They did. We will.

M3 Manager

2011-12-20T21:54:00.001-05:00

A few days ago, the WPA District announced the development of a new leadership position within the Missional Multiplication Movement: M3 Manager (you can read a copy of that announcement here). I am honored and excited to step into this tactical leadership role in support of the M3 in WPA by serving our church planters, Church Multiplication Task Force, parent & partner churches, District leaders and the many other groups, organizations, and individuals who are part of this growing movement.

I can't be certain of what questions there may be regarding this exciting move by our District Leadership to make greater investments to see believers, leaders, and churches multiplied, but as we pursue a missional movement with an even greater footprint, there are a couple of answers to questions you might be asking:

Is this just a 'church planting' thing?

The short answer is: no.

The longer answer is:

The M3 Manager will be responsible for many things which includes working closely with church planters. As the M3 Manager, it will be my privilege to help different parties engage in productive dialogue, creating consistent channels for communication.

More than this, the Manager will help make sure high-quality training events are provided for a wide spectrum of our pastors and leaders, including our planters. In order for a Missional Multiplication Movement to have sustainability, providing opportunities for leaders of established and new churches to learn, grow, be impassioned by God's Spirit and engage with different ideas is essential.

For the Movement, it is our belief that this role will help bring us to new levels of efficacy in how we do what we do. Not only by helping to provide learning opportunities and exposure to best-practices, but by streamlining process, procedure, and communication.

How does this effect our church planters?

One of the greatest benefits for our church planters will be having a dedicated point-of-contact as they work through the planting process and engage with the CMTF and our District & General Church leaders. Additionally, I will be implementing various strategic initiatives as the CMTF and DBA move and develop them. Having an M3 Manager means our planters will be able to progress by engaging with our process early and often; by having someone dedicated to helping them step through the exciting and work-intensive process of church planting in WPA, we all have a clearer sense of how, when, and where to move.

I will also get to check in on our planters and discover ways they can be better served and specific ways we can pray for them. Church planting can sometimes feel very, very isolated for planters and partner churches, even in the midst of seeing God do the impossible; having someone like the M3 manager who is able to give dedicated chunks of time and energy to our planters and their partners means the potential for healthier community.

What this doesn't mean:

An extra layer of insulation: The M3 Manager doesn't serve to distance anyone from our strategic leaders or the District--I'm not a red-tape dispenser, but someone to help people navigate our processes and engage with the M3 in Western PA at an increased level of activity and efficiency.

Anyone is leaving their current role: Rev. Shawn Cossin will still be the chairperson of our CMTF and our District Evangelism & Church Growth Director; our Church Multiplication Task Force will still function in much the same way it has thus far; and I will report directly to Rev. Cossin, the Task Force, and the District Superintendent. The desire for the M3 Manager position is that by implementing something like this, each element in our M3 can play to its strengths resulting in greater momentum and reach.

If you have questions about any of this, you're invited to connect with me, Rev. Cossin, or Rev. Swink.

Thanks for your continued partnership in seeing many come to know Jesus and grow to maturity in him!

Grace & Peace,
Jeremiah X. Gomez
WPA M3 Manager

Bridge Family Fun Day

2011-08-29T09:26:00.003-04:00

Dear Friends of The Bridge,

Thank you so much for praying. We had our Family Fun Day this past Sat. and when much of the country was being hit by Hurricane Irene we had an absolutely beautiful day. An hour away they were getting rain. I believe God was smiling down on our day.

We prayed that our volunteers would be bold in sharing their faith and we had one young man pray to get saved. Please pray for this young man who comes with a lot of hurt in his life. Pray that we will be able to effectively disciple him and help him in his new walk. Many of our volunteers had many good conversations with people. Pray that the seed that was planted will bring forth fruit.

We had 6 young mothers want to be a part of our MOPS, Mothers of Preschoolers, group and others expressed an interest in coming. Help us pray for this group. God is using it. The Bridge's very first convert was one of our MOPS moms and there are others in the group who are close to the kingdom. Help us pray that God will send us older ladies who will help us with childcare.

We had 400+/- people come to Family Fun Day, and we made many new connections. This morning there were new people in church because of the event and they all said they would be back. There are others in our community who are showing an interest in our church but haven't made that step in coming yet. Help us pray for these people.

A big shout out goes to all our volunteers. Again we were overwhelmed and blessed by the show of support from our district. We were praying for 75 volunteers and even though we didn't get an exact count we know it was over 100. We couldn't have done it without these people. Our Bridge people were so blessed that so many would come and help us out in this way. Then we were so proud of the people who are coming to The Bridge. Nearly everyone who calls The Bridge home was there working. What a blessing.

We had 24 area businesses who either donated or came and took part in the day.

God continues to move in our community and is using The Bridge to make an impact.

Thank you for praying.

Rick and Eunice

The Bridge

P.S. The picture is part of our awesome group of volunteers. Overwhelming!!!

The Bridge Family Fun Day Prayer

2011-08-22T16:42:00.002-04:00

Dear Friends of The Bridge,

We are needing your prayers. Our second Family Fun Day is Saturday, August 27th. Last year God gave us a wonderful day. This morning the Lord reminded me that we can't run today on the Lord's past blessings. We need God to show up in a fresh new way, but we must call out to Him and ask him to come. We are asking you to hold us up in prayer over the next 10 days.

Pray Requests:

When people drive into the park they would feel the Lord's presence.

(We prayed this prayer last year and we actually had a lady tell us on the way out. "You all must be praying people for I felt the Lord's presence when I came into the park. We want this again this year.)

Most of our Bridge congregation are helping this year.

Pray that God will give them a boldness when talking to people. That they would be

sensitive when people are hungry and will share their faith.

This year we have 3 bands and a drama team performing.

Pray that God will use them to speak to hearts.

Pray that people will have the courage to stop by our prayer tent for prayer and that

God will give wisdom to those working there.

Pray that we will have the number of volunteers we need.

Pray that we will see new people coming to The Bridge through this event and ultimately coming to know Christ.

Pray that we will have good weather as we don't have a back up plan.

If you are able to come on the 27th please do. If you are not able to attend, would you consider praying for us between 1-4 pm on the 27th?

Let's unite our hearts together and believe the hand of God to move!

Rick and Eunice

The Bridge

PS. Please pass this on to your praying friends.

2011 District Conference Update Video

2011-06-16T08:57:00.006-04:00

Three years ago, we publically launched into a process of developing a Missional Multiplication Movement in Western PA, and it is amazing to see it happening!

I love what God is doing in Western Pennsylvania!

As part of our 4th district conference, we were able to celebrate the following highlights:

:: 2 new church plants [The Well & The Bridge].

:: 9 decisions for Jesus in the new churches

:: 2 Parent/Daughtering Churches [Hyde Wesleyan & Collin Creek Community]

:: 2 new church planting couples [Dan & Wendy Bach, Richard & Tonya Cox]

:: 1 additional couple in process

God has done so much. Its amazing, but we're not done.

There is more to come! In fact, the best is yet to come!!

Thank you for you ongoing support!

Here’s the update video if you missed it.

Wesleyan Church Planting Path

2011-05-25T11:20:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of the Evangelism & Church Growth Department of The Wesleyan Church

Here's a different way of looking at the church planting process within The Wesleyan Church, courtesy of our denominational headquarters--it's a good reminder that seeing new churches come to fruition is a continuous journey and an adventure.

Is God speaking to your heart about walking this path as a church planter? If you'd like to know more about how God might be able to use you, contact us.

You can download a copy the Wesleyan Church Planting Path as a .pdf here.

Observations from CPAC Canada

2011-05-14T09:50:00.001-04:00

This past week, I spent several days with pastors from across the Central Canada District of the Wesleyan Church. I was invited up there to help them assesses a group of potential church planters who are seeking to plant in various regions across all of Canada.

It was a great week!

I love meeting with passionate leaders who are facilitating missional Church Planting movements, and these leaders are doing it in Canada! The leadership has an incredible vision that reaches across the nation from one coast to the other!

Here are a few observations from my time with our Northern Brothers & Sisters:

- Great movements require great vision and these leaders have it!

- They also have a community marked by genuine unity and love, which will serve them well. [ref. John 13:35]

- Reaching all of Canada for Jesus is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal [BHAG]...and I love it!

- There’s nothing quite like being in a place of obedience where if God doesn’t show up…we will fail. There is no better place to be.

- When Canadians decide to do something, they’re ALL IN! I believe that pleases the heart of God. [ref. Revelation 3:15-16]

- The men & women I journeyed with this week are pioneers...in every sense of the word. They are blazing trails for Jesus into new places...dark places...places ready for harvest.

I invite you to join me in praying for us and them as we all continue to take the Good News of Jesus to the ends of the earth.

I never grow tired of seeing God raise up men & women to advance His Kingdom. He's doing it in Canada, and He's doing it in Western PA! It’s exciting to see it!

I love that we serve a Global God.

It Doesn't Have To Be This Way.

2011-04-04T12:37:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, the WPA District hosted a special guest, Rev. Phil Struckmeyer, for a couple days of training and equipping. Over twenty pastors, local church leaders, and district personnel were present on Tuesday for ENGAGE, where they were given opportunity to discover the next-steps to take in their own ministry environments.

One of the most powerful elements of ENGAGE was the reality-check of the state of the Church in North America (these bullet points can be found in the video linked here):

Only 18% of Americans attend church on any given Sunday
There are over 200,000,000 non-churched people in America
America is one of the top three largest unreached nations in the world
North America is the only continent where Christianity is not growing
Not a single county in America has a greater churched population than it did ten years ago
4/5 of all churches in America are plateaued or declining in growth

But it doesn't have to be this way, and we don't have to be okay with these facts. The reality is each local church has the call and the resources to engage their community in a powerful way that sees people entering into the hope of life in Jesus. Those in attendance at ENGAGE were sent out encouraged, impassioned, and with the Scriptural mandate to take next steps in changing the above realities in their communities & spheres of influence.

If you'd like to learn more about how you can take your next steps in the movement, contact Shawn Cossin (click on the link to send an e-mail) to find out where you can discover tools and resources available to you.

Thanks to those of you who attended; we invite your feedback on the event and would love to hear how you're taking next steps to engage in the mission! Send your thoughts to Jeremiah Gomez (click on the link to send an e-mail).

5 Axioms

2011-03-10T19:06:00.002-05:00

Five Axioms from Rev. Phil Stevenson, Director of Church Multiplication & Leadership Development, Pacific-Southwest District, Wesleyan Church and former General Director of the Evangelism & Church Growth Department of the Wesleyan Church.

1. No one church can do everything.

2. What a church can do it should do intentionally.

3. Seek God for what your church ought to do.

4. Intentionally do what God has called your church to be about doing.

5. It is not about the everything, but the few things God has called you to do.

A few don'ts from Wesleyan Church planters

2011-03-01T07:12:00.000-05:00

Church planting is a dynamic ministry environment often maintains an element of unpredictability. As my veteran church planter friend, Wayne Otto, puts it, "Usually what we expect is not what we get, and what we get is not usually what we expect."

In light of that reality, here a few “don’ts” from Church Planters at the recent Church Planter Assessment Center.

“Don’t put your office in your home.” - Jerolyn Bogear

“Don’t assume.” - Kevin O’Conner

“Don’t enter into church planting spiritually unprepared.” - Jesse Pratt

“Don’t shortchange your own spiritual growth.” - Jim Bogear

“Don’t be afraid to make ‘the ask.’” [spiritual decision/partnership] - Wayne Otto

“Don’t stop.” - Jim Bowen

“Don’t go in without definition of success.” – Duane Brown

The Bridge Grand Opening

2011-02-21T11:40:00.000-05:00

The following is a note Rick Cox recently sent out in connection the Grand Opening of The Bridge on January 30th:

Rick delivering the Bridge's Grand Opening message

Special Visitors for our Grand Opening

The grand opening of The Bridge was held in the Grand Ballroom of the 3 Lakes Golf Course on January 30, 2011. A group of 65 braved the cold, snowy morning to be a part of the launch of a brand new Wesleyan Church. Excitement was in the air as we greeted visitors from the community; Bridge 'regulars' who had been attending our monthly preview services; visitors from our sister Wesleyan churches around us: our district superintendent and his wife, Randy & Gayle Swink; and one very special visitor, Dr. Thomas Armiger who serves as our General Superintendent of The Wesleyan Church. Each of our visitors gave us a confirmation that our dream was becoming a reality. We sense in a very real way that God's blessing is on The Bridge. Continue to pray for us as we move forward. We not only want to build on the relationships we have in our community, but we also want to continue to find ways of connecting with new families around us who have no church home.

Blanket Distribution

We were able to do another blanket distribution in January. This time we were joined by a gentleman from the community that we met at the first distribution. We were glad to have him helping us. We also received a call from a lady from the community. She had a box of items she was wanting to bring to us for the distribution. As she dropped them off another lady entered the YMCA, who was on the phone and was quite distressed. We found out that she had just received word that her neighbors house had burnt to the ground. We were able to give her a whole box of items that the other lady had dropped off. The box contained sheets and different kinds of bedding items. God had it all planned out before we even got there. We gave away over 50 more blankets along with hats and gloves.

Wind Shield Washer Top Off

January is not an easy month to get out in your community and meet people, but God has helped us find some creative ways to do just that. One way has been the wind shield washer fluid top off. Our volunteers were out on three different Saturdays at several gas stations around our community filling peoples wind shield washer fluid for FREE which ended up being the question of the day, "You mean it's really FREE!?". Our answer was yes! This act of kindness not only allowed us to be a blessing to many people in our community, but it also gave us a chance to promote our new church plant.

"Engage" with Phil Struckmeyer

2011-02-06T10:17:00.000-05:00

The CMTF if excited about the upcoming Spring events. They are going to be great "value adding" events for those already engaged or ready to engage in the Missional Multiplication Movement.

We are thrilled to host Phil Struckmeyer for this event. He is a great guy and a proven practitioner.

We hope you are able to make the most of this opportunity.

Click here to register or copy and past the following link: http://www.wpadistrict.org/engage/

Click on the event picture below for the details.

Lawn Sprinklers and the Church

2011-02-03T07:26:00.003-05:00

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” [John 4:13-14]

I’m no expert, but I recently did some research on lawn irrigation systems. (i.e. lawn sprinklers) It may be an obvious principle, but to effectively irrigate a lawn, a homeowner needs to distribute water to every area of the lawn. Seems simple, right?

The reality is that each sprinkler has a limited range, and cannot reach every area. With only one sprinkler, we will end up with beautiful, lush grass in one area; but the rest of the yard will be brown and dead in no time.

As a result, its essential to install multiple spigots in a pattern that sufficiently covers the lawn. It’s not the most complicated principle, but I share this because there is a similar reality when it comes to church impact and effectiveness.

Each church has a limited reach. Even the most effective and vibrant churches have a limited reach based on a number of factors [i.e. people, geography, etc.] Even with a lot of people and resources, they can only reach so far from one location before issues of distance, culture, etc. become a limiting factor.

