Archive for August, 2009
Preaching at BC Hannibal
This Sunday evening I have the honor of being a guest preacher up Highway 61 in Hannibal, Missouri at Believer’s Church, a fellow A29 church. This will be the second time that I’ve had the opportunity to preach at Believer’s Church and they’ve got me on the books to visit again towards the end of next month as well.
I’ll be preaching on “Identity in Christ” from 2 Corinthians 5:21 this week. Believer’s Church meets at 6pm on Sunday evenings at 1101 Broadway, Hannibal, MO.
Acts 29 Year in Review
Mars Hill Church in Seattle is a supporting church of Project 2 Pillars. Recently, Mars Hill released their annual report which they graciously make available to the public. While there are a number of things that are amazing about what God is doing in and through the ministry of Mars Hill, I want to draw specific attention to one specific page of the annual report which documents some stats about Acts 29 and the growing breadth of a movement of the gospel through this church planting network of which we are apart:
- 70,000 – Visits to acts29network.org during April (monthly record)
- 62,000 – Average weekly worshipers across all Acts 29 churches
- 2,450 – People attended one of six Acts 29 boot camps in the past year
- 2,417 – Members on Acts 29′s Facebook page
- 800 – Pastors trained internationally in the past year
- 499 – New applicants in the past year
- 339 – Current applicants
- 256 – Total Acts 29 church plants (173 full members, 83 current candidates – we’re one of the 83)
- 135 – Church planter assessments in the past year
- 53 – New churches planted directly through Acts 29 churches in the past year
- 22 – New church planting coaches being trained this year
- 7 – Board members working in unity
- 1 – Approved Western European church planter
A Myth of Grace
I had the privilege of preaching at Summit Community Church two weeks ago on the myth that under grace, we are not to judge others. The point of the sermon was to explore how, as Christians, we are not to judge those outside the body of Christ but for those inside the body, we are not to be slow to call sin “sin.”
I’ve linked the audio below. You can also find it on my SermonCloud page.
Strategic Partner Spotlight: Core Community Church
This post is intended to introduce you to our newest Strategic Partner – Core Community Church. Core is an Acts 29 church in Omaha and as of a few weeks ago, joins the ranks of Coram Deo and The Summit as well as Acts 29 as strategic partners of Project 2 Pillars.
Core was planted roughly nine years ago by Ethan Burmeister. I first met Ethan at an Acts 29 bootcamp here in St. Louis and to be honest, my first impression of Ethan was that of an eclectic mix between a pretty boy and a biker. I really wasn’t sure what to do with him. Over time, we began to converse more and Ethan eventually invited me up to introduce Project 2 Pillars to the folks at Core after one of their services. Following service that Sunday, I shared lunch with and got to meet the other pastors at Core. At that time, they expressed their interest in supporting the work we were up to in Lincoln, but really needed some time to pray and seek God’s will regarding what exactly that would look like.
As things have developed, I’ve also gotten to know Doug Stevens, the executive pastor at Core quite well and even was invited up to preach at Core on the topic of church planting a few weeks ago. Following my sermon, my family and I got to spend some time hanging out with several of the people of Core and have grown to deeply repect and appreciate the work that God is doing in and through His people there.
As a strategic partner, Core is helping Project 2 Pillars in some specific ways – namely through financial support, informal mentoring and coaching, as well as networking and connecting us with folks in Lincoln (because as I’ve said before, everyone in Omaha knows someone in Lincoln). In addition, I’m grateful for the brotherhood that exists between our two efforts which are really the same effort to glorify Jesus and proclaim the gospel.
Core meets at the Omaha Playhouse on Sunday mornings. You can learn more about Core by visiting their website and by following their Pastor’s Blog. In addition, I would also encourage you to check out the Core Vision Video linked below and listen to an especially helpful sermon on the history of Omaha and the history of Core preached by Pastor Doug Stevens which you can find on their Sermons Page (the sermon is entitled “Omaha” and was part of the ‘Movement’ series they just concluded).
Weekend Recap
What a crazy, busy, and productive weekend in Lincoln. Here’s a recap.
Friday
- Woke early to do some seminary work.
- Full day at work getting a new design released (one of the more stressful aspects of my job).
- Lunch with a potential supporter.
- 3pm beer with my boss at Trail Head in downtown St. Charles.
- Home to pack and hang with the family before hopping on a flight to Omaha.
- Did a WiFi squat at a McDonalds between Omaha and Lincoln to take a seminary exam online.
- Met a friend and a guy named Kevin Hagemoser at Barrymore’s in Lincoln. Kevin is an entrepreneur-type that works at Firespring.
Saturday
- My 6:30am appointment canceled on me so I slept until 6:45am, showered and hit up the new Panera to gather my thoughts for the day.
- Met Chris Ruskamp for the first time at the Coffee House at 8:30am.
- Met up with Adam Stahr at 10:30am at Cafe Indigo to talk social networking, Project 2 Pillars, and church in general. Really encouraged by this guy and glad to have a dude that knows all things social networking/social media involved in our plant.
- Got stood up for lunch at the Watering Hole but that didn’t stop me from enjoying some wings.
- Short break and a stop-off at Kinkos before then meeting up with Jason Nabb and two of his sons back at Cafe Indigo at 2pm. Jason started Purelight Productions in Lincoln.
- Coffee with a guy named Nate at the Mill who is well connected in the city.
- Indie beer at Yai Yai’s with Jake Meador, Opinion Editor at the Daily Nebraskan (UNL campus paper).
- Dinner at Blue Orchid with my friend Jeff McCray and his folks who were in town from the Colorado Springs area.
- Spent an hour in Dr. McCray’s office in Westbrook Music Hall on campus giving an ear to him doing some worship music on the piano. Really excited to see where God takes this as Jeff is gifted in some amazing musical ways.
- Capped the night with about 8 dudes (and my cousin Jessica) at Zen’s. All are interested in being a part of Project 2 Pillars.
Sunday
- Breakfast with my buddy Tom and a gal named Jessi at the Mill.
- Worship with Tom at Grace Chapel (PCA church at 40th and Sheridan).
- Lunch with Pastor Tom Barber of People’s City Mission (a great organization doing amazing things in Lincoln) at the Cracker Barrel. Tom has an amazing read on the needs in the city of Lincoln and listed out a few holes that he thought we might be able to fill as a young church in the downtown area. Great conversation. Great things for us to pray over as a church plant in the city.
- Caught a 5pm flight back to St. Louis where my wife and girlies were waiting at the airport to pick me up.
- Relaxed on the deck with Meg and discussed the weekend while the girls ran around in the yard chasing bunnies.
