A Plug For Plant and Replant

Plant and RePlant is an Acts 29 Regional Event

January 22-23

Hosted by New City Church downtown

More than anything. this event is intended to be a very practical help to you in whatever context you are currently in so that you can prayerfully and strategically prepare for the future. Our hope is not to preach to you about things that you should be doing, but answering questions that you have about how the gospel can take root in the work that you feel God is calling you into.

There will be 3 Main Sessions featuring Tyler Jones, planting pastor of Vintage 21 and Jonathan McIntosh, planter and former campus pastor at the Journey Church in St Louis.

There will also be 3 breakout sessions that will largely be Q and A - so bring your questions. Breakouts will be divided into 2 tracks - Planting and Replanting...

PLANTING PROMO:

RePLANTING PROMO:

What I learned About NCCd Church Planting (4)

Where We Intend to Plant Campuses (2) - Warner Robins:

This is a guest post from Heath Clarke, one of our Warner Robins MC Leaders about his home city...

Warner Robins is located directly south of Macon in a neighboring county. The city’s population is 61,336. However in Houston County (pronounced House-ton) the population is 133,161. Warner Robins and Houston County is one of the fastest growing areas in the state of Georgia (listed as the fastest outside of Atlanta according to recent census information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_County,_Georgia). Warner Robins is also home of Robins AFB, the states largest industrial complex and employer making it a vital city to the Central Georgia area.

Partly because Warner Robins is a “young” city and has experienced rapid growth a central downtown area never developed. It is a typical 20^th century boomtown suburb setting, lined with shopping malls on every street and commercial chain restaurants.

However, because of a swelling desire by the people there are plans that have been developed by the city to renew and develop an area of the city to transform it into a city center and a downtown. A New City Church in Warner Robins could help serve the city in its plans to do such development.

Being a suburban military town, family and security are two traits of the city. These traits have made Warner Robins the number one city in the state of Georgia to raise a family for two consecutive years. The pulse and personality of Warner Robins is not music and art but family. The importance of the family is found in the very vibrant youth sports leagues and high school sports programs throughout the city.

New City Connections:
The Warner Robins and Sub-south Missional Communities. These two Missional Communities already buy into and are living out the vision and mission of New City Church and are serving their contexts with the gospel. These two MC’s will form the core team for planting in their context.

Heath and Lindsey Clark with Jason and Kimberly Clements - Together they lead the Warner Robins Missional Community. All have jobs in the city of Warner Robins and are serving to build and multiply their MC.

Mike and Tammy Gilbert – They are the leaders of the Sub-south Missional Community. The Sub-south area is between Macon and Warner Robins.

Through these MC’s there are several people that are attending and traveling 30 minutes to attend the New City gatherings on Sundays. They buy the vision and mission of the church and are already in the process of fighting to see the Gospel transform their city.

Because Robins AFB brings people from all over the United States and the world, Warner Robins is different in many ways than most Southern cities. One trait however that it shares with the south is a plethora of churches. Warner Robins and Houston County could be described as a very churchy un-churched culture. Religion is pervasive but the Gospel isn’t! What Warner Robins lacks is a church that is strong in all pillars of a healthy church (worship, community, being missional, and theology). Several churches might have one or some of these traits but none embody all. There is not a church that is striving to serve the city and engage it where it is with the gospel.

Though New City Church Warner Robins will no doubt look different because of the context of the city Warner Robins is in need of a church that preaches the Gospel and lives out the mission of God as a people living in community with each other for the city.

Macon - Music and More

Take a few minutes to watch and learn a little about Macon...

What I learned About NCCd Church Planting (3)

Following a week of preparation and meeting with a potential NCCd Campus planter/pastor and family, I wanted to take a few posts to unpack my thoughts. This is part 3 in the series. My first post focused on the idea that What We Intend To Do Is Good, my second post focused on How We Intend to Do This Being Good, this post begins a look at

Where We Intend to Plant Campuses:

While we are pretty wide open to planting locations, there are three Middle Georgia locations that we have immediately in mind: Milledgeville, Warner Robins, and Forsyth. This series of posts will give some basic info on each of those cities.