That’s why intentionally seeking to multiply believers, leaders and churches is so important!

If we are going to follow Jesus, we will obey what he commands, which means we will seek to fulfill the Great Commission. [ref. Matthew 28:18- 20] In order to do that, we must work to intentionally multiply believers, leaders and churches.

That being said…What is one thing you can do or start doing this weekend to move towards a lifestyle of multiplication?

- Regularly pray for a friend or neighbor who doesn’t know Jesus

- Give financially above and beyond a tithe to support the work of multiplication

- Invite a family from the neighborhood to dinner

- Initiate a spiritual conversation with a friend or co-worker

- Perform a random act of kindness

- Support a new church plant or planter in process

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” – Jesus, John 14:15

Launch of The Bridge!!

2011-01-31T10:14:00.003-05:00

Once again as a district, we have the awesome privilege of celebrating the launch of another new church! I love it!!!

The Bridge Launched yesterday in the Penn Hills, and I can't wait to see what the Lord is going to do in and through them as they advance the Kingdom of God in Pittsburgh.

Take a moment today to praise our God for His faithfulness in this process.

Psalm 150

1 Praise the LORD.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.

2 Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.

3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and lyre,

4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,

praise him with the strings and flute,

5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,

praise him with resounding cymbals.

6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD.

January @ The Bridge

2011-01-15T07:20:00.000-05:00

The rest of this month is going to be pretty busy as we prepare for our official launch/"Grand Opening" of The Bridge and spend time serving our community. We will be hosting preview services, topping-off washer fluid for motorists at local gas stations, hosting a blanket giveaway, and, of course, launching! In between we'll be canvassing neighborhoods, inviting friends and neighbors, sending out postcards, and doing whatever else we can to get the word out to the community.

We have seen the Holy Spirit go before us in amazing ways, and in the next post, I'll share some of the highlights of how he's shown us his favor (it's probably going to leave you speechless). In the meantime, we are asking you to keep the following events as points of serious prayer throughout the month:

Saturday, January 15 -- Washer Fluid Top-Off (Exxon @ 7409 Saltsburg Rd, Penn Hills -- click for map) from 10 am - 1 pm
Sunday, January 16 -- 10:30 am preview service in our new meeting location (Grand Ballroom of 3 Lakes Golf Course)
Saturday, January 22 -- Washer Fluid Top-Off (Sunoco @ 280 Hulton Rd, Verona -- click for map) from 10 am-1 pm
Sunday, January 23
- Final preview service (10:30am @ 3 Lakes Golf Course)
- "Commissioning service" at Sandy Lake Wesleyan Church
Saturday, January 29
- Washer FluidTop-Off (Sunoco @ 6500 Saltsburg Rd, Penn Hills -- click for map) from 10 am-1 pm
- Blanket, Scarf, Glove & Hat Giveaway (@ Penn Hills YMCA -- click for map) from 10 am - 1pm
Sunday, January 30th -- LAUNCH SUNDAY! (1o:3o am @ 3 Lakes Golf Course Grand Ballroom, 6700 Saltsburg Rd, Penn Hills (click for map)).

Thanks for praying. And thanks to to our committed launch team members who are taking an active role in seeing Greater Things coming to Pittsburgh. This wouldn't be happening without you

--
This post is also published at www.jxgomez.com/blog

The Well has Launched!!

2010-09-28T12:03:00.002-04:00

Psalm 150

1 Praise the LORD.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.

2 Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.

3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and lyre,

4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,

praise him with the strings and flute,

5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,

praise him with resounding cymbals.

6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD.

We invite you to join us in praising God for the successful launch of The Well on Sunday September 27th!!

God is so good, and we can't wait to see what He is going to do next.

Keep praying!!

Here is a brief summary from Doug and Karen:

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for your prayers! We had a really rough week. Our website was hacked and various other things happened. We had a wonderful day yesterday. 2 more new families checked us out. We have 2 other families that are getting involved in helping with things at The Well. Is it happening fast, no. It is going to take time but we are encouraged by the new people we are meeting in the community and those that have come for service. From what we've been hearing people weren't sure whether we were a fly by night type thing since we weren't meeting every week. Hopefully now they will see that we are a little more permanent since we've begun weekly service. Yesterday was just the beginning. We are looking forward to what God has in store. Thanks for your prayers!

Karen and Doug

Bridge PreView

2010-09-23T17:15:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, September 12, The Bridge hosted our first monthly celebration--the first of five scheduled preview services--in the Penn Hills Public Library. Because of God's faithfulness (and your prayers!), we are excited to report that we had 51 present! We could clearly see evidence of God fulfilling the dream he has given us for a relevant, engaging, multi-ethnic, multicultural local church in the Pittsburgh area.

As you think of us, please pray for upcoming celebrations: October 10, November 14, December 12, and January 16th as we prepare for our scheduled 'Launch Sunday' on January 30, 2011. We know the Holy Spirit is bringing greater things to Pittsburgh and are excited about what He us already doing!

Thank you, again, for being part of this journey.
From all of us at The Bridge.

The Bridge Family Fun Day!!

2010-09-13T15:13:00.000-04:00

The Well Update

2010-09-01T10:19:00.001-04:00

Upcoming events and updates:

We had our second preview service on August 22nd. 28 were in attendance. Over half were from the community.

Sept. 1^st - pray walk with launch team

Sept. 7^th - Oct. 26^th - we will be hosting a Bible study and light supper for the community.

Sept. 26^th - projected launch date

Oct. 3^rd - Back to Church Sunday

Oct. 6, 12^th, 20^th, 27^th - leaf raking and yard work in the community

We also have one of our launch team members that is looking to begin a women’s Bible study the 1^st of October.

Doug and I begin coaching another U-8 soccer team tonight. We will have all new children and parents that we will be connecting with.

Pastor Noel Meyers from Gearhartville Free Methodist Church contacted all the pastors in the area to have a community wide outreach to encourage people to get back to church. We are excited about this. It will be good to partner with the other churches to reach lost people.

This has also opened up an opportunity for us to advertise on Qwik Rock radio station. It is a secular station. We will be doing an interview along with 10 spot ads.

Karen

The Bridge Family Fun Day

2010-08-31T23:20:00.003-04:00

The Bridge Family Fun Day was a huge success!!

Check out more about the event here.

The Well

2010-08-18T12:40:00.002-04:00

Hi Everyone!

Today we will be walking the neighborhoods with bottles of cold water and pop to once again invite people to the preview service.

Sept. 1st we will be walking the neighborhoods again to give out water and pop and continue to make contact with people in the community. Sept. 15th we will be hitting the local laundromats to give quarters out and talk with people.

Doug and I will also be coaching another soccer team this fall. We have a soccer meeting on Tuesday. Pray for the parents/children and the people of the association that we would be able to be Christ to.

Thanks for your support. This is vital to the ministry that God has for us. We are in this together. We so much appreciate you all!

Love,

Karen and Doug

New District Website

2010-07-16T08:39:00.004-04:00

Check out the new WPA District website by clicking here.

July 18th Preview service @ The Well

2010-07-08T13:26:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are able to stay cool. It sure is hot out there. :-) We are sponsoring a concert with the band "A Day Awaits" on Friday July 16th at 6:00 p.m. Pray that God will bring people out to hear the message that the band will be sharing.

Our first preview service is July 18th at 11:00 a.m. We are working hard to get everything together so that the service will be a good representation of The Well but most importantly that we will represent our Lord and Savior well.

Pray that God would raise up people to help us with junior church and nursery. We don't want our team to get burned out. We are also trying to plan our next preview service. With our team involved in mission trips to Haiti, York Mission and The Bridge we are scrambling for a date in August. If any of you would be willing to help us we would greatly appreciate it. We need help in a lot of areas - even if you would volunteer for 1 Sunday it would help. We are looking at August 22nd or the 29th for our next preview service. We are hoping to begin weekly services the end of Sept. Pray that God would raise up workers in the community to help us.

Thanks for your continued prayer. We can't thank you enough for your faithfulness.

Love, Karen and Doug

Live The Adventure

2010-06-28T18:59:00.000-04:00

Church planting really is an incredible adventure, and there are a variety of ways you can join in this hard but exciting work:

...by praying

• for the multiplication of believers, leaders & churches;

• for current plants, planters, and mother churches;

• for God to raise up new planters and mother churches...

...by affirming publicly the need, value, and mission of church planting...

...by raising corporate awareness by promoting current church plants and planters...

...by providing various resources to current and future church plants...

...by giving/using permission to take part as a church planter, launch team member or other participant.

How will you take part in the adventure?

Gomez Journey/PrayerNote

2010-06-24T09:22:00.002-04:00

The cat is out of the bag.

While I’m not sure just where that expression came from (or why we take it to mean a secret is not-so-secret anymore), we have some news to share.

At our District Conference last monday, our District Superintendent shared The Bridge’s plan to daughter a new church in June of next year. Sarah and I will be the lead planters in what we’re affectionately, for now, calling ‘Bridge 2.0’ and are excited about that next move. This is definitely a big step, but it’s part of an even bigger dream of developing an urban church planting and training center from which church planting teams are prepared and sent throughout the region, nation, and globe. It’s an impossible vision that will take the activity of God’s own Spirit to accomplish--and that excites us to no end!

For now, we ask you to pray for us as we identify the people and place where the next church will be. We have some ideas, but we need to be doubly sure we are focused on where God is already moving rather than just choosing something based on selfish desire.

In the meantime, we’re fully engaged with The Bridge and are ramping up to a busy summer ministry season. Please keep the following dates/events in mind as you pray for us and the ministry of The Bridge:

Sunday, June 27: Sharing at First Wesleyan in Shippensburg, PA
July 7-July 11: Youth volleyball clinic with the women’s volleyball team from Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Our largest event of the summer will be a free Family Fun Day at a local park on Saturday, August 28th; already churches and groups are signing up to take part in helping us offer a meaningful, engaging and totally free event that allows us to serve our community and get to know our neighbors as well as (hopefully) building momentum for our first preview service in September.

Thank you for taking this journey with us and praying for us.

We’re honored to have you in our corner.

Jeremiah, Sarah, and Jubilee

From the Well

2010-06-22T07:22:00.000-04:00

Greetings Everyone!

We had a great block party! Thank you for your prayer coverage. God provided a wonderful sunny day! We didn't have a huge crowd - about 45 people attended. However, we made some good contacts and had about 8 people that expressed real interest in coming to The Well.

We are hosting a picnic on July 27th and asking some of the people we've become friends with to come. Pray that we as a launch team will be able to connect with them even more.

"A Day Awaits" is coming to play at Cold Stream Dam on July 16th at 6:00 p.m. for us. We are hoping to reach the teens and young adults. Pray for good weather and that people will come to hear the band. They are all college students and do a great job. They played for the district lock-in several months ago and the teens from the district really enjoyed them.

We will be having a preview service on July 18th at 11:00 a.m. at 1 North Front St. Cafe Books Events. The coffee shop owner once again was an answer to our prayers. We are able to rent an office space 24/7 with use of a larger room once a week for our Sunday morning service for $550.00 a month. We were excited about this as we won't have to load and unload sound equipment and nursery/junior church supplies every Sunday. We will store them in the office space during the week. Plus we will be able to have small groups in the office space.

We also have some people that may be interested in being in a worship band for us. Pray that God would continue to bring that all together. We are so thankful for our launch team. They have been doing a great job. Pray a hedge of protection around them. As we near launch, Satan is throwing more problems our way. We know that God has the victory we just need to keep our focus on Him and the mission we are on with Him.

Pray for Doug and I as it sometimes feels like you're in the trenches all alone. We know we're not but the work load is enormous and the to do list is big. You find yourself thinking and living the church plant 24 hours a day. We realize that we need to pull back and remember who we are as a couple and as individuals. We've gotten so busy being church planters we've forgotten to be husband and wife. We just won tickets to Creation Festival for next week so that will be a nice getaway for us. We are planning short day trips just to catch our breath too.

We praise Hyde Wesleyan for having a "baby" shower for us. We were showered with many wonderful gifts which will be a great help. Two of the churches in our district are preparing backpacks for us to give away in the fall. We are so thankful for them. We are thankful to all of you who are supporting us in some way -financially, prayerfully or actually physically helping us. Keep praying ! God is moving and working!! Lives are being touched and it's because of your obedience to the part God would have you to play in The Well and it's ministry.

If there is any thing we can pray for you about please let us know. We love and appreciate you all!

Karen and Doug

Seven.

2010-06-21T11:19:00.005-04:00

In the June 7th Forbes Magazine, Rich Karlgaard noted some of the shared characteristics those companies which seem to have grown stronger and better despite the Great Recession. His article is good and well worth the read, but I’m taking those ‘seven secrets’ and applying them to how we’re thinking at The Bridge:

Design.
I’m not a designer, I’m not even artistic. But it doesn’t take too much to see bad design--in fact,in the past, I think a lot of our effort was just avoiding bad design. Our design is getting better…thanks to GotPrint, t-shirt producers, and Cloversites, I don’t have to be an incredible designer to have good design. We could be better, and we’re growing, but I’m glad we’re not settling for “free” when an investment in design speaks volumes about us. We’re moving to a place where we’re pursuing beautiful design rather than just running away from bad design. I’m excited about that.

Speed.

In general, things are moving much faster than we thought they would…and this is building serious momentum--we’re planning to launch and daughter faster than we thought could happen. We can’t take credit for this, but it’s happening. We also are focusing on making sure we follow up fast and do what we said we would when we said we would.

Cost.
We’re working hard to show that when someone invests in The Bridge, we’re being wise in how we expend limited resources. ‘Cost’ for us has less to do with what a customer gets from us, but how we manage the results we demonstrate to our investors. In our community, it also means ‘free’ doesn’t suck. We’re trying to do as much as we can at no cost to the people we’re ministering to… but we’re trying to do it as though they paid a premium to be there.

Service.
When it comes to our investor churches, we genuinely believe they are getting something by partnering with us, whether it's people who participate and take a renewed passion back, or a sense of legacy, there are many benefits to being part of what God is doing through The Bridge in Pittsburgh. But when it comes to serving our community, after just a couple of events The Bridge is already ‘the church that gave the free car wash--that’s great!’ We’re finding fun ways to show our community we care, we want to know our neighbors, and that God really loves them.

Communication outside.
Right now, this has to do mostly with face-to-face contact. Rick, especially, has been knocking on doors and being ‘the face’ of The Bridge. This will only go so far, and we’re analyzing where to best put some communications dollars: radio? adsense? street corner with a sandwich board? As we learnour community more and more, we’ll discover the best ways to communicate outside.

Communication inside.
We could do a better job at keeping launch team members on the same page, but we're learning how to make sure communication among senior leadership is open. Thanks to GoogleDocs, Calendar sharing, and Facebook, we’re growing in our communication and how we collaborate; we’re not ‘there’ yet… but I think we’re well on our way.

