Planting the Gospel

I have heard more than once that planting churches isn't really planting churches as much as it is, or should be, planting the Gospel.
I agree.  Planting a church should be about planting the gospel and seeing it grow a gospel-centered church.  BUT planting churches is only ONE way to plant the gospel in an area or a city.
New City Church is committed to church planting, but more, we are committed to planting the gospel.  So we are talking, praying, and working toward other ways to plant the gospel in Middle Georgia.
One of those ways is by planting gospel-centered MEN in Middle Georgia.  We just finished up a class led by Cameron Barham, one of our New City, Macon elders, to teach guys how to preach.  This was what I would consider a seminary level preaching course and included men from New City Church, Warner Robins, New City Church, Milledgeville, and New City Church, Macon.  Our hope is to plant these men in the pulpits of existing Middle Georgia churches as pulpit supply for churches who need a preacher to cover a short period of time, as interim pastors for churches seeking a pastor, and as long term pastors to shepherd congregations in the gospel for years to come.
Yesterday one of our New City, Macon partners, Damon Gardzelewski became the lead pastor of Bloomfield Gardens Baptist Church in Macon.  I have initiated conversations with a few other local churches recently on behalf of another New City, Macon partner who is ready and able to serve as a lead pastor.  In addition I recently offered our guys as pulpit supply for a couple of small local congregations looking for a pastor.  We are praying that God would use these men to plant the gospel throughout Middle Georgia.  Would you pray that with us?

Sometimes Subtraction is really Multiplication

Ten months ago, New City Church downtown was a single campus, not quite three years old. We seemed to finally be pushing to or through the 200 mark in regular attendance (one of the growth barriers in church world). A month later we sent out around 25 regular attendees to launch New City Church Milledgeville.

Rebounding growth began slowly... until late this summer we were again pushing through the 200 barrier with some consistency. Then came August 14, 2011 when at age of 3 years and 8 months we sent out 50 regular attending, hard working, giving, people who are sold out on the mission and vision of New City Church to plant New City Church Warner Robins...

So if we looked at the numbers of subtraction (after all we are subtracting!) we would see:

200-25 = 175 -50 = 125... all in the span of 9 months...

But sometimes Subtraction is really Multiplication!

With most of our Mercer University crowd not back yet, downtown was at 170 yesterday.

The new Warner Robins campus was at 125 (send out 50, get 125?!?!)

Milledgeville on move in weekend ExPlOdED! 380

Let's see... 170 + 125 + 380 = 675

By subtracting 75, we have almost tripled in attendance... which means we have almost tripled in influence, in opportunity, and in the number of potential missionaries that we can equip to advance the Kingdom! Incredible.

I am about #s - it is true - in that numbers represent people, and I love to see people transformed by Jesus through the gospel! And the more people I see being transformed by his radical love and work, the more excited I get.

I am amazed at the work that God is doing in our midst. I give him all of the credit (glory) for what is happening in and through New City Church... and I am enjoying the ride!

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.

Ambition Audio Available

Thanks to Sojourn Church for getting audio up so quickly from last week's Ambition Boot Camp. This was the Best Boot Camp that I have attended - my recommendation to church planters is that you listen to every session! For understanding your city and connecting for transformation, Kevin Cawley is a MUST hear. To keep you humble and distance yourself from the glitter that some associate with church planting - DO NOT MISS Chandler. Happy Listening!

The following was pulled directly from Sojourn's church planting blog:

You can either download them all from: the Sojourn Church iTunes podcast , our standard podcast RSS feed , or listen to them right from the sojournchurch.com Guest Speakers page. Here are direct links to each session:

Matt Chandler (Ministry for the Long Haul & Ambition)

Kevin Cawley (Decoding Your City & Ambition)

Bob Thune (Discipleship & Ambition)

Russell Moore (Speaking Past Demons: Christian Preaching As Expository Exorcism)

Darrin Patrick (Leadership & Ambition)

Steve Timmis (The Church & Ambition)

Ed Stetzer (Church Planting & Ambition)

Dave Harvey (The Gospel & Ambition)

Love Should Lead Me to Risk Much - What's Your Agenda

In my previous post I raised the question of whether or not we truly love the people around us. If we do, then our love should compel us to share the gospel - even though that involves risk. The next question that came to my mind when it comes to the gospel and those around us centers on agenda.

What is your agenda? (Webster's - an underlying plan or program)

Is it to LOVE first, or to CONVERT?

