Jesus Fame

Just wanted to give you a heads up regarding what is going on with The Bridge church plant.

In June I was contacted by Aaron Santini, a church planter planting “The Crossing” with CrossWay Chapel (a local church planting network associated with Mountain View Com. Church in Fort Collins), he wanted to meet like minded church planters and he had heard about me through Acts 29. After meeting a few times and discussing our vision, goals, and plans we began to discuss the idea of joining our efforts for the sake of the Kingdom. It is almost uncanny how similar Aaron and I are in theology, philosophy, and vision. So after a few months of praying and getting to know each other Aaron and I have decided to join The Bridge and The Crossing…in fairness to one another we have decided to change the name of the new church (which was really difficult for me because I absolutely love the name The Bridge =)

That is however a small sacrifice for what this joining of efforts is going to bring to the Kingdom. The new name will be “Missio Dei” which means mission of God in Latin. Both Aaron and I felt that this name encapsulates our theology and the vision of our church plant very well and will also create some great opportunities to share the gospel when people ask what in the world “Missio Dei” means. =)

The Crossing has been meeting in Aaron and Rita Santini’s home for about 6 months and they have about 40 adults and 20 children attending. Starting this Sunday evening we will begin meeting together at the Evangelical Covenant Church at 6pm. We will continue with our plan of holding a series of preview services (third Sundays of Oct, Nov, and Dec) and launching on Sunday January 17th at 10am at the TR Paul Academy of Arts and Knowledge. The joining of The Crossing and The Bridge will instantly give both groups critical mass and great momentum as we will now have approx. 60 adults and 30 children to launch the church with, not to mention the multiplication of servants, gifts and leadership abilities that both groups will bring each other.

Aaron and I are a lot alike but we are also very different in our gift sets. Aaron is passionate about small groups (we will call them Life Groups), discipleship, and pouring into men (the ground war). I am gifted as the big picture guy and overseeing things like administration, media (website, audio video stuff), marketing, and our mission will be my responsibilities (the air war).

Aaron and I will share the preaching duties and work together to formulate a preaching schedule ahead of time. We will teach through books or passages of Scripture so it will be very easy to keep continuity while also creating some variety in preaching style and perspective.

Aaron and I are both passionate about church planting and our vision is to plant churches up and down the 1-25 corridor and beyond. There are approx. 4.5 million people in the front range region and we believe that church planting is the most effective method in reaching these people with the gospel. In order to make this vision happen we must train young men to be pastors and leaders and therefore Missio Dei will have a Pastor’s School where men can be equipped to lead as elders both at Missio Dei and elsewhere as church planters.

Please keep Missio Dei and all that is involved here in prayer. We have some other big decisions to make in the near future and we are excited about all that God is doing and is going to do!

During our gatherings on Sunday nights we are studying through the book of Nehemiah. One of the reasons I chose to teach through Nehemiah as we are establishing The Bridge here in Fort Collins is due to Nehemiah’s heart for the city of Jerusalem. When Nehemiah heard the news of Jerusalem’s plight he sat down and wept for many days. His heart broke for the condition of his city.

When was the last time your heart broke for the condition of your city? Nehemiah was simply displaying the heart of His God. A heart that compelled Jesus to humble Himself by taking on human flesh and then willingly become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). This was Jesus’ mission…to restore humanity and all of creation back to its created goodness (Gen. 1:31 cf. Rev. 21:5).

It is my desire to plant a church here in FoCo that is on this same mission with God (John 20:21). A church with a heart that bleeds for the city, a city filled with broken and devastated people who desperately need to be restored and redeemed by their Creator.

Will you join God on this mission?

Here is a poem written by Francis DuBose that really captures the heart of what it means to be missional (Thank you to Tommy O’Keefe for making me aware of this great piece).

I choose the city…

Not simply to live in it,

to see it,

to hear it;

But to touch it;

yes, to embrace it,

to hold it,

To feel the wild glory of its

pulsating soul,

To move over its wide,

hurried broadways,

To stand stilled and sobered

at the nowhere of its dead-end streets,

To be trapped with it in its

pain and problems,

To be at once chilled by its ill

and covered with its confetti.

I choose the city because I choose God,

Because I choose humanity,

Because I choose the divine-human

struggle–

The struggle which will be won

Not in the serene path through

meadow and wood,

among the bees and birds, and flowers,

But in the city street

Made by the hand of man

Through the gift of God–

Main Street: the final battle field,

The scene of the ultimate struggle,

Where man chooses right

Because he is free to choose wrong.

Babylon, dirty and daring–

Babylon, yes–

Babylon today–

Tomorrow…

The New Jerusalem!

I hope to write a long sappy post about how much I love the people of Calvary Chapel Crook County sometime soon but I wanted to throw this video up, that some of the guys put together for Andrea and I for our going away party Sunday.

Please pray for us as we are leaving here next Tuesday and hope to be in Fort Collins Wednesday night. This is much more difficult than I ever anticipated it to be.

[vimeo 5898224]

I’m reading several books right now…if you are a pastor or church planter I recommend each of them. Not because I agree with everything that’s written but because I think it will challenge you and help you to think through things that you may not otherwise.

1. Launch “Starting a new church from scratch” (Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas)

2. Lost and Found “The younger unchurched and the churches that reach them” (Ed Stetzer)

3. Planting Missional Churches (Ed Stetzer)

Rory Rodgers begins his work here tomorrow…we will introduce him to the church and then he and I will work together in transition for about a month. My last Sunday here at CCCC will be Sunday August 9th. I can hear the collective cheers from those who are excited about our departure.

Seriously we are going to miss this church, this community, and it is going to be really difficult to leave this behind. We are however confident that God is in this and that He is going to continue pouring out His blessings upon CCCC through the leadership of Rory and that He is going to begin a new work in Fort Collins through the planting of The Bridge.

On a completely different note…Riley Taylor, the son of Wayne Taylor (pastor of Calvary Fellowship in Seattle), has put together some stinkin’ hilarious videos for a teaching series in the book of Acts. Here is Acts 1…you can find the rest on youtube or around the web.

[youtube WO0PKQiZROE]

Wow…it’s been two weeks since I’ve written a post here. Life is pretty much a blur right now. I returned from the Calvary Chapel Senior Pastor’s Conference Saturday evening (the conference was a blast by the way), as soon I landed we met with some friends who moved away a few years ago and happened to be in town visiting family. As soon as we hugged them and said goodbye a family who is praying about joining the church plant in Fort Collins arrived from out of town to meet with us over the weekend. We had an awesome time getting to know them and praying for God’s will for their lives. Since their departure for home, on Monday after breakfast, I have been going non-stop trying to balance pastoring Calvary Chapel Crook County, the transition of the new pastor, and preparing to plant The Bridge in Fort Collins.

Speaking of the transition, the elders and I have selected Rory Rodgers, youth pastor from Calvary Chapel Corvallis, as my replacement here. He will begin Monday July 13th; he and I will work together for about a month. During which time he will teach the Wednesday night Bible study through the Old Testament and I will continue preaching on Sunday mornings. He will officially take over as Lead Pastor on Monday August 17th.

My last Sunday here at Calvary Crook County will be Sunday August 16th. After which time my family and I will be moving to Fort Collins to begin The Bridge Church plant. We are extremely excited for all that God has in store here in Prineville, as well as the great work He is going to establish in Northern Colorado.

Please pray for my family as we make this transition. Please pray for Rory, Lindsey, and little Russell as they move to Prineville. Pray for Calvary Chapel Crook County during this time of pastoral change. Finally pray for Fort Collins and The Bridge!

Here is a link to our plan for the next 6 months of The Bridge church plant.