Purpose.

We’re here to help people connect with Jesus and see them grow in His likeness. More than that, we’re here to keep doing that by planting churches that plant churches to reach those far from God. The Bridge exists to love, learn, and live Jesus Christ in our context at whatever cost. We hope we have the purpose thing down… now it’s a matter of staying on mission when things, good and bad, tempt us to drift.

Why not run down the list yourself and give your church/organization a quick checkup?

District Conference CMTF Video

2010-06-17T23:05:00.005-04:00

Here's another look at the CMTF video in case you missed it.

The best is yet to come!

Gomez/Bridge PrayerNote

2010-06-07T10:37:00.005-04:00

We want you to know that God is indeed hearing and answering your prayers; here's a bit of what God has done and what he is doing:

CELEBRATIONS FROM LAST WEEK:

On Wednesday, Rick and I were able to attend the Community Development meeting in Penn Hills. It was encouraging to see the crowd gathered looking to serve their community and find ways to make the quality of life for everyone just a little bit better. We were able to get a sense of what the people in the community are worried about (many school closures and what will happen with the vacant property), what they are celebrating (a new community garden), and what needs they see (identifying different needs in different neighborhoods).

On Saturday, 10 members of our launch team connected in conversation with various people through the use of Community Surveys. The insights gained were good, and it seems a number of relational doors were opened.

Also on Saturday, Sarah and I attended the pool party for our apartment complex and were able to meet new friends, gain insight into where we live, and even connect with some community leaders.

EVENTS THIS WEEK:

This Saturday, we’ll be hosting a free car wash for the people of Penn Hills. We’re hoping to serve people and continue building on the relationships God has opened to us. Please pray for open doors for ministry and for us to connect with people far from God.

“BIG NEEDS”:

We are praying that God would allow us to help twenty people who don’t know him cross the line of faith and fall in love with Jesus this summer. Please pray that God directs us to people whose hearts he is already stirring and that we would connect with people in the right way for them to hear/receive the Best News Ever.

Sarah and I are in the process of seeking God’s face to get a sense of where the next church plant will be--the design of The Bridge is as a 'pregnant church plant,' and we know we need to be actively pursuing the vision of multiplication. Please ask God to shower his grace on us, that we would sense clearly where he is already working and that he would birth his vision inside of us.

With a growing family comes changing needs. We are asking God for the provision, in his timing, of a family vehicle that comfortably fit parents, a baby, dogs, and all of the ‘stuff’ that comes with us as we travel.

Please continue to pray for the sale of our house in Carlisle. We know the right buyer at the right time will come our way; in the meantime we are in need of God’s provision and continued patience.

We can't tell you how much we are enjoying this adventure of faith--thanks, again, for taking this journey with us.

Have a great week!

Jeremiah, Sarah, and Baby Jubilee!

(Don't forget to check out The Bridge's website at www.BridgePGH.com!)

5 by 2012

2010-06-02T12:55:00.003-04:00

For more information go to www.theydidwewill.org.

Memorial Day and the mission

2010-05-30T21:19:00.001-04:00

The following is an e-mail I received from our brother Rick Cox a few days ago that I thought you would enjoy. Rick and Jeremiah Gomez are currently working to establish a church planting movement in Pittsburgh, PA.

In just a few days we'll all be celebrating Memorial Day. For some it has become a time to grill hot dogs and enjoy time with family or friends. Regardless of what we do over the weekend, the thought itself is rather profound. I like the reminder to take a moment to remember. As we have travelled around the the district promoting church planting, I have found the district motto 'They did. We will." has caused many of us to stop and remember. It has been an interesting journey. I have been a part of this district for 15 years, and in all of that time, I didn't realize that the McKeesport church had daughtered the Armbrust church, nor did I realize the Ashland church daughtered the Hyde church. Our latest find came from our visit to the Loganton church. You could tell the church had been well prepared for our visit. They knew why we were visiting and what we were doing. The Q&A time at the end of the service was amazing. One person spoke up and said "when they planted our church they said we need to pray for the meanest guy in the community to get saved. The man that they prayed for was my Grandpa!" A number of his family members are now currently attending the Loganton Church, and they all realize they would not have a church today if somebody hadn't stepped out in faith and said we will!

It is good to remember, but the district motto isn't built on memories alone. It doesn't just say they did! It also says we will. It requires action. Our missions experience taught us that when we stepped out in faith to go, we did not do it alone. Today, nearly 2/3 of our district churches have stepped up to the plate and said if you go, we will go with you. Your prayers, your provision, and your participation are enabling us to be here in Pittsburgh, and we want to say thank you!

Just remember...for a church to have a future, her dreams must be bigger than her memories! We could paraphrase Jesus' comment by stating 'a church cannot live on memories alone!' We've got to have action.

Pray for us as we build The Bridge in Pittsburgh East!

Rick, Eunice, & Trevor

The Missional Church

2010-05-21T15:58:00.001-04:00

Here's a great video that reinforces our need to "go" in order to fulfill the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Update from "The Well"

2010-05-12T06:41:00.001-04:00

Launch team(Innovators) is currently meeting in Philipsburg at the coffee house once a week. One week we had 4 people from the community join us. We have asked one lady if she would consider being part of the Innovators.

Loss Support Group continues to meet at the coffee shop every Tuesday evening. The lady that is unchurched continues to come and has invited a friend to come too. We have had a few new people join us.

Doug and I are having fun coaching the 6-8 year old soccer team. We have been able to connect with many of the parents and people on the board of the soccer association. Relationships continue to be built.

We have been actively pursuing a rental facility for our launch. We continue to pray. We have not found any thing as of this writing.

Innovators have the opportunity to help with a 5k and 10k race at Black Moshannon State Park Memorial Day weekend. We will wear our Well t-shirts to the event as we work at the event.

The Well will be hosting a block party at Cold Stream Dam(a well known park in Philipsburg) on June 12th from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

It was a bit disappointing as the Heritage Days committee doesn’t seem to be open to us helping with Heritage Days. This was our big event for July. We have opted to wear our t-shirts and go to Heritage days and just support it that way. We are looking for another effective outreach.

Doug and I have met with 3 of the clergy from Philipsburg. We have been invited to come to the ministerium meeting to “fill” them in on what we are doing. One church just obtained a bulk mailing permit and has started to send out bulk mailings. We met with this pastor to reassure him that we weren’t after his church people.

Contacted Penn State Campus Crusade and Disciple Makers Fellowship to see if they would have any one that may be interested in lending us a hand with music or canvassing.

We have also contacted a few churches to see if anyone would be interested in coming to The Well and helping with children’s ministry once in a while.

One of our launch team members is organizing a “baby” shower at Hyde Wesleyan for our nursery.

Exponential Reflections from Rick & Eunice

2010-05-10T09:03:00.001-04:00

We want to thank you, the CMTF, and the DBA for making it possible for Eunice and I to attend the Expo Conference in Orlando. It was a tremendous experience. One that we won't forget for a long time. The conference was such a confirmation for us, It helped strengthen the realization that we are on the right track. During our time of transition from missions back into pastoral ministry here in the US, we continued to pray and ask God to help us find where He was working and then allow us to join Him. The conference itself was such an eye opener. We had no idea that there were so many pastors / church leaders who were so strongly committed to church planting. It was very refreshing and encouraging to see how God is moving on the hearts of so many in the area of church planting. A second point of confirmation was the emphasis that was placed on intentionally developing multi-ethnic ministry. This was not just one ministry track of the conference, but it was the thread that wove in and out through out the entire conference. Another confirmation point was church multiplication: planting a pregnant church plant. In one of Ed Stetzer's seminars, he challenged us to model multiplication in our own lives and ministry. "You can't lead what you do not live." He continued by stating that the training of our first converts will set the stage for the type of church our plant will become. The converts will either become passive followers of Christ, or they will become participants in the sharing of the gospel. One of his statistical finds completely blew me away. "The church plant that doesn't plant within its first three years more than likely won't plant at all."

Again, thank you for making it possible for us to attend Exponential Conference. Our resolve has been strengthened so much. With God's grace and favor, we will do our best to plant a pregnant, multi-ethnic, Wesleyan church.

Building THE BRIDGE in east Pittsburgh,

Rick & Eunice

More Takeaways From Exponential

2010-05-04T17:30:00.003-04:00

The following are some of the takeaways Jeremiah Gomez has graciously allowed me to share with you:

Thanks again for the opportunity to go to Exponential last month; there were a number of takeaways on quite a few levels:

The Bridge--Both Rick and I felt that the time at the conference affirmed/confirmed the steps taken thus far: our passion for having a multiethnic makeup which is consistent with the community the church is in; positioning The Bridge right now to daughter (and continue multiplying--Ed Stetzer shared a statistic that a church is most likely to daughter within three years of its launch and outside of the three-year mark, a local church is much more likely to never daughter); our selection of communities in which to live (we met other planters from Pittsburgh who see both Penn Hills and where Sarah & I are living now as prime planting locations); even our model of staffing and budgetary focus. It was an incredibly meaningful, encouraging thing for us to walk away thinking, 'we are on the right page!' Another area we saw strong confirmation in was the drive to make The Bridge and following plant a multiplication center equipping and sending other church planting missionaries.

Personally--I was challenged and engaged, and the Holy Spirit took the opportunity to do some work on my heart. Part of this involved continued healing from past experiences and a fresh-and-new challenge to trust God with everything, including my future in ministry; the challenge for me was to move to a place of greater submission and basically say, "if me doing this thing right now costs me my dreams/whatever future I think I should have, I'm okay with that because I'm following Jesus." I know it sounds cheesy, but it was profoundly meaningful for me. More than this was the confirmation that, at least for now, I am right where I need to be doing precisely what I need to be doing.

Relationally--It was a great thing for Rick, Eunice, Trevor, Stevan, and me to spend so much time together; it really helped fuse The Bridge team. We connected, also, with a couple of church planters from the Pittsburgh region; these, I believe, will prove themselves to be meaningful network connections with the potential for friendships among people who 'get' what we're doing.

Tactically--The very nature of Exponential is that it is not a methods-based conference (I talked with some who were frustrated at this), but a principles-in-action kind of gathering. I appreciated the lack of 'try this program' or 'use this structure' mentality and felt we walked away with tools to help understand and engage our communities so we could develop tailor-made ministries which would have the greatest Kingdom impact. One tool I appreciated and am already trying to employ is a four-stage approach for engaging people who are being stirred by God's Spirit and teaching them to lead others to Christ even as they are being led and allowing the Holy Spirit to drive discipleship and church formation; it's a tool that, once I'm comfortable with it, will multiply well without being 'canned.'

Despite the busyness and sometimes overwhelming nature of the information/tools coming at us, we came home feeling refreshed, energized, and ready push hard into God's design for where we serve. This was an enormously valuable training/learning opportunity and I genuinely believe a worthy investment.

Exponential Conference Takeaways

2010-04-30T07:30:00.001-04:00

Here are a few thoughts from Karen Rhone about her experience at the Exponential Conference:

I don't know where to begin. There was so much information to process. It was good. Chris Hodges shared about 5 kings that you face when you plant -demonic, rejection, loneliness, temptation and discouragement. He talked about ways to combat these. It was good to hear his genuine, open story of the struggles that he had encountered while planting. Francis Chan's ending speech also stuck out. It was a reminder to not be so concerned about building a church but in ministering and loving the community. My pre-conference had a lot of good content from how to say "no" to people that want to start all kinds of programs - stick to the vision - be "mean" about the vision. We took lots of notes! Thank you again for sending us! We learned a lot.

Stay tuned for more conference takeaways from the WPA Team members.

Update from "The Well"

2010-04-29T09:51:00.004-04:00

The Innovators were commissioned by Pastor Bob Croft as the Hyde Wesleyan Church celebrated planting The Well in Philipsburg. The Well has been doing activities in the Philipsburg area since January, and are currently hosting a Loss Support Group that meets on Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m., and a Bible Study that meets Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.. Both meetings are at 1 North Front Street Cafe-Books-Events.

For more information please contact us.

Update from "The Bridge"

2010-04-29T09:18:00.000-04:00

Sunday we had our first meeting with individuals interested in being involved with The Bridge. Twenty-three people gathered at our house for a time of worship, followed by a potluck, and then we spent the afternoon casting vision and planning for summer ministry. A young couple who lives a mile from us heard through one of the couples coming that we were planning a worship service and asked if they could come. Of course they can come! During our worship time we shared our journey of how God led us into church planting. Then different ones shared their journey of how God has led them to get involved with The Bridge. During the time of sharing both the man and woman opened up and shared how they have gotten away from their faith and knew they needed to get back to God. The woman wept as she shared. This is why we're here. We thought we were having some worship with our planning meeting but God had other things in mind. Great things are happening in this couples heart. Will you please help us pray for them. Also help us pray that God will lead us to others who are hungry for God. We believe that God is on the move and we are following.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

The Bridge

Rick, Eunice, & Trevor

WPA Leaders at Exponential

2010-04-25T16:46:00.003-04:00

Here's a photo of all the Western PA leaders at the 2010 Exponential Conference.

We will seek to post lessons learned and takeaways here over the next week or so.

It is rumored that there were as many people from WPA at the conference this year as were represented by the denomination a couple years ago.

Very cool and exciting.

They did. We will.

Exponential Conference

2010-04-14T10:57:00.007-04:00

This coming week 8 members of the WPA District M3 will travel to Orlando, FL to participate in the 2010 Exponential Conference next week.

Exponential is the largest gathering of Church Planter on the planet, and will be an incredible opportunity for each of out brothers and sisters to interact and learn from some of the most effective missional leaders today.

The team consists of the following people:

Rick & Eunice Cox

Jeremiah Gomez

Doug & Karen Rhone

Stevan Sheets

Tim & Beth Stradling

Please pray that God will use this time to equip them for greater effectiveness and impact in the Missional Multiplication Movement in Western PA.

They did. We will!

A Missional Leader’s Easter

2010-03-31T11:55:00.002-04:00

You are a missional leader.

What you do is critically important.

You are engaged in the most important endeavor in the universe. You have joined with God and are calling on His power to multiply disciples, leaders and churches.

Your mission is not to build a better widget. Your calling is not to fatten an investor’s wallet. You are giving yourself to a venture that has eternal ramifications; nothing could be more worthy of your time and efforts.

This is Easter week. The week when every Christian stops and ponders the amazing love of God for human beings caught in the trap of sin with no hope of ever getting out by their own power.

The events of this week as recorded in the Gospels are as varied as they come.

- We see crowds of people celebrating the entrance of Jesus into the area of Jerusalem. Laying down their coats (and this was way before the days of dry cleaners) to honor Jesus’ arrival; shouting “Blessed is He Who is coming into our midst!”

- We see Jesus’ missional heart, weeping over Jerusalem; longing for the people of that important and populated city to turn towards God.

