Onward...

The last Sunday as Southwood Hills Church for me and people in Mansfield, Ohio was last Sunday, Sept. 27th, 2009. It was a great service and many people said positive things about our past and even better hopes for our future. I'm very glad to be apart of what God is doing in Mansfield, Ohio!

I went to the Forum this week too. It's an annual event the Ohio Ministry Network puts together to provide continued education and special services for pastors in Ohio. The evening services were great and it's always good to see so many friends. It was awesome.

Tomorrow and Friday we prepare for our first VeloCity Church service. I'm so excited about the soft launch of VeloCity Church. Saturday nights will be important for us to maintain momentum going into next Easter Sunday. On Easter Sunday 2010 we go to our Cook Rd. property as VeloCity Church!

VeloCity Church start up plan:

This Sat: We start Soft Launch of VeloCity; meet every Sat. evening
April 4th, 2010 Easter Sunday: Hard Launch for VeloCity; Sunday's on Cook Rd.
Fall of 2010: Grand Opening for VeloCity Church; Sunday's and beyond

Stay tuned... we're moving onward!

Jumping from the boat....

I am fortunate to be who I am, where I am, married to the one I am, dad to the two best fun loving little kiddo's in the world, and pastor the people I am called to!

I'm walking by faith like never before and I was sharing some of our ministry story with someone recently and they encouraged me to document what God is doing in me and in Mansfield, Ohio.

So here goes - A quick review...

3 years ago I came to Mansfield Ohio to pastor Southwood Hills Church. Bottom line for Southwood Hills Church; a vision from God was necessary and surely coming like a steady steam pulling down the mountain, and I was called into the mix of what God was and is doing in Mansfield, Ohio!

I soon began attending Pastor Tom Blair's staff and prayer meetings on Tuesday's and a relationship began to develop between he and I, and the whole pastoral staff at their church. After some time, Pastor Blair and I started talking about big picture for Southwood Hills. The people needed hope, they needed a challenge, they needed a goal, they needed; A Vision.

Now, three years later, we're just a few days away from our last Sunday morning on Cook Rd. for a 6 month period. We're going to tarp our current church sign, and put up another sign that thanks the neighbors of the neighborhood for the many years of being a good neighbor and bid them good bye as Southwood Hills Church. The plan is, as of Saturday Oct. 3rd, 2009- to meet at Mansfield First Assembly of God on Sat. nights at 5pm until Easter of 2010. On that Easter Sunday morning, we come back to Cook Rd. and launch a whole new ministry as VeloCity Church. The details are many, the workers are few, but I'm sure that God will give energy and rest to our leaders as we trek forward with His divine will for our community through VeloCity Church!

Over the next number of weeks ahead, I think I'll use this blog spot to post updates, tributes, challenges, changes, victories, road bumps, and all the like - tastefully :)

In all, our church leaders and myself are attempting a once in a lifetime opportunity to jump from the boat, walk on some water, and take Jesus by the hand!

This new church plant as VeloCity Church was birthed by the confirmation of many signs from God, words of people, and my personal prayer time!

Pray for VeloCity Church - Mansfield is Moving Forward!

The Success of the Gospel...

"The success of the gospel exasperates its enemies, and it is a good sign that it is getting ground when the powers of darkness are enraged against it." Matthew Henry Commentary from John 4.

When you feel the enemy turning up the heat; stay in the game, stay focused, head up, chin high, be alert, take small steps forward - Our God is the God who exasperates His enemies! God will see you through because you are His and he's responsible for you. He won't leave you hanging, forsake you, or forget about you. He surely won't, He's the one who called you and like a Good Shepard He'll watch out for you, protect you, and lead you and yours forward to a place where the waters are still & the grass is green!

Consider this 3 part approach of living out a successful Gospel in your life- Especially when darkness enrages against you:

1. Accept the truth
2. Tell the truth
3. Be the truth

Boot Camp, Day Two

Fun, fun!

We talked about what God wants to do in our communities today....

Was a great day, lots of work, lots of discussion and dreaming about God moving across our nation as a whole. Churches are different all around town in method, and all around the nation in method as well. No right answer for method, the disciples were gathered in different venues, and they also told Jesus' story from their own perspectives, so we too have to hear form God for the best way to communicate God's Word to others in our community as they can and will receive it best.

We talked Acts chapter 2. The New Testament church in full swing! We talked relationships, teaching the Bible to others, the importance of everyone reading the Bible, eating together, sharing together, watching out for each other, and so many other aspects of a healthy church. We even watched some movie clips to help illustrate and promote discussion on God's vision of church health and talked about Simon Birch and Patch Adams, too! A cool day....

Tonight we did a high ropes course; the kind of thing that exposes some fear, some excitement, some risk, those types of things that we face everyday to a certain level... And certainly the kind of emotions pastoral leaders face when leading God's people.

Rode the Ultra for 30 minutes or so... and went to my room to do my homework for the day!

Was a great day!

...umm, I'm just now posting this article :) I wrote it last week and saved it without posting it cause it was 2am and I was to beat to proof read! The rest of boot camp was totally awesome... more to come on it soon!

Boot Camp

This is my first day at Church Planting Boot Camp. Since our church is planting a church because we love God and love people and want the best for them and our community - and there's never a cookie cutter way of doing things for God, because God is unique, in motion, always challenging us, growing us, and helping us find ourselves in His perfect will.... well, because of all that, there's much learning and seeking God to be done! That's what this week is all about. There are several week long schools going on at once, and it's designed to gather pastors together who are trekking similar experiences so that we can share stories, swap methods, trade prayer requests...most important, pray and keep praying, dream, and find a quiet place for our minds as we listen for God to speak.

Prior to coming there was Biblical and Community research to do; such as study on Moses' leadership and what God wanted to do at that time, also Joshua, David, and a whole list of Bible leaders that had big shoes to fill. -And also interviews in the community with people who have a good pulse on things so we can plan to meet the needs of the people we live near...

The camp is a week of fast paced activity & team discussion to help pastors answer 6 questions about us and our place of ministry:

1. What does God want to do?
2. Who am I?
3. What am I sent to do?
4. Who will do it with me?
5. How will we do it?
6.How will we evaluate the progress?

Stay tuned, this is gonna be BIG!