I pray that they would have the confidence in him today to know that he loves them and cares for them - even now.
The Gospel has much to say today.

We're Back!

What a great trip. Let me share with you the rest of our sessions:
Session 4 - Daniel Montgomery - Gospel Centered Theology
Session 5 - Mark Driscoll - Qualifications for the Lead Planter Dude
Session 6 - Ed Stetzer - Understanding Missional Theology
Session 7 - Q and A with Stetzer and Driscoll

Once more everything was related to the Gospel of Jesus Christ - great stuff.

We ended yesterday with a 2 hour assessment with a couple of Acts 29 church planters. Our assessment was primarily conversation - about theology, about the Gospel (imagine that), about home life - how do I treat my wife and kids... We will hear back in the next week on whether we will be received into the Acts 29 network of churches. The Acts 29 network offers resources, coaching, great relationships, potential church partnerships, and possible funding.

One of the questions asked during Q and A with Driscoll and Stetzer - and perhaps being asked by some of you - was, Why do you focus so much on the Gospel when Hebrews tells us we should move past the basics of the death and resurrection - from milk to meat?
I knew the answer but sure enjoyed hearing it!
We believe that Gospel is both the milk AND the meat of the Christian life and the teaching of Scripture. Driscoll and Stetzer went to explain that a little.
Here's my take on that question:
Many, if not most "Christians" have come to see the Gospel (the birth, life, death, resurrection of Christ) as little more than our way to get to heaven - you know, If you died tonight, do you know where you would be tomorrow? That is certainly part of the Gospel. But the Gospel is SOOOOOOOOO much more than a ticket to heaven - this gets MEATY!
I'll use Ephesians as an example of the far-reaching, meaty implications of the Gospel:
In the first chapters Paul unpacks what the Gospel is - How we were chosen in Christ before the foundations of the world, how we are forgiven in Christ, How we are sealed in the Spirit. He then talks about the power of the Gospel - it raised Christ from the dead and (Chapter 2) raised us from the dead as well. Paul talks about the mystery of the Gospel and its power to unite Jew and Gentile, black and white into 1 body... Then in Chapter 4:1 he says, Therefore - in light of the Work of the Gospel, In light of the Power of the Gospel, in light of who you are in the Gospel - Walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel! Paul then explains how the Gospel should be reflected in our relationships - with one another, with our spouse, with our children, with our employer... Go back and read Ephesians thinking this way and see how deep, meaty, and difficult the implications of the Gospel can be. The Gospel is everything to us. The Gospel reaches, touches, and should transform EVERY area of our life.
I get it - I may not live it all the time (thank God for the Gospel that forgives me every day - over and over) - but I get it. That is the transforming Gospel that is the heart of this church plant - I pray that it truly become the heart of New City Church downtown... to see the Gospel transform everything within our reach - our selves, our church, our city, and the world.

For more on the week and a wife's perspective, check out Amy's take.