- We see Jesus’ fervor for spiritual authenticity as He throws the money changers out of the Temple area.

- We see the Creator God who is willing to get down on His knees and wash the feet of His disciples (perhaps it would be meaningful for you today to realize that He loves you enough to wash your feet).

- We see the ultimate display of patience with humanity as Jesus warns and yet commits His love to Peter, a disciple-leader, who is going to deny Him.

- We see obedience taken to a whole new level as Jesus humbles Himself to the Father’s will, even though it will cost Him his life.

- We see the supreme act of love and sacrifice as the Lord of All becomes the sacrifice for all sin through His agonizing, substitutionary death on the cross.

- We see compassion in the midst of stress as Jesus ensures the future care of His mother while He is experiencing the horrific pain of crucifixion.

- We see His preoccupation with a missional-mindset as He promises paradise to a criminal hanging on a cross next to Him.

- We see, most glorious of all, His supreme power and authority over sin and death as He comes bursting out of the tomb and back into the lives of His followers.

Obviously these are just a few of the many events laid out for us in scripture. This is NOT just another week for missional leaders. This is THE week. This is the week that provides the passion and the motivation for all that we do.

Missional leaders take many cues from Jesus’ life during “passion week” to apply to their own:

- They are motivated to pray over a city or territory…to see it through the eyes of Jesus and to earnestly pray that the Father’s will may come about in that place.

- They are motivated to put a towel over their arm and serve others, caring more about a missional movement than their own advancement.

- They are motivated to pray, realizing that the Father’s will for specific missional activity is often revealed only through times spent in earnest prayer.

- They are motivated to speak into situations of missional disease, dysfunction or ineffectiveness with boldness, realizing that often the most God-honoring activity is to speak the truth in love.

- They are motivated to remain humble; not lashing out against those who do not share their missional mindset, but instead trusting God to work through them to bring about His plans for human transformation and His ultimately glory.

But ultimately, this week provides missional leaders with the greatest of all motivations to do what they do…a passionate love that stems from the realization that the God of the universe with walk through anything, endure anything, and stop at nothing to be in relationship with us.

A missional leader’s work is not forced, nor is it done out of drudgery. A missional leader’s work is done out of passionate love for a Missional God who went to the cross for their sin; has freed them from the trap of condemnation, and has now given them the opportunity to be His ambassador to others who find themselves still bound.

Missional leader, may this week be all the Father intends is to be in your life and may it provide red-hot, high-octane fuel for your missional efforts.

:: By Chris Conrad :: Dir. of Church Planter Development :: The Wesleyan Church

[Taken from The Expanding Wave e-mail newsletter dated 03/31/10]

Prevailing Church Seminar

2010-03-24T09:54:00.005-04:00

Thanks to each of the 32 church leaders who helped make the Prevailing Church Seminar with Chris Conrad yesterday a great success!

It was an excellent time of fellowship and learning as we unpacked the reality that every church can "win"!

Special thanks to Chris Conrad, who provided invaluable insights, information and instruction. We are grateful for his exceptional leadership and investment in the WPA District and the M3.

Chris Conrad teaching during one session.

From Left to Right: Jeremiah Gomez, Ken DePeal and Chris Conrad.

The Bridge Prayer Walk

2010-03-22T08:52:00.004-04:00

The Bridge

Pittsburgh Church Plant

PRAISE REPORT

Today was a perfect day for our Prayer Walk-a-thon. We had 42 people from across Western PA, representing 6 churches from our district, come and join us to pray for the city of Pittsburgh. It was an awesome day of praying and sharing. From the reports we have received today we've raised $5000 for our summer ministries. Our goal is $7,500. Pray with us that we will still reach our goal.

Thanks to Bob Croft, you can check out some photos from the Prayer Walk at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=155921&id=731039157&l=de87574a52

Beat the Blues

2010-03-06T11:37:00.000-05:00

Update from The Well:

Hi Everyone!

Tomorrow ( Sunday) is the big day - Beat the Blues. Please pray that God's Holy Spirit would fill the coffee house. Pray for each person helping us. Pray for God's will. Pray that people's hearts will be touched. May He be glorified!!

Thanks for your prayer support!

Doug and Karen

--------------------

More information on Beat the Blues:

We are hosting, "Beat the Blues" this coming Sunday March 7th at a local coffee shop. This past Sat. we were able to distribute door to door 800 fliers to invite people to come to Beat the Blues. Hyde came out to help us in this adventure. Beat the Blues will have local musicians playing, State Police doing finger print kits, craft for the kids, 2 puppet shows, a couple of people doing caricatures, Haiti display and tattoos for the kids along with balloons and a table to promote The Well and what it is about. We will also be giving a way some gift certificates to the local restaurants and the Weis Market.

Who is next?

2010-03-02T15:49:00.003-05:00

Is God calling you to plant a church?

Do you know a potential Church Planter?

The WPA District and the CMTF is aggressively pursuing our next planters. We currently have three couples and two church plants in process. That is awesome, and we praise God for what he is already doing! It is very cool.

However, we are still looking toward the future. We are creating a movement; and I want to ask you to prayerfully consider if you or someone within your sphere of influence is a potential WPA Church Planter.

Here are some things to look for in a potential Church Planter:

1. Are they entrepreneurial in nature? Do they have a track record of starting things from scratch?

2. Are they evangelistic in nature? Do they have a track record of leading people to Christ?

3. Are they energetic? Do they have a track record of long, hard pushing in one direction?

4. Are they good at delegating? Can they pass off ministry to others effectively?

5. Are they passionately in love with Jesus? This makes ALL the difference.

If you know of someone who fits that description, I would love to know that; and I would encourage you to ask them to go to www.Uought2.org and take the initial assessment that is available online there.

We are on the verge of a great movement of God, and it is time to get to it.

Keep pressing on.

Shawn Cossin

Church Multiplication Task Force

www.theydidwewill.org

724-376-2233

Pray for Pittsburgh!

2010-02-25T16:51:00.006-05:00

We believe God's Spirit is on the move and that we will see Him do incredible things through The Well and The Bridge. We also know that one of the most important things we can do for our communities is to pray--aligning our hearts & passion with those of God and seeking Him to do what only He can do.

That's why on Saturday, March 20th, The Bridge will be hosting a prayer walk for the city of Pittsburgh...and you're invited to join us! This is a great way to seek God's face for what he desires to do in the city and through The Bridge, as well as to help us fund our summer ministries. For more information, contact Rick (RickAndEunice[at]gmail[dot]com) or Jeremiah (Jermiah[at]jxgomez[dot]com). The festivities begin at 10:00AM at a central location (to be determined shortly) with lunch to follow at the Cox residence.

Check out the image files of our brochure (below) to learn a little more about what the prayer walk is all about.

Can't make it on the 20th? Maybe you can consider hosting a Pittsburgh prayer walk right in your own community.

We believe great things are coming to Pittsburgh, and we're thrilled to be your missionaries here!

Rick, Eunice, & Trevor Cox and Jeremiah & Sarah Gomez

Update from "The Bridge"

2010-02-25T13:57:00.001-05:00

Dear Pastors,

We are excited to share with you the name of the new Wesleyan Church in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is known as the city of bridges. There are a total of 446 bridges in the city, it holds the world record for the most bridges in one city. There is one bridge that is most important and that's the bridge from God to man through His Son Jesus. We want to point the people of Pittsburgh to the most important bridge they will ever cross; thus, the name "The Bridge."

Our family has moved and are settling in. Already we are seeing how God is opening doors for us. We believe that God is on the move.

God is bringing together a launch team to work with us. We can see God at work in this and we give Him praise.

A big answer to prayer is that we have someone to act as our treasure for the district until we can get our church established. Tammy Leonard who along with her husband Brian served a year with us in Africa. Tammy has agreed to be the treasure for our new church. We are excited to have the Leonards be a part of our church in this way. This has been a God thing as He has brought this about. From now on checks for our support can be made out to The Bridge and sent to:

The Bridge
c/o Tammy Leonard
264 Shawville Hwy.

Woodland, PA 16881

Prayer request:
1. Pray for the Gomze's and ourselves as we travel on weekends to churches sharing our vision for The Bridge and raising support. Support is coming in slowly but we know that God is in control. If your church is planning on sending support it would be a great help to us by letting us know how you intend to be a partner with us.

2. Pray for the Gomze's as they make plans to move. Sarah needs to find a job and they need to find a renter or buyer for their house.

3. Pray for the people that God wants us to reach out to. Pray that when we look around us we'll see what Jesus sees and we'll hear what Jesus hears. May our hearts be broken for the things that break the heart of God.

We covet your prayers and partnership with us in this ministry. If we aren't scheduled to be at your church and you would like us to come and share please contact me. We can't do this alone. We need the help of the district churches. Together we believe we can see a new Wesleyan Church in Pittsburgh.

--
Rick and Eunice and Trevor

6842 Alcoma Dr.
Pittsburgh, PA 15235

Home 724 427 4454
Cell 814 761 8323

Prayer opportunity

2010-02-22T14:13:00.001-05:00

Here is a great opportunity to pray for "The Well."

Greeting to All!

We hope this e-mail finds you all doing well. We appreciate each of you so much. We are in a battle for souls and it means so much to know that we have prayer warriors with us!!

Saturday we will be canvassing the Philipsburg area to invite people to a fun outreach we are having on March 7th at the local coffee house(1 North Front St. Cafe.Books.Events. The event is called Beat the Blues. We will be having local musicians perform, caricatures, finger printing by the local State Police, puppets, craft for the kids and some other activities. This Sat. Feb. 27th, we hope to give 700 to 1000 cards out to people to invite them to this event. Pray that God would give us connections with people. Pray for open doors where He would have us to walk through. Pray that He would raise others up to be part of our launch team. We need about 15 - 20 people on the team to be able to launch. We only have 8 of us.

God bless you all and thank you for your faithfulness!

Karen and Doug

Drumroll, Please!

2010-02-19T14:26:00.004-05:00

This has been a big week in the life of the Pittsburgh plant:

The Coxes have moved, the Gomezes have determined where they will be living in Pittsburgh, our Launch Team is growing, and new contacts are being made in the community.

But we are even more excited to announce the name of the Pittsburgh church plant:

We are THE BRIDGE, a new Wesleyan church preparing for launch in a community known as the City of Bridges. Our passion is to see people connect to God and overcome the boundaries of culture, ethnicity, and geography.

We are hoping to announce our new online home soon, and wanted to remind you of our mailing address:

THE BRIDGE

c/o 6842 Alcoma Dr.

Pittsburgh, PA 15235

Thanks so much for your continued prayers.

image courtesy of nikkispick at flickr

News from Rick, Eunice & Trevor

2010-02-12T20:33:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends and Family,

You prayed and God answered. We had asked you to pray that we would find the right place to live in Pittsburgh. We have found a house that will work great for small groups in our home. It is located in a strategic place to reach many neighborhoods. It's also located in a multi ethnic neighborhood which was important to us as we endeavor to plant a multi ethnic church. God has worked out so many details for this move and we want to give Him the glory. We are planning on moving tomorrow in spite of the fact that there is about 3 feet of snow on the ground there. Our new address is 6842 Alcoma Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15235.

We have watched God work and do many miracles in our lives while we were in Africa; however, the other day the Lord reminded us we are on a new journey. We can't rest in the faith from our past. We must trust God today for what He is now calling us to. What we can rest on from the past is that God was faithful then and He will be faithful again.

Your prayers mean so much to us. Please help us pray...

1. That we will be able to sell or rent our house in Clearfield.

2. That God will continue to open doors to build relationships.

3. For the Gomez's who are joining us. Pray that they will find a place to live in Pittsburgh, in the right neighborhood and also that He will provide renters for their house in Carlisle.

4. Pray that God will continue to speak to people that He wants to be on our launch team.

5. Pray for us as we travel to churches in our Western PA district to raise support. We still have a lot to raise but we know the same God who sent us to Africa is sending us to Pittsburgh and He will provide.

If your church would like for us to come and share, please let us know.

We pray that you have a blessed Valentine weekend and that you feel the LOVE of Jesus more real in your life than ever before.

Rick, Eunice and Trevor

Missionaries to Pittsburgh

Prayer request from Doug & Karen

2010-02-12T20:32:00.000-05:00

Good Evening!

Hope this finds you all doing well and enjoying the beautiful landscape God has painted. I come to you with a prayer request tonight. Kate Roberts and Kristen Henderlong (two of our launch team members) are working at Philipsburg's chocolate festival tomorrow(Sat.). Would you pray for them as they have this wonderful opportunity to meet and connect with people of the Philipsburg area?

Pray that God would give them open doors. Thank you for your continued prayer for this ministry!

Karen and Doug

Pittsburgh Plant: Prayer/Journey Notes

2010-02-07T21:00:00.002-05:00

Before long, Sarah and I hope to be living in Pittsburgh. But before we can actually move, there are a number of things which need to happen: our current home needs to be put in order, cleaned, and rented out; a new home needs to be procured (we’ve spent hours and hours and hours researching, touring, and searching for apartments in the city); and moving days need to be set.

Just like moving takes a lot of preparation before anything is ‘seen,’ church planting takes a lot of passionate labor before things begin to spring up. One of the most important aspects of preparing for the work of planting, doing the work of planting, launching, and sustaining the ministry of a new church is prayer.

A few weeks ago, we sent out a JourneyNote detailing some of the ways we need our friends and family members (that’s you!) to be involved and at the top of the list was ‘prayer.’ Already, we have a committed core of people who have promised to dedicate themselves to regular, focused intercession on behalf of the people of Pittsburgh, the Coxes, and Sarah & me as we work the soil in Pittsburgh.

We know that the commitment of these people to pray is no small thing, but is a commitment to labor and battle. We have already expressed our thanks to those faithful warriors who will be keeping us in prayer, but wanted to make sure you had the chance to be part of this team, too.

If you are not already on our PrayerNotes list, but would like to be a member of this incredibly important team, respond to this note or give me a call (717.609.7504).

What follows is the first PrayerNote we sent out last week (if you already got that Note, maybe this can serve as a reminder to keep praying for what's outlined below):

First, allow us to express our deep gratitude to you: you’ve agreed to ‘go to the mat’ for the people of Pittsburgh, the people of the future church which will be there, as well as the Coxes and the two of us. As has been stated earlier, we recognize the value and violence of prayer--prayer is our posture of worship, communion with the Spirit, and our place of battle. We understand that you are, by praying for us and the work God has called us to in Pittsburgh, putting yourself on the line. It is no small thing you are doing... so, again, thank you. We know that our victory through Christ is assured, that He has already won and our enemy has already been dealt a death-blow as the result of Christ’s great work on the cross.

That said, we invite you to gear up.
Prepare your mind, ready your heart, and discipline your spirit--we are certain this is part of a great adventure and you’re taking part in a very special, very real way. We will be sending updates on the first Wednesday of each month (with urgent needs/requests communicated as they come our way) on those specific areas in which we are asking for focused prayer; we'll also be including reports on what God has done in response to your faithful intercession.