Milledgeville

Milledgeville is located almost 30 miles North of Macon. The city’s population is around 20,000. Add to that number almost 6,000 students at Georgia College and State University and 1,000 at Georgia Military College. One website listed the total population within a five mile radius of the city at 40,000.

Where the campus of Georgia College ends, the downtown area of Milledgeville begins. Downtown is a great mix of shops, restaurants, bars and coffee spots in buildings constructed in the late 1800s. The downtown area is beautiful and having 7,000 college students as a neighbor makes for a really great vibe. Downtown seems to be a pretty decent scene for art and music and hosts at least a couple of annual festivals.

New City Connections:

Brooks and Melissa Hinton – Brooks works in Milledgeville and he and Melissa are Missional Community leaders about 12 miles south of Milledgeville.

Heather Holder – I worked closely with Heather while she was with New Town Macon. Heather is from Milledgeville, is very involved in the downtown area as well as the community at large and is employed now by Georgia College. Heather is very familiar with New City Church and our work in Macon. I recently ran into Heather while visiting Milledgeville and she was visibly happy to hear that New City is looking to invest in downtown Milledgeville – she immediately began telling me about a great building that we could use downtown that isn’t on the market…

Josh and Megan Maloy recently moved to Macon to be a part of New City Church. Josh was the Campus Outreach leader at Georgia College and still has a lot of great student contacts at Georgia College.

Amanda Miles is a recent graduate of Georgia College and is also very involved at New City. She was our summer intern and like Josh, still has several contacts on the campus – one being her soon to graduate boyfriend Ben.

Because of Josh, Megan, Amanda, Ben and others we have actually had several students drive the almost 30 miles to New City Church…

Which leads to what we have learned from our Milledgeville connections:

While there is no short supply of churches in Milledgeville, there is a very short supply of gospel-centered, reformed, missional churches who are working to engage students and the city. In a conversation recently with one of the downtown shop owners, I asked about churches – she there were a lot of churches all around the city. I asked if any were really involved in the city for the good of the city – she paused – and answered, ‘No.’

So it seems, Milledgeville may be ready for a church like New City Church – and it seems it is in need of the Gospel.

What I learned About NCCd Church Planting (2)

Following a week of preparation and meeting with a potential NCCd Campus planter/pastor and family, I wanted to take a few posts to unpack my thoughts. This is part 2 in the series. My last post focused on the the idea that What We Intend To Do Is Good, this post focuses on:

How We Intend to Do This Is Also Good

First: We start with an assessment process

Anyone who wishes to plant an NCCd campus must pass an assessment process that is very much like the A-29 assessment process. The process includes numerous questionnaires covering theology, personal testimony, practical ministry, mission and vision, as well as calling. There are references to be completed, a resume of life and work experiences, personality testing, entrepreneur testing, and a phone interview. If all of this goes well, there is face to face time and a two hour husband and wife assessment.

If the potential planter does not pass the assessment process, at any time/stage the process will end.

Second: If the potential planter PASSES the assessment process, then the information attained in the process will be used to formulate a training strategy for the planter. Some may need theological strengthening, or preaching work, or perhaps just experience and guidance. (Of course, the potential planter must make a decision on coming to Macon and partnering with NCCd before training begins)

Third: When the potential planter and family are committed to the process and living in the area, training begins. The period of training will depend on the amount and type of training needed. Much will depend on how the potential planter responds to the training and increased weight of leadership. Training will mean intimate involvement in the operation, working, and pastoring of New City Church downtown. At the same time, the potential planter will begin working in the city in which he will plant and he will begin leading the Missional Community(ies) in that city.

Fourth: At some point (as soon as possible) in the training process, a date for Launch will be set. The MC will serve as the Launch team. The goal will be the casting of vision and multiplication of the MC. The readiness of the potential planter - now PLANTER - and the health and readiness of the core (the MC) will determine the final Launch date.

