Values

About five minutes ago, as I sat in my bed working on a rubik's cube, these ideas came to me as potential values for Journey Church people... Tell me what you think. This is the first draft.

At Journey Church, we...

• Depend on God
• Declare the Gospel
• Display Grace
• Do good

We depend on God for all things - salvation, wisdom, guidance, resources, relationships. Everything!

We declare the gospel becasue it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believes. (Romans 1:16)

We display grace to people regardless of their past or present situation.

We do good, because we were created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

please tell me what you think...

Good Questions

Here's some good questions a friend asked today.

1. When will the plant start?

• Ideally, the best time to start a church is in September. The second best time after early fall is January. At this point, it seems January is going to be a good time to start. CCC has asked me to stay with small groups stuff until September 15. After the 15th, I'll be fully devoted to getting the church plant started.

2. Where are we meeting?

• At this point, we're trying to secure Thomas Elementary School for the plant. It is located on hwy 370 about a half mile east of the High School. It has adequate parking and a great sized gym.

3. What about Wednesday night stuff for children?

• Don't know the answer to this. Without a facility, we'll have to think creatively about programs. It may be we don't have a traditional Wednesday night program. But we just don't know right now...

thanks for asking questions... Keep them coming!

What's the Difference?

Why a church plant instead of a Multi-site?

There isn't any single clear answer here, other than to say that we believe God asked us to travel the church plant road instead of the multi-site road. Both Multi-sites and church plants have their strengths and weaknesses. Both are being used by God like crazy to reach people for the gospel.

The mantra of a multi-site church is, "One church in many locations." So CCC will eventually have a large number of 'sites' where they meet. (The first site was probably Access, eight years ago!) Each site will look different depending on its location. But the leadership of these sites remain the same. Same elders, same lessons, same vision, same DNA.

A church plant will need an entirely new set of all of these things. While both of these strategies pull people into leadership, a church plant allows for leadership at levels that are presently occupied at the sending church. In that way, they are natural leadership catalysts.

In the end, I think both endeavors fulfill the mandate to make disciples. There's far more in common with each other than different.

What's in a Name?

Some have asked about a name for the church plant. Right now we're planning on calling it "Journey Church".

Why? I believe we are all on a journey with God that doesn't end until we breath our last breathe. Some people are very very far from God. Some even view him as their enemy. For these folks, the journey has not yet begun. Other people have grown up serving the Lord their entire lives. These folks too have more steps to take. None of us ever arrive. All of us are in the adventure of a lifetime. All of us have a next step in our journey.

Some know my friend Joe Darago, who planted a church in Peoria, Arizona. You may know that he serves in a church called Journey Church. Am I copying him? Yup. And I intend to copy a bunch of his stuff too. That guy does good work down there in Arizona. Check out his web site for proof. (http://www.lifeisajourney.org/) I hope you like his website. I'm going to copy that too, hopefully.

Do you have other ideas? Second Alliance Church of Gretna perhaps? Leave your comments for consideration!

What do you want to be famous for?

If you were going to start a new church, what would you want the church to be known for? What characteristics should come to mind with the church you want to plant? What will be the 'DNA' of this new church?

Jim and I have been discussing this question a lot lately. Here's our first draft of what we consider to be guiding values for this new church endeavor... (They are all equally important)

• We value God above all, and we value His purpose for our lives.
• We value people regardless of their past, and desire to plant a church where people feel they can belong, even before they begin to believe.
• We value people’s spiritual journey with Christ, regardless of where they are in that journey. We believe everyone has a next step to take in their walk with Christ. We want people to be challenged to take that step.
• We value practical love expressed to our city and world.

In short, we want to plant a church for people who don't like church. Come to think of it - maybe that's what we should name it! Welcome to "The Church for People who don't like Church."

What do you think? If you were planting a church, what would be the important values you'd champion? Leave your comments. We might rip off some of your suggestions!

Isn't there already a CMA church in Gretna?

CCC is part of a denomination called the Christian and Missionary Alliance. I came to know Christ in a CMA church, attended a CMA college, and have served in CMA churches since I began ministry in 1991. Naturally I would look to partner with the CMA to plant this church.

Interestingly, there is already a CMA church in Gretna. One may ask - Why start another one?

I think every church is unique. And God is able to use a variety of churches to reach a variety of people. No one church is going to be uniquely poitioned to reach an entire town.

At Christ Community Church, there are two church services that occur simultaneously every Sunday morning. In the sanctuary, we have a blended service. In the gym, we have Access. Access is more of a guitar and praise band type of service. At CCC we have people who attend the service that helps them worship best. There is no 'competition' between Access and Sanctuary.

In the same way, I think the Gretna Community Church that is already there and this new church can cooperate together to reach a larger group of people. If two services can cooperate under the same roof, I think it's possible for two churches in the same denomination to serve together in the same town. Truthfully, I think it brings strength to the denom to have two different looking churches that both share the same vision - helping people connect with God!

Jim Warren

One of the most interesting aspects of this adventure is how God led Jim Warren and I to have a similar heart for a church plant. As a matter of fact, about the same time I was speaking to my denomination about planting another church in the Omaha area, Jim Warren was having a cup of coffee with Ian Vickers. Jim was explaining to Ian that he felt God was calling him to consider a church plant in the Gretna area. Ian told Jim, "I think I know someone you should talk to..." and a few days later Jim and I were comparing notes.

We both desired to plant an externally focused, community church. So on my next day off Jim and I spent a few hours in Gretna. We noticed how fast the community is growing. (Gretna is the fastest growing city in the state, percentage wise, and has been for quite a number of years) We also noticed that there were only six churches in town. We looked at many acres of yet to be developed farmland. We drove through the many developments that had cement trucks pouring foundations.

One of the interesting things about Jim is that he was once mayor of Gretna. When I suggested it would be interesting to find out if there were any schools available to plant a church in, we were sitting in the school superintendants office within an hour. By the time we left, we had discovered that there is a school in Gretna with adequate parking and space to use. We discovered the price was extremely reasonable, many thousands of dollars cheaper than OPS would have charged. We also were asked by Dr. Riley if we would consider sponsoring a Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter in the High School.

In a few short hours, God had brought us to...

• The fastest growing area of the state
• to an underchurched area
• with a location available at a fraction of what it might have been
• with an invitation from the school superintendent to help start an FCA group in the school.
• and with the potential of partnering with the well respected, one time mayor, Jim Warren.

Needless to say, I walked away extremely encouraged with the days events. Honestly, I drove away feeling that God had opened doors that demanded I walk through. I prayed on the way home, "Lord, if it's not the Gretna area, you are going to have to speak very loudly, because it seems like all systems go right now."

The next question I began to ask was, "What will this church look like?"