This week, we ask that you begin by joining us in prayer for the following needs:

The Spirit’s Working...
...in the hearts of those who don’t know Christ: we are engaging in relationship building and trying to discern ‘good soil’ in the active faith that we will see twenty people come to know Jesus through the ministry of the Pittsburgh Church Plant by the end of August.
...in the hearts of our launch team: we believe God is already working in the hearts of those who he desires to serve in the missionary opportunity as part of our boots-on-the-ground team preparing to get the new church off the ground!

Wisdom...
...for us (the Coxes and Gomezes) as we prayerfully consider potential names for this new church.
...for Sarah and me in finding a strategic place to live and make our new home in Pittsburgh--this is a very important step in making sure everything comes together.

Provision...
...in terms of renting out our current home in Carlisle: we need the right person/people at the right time.
...in terms of fundraising: in order for us to be full-time in Pittsburgh, we need commitments of over $3700/mo. We are believing for God to move in the hearts of 75 churches, organizations, groups, and individuals to each pledge $50/month.

Thanks again; it means the world to us to have you in our corner!
Jeremiah (& Sarah, too!)

God is moving in Philipsburg

2010-02-03T11:22:00.002-05:00

I received this e-mail from Karen today. Keep praying! God is on the move.

Hi Everyone!

Thank you for your prayer support. It is so important and is really making an impact. I just had to begin the morning with this praise report. We've been praying God would open doors for us to build relationships. Last evening Doug and I went to Philipsburg just to spend time and hang out.

We went to the Y to work out and there were some people that had a soccer table in the lobby. They were registering kids for spring soccer. Doug began talking with them and it looks like we may have the opportunity to coach a U-8 team. One guy gave us his business card and two of the ladies gave us their e-mail addresses. We were excited. When we went out of the building there was a man and his little boy waiting for us. He wanted to know more about the church plant and gave us his contact information. It was definitely a God moment. Only He can orchestrate such contacts.

Keep praying! God is moving!

God bless!

Karen

Update on The Well happenings

2010-01-20T11:36:00.002-05:00

The following is an update received from Karen. Keep praying for she and Doug as they continue to press forward:

Just wanted to write and let you know what is happening thus far. The Well has been registered with the General Secretary. We have obtained a post office box in Philipsburg. Doug and I joined the Y so that we can work out and meet people. A lady was offering a Yoga class so we are taking that-the stretching is good for us - don't worry we're not into the eastern stuff. We are going over to Philipsburg Monday (Jan. 25th)to give Dunkin' Donuts coffee and cookies to each of the schools for a teacher appreciation. The borough manager has asked us to serve on a needs task force. Hopefully we will be able to connect with him on Monday to discuss what this will look like.

Beat the Blues is scheduled for March 7th at the local coffee shop in Philipsburg. This will be a time for people to come and be encouraged. Various people will be sharing in music. There will be a puppet show for kids and a craft. We are hoping to have various people come that do crafts and share a demonstration. Plus the teens of Hyde will be sharing a skit to a Lifehouse song. We are having a Dave Ramsey preview on Feb. 9th at the development authority building. We were able to get the room for nothing. We have begun advertising for this event. If we have interest we will start the class in March - every week for 13 weeks. We are also talking to a coffee shop owner about starting a support group for people that have experienced loss - loss of job, spouse, freedom due to illness and so forth. She had told us that she would open for us to have this group and not charge us anything.

We have shared at Dixonville, Ashland, Hyde and Weedville and are scheduled to share with Mount Union on Feb. 21st and Majestic Mountain on Feb. 28th. Fundraising has been going slow.

I know this is kind of a smattering of what is happening but hopefully it will give you a picture of where we are. One of our main prayer requests is that God would show us who else to ask to be on the launch team. Currently there are 10 of us. Wayne Otto said he felt we needed at least 12 or 15 to launch with. Chris said we should have 20. We have been praying that God would show us who else we should approach concerning this. We have begun launch team meetings and are trying to build team unity and community with our team of people.

Hope this finds you well and things going great.

Karen

55.5 Square Miles

2009-12-28T13:45:00.006-05:00

Within an area of 55.5 square miles, not very far from where I write these words, is a community home to fortune 500

companies, seats of commerce, houses of industry and institutions of innovation and education. Within those 55.5 square miles, hundreds of thousands work, live, and build relationships. Millions more live just outside the area.

The community found within that tract of land is known for an uncanny ability to reinvent itself; so resilient are these people that the recent G-20 Summit was hosted there to showcase one city’s ability to not only weather but grow stronger through economic crises and global storms.

Within those 55.5 square miles, you will find incredible fusions of old and new, stayed and untried. You will also find 455 bridges, 712 public stairways, 8 tunnels, 90 distinctive neighborhoods, and 140 separately identifiable ethnic groups.

But you won’t find a single Wesleyan Church.

In fact, you won’t find a Wesleyan church within what is considered ‘reasonable driving distance’ of those 55.5 square miles.

I’m sharing about the city of Pittsburgh, where “95 percent of the local population has no recognizable, identifiable relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Sarah and I, partnering with the Cox family (Rick, Eunice, and Trevor), and, hopefully, partnering with you, are working to change at lease one of those statistics. The Coxes and Gomezes have joyfully accepted the call to church planting in the Pittsburgh region and are growing in passion for what we sense as God's desire in the area.

Our heart’s passion is to see a multiethnic, multicultural church right in the ‘Burgh. We sense God’s leadership in developing a relevant, engaging hub of ministry to people from a variety of cultural, economic, and spiritual backgrounds--where once steel was forged, now lives are fused with the Spirit of God, strengthened and engaged as members of His Body. What we can see is a multiplication center working within the heart of the city where countless individuals are sent out as missionaries to the communities of Pittsburgh, the surrounding areas, throughout the region and around the world. In fact, God is already drawing people to be part of this great work and we believe His dreams are far bigger than ours.

Does any of this stir your heart with excitement and passion? If so, remain on the lookout because in a few days, we’ll be sending you more information on how you can be involved in this Great Pittsburgh Adventure.

A Christmas Message from the DS

2009-12-22T12:24:00.003-05:00

The mission of Christmas was defined by the divine angelic announcement. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”(Luke 2:11) During these days of reflection upon and celebration of Christmas, it is my desire that a sincere understanding of the mission of Christmas will result in an increased urgency of partnering in the missional multiplication movement among the pastors and laity of the Western Pennsylvania District.

God and He alone is to be praised for the tremendous momentum that this movement has experienced in 2009. Revs. Karen & Doug Rhone are aggressively pursuing the planting of “The Well” in Philipsburg as Hyde Wesleyan prepares to give birth to this daughter church. Rev. Rick & Eunice Cox, along with Rev. Jeremiah & Sarah Gomez are passionately pursing the planting of a Wesleyan Church in Pittsburgh. GOD IS DOING AN AMAZING WORK IN WPA…I TRUST YOU ARE CATCHING THE VISION! O’ by the way pastor, if you have not yet been in contact with Karen, Rick, and Jeremiah about coming to your church to present their need for prayer and financial partners in this evangelistic mission of reaching the lost for Jesus, please extend that invitation soon!

Walking through the threshold of 2010 is only a few days away; with that in mind, be sure to keep the Missional Multiplication Movement’s “5 P’s” a priority for your personal ministry and the local congregation you shepherd. Our district goal has been that by this coming New Year, 100% of the District Churches would be committed to:PROMOTION, PUBLIC AFFIRMATION and PRAYER. In addition, 20 of our District Churches would be committed to: PROVISION and PERMISSION. Join with me in praying that literally thousands of lost people will come to know Christ and be effectively discipled in His Lordship, in Western PA. http://www.theydidwewill.org/blogspot.com

Merry Christmas to you and your family! May the Spirit of the mission of Christmas be evident in 2010 in WPA as together we fulfill the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment by multiplying believer, leaders, and churches.

EXPERIENCE AND ENJOY THE MISSION OF CHRISTMAS BECAUSE…

“THEY DID…WE WILL” in 2010

Harvesters together,

Randy A. Swink

District Superintendent

Spring Event

2009-12-21T17:39:00.005-05:00

LOCATION CHANGE: This event will be held at the Hoss's Restaurant in DuBois, PA.

[Click Picture to see a larger version]

"Becoming a prevailing church" with Chris Conrad on March 23rd.

To register contact Jeremiah Gomez at jxgomez@gmail.com.

Update on “The Well”

2009-12-16T10:25:00.001-05:00

Here is an update from Karen that was sent yesterday:

Just wanted to give you our update. As you know we finished our time line. We have a few tweaks to it as we do our budget. We hope to have our budget done by Jan. 4th. We are meeting the borough manager and his wife of Philipsburg for supper tonight. We are hoping that we are building a friendship with them. I've contacted the school about rental, talked with the movie theater and started registration of the plant with the General Secretary. So much to do and it can be very overwhelming. I went to my oncologist on Friday and my blood work was good and the mammogram was clear. Praise God!! I see my surgeon tomorrow - then the doctor visits will be over for a while. :O)

Prayer requests:

- Pray that God gives us peace as we walk this road and not become overwhelmed with all the things we have to do.

- Pray that He would continue to help us find the keys to unlock the community.

- Pray for the lost and broken that we will be able to reach them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

- Pray God would work in hearts to be a part of the launch team.

Have a great week. Christmas is coming! Merry Christmas!

Karen

The Well Website

2009-12-02T11:29:00.003-05:00

Doug & Karen continue to make great progress as they work with the Hyde Wesleyan Church and move toward the launch of "The Well."

They have launched a new website that you may want to check out. [http://thewellphilipsburg.org/]

Keep praying!

Prayer this week

2009-11-29T13:36:00.002-05:00

Please pray for all three of our church planting couples this week as they each spend time with Chris Conrad and complete very specific training and planning related to their individual church plants.

Chris will be working with the Philipsburg Plant [The Well] Monday to Wednesday lunch, and we will be working with the Pittsburgh Plant Wednesday afternoon into Friday.

Thanks for your continued intercession.

Pittsburgh Plant Update

2009-11-28T13:14:00.001-05:00

Things continue to progress for the Pittsburgh church plant. Here an update from Rick and some specific ways to pray:

Recent Happenings

Our proposal for a multi-church plant endeavor was accepted and approved by the district CMTF on Nov. 10th!

We took an exploratory trip to Pittsburgh with the Gomez's, and together we came away with such a strong feeling of confirmation that we are where God wants us to be.

Our coaching contract has been signed. It is official. Dr. Blair Ritchey is our coach.

Upcoming

We will be developing a strategic action plan for Pittsburgh with Chris Conrad on December 2-4.

Prayer

- Pray for our support letter that has been sent to our donor base.

- Pray for us as we schedule services within the district where we will be sharing our vision for Pittsburgh.

- Pray for us as we look for the "right place" to live. The selection of our home is very strategic. We need a home that will be central to our ministry, that will have space large enough for entertaining/ministry, as well as a home that is in a "safe" community.

Small Actions, Lasting Impact

2009-11-25T13:42:00.003-05:00

The following is taken from the 11/25/09 Edition of the Expanding Wave, which is written by Rev. Phil Stevenson and distributed by the Department of Evangelism & Church Growth. Enjoy!

November 3 marked the 291st birthday of an individual who is honored daily. He is remembered on playgrounds, in lunch rooms, by sidewalk vendors, and by moms and dads. In fact, one company honors him in 22,000 locations with $10 billion (yes, with a ‘B’) in annual sales. Who is this honoree? It is none other than John Montagu the fourth, Earl of Sandwich.

According to legend, this British aristocrat “ordered a piece of meat tucked between two pieces of bread. Others soon requested ‘the same as Sandwich’….” (Fast Company, Nov. 09) And lunches have never quite been the same. It is interesting to note that a small action made in a seemingly obscure location could make such a lasting impact on so many. Haven’t we all, albeit unknowingly, honored the Earl through the digesting of a sandwich?

What action is your church taking to make a lasting impact? I don’t ask how many attend your church. I don’t ask how significant your location is. I simply suggest you consider-- what action(s) you might take that will make a significant impact?

You don’t have to be large to make a lasting impact. You don’t have to be in significant locations to make an impact that will be felt around the word. What you do today might not even be noticed, but your actions could leave their mark, much like John Montagu.

There is much opportunity for smaller works. Leadership Network reports that over half of all Protestant churches average less than 100 in worship. These smaller congregations can make some significant things happen if they so choose. What might a smaller church do to make a lasting impact?

Be a generous church. Generosity is not an amount, but an attitude. Think in terms of the widow’s few coins. She simply gave out of her available resources. Too often smaller congregations focus on what they don’t have instead of what they do have. God expects generosity from what is at our disposal, not that which we have no access. God asked Moses what was in his hand (Ex.4:2). It was what Moses had, and was willing to release to God, that made a lasting impact.

Share the gospel. You can be the gospel presence in your community. Sharing the gospel does not necessitate big programs, lots of people, nor large buildings. Sharing the gospel needs only a people broken-hearted for those disconnected from God.

Pray missionally. This is praying not just for yourself, but those outside your walls. It is easy for any church to get so ingrown that they never ask God to work outside their walls. They limit God to inside the walls stuff. This can be exaggerated in smaller churches. Smaller churches have many needs. Resist the pull to mainly pray internally. Discipline yourself to pray externally.

Get involved in meeting needs. Every community has needs. Take time to identify some of those needs. Mobilize to meet them. It might be simply partnering with a community organization working with them to meet the needs of those they serve.

Partner with God. Ask God to show you what you need to see. Step out in faith on endeavors that will stretch your local congregation’s faith.

Small congregations need to view themselves as mustard seed communities. The mustard seed was the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants (Mk.4:31-32). You may be small, but the work you do can be mighty. It can have eternal impact. Grow where God has planted you.

Update on “The Well”

2009-11-16T19:43:00.002-05:00

Things continue to progress for the Philipsburg church plant [The Well]. Here an update from Karen and some specific ways to pray:

We are praying that God would raise up people to be on the launch team. Also, we are meeting with town officials next Friday(Nov. 20th) pray that God would help us to see the community through His eyes and heart. We have a facebook page called The Well Philipsburg. Doug is working on a web page. Prayer cards and business cards are being printed as I type this e-mail. Things are moving a long. We will be doing our first community outreach on Dec. 5th at the Philipsburg Christmas parade. We will be giving out hats/gloves/mittens. I think this is about all the "news" we have for now.

Great things are happening as the M3 advances across the district. Please continue to pray!

The best is yet to come.

Message from the DS

2009-11-11T17:32:00.002-05:00

On this Veteran’s Day, we are reminded of the high price of freedom that we are so blessed to experience. Those brave men and women who are currently serving and those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice remind us of the cost that has been paid for our protection and security. In light of this freedom we enjoy in our beloved America, I am thrilled and pleased to make you aware of the following information.

