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