Fifth: LAUNCH (and yes I skipped finding the place for the Launch gatherings and a host of other details). A few things that the PLANTER didn't have to work hard on or worry about during the core building phase and Launch:

Casting a new vision - our MCs get it.

Finding musicians - man this was hard for a season! We currently have 3 bands who understand that they will one day rotate between campuses,

Membership - We will launch our version of membership this winter. The class materials will be handed to the planter - with a core of members.

Lack of Experience - Likely there will still be a lack here BUT, the Planter will have had hands on training with a planter AND he will continue to receive coaching and support from NCCd elders who have been in the battle and want to see the planter's victory.

Sixth: There are still unknowns regarding future structures - but we have ideas. The plant/campus will remain a New City Church - and will be active in planting other churches. The campus planter will be an elder - serving with other New City Church downtown elders and raising up his own elders

The system - though we still have much to learn and put in place is a good one. It equips the planter and readies the people for a plant. It takes away many of the areas that are time consuming and troublesome for many planters... it doesn't guarantee a successful and thriving plant, but it sure seems that it will help a lot.

So - I'll end it here with this... if you are interested in planting in Middle Georgia as a New City Campus - You'll get an MC Core, 3 awesome worship bands, proven elders, support from a guy near you working hard with you, and more...

e-mail me keith@newcitydowntown.org

What I Learned About NCCd Church Planting (1)

Having spent the majority of last week hanging out with a family who may be moving to Macon to train and plant a New City campus, I want to take a few posts to reflect on my thoughts and things I learned from last week. I'll post as things come to mind, but not in any particular order. Here's the first...

What We Intend To Do Is Good

What is it that we intend to do?

We intend to plant churches (New City campuses) in numerous cities in the Middle Georgia region. Currently we are considering Warner Robins, Milledgeville, and Forsyth.

While each of those cities does have some good churches, initially it appears that there is a need for a Gospel-centered, reformed church that is willing to engage unchurched people in the public square. It seems that not only is there a need for such a church, but there are also people wanting such a church. Visiting these cities and talking about them this past week with residents and others has only strengthened our planting intent. In fact, it has fueled the fire to plant sooner rather than later.

What do we mean by a NEW CITY CAMPUS?

This is always one of the first questions that a potential planter with New City asks. The reason for the question is because there are so many different types of campuses:

Video Venue campus - Generally the majority of the preaching at such a campus is done via video projection by one guy. Mars Hill has several campuses where Mark Driscoll preaches the vast majority of the time - not live, but by video projection. Campus pastors in this system shepherd people, organize, and lead a campus but do not preach very often.

Single Preacher Satellite Campus - This is a campus in close enough proximity to the church's main campus that the Preaching Pastor can preach in one venue and then fly off (sometimes literally) to the second campus where he preaches again.

New City Campuses - Our hope is to find a planter/pastor for each of our targeted cities (and then some). Each campus planter will serve as the pastor and lead preacher/teacher for that campus. In many respects he will function and operate just as any planter would - juggling getting to know a new city, building of new relationships inside and outside of the body, working on policies, studying, writing, counseling, and yes weekly preaching and teaching.

BUT - he would plant the New City campus with the shared resources of NCCd - we would share elders, share systems and structures, share bands (creating a rotation between campuses for our current 3 bands), share a common mission and vision, finances, Missional Communities and more! For example: A New City warner robins planter would come into a situation where a core group already exists in our Warner Robins MC (Missional Community). The MC knows, understands, and is fully on board with our mission and vision. They are ready to work toward a WR campus and several of them have worked in NCCd for over a year - THAT for a planter is PRICELESS!

So - I'll end it here with this... if you are interested in planting in Middle Georgia as a New City Campus - You'll get an MC Core, 3 awesome worship bands, proven elders, support from a guy near you working hard with you, and more... e-mail me keith@newcitydowntown.org