As you are already aware, Rev. Rick & (Eunice) Cox and Rev. Jeremiah & (Sarah) Gomez were approved by the CMTF (Church Multiplication Task Force) and the DBA to serve as Church Planters in the Western PA District. On, Tuesday, November 10, 2009, the CMTF granted their approval for Rick and Jeremiah to plant a church in the Pittsburgh region. Rick will be serving as the Lead Pastor and Jeremiah will be serving as the Assistant Pastor. It will be in the DNA of this new church plant that, in 3-5 years, they will daughter a church with the potential of Jeremiah serving as the Church Planting Pastor.

When contacted by Rick or Jeremiah, (or you may contact them at: Rick – 724.427.4454; Jeremiah – 717.609.7504), I trust you will invite them to share with your congregation the missional multiplication movement as it relates to the Pittsburgh Church Plant. As you pray about your Church’s involvement in this district movement, I would encourage your church to be participating in at least 3 to 5 of the “P’s” that we have set as district goals to be accomplished by 2010. Those five “P’s” being: PRAYER, PROMOTION, PUBLIC AFFIRMATION, PROVISION and PERMISSION. Pastor, don’t miss this opportunity for your church to be a blessing and be blessed!

In addition to praying for the Coxes and Gomezs, continue to be praying for Revs. Karen and Doug Rhone. The Rhones are aggressively pursing planting “The Well” in Philipsburg as a daughter church of Hyde Wesleyan.

Join with me in praying that literally thousands of lost people will find Christ and be effectively discipled in His Lordship through the missional multiplication movement of the Western PA District. We must fulfill the Great Commission in the Spirit of the Great Commandment.

Pastor’s, I firmly believe that this missional multiplication movement is a “GOD MOMENT” and a “GOD THING’ in the life of our district. To God and Him alone be all the glory and praise!

REMEMBER…BECAUSE….”THEY DID….WE WILL!”

Harvesters together,

Randy A. Swink

District Superintendent

Church Planter Updates [November]

2009-11-06T18:12:00.007-05:00

In an attempt to provide regular updates and specific ways to pray for the Church Planters in the WPA District, we will post information in this blog. Thanks for interceding on behalf of these brothers and sisters.

Rick & Eunice Cox

Rick & Eunice Cox are in the process of confirming the location and key partnerships for their church plant. Here are a few updates and ways to pray for Rick & Eunice. If you would like more information or want to be a part of this new church, you can e-mail Rick at rickandeunice@gmail.com.

What has happened recently:

- We recently completed assessment and received a green light.

- We have identified a coach to assist us as we journey through this process.

What’s happening next:

- We will be meeting with the CMTF on November 10^th in order to pursue a final resolution on a plant location and potential plant partners.

- We will be meeting with Chris Conrad in December for training.

- We continue to communicate with previous potential partners.

Ways to Pray:

- Pray that God will confirm the community & people we are to reach through this church plant in our hearts and the hearts of those involved.

- Pray that God will help us to develop a plan to effectively reconcile thousands of people to God through Jesus by this plant and future plants that will be daughtered out of it.

Jeremiah & Sarah Gomez

Jeremiah & Sarah Gomez are in the process of pursuing God’s vision for their church plant. That involves a people and a place. Here are a few updates and ways to pray for Jeremiah & Sarah. If you would like more information or want to be a part of this new church, you can e-mail Jeremiah at jeremiah@jxgomez.com.

What has happened recently:

- We recently completed the Church planter Assessment Center and received a green light to proceed. [Note: You can learn more about that process through some posts at www.jxgomez.com.]

- We have continued to prayerfully pursue and assess opportunities for employment and service.

What’s happening next:

- Jeremiah will be meeting as part of the CMTF on November 10^th to assist in advancing the M3 across the district and to discuss specific next steps for our plant.

- We are communicating with friends, family and other potential prayer partners to intercede for us.

- We continue to pursue God and his plan and steps as we formulate our specific course. [ref. Proverbs 16:9]

Ways to Pray:

- Pray seal upon our hearts the people and the place where we are to serve and reach with the Good News of Jesus.

- Pray that God will help us formulate the specific plan to reach that community and then increasingly multiply believers, leaders and churches.

Karen & Doug Rhone

Doug & Karen are in the process of daughtering a church out of the Hyde Wesleyan church. The church will be called “The Well.” Here are a few updates and ways to pray for Doug & Karen. If you would like more information or want to be a part of this new church, you can e-mail Karen at karenrhone@atlanticbb.net.

What has happened recently:

-It was an exciting service when the name The Well was announced. We have a buzz about the church plant at Hyde and excitement is building.

- We have been making connections with people in the community from store clerks to restaurant workers. We are excited to see the doors God opens.

What’s happening next:

- We will be meeting with Chris Conrad on Nov. 30th for training.

- We are speaking at Hyde and several other churches in the district in the next few months. We are so thankful for these pastors and congregations that have invited us to come and share the vision for The Well.

-We are hoping to have an outreach in Philipsburg the end of November or the first part of December.

- Richard Cox has scheduled a prayer drive for Hyde on the 22nd. We are excited about this too. Many things are happening and God is moving!

Ways to Pray:

- Pray that God would show us the "keys" to the community.

- Pray that God will help us to see this community through His eyes and understand His plans for the people.

Good Resource

2009-11-03T15:00:00.002-05:00

Here is as a great survey by Dr. Harold Longenecker for churches in small towns and rural communities to assess congregational health:

ASSESSING THE HEALTH OF CHURCHES IN LOW-DENSITY POPULATION AREAS

Keep pressing on!

Proper Perspective on “Location”

2009-10-29T08:57:00.002-04:00

I regularly receive the “Expanding Wave”. It is an electronic resource that Phil Stevenson sends out regularly. He consistently provides great insight and helpful information. If you do not receive it, I encourage you to subscribe by clicking here.

They are always good, but I think this week’s is especially relevant for those of us in the WPA district. Here is the “wave” in its entirety. Enjoy!

Last month I was in West Virginia with my partner in ministry Jim Dunn. We were presenting a seminar entitled The Intentional Missional Church. The host of this event shared with us we would be holding the training at Three Mile Wesleyan Church. “This church,” he explained, “is located in a holler.”

Honestly, I was both intrigued and concerned about this prospect. I had never been in a holler. I wasn’t even sure what a holler was. And any connotation I had of a holler was not overly positive. Images of feuds and folk not welcoming of outsiders played themselves out in my vivid imagination. Riding with our host on roads that crawled deeper into the wooded hills did nothing to abate my mental picture. What I discovered, however, was anything but what I had created in my imagination.

A holler is a small valley that has only one way in and one way out. The Three Mile Church was located at the ‘head’ of the holler. The head is about as far back as you can get in a holler. It is located on a very small piece of property. To call it postage stamp size would be much too generous. It is here Pastor Billy Burdette has been ministering for over ten years. It is here I discovered a missional church. It is here God taught me lessons of faith, vision and effectiveness.

1. It’s not your location that limits you, it’s the limits you put on your location. I could think of all kinds of reasons a church should not be effective in such an obscure location. There is not much drive-by traffic in a holler. Fortunately, Pastor Billy and his people couldn’t think of a one. They average sixty people in worship. Last year they were instrumental in 23 people finding faith in Christ. They baptized 18. Just prior to writing this I heard they recently had over 100 in Sunday worship. 14 people had “crossed over the line of faith” through a week long revival.

2. Needs are everywhere, if you notice them you can meet them. Three Mile had just completed the construction of a gym/family life center. It has a fully furnished kitchen, with an impressive eating area. Why did they build such a facility at the Head of the Holler? Pastor Billy shared that there was no place for people to gather. No place for folks to have anniversary parties, wedding receptions, family reunions, etc. It was meeting needs. It was a community center.

3. Quality is in the little things. What I saw they did with quality. They had motion activated hand towel dispensers. They had flat screens in each Sunday School Room upstairs. The equipment in the Kitchen was excellent. The even built a “prophet’s chambers.” This is a hotel quality room with private bath for guests.

4. Clarity of mission brings focus to ministry. Pastor Billy knows that young people need to be reached. They have chosen to focus on teens and younger. This is reflected in their new gym/family life center. It is reflected in their programming. They run a midweek kid’s ministry that has, at times, connected with over 100 kids. They feed dozens. Their youth program runs over 30 people.

5. A leader who has a heart for God and a passion for people will be effective. Pastor Billy is bi-vocational. This could be an excuse for not doing what is necessary to reach his community. He doesn’t allow that. He wants to make his God known. He loves people. This causes him to do whatever it takes to connect the two.

6. Missional matters. Being missional is simply looking outside of ourselves to see the community that surrounds us. Three Mile Church is missional because it is driven by the community needs, not congregational wants.

The next time you find yourself bemoaning your location; the next time your discover yourself thinking there are no more people to reach; the next time you believe missional is too postmodern for you; the next time you believe you are too small to do things with quality; I want you to take a moment and consider the church at the head of the holler.

Let them be a reminder, “With God all things are possible.”

[Written by Rev. Phil Stevenson and distributed in the "Expanding Wave" on October 28, 2009.]

The Well!

2009-10-27T10:15:00.003-04:00

It is with great joy that we share the following update on our Church Planters, Doug & Karen Rhone, and the Hyde Wesleyan Church.

For the past few months, the Rhone’s and the Hyde church have been prayerfully and intentionally pursuing a partnership to daughter a church in the Philipsburg, PA area; and this past Sunday they announced the name of that new church plant. It will be called: The Well.

Check out Karen’s description of what transpired on Sunday. It is pretty cool!

The announcement went great! Excitement is building. We asked everyone to bring a shoe box in. Bob had them play a video about a woman at the well. We asked people to bring their shoe boxes up to Doug and Zach and as they did their boxes were built into a well. We had a box marked Western PA District, which Randy brought up - one with The Wesleyan Church - which the GS brought up - one with Hyde Wesleyan-Bob brought up. We had an extra large one at the bottom in the front of the well with a cross and 3 rings signifying God. After the well was made we asked people to guess the name. One lady shouted out The Well. I said you're correct. I then explained that the plant was going to take more than just Doug and I. The district has already been helping and the general church and Hyde but it was going to take individuals -all shapes, sizes and colors - each unique - all different kind of gifts and abilities. People love the name.

Please join un in continuing to pray for Doug and Karen, Bob Croft, the Hyde Wesleyan Church and “The Well”.

God is doing really cool stuff! Check back later for more information on “The Well” and our other church planters. [Rick & Eunice Cox, Jeremiah & Sarah Gomez]

M3PN

2009-10-05T15:19:00.003-04:00

Today, approximately 10 leaders from around our district will travel to the Wesleyan World Headquarters in order to participate in an M3 Parent Church Network Seminar on October 6th.

The E&CG Department is hosting this event to equip churches to effectively daughter new churches.

Please pray for these leaders as they meet from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM tomorrow.

An update from our DS

2009-09-26T13:52:00.005-04:00

A message from District Superintendent, Rev. Randy Swink:

GREAT NEWS! The Missional Multiplication Movement (M3) is continuing to make tremendous progress in our district. Thank you for being a part of the district's missional multiplication movement. Our district goal is to have 100% of our local churches participating in 3 of the 5 "P's" by next year, 2010. Those first 3 "P's" being: PROMOTION, PUBLIC AFFIRMATION, and PRAYER. Another district goal is to have 20 of our local churches participating in all 5 "P's" by 2010 year. The additional "P's" are PROVISION and PERMISSION.

What a personal privilege it is for me to announce that Hyde Wesleyan will be daughtering a church in the Philipsburg area and have selected, Revs. Karen & Doug Rhone to serve as their church planters. PRAISE GOD! Congratulations to Sr. Pastor Bob Croft, the Rhones, the LBA, and the congregation for being obedient to the Holy Spirit's leading and exercising their faith. In the near future, Karen & Doug Rhone may be contacting you about visiting your Church to share their vision and passion for reaching lost people in the Philipsburg area for Jesus. I would encourage you to confirm a date with the Rhones to come and share their need for prayer and financial support with your congregation. This will be an opportunity for you and those you serve to be further informed and involved with the missional multiplication movement of our district.

MORE GREAT NEWS!

This past August, Rev. Rick & Eunice Cox and Rev. Jeremiah & Sarah Gomez attended our denominational Church Planters Assessment Center. After completing their assessment, the Coxes and Gomez’s were acknowledged has having the gifts and graces to be church planters and they were given the "green light" to proceed as church planters. In September, the District Board of Administration unanimously approved Rick and Jeremiah to serve as church planters in our district. PRAISE GOD! Please join the Coxes, the Gomezs, and district leadership in praying that the Holy Spirit will give clear direction for the WPA location that God desires them to plant. Pray that gives our planters a "heart felt passion" for the lost people in the designated harvest field to which God calls them.

If you desire additional information, you may contact our District Director of Evangelism & Church Growth, Rev. Shawn Cossin, who serves as the chairman of the District's Church Multiplication Task Force. Shawn can be reached at: 724.376.2233 or e-mail scossin@slwchurch.org. Also, contact me at the district office if I can be of assistance to you.

Partnering together in this evangelistic ministry of church multiplication will enable us to be obedient to the words of Christ communicated, to us, in the Great Commission and will set in motion our missional multiplication movement tag line, which states because, "THEY DID.....WE WILL!"

Harvesters & Partners Together,

Randy A. Swink

WPA District Superintendent

M3

2009-09-21T09:46:00.002-04:00

Last week, I attended the Evangelism & Church Growth Director Summit. It was a 3-day event at Wesleyan World Headquarters with roughly 30 pastors & church leaders from across the country. We met to advance the Missional Multiplication Movement [M3], which seeks to fulfill the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment by multiplying believers, leaders and churches. I was with an incredible group of devoted Christ-followers who understand the importance and effectiveness of Church Planting as a means of reaching people with the good news of Jesus.

Over the next few weeks, I will seek to share a few of the key take-a-ways. Here’s some thoughts shared by Phil Stevenson about living on the EDGE:

E- Engage the future. Never be complacent in the present. We need to look toward what is to come and embrace the challenges.

D – Determine to believe God for the audacious: our dreams cost us nothing…the fulfillment of those dreams can cost us everything. Let’s catch the stuff of God. Let us step into the arenas where we will have to be desperately dependent on God.

G – Gather resources: We need to be willing to release what we have in partnership with God.

E – Enjoy the journey: The edge is both exhilarating and excruciating. It is full of exhilaration because it is such a rush. It is excruciating because of the fear of the first step.

Living on the “edge” with God is powerful, activating and life-altering. If we will simply believe God…hold on!

