Light the Darkness

Where is My Space?

 Erwin McManus kicked off the Exponential Conference in Orlando in front of a record crowd of 3,000 church planters.  It is believed to be the largest conference of its kind in the world.  His talk was electrifying and set the stage for what was to come in the next three days.  The theme is “Movements.”

 

Erwin used Acts 17 to highlight the life of the Apostle Paul who operated in three spaces.  The first space was the Synagogue.  He was most familiar with the synagogue having grown up a Jew and a Pharisee.  He originally had acceptance there and it gave him a platform to begin.  However, as he began to teach about Jesus and the message of grace, even for the Gentiles, he was rejected by his first space.

 

So he went to the second space which was the marketplace or the culture.  There he debated with people in public space and the gospel gained a hearing.  It wasn’t his home turf and often it was hard to tell who was winning the argument.  But there the Gospel made a greater difference in the culture than in the synagogue.

 

Finally enough people in the second space believed that they opened doors for him he couldn’t open on his own.  He was invited to the third space which was a place you can’t go unless an insider makes the way possible.  He was asked to speak at places like the Areopagus, a place where Greeks debated the meaning of life.  From there he had access to a whole new crowd who were insiders to each other but he, Paul, was welcome even being an outsider because he had an in with those of influence.  It was in this third space where he would make his greatest impact eventually reaching even Caesar. 

 

Erwin’s charge to us is to be aware that we may be drawn to the church as our first space and that feels natural and safe.  However, the church isn’t effecting much change in the culture.  We must venture out into the second space, strategizing how to get the Gospel out into the marketplace and the places of entertainment and recreation.  From there if we gain a hearing we may be invited into the third space, a place we can’t go on our own, but from there the Good News may change another whole group of insiders.  This is how the message of Jesus has penetrated cultures, societies and philosophies for centuries and it is our hope for America in this changing melting pot of a culture that is our world.

 

Yes Jesus, thank you for Erwin’s message.  Right on!  If you want to follow the Exponential conference live you can find the URL at DaveFerguson.org  Enjoy!

 

Bring on day 2!

 

Gary Kendall

New Life at New Life

In 2005 Associate Pastor Ralph Eaton and his family plus Linda Hudson who was our Assistant in Worship Arts moved from Indian Creek to give leadership to New Life Family Church in Shawnee, KS.  Several Indian creek families moved with them to support the ministry. 

This church was our mother church back in 1985 but had moved into some challenging years.  They didn’t have a pastor and many in leadership were reaching a time in their lives when they looked to pass the baton to a younger generation.  The problem was that they didn’t have a next generation of leaders on the horizon.  They talked to our leaders at Indian Creek and asked if we would consider helping.  We were glad to assist. 

After some discussion the best solution seemed to be to give them two of our staff members and to assist them financially for a time. What ensued was very much like a restart effort.  Between now and then there has been a dramatic turn-around.  New Life Family church has new life!

The community is beginning to rally around the vision at New Life.  There were times in those days when the attendance was 50-75.  The first year there was 6% growth, the next 21% and this last three months 26%.  The children’s ministry is growing by 30%.  The young families are coming back.  On their best days they are approaching 200.  New people are finding their way back to God and they recently baptized ten persons.

Much of the reason for the growth is that they are serving in their community.  Last year they received a community service award presented by the Armordale Renewal Association and Mayor Reardon.  This year they have a summer camp with Turner Recreation Center.  They give space to Beacon Behavioral Health, a counseling center, and they host two other churches in their facility, one is Latino and the other Hmong. 

We are so proud of the five families that dived in deep to be the hands and feet of Jesus in KCK.  Way to go!  Thanks for allowing God to use you. You are a great example of the difference a committed few can be.

Gary Kendall

New Church at Sports Bar

I received this note from Mark Krenz, church planter with CMA and I thought you needed to hear the great things God is doing just south of Phoenix through ONE Community Church.

Just thought I’d quickly share with you about the Grand Opening yesterday of our second Sunday morning worship venue (9:00a) at a place called The Gym Sports Bar and Grill. The GYM is about 5 miles away from our other worship venue at a school where worship and ONEkids starts at 10:30a each Sunday.

We sent out the mailer (see below) to 10,000 homes last week. We opened the doors on   Sunday wondering what might happen. We were ready for 50-75 people to come. We set up a great looking stage, put the food out, hooked up the sound, dialed in our video projection and even put our “Church at the Bar” logo on most of the 20+ TVs in the place. We were still finalizing things when people already started showing up.

By 8:45a the place was staring to get really full. By 8:55a the line was out the door, we were scrambling to find seats…and more food, and more worship folders. When we started at 9:00a it was standing room only, and that’s what people did... for the whole worship service. A good number were even sitting in places where they couldn’t even see the stage, and they stayed too. In total 130 people were there. Only about 25-30 of those were people from ONE who came to help and show their support, the rest were all new.

The environment at The Gym was electric. Chris Gwaltney, our worship guy, began to jam on his guitar and lead worship – no band. We were blown away at how people got into it – clapping and even singing. We were having church in a bar! It was a blast. I shared a message in our series “All or Nothing” about overcoming our fears that hold us back from experiencing all God has for us. We looked at the story of Peter and Jesus walking on the water. As I was talking it was so cool to look out from that stage and see that restaurant packed from wall to wall. It's awesome to see the restaurant managers and bartenders behind the bar listening and taking it all in. I’m sure this was unlike anything they’d ever seen before in that place.

I challenged this crowd fill with many unchurched people and curious seekers to take one step toward Jesus on their faith journey. I asked them if they would say to Jesus, like Peter in the boat, “If it’s really you Jesus, then tell me come…” Or, to pray like Peter when he saw the wind and the waves drowning him, “Save me Lord!” Many people raised their hands in response.

We got great feedback as people left. Please pray that we can follow-up with these people. 35 new households gave us their contact info. Many of them indicated their response to the message on their cards saying that they were making a significant change in their lives or recommitting their lives to Christ today. Many told us they are looking for a church home. Pray that God’s spirit would continue to stir in them this week and that they would come back and give us a chance to lead them on their journey with Christ.

It’s neat to see that two years into this now people are contacting us to see if we would partner with them. We have no idea what to expect this Sunday. If the typical 50% of grand opening stat is true, we’d be thrilled with that, but of course are praying for a great return. Guess that’s the fun of walking this journey in faith every day.

Also… Shannon, my wife, gave birth yesterday to Anika Noel Krenz (pronounced On’-i-ca). Mom and baby are healthy and coming home today.  If only all weeks in life could be this grand! God is too good to me.  Thanks again to you Gary and everything CMA has done for us and been to us. Without you, none of this would be possible. Thanks for making a way for us to dream big and lead beyond convention to reach the lost ONE.  What a ride! God is so good. Thanks for all you love, support and prayers!

Mark