If your agenda is simply conversion, then - what will you do of there is no conversion? What will you do if the one you share Jesus with doesn't believe?

Christ follower - watch this video - a non-Christian's perspective:

Christians Trying to Convert Non-Christians from Rethink Mission on Vimeo.

Love Should Lead Me to Risk Much

A lot of people think I am crazy or maybe just stubborn because I will hop back on my motorcycle as soon as I am able - this after my second broken bone from a crash (and I am not getting younger - whatever that means). Obviously there is a risk with riding a dirt bike, but for me the reward is worth the risk!

There is nothing that compares with riding - I LOVE it - and that Love leads me to risk scrapes, bruises, a little blood, and broken bones.

I have been thinking a lot over the past few days about the Gospel and our motivation (or lack thereof ) for sharing it with others. The gospel is by its nature confrontational and ultimately divisive - you are a sinner and either you believe or you don't. Confrontation and division often leads to arguments, hurt feelings, name calling, and worse. Talking with co-workers whom you see every day could lead to awkward days at work. Talking to friends on such a touchy subject could lead to your being de-friended! So - there is a risk. And often we determine the risk to be too great. So we say nothing.

But - if we LOVE our friend or co-worker (and I really mean love - not just the word love, but the reality) - if we love them, shouldn't that love motivate us to take a risk?

Or is that the real issue? We don't truly love.

What is the Gospel? Good News part 3

The Gospel (the Good News that Jesus died for our sins) as NEWS is something that we hear and accept, not something that we DO. the Gospel is news about what God has done FOR US in Jesus, NOT what we must do for Him. We have turned the NEWS into RELIGION - and RELIGION is not about what God has done for us in Jesus, but what we must do for Him - what we must do to be heard, to be loved, to be accepted... News, Not a list of works.

Tim Keller compared Religion and the Gospel this way:

Religion: “I obey-therefore I’m accepted.”

Gospel: “I’m accepted-therefore I obey.”

R: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.

G: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

R: I obey God in order to get things from God

G: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

R: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.

G: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

R: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.

G: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism. That’s how I became a Christian.

R: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.

G: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.

R: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel humble, but not confident- I feel like a failure.

G: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am simultaneously sinful and lost yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling

R: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.’

G: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.

R: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God.

G: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.

What is the Gospel? Good News part 2

The Gospel is NOT first and foremost a call to higher moral standards and adherence to a strict list of do's and don'ts. It is news to be heard and believed...

The word "Gospel" meant in the original Greek language - Good News. The Gospel is the Good news that Jesus died for our sins and was buried and raised from the dead. That the Gospel is NEWS is very important. Webster's online dictionary defines news as: 1 a: a report of recent events b: previously unknown information . This is not a new definition, the first century Greek reader of the Bible would have understood 'news' in the same way. 'News' is a report of an event that has taken place. It is information that was previously unknown. The Gospel then is NEWS - it is a report of an event that has already taken place. It is information that was not known. The event of the Gospel is that Jesus came - He lived - He died for our sins - He was buried - He was raised from death. The event gives us the information - Jesus died for our sins.

In the study, Gospel Christianity, Tim Keller wrote:

* the Gospel is news of what God has done to accomplish salvation through Jesus Christ in history. It is not advice about what we must do to reach God.

* We do not achieve this salvation. We only accept it.

So, I say again, the Gospel is NOT first and foremost a call to higher moral standards and adherence to a strict list of do's and don'ts. It is news to be heard and believed.

This is the 2nd part of a multi-post series answering the question, What is the Gospel? (Part 1)

What is the Gospel? Good News

The question, at first seems simple enough - What is the Gospel? But ask 10 people and you may get 10 different answers! You may even get a few blank stares.

New City Church uses the word 'gospel' very frequently - perhaps too frequently. The problem is not the word itself, but the reality that each hearer of the word - particularly in the deep south - has his/her own definition of the word. We often use the same words in church settings, but not in the same way. So, I want to begin a series of posts on defining the gospel with the hope of bringing some clarity to our New City folks - for Sunday morning teachings as well as MC discussions and hopefully in understanding what it means to live in light of the Gospel. So here we go.

The word itself - Gospel - means Good News. The Gospel is Good News.

What Good News? Paul wrote it this way: 1 Corinthians 15: 1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain. ³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures...

In its simplest form then, the Gospel is the good news that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and raised to life on the third day.