Something to "chew" on

2009-09-16T15:51:00.001-04:00

11 Essential Steps for Planting a Church:

1. Cultivate and maintain church planter health.

2. Birth vision out of prayer.

3. Mobilize an initial launch team.

4. Understand your target group.

5. Create plans for start-up.

6. Serve and reach unbelievers.

7. Train and multiply disciples.

8. Establish reproducing communities.

9. Gather for inspiring worship.

10. Lead and manage as you grow.

11. Embrace a kingdom focus.

Wayne Schmidt Roundtable

2009-09-09T21:32:00.003-04:00

Please pray for the Solo/Senior Pastors who will spend the day with Wayne Schmidt tomorrow.

It is going to be a great time of "iron sharpening iron."

New Steps for the Rhone's

2009-09-06T21:42:00.003-04:00

“In his heart a man plans his course,

but the LORD determines his steps.”

Proverbs 16:9

That is one of my favorite Proverbs. It reminds me that although you and I may make plans, it is ultimately the Lord who decides where we go. He directs our steps. I share that with you not only because it is one of my favorites, but also because it is true of the journey Doug and Karen Rhone have been on.

Doug and Karen have been in a process of waiting on the Lord to determine their steps, and it is my pleasure to let you know that they have partnered with the Hyde Wesleyan Church [HWC] and are currently in the process of preparing to plant in Philipsburg, PA.

We are excited about this Parent-Daughter relationship, and we look forward to seeing what God is going to do in and through the Rhone’s and the HWC.

Please pray for the HWC and the Rhone’s as they continue to follow these next God-directed steps. Here are a couple specifics ways to pray:

- Pray that God will show them the keys to reaching the community of Philipsburg.

- Pray for the people God will raise up to go with them to the plant.

Thanks for your partnership in the Missional Multiplication Movement [M3].

E&CG Transition

2009-09-02T06:34:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Rev. Phil Stevenson indicating he had submitted his resignation from the position of General Director of Evangelism & Church Growth for the Wesleyan Church effective December 31, 2009.

He cited two key reasons for the transition. One is a desire to be with his family, and the other relates to his passion to be involved in advancing the missional multiplication movement [M3] from the grass roots level. As a result, he will be assuming a position as the Director of Multiplication and Leadership Development in the Pacific Southwest District starting January 1, 2010.

Although it is always momentous to transition leadership, it is exceptionally significant to lose a man of his caliber, vision and passion from leadership at the General Church level. I am grateful for the significant work he provided during his years of service; and I am excited for him to be back "home" with family and once again in the ranks of district leadership.

Phil - You will be missed; and on behalf of the WPA District, I say, "Thank you." We praise God for your investment in facilitating the M3 in western Pennsylvania. You made a significant difference here. May God continue to bless you as continue to fulfill the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Size & Theology Connection

2009-08-28T12:51:00.004-04:00

Author, Speaker and Missiologist, Ed Stetzer posted some interesting results from a recent Barna Group study, which showed the size of congregation is related to the beliefs, behavior and demographics of that congregation. Stetzer said, “Specifically the study showed ‘statistically significant differences between churches of 100 or fewer adult attenders and churches of 1000 or more adult attenders.’ In fact, the only issue covered where no real difference existed was whether the person had prayed during the previous week.”

It’s interesting stuff.

You can read more by clicking here.

Leadership Training

2009-08-24T17:03:00.005-04:00

Here is a great resource & opportunity!

This is a free leadership conference that will be held online. And yes...I said FREE.

If you click here, you can check it out. If you are interested, all you have to do is register.

Special thanks to Stevan Sheets for passing on the information and Bob Croft for the assist. :-)

This is the actual address: http://thenines.leadnet.org/

CPAC, Day Three

2009-08-21T17:59:00.000-04:00

I know this is ‘the day after day 3,’ but to keep with the pattern of my previous posts, this will focus on what happened our last day at the Assessment Center. I’ll write an entry or two on overall reflections soon.

Our final day began with the presentation of our group project. As we had been preparing the project for presentation to the assessors, they were meeting in order to draft our written assessments following their reviews/scores (and subsequent votes) on what kind of ‘light’ each couple had received. The project opened up the opportunity for the potential planters to interact with each other and get a little bit of insight into the process of understanding a community and a small part of the detail of planting a church. That process was one of the significant ‘takeaways’ for me from the week’s events and helped instill an even greater excitement about the potential of being a planter myself.

Following the project presentation, there was varied interaction with the assessors about the project and some of their insights. Then came the moment we had been waiting for: when we would meet with our individual assessors (the person who had done all of our one-on-one interviews) to receive our results and gain insight into how the assessors had reached their conclusions. I’m happy to report that all three of the couples were ‘green-lighted’ to pursue with church planting!

Everyone then regrouped to have a Q&A—this time with the planting couples asking questions of the assessment team. There was discussion about ‘next steps’ (especially the need for training) and some practical helps which included a number of resources being given out. The ‘official’ day ended with lunch, but the folks from WPA stayed longer to debrief and continue building relationship.

Each of the three couples who completed the assessment now have the joy of praying through what will happen next in their journey. But, as it stands today, there are three planters preparing to partner with God’s Spirit in touching communities with the most effective tool we have for reaching those who don’t know Christ—planting new churches. And, if you ask me, it doesn’t get much more exciting than that!

Newly Approved

2009-08-20T16:08:00.003-04:00

Please join us in celebrating the completion of the Church Planter Assessment Center and the approval of our newest Church Planters:

Rick & Eunice Cox

Jeremiah & Sarah Gomez.

The CMTF is please to have them join the Rhone's as officially and successfully assessed W PA Church Planters.

Please continue to pray for each of our 3 couples and the future couples to come.

CPAC, Day 2

2009-08-20T02:48:00.001-04:00

It's just about 2:30AM, and I'm getting ready to call it a night.

After a full, rich day of interviews, interviews, and more interviews (including one session with a Christian counselor), we had time for a quick seminar and some exercises, which included a pretty hefty group project. I'm just finishing with my portion of that project, and while I won't go into too much detail (because, after all, it is 2:30 in the morning), I can say the whole experience thus far has been well worth our time investment and, I believe well worth the financial investment of the district. The self-discovery and opportunity to be connected with passionate, missional-minded people which are available in this setting are not things to be taken for granted--no matter what kind of 'red-light,' yellow-light,' 'green light' evaluation we get tomorrow, Sarah and I will have counted it a great privilege to be here.

Even at this late hour, I can genuinely say that if you have ever considered that church planting may be where God will lead you in your journey, attendance at an Assessment event like this one is a must... I believe it will be a high-water mark in your life.

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This entry is also posted at jxgomez.com/blog, Jeremiah's personal blog. Jeremiah currently serves as the Secretary of the Church Multiplication Task Force and is attending CPAC as a potential planter in Western PA.

Ways to pray...

2009-08-19T11:54:00.001-04:00

Thank you for your continued intercession. Here a few specific ways to pray for our Church Planters & Potential Parent Churches:

1. Rhone's: Pray that the Lord will continue to go before them and their parent church leaders as they develop a plan and communicate a vision to the parent church congregation.

2. Gomez's: Pray that God will speak very clearly as they go through the Assessment process this week.

3. Cox's: Pray that God will speak very clearly as they go through the Assessment process this week.

4. Pray for the church leaders that will be attending the Parent Church Seminar at Wesleyan World Headquarters on October 6th.

CPAC, Day One

2009-08-18T22:43:00.000-04:00

Today was a great ‘introduction’ day—the three couples here for Assessment got a chance to get to know each other, and we were given a glimpse of the process involved in CPAC before jumping in headlong. Before we go any further, though, it’s worth noting that it was communicated time and time again that this process is much more about discovering who God has created us to be and to find the best ministry fit than it is about any kind of pass-or-fail scenario. The advice given to us: have fun and enjoy the incredible gift of having three days full of people taking the time to help us understand who we are and how God may be leading us. Sounds like very wise advice to me.

We began with each potential planter delivering two messages: five minutes to a ‘room of unchurched people’ on why they should consider Jesus, and five minutes attempting to convince someone to join you in a ministry endeavor. Following their ‘talks,’ each couple had a few minutes answering questions in front of the group.

That led to our first interview time—each couple was assigned an assessor and was privately interviewed for about two and half hours (there will be more interviewing tomorrow). The ‘interview’ was a lot like filling out a verbal questionnaire about past experiences. What is likely to be is best found by what has already been; in other words, how someone will act/react/perform can be pretty well predicted by how they’ve acted/reacted/performed in the past; so the assessors use questions that help identify themes and constants throughout the life of the potential planter. The times of interview, so far at least, haven’t been overly uncomfortable or super invasive, but very conversational in tone.

After our interview sessions, everybody regrouped for supper (us ‘assessees’ all sat together to enjoy some more get-to-know-you time and conversation—it’s amazing to spend time with people who are so passionate about what God not only can do but desires to do in our world.

But now it’s time to get some rest—tomorrow will be a long, full day. All of us are excited to see how God uses this time to prepare our ‘next steps.’ But before I head to bed, I would like to make a request of those who may happen to be reading this—all of our talk today has been focused on being used by God to advance his Kingdom and the glory of his Great Name, and I’m reminded of one of Jesus’ commands in terms of what we should pray for.

Matthew 9:

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

So, my request is that you would ask the Lord of harvest to send out workers into his field. A bit of warning before you do that, though: you just might find yourself being sent into that very field… across the street or across the globe. And maybe part of that journey for you is taking part in an assessment much like this one…

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Image credit: Clearly Ambiguous
This entry is also posted at jxgomez.com/blog, Jeremiah's personal blog. Jeremiah currently serves as the Secretary of the Church Multiplication Task Force and is attending CPAC as a potential planter in Western PA.

C.P.A.C.

2009-08-17T09:39:00.000-04:00

Beginning Tuesday, Sarah and I will be attending the Church Planter Assessment Center as part of a potential ‘next step’ (a special thanks Western PA District of The Wesleyan Church, who is investing the cost of attending CPAC in Sarah and me); we’ll be there with two other couples, including Rick and Eunice Cox, who are also from the WPA District. If time and energy allow, I’ll be posting reflections of the day’s activities each evening (be warned, it may be nonsensical gobbeldy-gook or nothing more than a terse sentence); hopefully, if you’re thinking of being assessed, it will help answer some of the questions you may have. It will also be a good read (I'm hoping!) for those of you who are curious about the planting and pre-planting processes we use.

In the meantime, it might be helpful to know what the Assessment is all about. Here’s how the Assessment Center describes itself:

We are confident that this will be a powerful and highly worthwhile personal experience that will provide you with greater self-awareness about your ministry strengths and gifts, as well as your potential for church planting success. You and your sponsoring district or parent church will receive an objective, team-based evaluation to help you both make the wisest possible decisions about your church planting leadership.

In other words, the people of the Center look at the likely success of an individual or couple as the ‘lead planter(s)’ in a new church. The result of a fairly intense, multi-day process is an evaluation focused simply on the likely success of the potential planter articulated as a “Green Light,” “Yellow Light” or “Red Light.”

Red Light… is an indicator that the potential planter is not likely to find themselves effective in a planting environment right now.

Yellow Light… indicates the potential planter is more likely to find success in a planting environment if certain growth areas are given due attention.

Green Light… indicates that the evaluators feel the planter is likely to find success/effectiveness in their endeavors.

It’s important to note, again, this relates just to church planting and isn’t a judgment on people, personalities or ministry calling; it is meant to help potential church planters and the districts, churches, and individuals which invest in new churches to thrive. A ‘Red Light’ shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing, but more as an aid in discerning whether or not planting is the right ministry path for someone right now. A ‘Green Light’ doesn’t mean one person/couple is ‘better’ than another, but that they seem to have the gifts and personal traits that tend to be found in effective church planters. A ‘Green Light’ isn’t a guarantee of 'success', either.

This all helps to make sure that someone isn’t setting themselves up for failure, and that they are designed for/capable of handling the unique stresses, pressures, and situations that are involved in attempting to launch a new, Kingdom advancing church. From the outside, it looks like a great opportunity for someone with potential to be a planter to find out if planting really is the right step for them.

If YOU feel like God might be leading you into the direction of planting a church, you should connect with Shawn Cossin and surf on over to Uought2.org. And, maybe one day, we'll see YOU at assessment!

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Image courtesy of billy verdin
This entry has also been posted at jxgomez.com/blog.

That's NOT Okay...

2009-08-15T09:26:00.000-04:00

Last week, I posted ‘That’s okay…’ about some positive learning experiences I had with some friends during a recent trip to the mall. Now I'd like to share a few things that were ‘teachable moments’ because of what they teach us to avoid. Don’t worry, names have been changed to protect the innocent and avoid some kind of libel charge:

Understanding your environment is incredibly important:

I haven’t been able to find Bottle Caps anywhere. You know: those sweet-tart kind of candies that have a little fizz in them? We can’t get them where I live, so while we were at the mall, the four of us dropped into Childhood Obesity R Us (a candy shack). But right next to the candy shack (which, by the way, did have Bottle Caps… at an incredible premium) was Carcinogen Crossing (a tobacco shop). That may not have been a problem… except that the smell of the tobacco shop was incredibly overwhelming… it morphed with the sweets smell of the candy shack and created some kind of nasty, hanging malodorous funk that wasn’t at all pleasant. The candy shack wasn't doing very much business, and I can't help but wonder if it had something to do with its neighbor. Who are the candy people trying to reach? Tobacco smokers? Or would vying for a spot near the Lego store have been a better bet?

What does that have to do with churchy stuff? Oftentimes it’s tempting to do something that worked very well elsewhere… in some other environment. But ‘plugging’ that program/idea/method into where we live just won’t be effective because of where we’re situated. We're trying to reach lego-store kind of people next to a tobacco shop... maybe we should try to do something to meet the needs of the people around us in their own context.

A few months ago, a friend of mine posted this link--it's a good example of the need to understand your environment in a ministry setting.

Know your environment.

Simplify:

There was a certain item we were hoping to get. An item so in demand many people want one, but not so currently ‘have to have it’ that anyone should be sold out. Checking was done about which stores should have this item in stock. One didn’t. Another of the same chain didn’t. A third store did, but was unable to provide the right kind of service… so a purchase was made to get the item all the others were supposed to have and a walk commenced to one of those other stores to get the rest of the process taken care of. (I’m being purposefully ambiguous, sorry for how awkward that paragraph was).

It was a lot of work and frustration for something pretty easy—especially when you understand the money was going to be spent on this item… and it was going to bolster the sales of one store or another. If people would have just done what they said they would, a very happy customer would have been had. Instead, they were left with a customer who wasn’t so much ‘happy’ as ‘finally taken care of’.

I wonder what we do that could use some simplifying; what we do that is overly frustrating and inconvenient for a reason that made sense on paper or in theory but has no practical benefit...

Just Be Who You Are:

One of the stores we stepped into was kind of like the Apple Store’s socially awkward distant cousin. In fact, it was meant to compete with an ‘Apple Store’ kind of draw. But something happened: the culture of the parent company and the culture of this particular store didn’t match. Somehow in the push to ‘be like the other guys’ this brand, in my own uneducated opinion, was suffering. The people were only focused on selling a product, not representing company, brand, or offering experience.

There’s nothing wrong with competing. There’s not anything wrong with seeing how your competition is doing something and besting them at it. But trouble comes when we sacrifice who we are in order to compete with some other ‘growing concern.’ It’s very doubtful the ‘growing concern’ grew by laying identity on the altar of success.

So, who wants to go to the mall with me this weekend?

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This entry was originally posted as 'Mall Fail' at jxgomez.com/blog.
Image: violator3

Planning with Vision, Foresight & Faith

2009-08-11T10:21:00.000-04:00

I recently received this from a friend in the CoachNET program and wanted to pass it along to you. It is good stuff.

One of the requirements of my role is to schedule events 9-12 months ahead of time.

The romantic in me doesn't like knowing exactly where I'll be and what I'll be doing a year from now. I'd like to think that because I'm growing and changing constantly, what I'll be doing next year is unpredictable.

The reality is we all need to plan ahead. And planning takes vision, foresight, and faith.

We need vision to know what we should be accomplishing.

We need foresight to predict the conditions that will effect our work.

We need faith to push us past our predictions and give us hope in fulfilling our vision.

Here's some questions I use in planning:

Vision

Vision is a picture of the preferred future. Our role in working toward that vision should flow out of how God has called and gifted us (Eph 2:10).

How would you describe your core calling, and your unique gifting?

What have you accomplished this past season that directly flows from your calling and gifting?

If you were to live more fully out of your calling and gifting how might your activities be different?

Looking forward, how would you describe what God is calling you to accomplish?

Foresight

Foresight is predicting what resources will be needed (Luke 14:28ff) and what problems may spring up along the way (Prov. 22:3).

What resources (people, money, know-how) are needed to accomplish your vision?

What obstacles might get in the way?

What might an "aggressive-yet-realistic" plan look like?

Faith

Faith is seeing things from God's perspective, even when they are not evident to us (Heb 11:1). Faith allows us to transcend what's humanly possible (Matt 17:20).

What in your plan requires God's intervention?

What "mountains" might God want moved in this next season?

In what ways do you need to step out with more faith?

How do you see vision, foresight and faith interacting in your planning?

Originally provided by Creative Results Management.

That's Okay

2009-08-07T13:05:00.000-04:00

The other day, my wife, Sarah, and I went along with our next-door neighbors on a road trip toward Philadelphia. We didn’t have any particular agenda other than to enjoy the King of Prussia mall and celebrate with Dan (our neighbor) when he finally procured a new iPhone—a special reward for kicking the nicotine habit. But while we were there participating in North American consumerism, I was struck by the way a few places did business and how some of the principles which seemed to drive positive experience (and those that brought about a negative experience) have a great deal of value to those of us pursuing relevant and engaging ministry.

So, here are four positive principles I caught on our little journey—I’ll post some of the more negative ones later:

Accept that People May Come with No Intention to 'Buy [In]' to Anything: Let them browse.

One of the first in-mall stops we made was at Tiffany's.

I am an unemployed minister and my wife is a part time administrative assistant...let’s just say we’re not rolling in the dough.

Dough is something you need to buy most of the stuff at Tiffany’s and I think it was obvious that Sarah and I aren’t really ‘Tiffany’s’ kind of people. Something that struck me was the level of comfort the staff had with a group of four people who came in just to look around. They understood that people would come and go having not bought anything. There were no high-pressure sales techniques, but there also wasn’t any sense that we were some kind of nuisance. We were welcome even though no one was going to close a sale off of us.

I would guess they were okay with us taking up space because the good folks at Tiffany’s know that if we’re going to buy something, it may not be on the first or second or third visit. I would also guess they know that what they offer isn’t for everyone. There will always be those who come in and leave without making any kind of commitment.

There are times we’re driven to ‘make people buy’ what we’re selling—our vision for the future or some little project. Accept that people may come to see you burn with passion, they may enjoy what you say, they may even like what you have to offer… but that doesn’t mean they’re going to buy. And that’s okay.

Understand that Different People Have Different Expectations: Not everybody will like/approve of/applaud what you’re doing.

I really enjoy Apple products. I like seeing other people who use a MacBook while at a coffee shop and talking about their ‘Mac experience;’ I enjoy discussing the latest and greatest innovation headed our way… and I especially enjoy spending time in an Apple Store. When we finally made it to the Apple Store, the place was packed. I had to squeeze in past people and was struck at the kind of noise a bunch of people can make in a small area. AND I LOVED IT. It was part of the experience. Getting hands-on with products, asking questions, considering options… in a place where each aspect of the shopping experience is designed to be exactly the way it is (it didn’t seem anything was ‘accidental’ about layout, service, or care). Again, I loved it.

But it was a little too much for my wife and our neighbor friends. For people who are unfamiliar with ‘the brand’ it likely seems chaotic and overwhelming. For people who prefer to browse quietly or anonymously, the Apple Store would be a little scary. Those people may not buy from an Apple Store… and as of yet, I don’t see Apple changing their stores to try to reach them—they have other points-of-sale which will allow more private people to engage the brand in another way: online, over the phone, or through retail partnerships. Not everybody enjoys an Apple Store, and Apple’s okay with that.

When it comes to churches, not everyone will enjoy your environments (too big, too small, too noisy, too quiet…)—but hopefully they will help you reach your focus group; are you okay with that?

Do One Thing and Do it Well: We don’t have to major in every experience.

Next to the Apple Store was the Bose store.

Know what Bose does? Sound.

That’s it.

The only thing you can buy at Bose is sound stuff. Sound components for home theater systems, speakers for computers, audio hookups for mp3 players, even whole-house systems. But it’s all sound related.

They believe quality sound enhances just about everything—and that the enhancement is worth a premium for quality of workmanship and technology. For entertainment, they promote the premise a high-quality TV needs high-quality sound. And you can’t buy the TV from them.

Sound is what they do.

It seems they feel if they can just get you to experience what they do best, you’ll be convinced of the value of it. (This works, by the way… my wife could care less about sound components, but after experiencing the Bose demonstration, she told me she secretly would enjoy the system we experienced—hefty price tag and all (of course, this is assuming my whole ‘unemployed’ situation were to be rectified)).

We can’t possibly do everything well, and that’s okay… but are we doing something very, very well?

It's Okay to Focus More on Experience than Expediency: Faster isn’t always better.

Our last stop before leaving town for the day was IKEA. Those Swedes know a thing or two about enjoyable, affordable design. They also set up their store on the premise that people need to experience the product before they buy it—so, the unsuspecting shopper is confronted with a seemingly endless supply of showroom displays with each component noting where it’s found for pickup and how much it costs. The veteran IKEAphile isn’t so much ‘confronted’ with the style of the store as much as they have come to savor it.

While we were there, I didn’t notice anybody in a hurry. They walked, browsed, and enjoyed. Now, if someone HAD been in a hurry, I’m sure they could have rushed through without too much difficulty… but much of the experience is wrapped up in not being a slave to the clock. There’s nothing wrong with getting things done in a hurry or maintaining focus, but I think it’s important to make sure we’re not pursuing expediency at the cost of experience. It’s okay to slow down.

Now, of course, these observations only go so far before they break down; not to mention the obvious fact that they’re my observations… so, they come from my [flawed/geeky/strange] perspective. It’s also really important to note that all of this comes with the mindset that these are principles for helping to impact our world with the truth, power, love and presence of Jesus… not for the benefit of institution, bottom line, or brand… which is definitely something we can’t just learn from the mall. And I’m okay with that.

Any thoughts?

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This article was originally written for and posted at jxgomez.com/blog

Jeremiah currently serves as the CMTF secretary; he and his wife will be attending the Wesleyan Church Planter Assessment Center as a potential church planter later this month.

Image Credits:
Apple Logo courtesy of roland
Bose speaker courtesy of Mujitra
IKEA lettering courtesy of Dan Kamminga

Not about you.

2009-08-02T13:26:00.000-04:00

Chris Conrad, who serves as the Director of Church Planter Development for the Evangelism & Church Growth Department, sends out a regular e-mail called CP Nexus. [Note: If you don’t receive it, I encourage you to sign up for it by clicking here.] Not long ago, he sent out the following challenge, which I believe impacts planters and established church leaders alike. Enjoy!

John Bishop, pastor of Living Hope Church in Vancouver, WA (www.livinghopechurch.org) made a statement recently that caught my attention:

All the people that go to your church…you didn’t have anything to do with it. Don’t somehow think it’s about you. It’s not. It’s all about God. Only God, period.

To me this statement doesn’t give us an excuse to be lazy when it comes to our missional objectives or initiatives – whether we are planning a community outreach event, rolling up our sleeves in community based ministries or planning weekend services. But what it DOES mean is that Jesus is already at work in the lives of individuals and we are simply joining Him in what He’s already doing.

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THIS MAKE TO YOU?

Well, what I hope it does is increase your confidence level and cause you to have some better Mondays and be more consistent at taking a regular Sabbath rest. If He is indeed, already there, already working in people’s lives, then

Yes, we need to roll up our sleeves and work hard;

Yes, we need to engage our culture;

Yes, we need to be out in the community;

Yes, we need to put on the best services or raising up leaders for the best house-churches we can;

Yes, we need to be sensitive to His Spirit guiding and directing us on how to effectively minister to those outside a relationship with Christ;

Yes, people outside a relationship with Him MUST be our focus;

Yes, we MUST be willing to take a bullet for the sake of the unchurched – making courageous decisions and continuing to take risks for the sake of the unchurched;

BUT…

We can also rest securely in the knowledge that the God of the universe is going before us;

We can take time off – following the example He set for us during creation;

We can live with a soul that is well-rested and more clearly focused on Him as opposed to what we are doing for Him.

Thanks, Chris!

Keep pressing on.

Helpful Tips

2009-07-30T14:28:00.000-04:00

In an economy where jobs are increasingly limited, many people are starting their own businesses, and Rev. Phil Stevenson, the Wesleyan Church’s Director of Evangelism & Church Growth, recently wrote about some helpful insights he found in some USA Today research. Here is what he wrote:

Laura Petrecca (USA Today, “Teen entrepreneurs offer tips to aspiring peers,” 5.19.09) interviewed some of these young people and garnered tips for their peers. What she discovered can be helpful to aspiring church planters. Church planting is a start up. So if you are considering such an endeavor here are some helpful insights. I will share the tip and offer applications to church planting.

Don’t let shortcomings thwart you: When it comes to church planting don’t look at what you cannot do, but see what you can do. A primary method of uncovering strengths is through an assessment process. Go to www.uought2.org as a beginning point.

Expand upon your interests: What do you enjoy? What people do you like to be with? Where do you like to live? This is how, to whom and where you ought to consider planting a church.

Create a formal business plan: Church plants just don’t happen. Get trained in the development of an action plan. Find a coach who will help you implement the plan.

Scour for savings: Dollars are limited in the beginning of a church. Look for places you can get quality items for fair prices. Don’t be afraid to ask for contributions. “If you don’t ask the answer is always no” (Jim Bogear, Church Planter).

Price wisely: This refers to the cost asked for the service or product sold. In church planting this can be applied to what “price” you are asking your launch team to pay with their time, gifts and finances. Be careful you don’t ask the impossible. At the same time don’t sell them, or yourself short…people tend to respond to big expectations.

Make taxes less taxing: Bottom line keep excellent financial records. Churches are tax exempt, but planters are not. Keep receipts, develop a sound paper trail. Be above reproach in all financial matters.

Create a sound financial plan: This is an Achilles Heel for many planters. Don’t confuse faith with foolishness. God does provide, but He also instructs us to count the cost.

Don’t overinvest in supplies/equipment: Everything you may think you need before your launch may not be accurate. Begin with good equipment, but resist thinking it has to be the very best. It lots of cases store brand is as good as product brand and at less cost. Allow your church to grow, and then grow your equipment into your church.

Promote your business and yourself: Church planting is a great deal about initiative. Seek out people don’t just expect them to come to you. Be innovative in your promotion. Do not shy from attracting people to you.

Know the rules: What are the expectations of the movement you are connected (denomination, network, association, etc…)? What zoning laws are there in the community you are planting? Are you incorporated correctly as a non-profit?

Carve out personal time: Church planting can be completely consuming. No one will care for you personally, physically, emotionally, relationally or spiritually like you will.

Stick with your dream: If you know that you know that you know that God has called you to planting pursue it relentlessly, hold it firmly, cherish it regularly, care for it lovingly and don’t let it fade!

Keep pressing on.

Note: You can read the full posting by clicking here.

10 Universal Elements of Church Planting

2009-07-06T15:30:00.000-04:00

The following is taken from Church Planting Movements, David Garrison, International Mission Board: Southern Baptist Convention

1. Prayer: “…it is the vitality of prayer in the missionary’s personal life that leads to its imitation in the life of the new church and its leaders.”

2. Abundant gospel reaping: “Every church planting movement is accompanied by abundant sowing of the gospel. The law of the harvest applies well: `If you sow abundantly you will also reap abundantly.’”

3. Intentional church planting: “In every church planting movement, someone implemented a strategy of deliberate church planting before the movement got under way.”

4. Scriptural authority: “Scripture provided the rudder for the church’s life, and its authority was unquestioned.”

5. Local leadership: “Missionaries involved in church planting movements often speak of the self-discipline required to mention church planters rather that do the job of church planting themselves.”

6. Lay leadership: “Church planting movements are driven by lay leaders. These lay leaders are typically bi-vocational and come from the general profile of the people group being reached.”

7. Cell or house church: “…the vast majority of the churches continue to be small, reproducible cell churches of 10-30 members meeting in homes or storefronts.”

8. Churches planting churches: “At some point…the movement entered a multiplicative phase of reproduction, the churches themselves began planting new churches. In order for this to occur, church members have to believe that reproduction is natural and that no external aids are needed to start a new church.”

9. Rapid reproduction: “When rapid reproduction is taking place, you can be assured that the churches are unencumbered by nonessential elements and the laity are fully empowered to participate in this work of God.”

10. Healthy churches: “Most agree that healthy churches should carry out the following five purposes: 1) worship, 2) evangelistic and missionary outreach, 3) education and discipleship, 4) ministry and 5) fellowship.”

They did. We Will!

Small Churches can Thrive

2009-07-03T13:08:00.000-04:00

Ed Stetzer recently posted a great article highlighting the reality that small churches can thrive. Through prayer and outreach, the gospel can advance, the mission can be accomplished and churches can thrive. Check it out.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2009/06/small-churches-can-thrive.html

Blog Purpose

2009-07-03T12:49:00.000-04:00

This blog is designed to be a resource and forum for facilitating the Missional Multiplication Movement [M3] in the Western Pennsylvania District of the Wesleyan Church.

It will be regularly updated with resources, church planter news, church planting information, prayer requests and other items that relate to the M3.

Any questions, concerns or suggested resources can be sent to scossin@slwchurch.org.

To God be the glory.