Church Update

My intention when I started this blog was to keep a running log regarding our church that we were trying to start here in Thatcher Arizona.  My goal was to be able to keep track of God’s blessings so I and hopefully others could look back and see the progress.

I realised a number of days ago that I had not given any sort of update at all regarding starting our church.  I apologize that I have not done so and I will try to bring anyone who cares up to speed and maybe share some of the things I have learned in the course of a few posts.

See, my wife and I were going on the assumption that we were not alone here and by creating the environment, hanging a sign, inviting some key people, doing a little advertising and praying, we would find some of the other people here that want to worship in the same way we do and also attract some of those people’s friends that need to know about Jesus.

Here are a few things we have learned:

• I think one of the things we did wrong was we did not have a committed core group.  We had a group of two other families but they were not committed for their own reasons that aren’t important to mention here.  They were enthusiastic regular attenders not a core group. 
• I know that some church planters move into a town and somehow start a church from scratch.  Maybe they find a way to gather people together for a while without calling themselves a church and find and develop that core group.
• When you call yourself a church, there is an assumption that there are actually people there. 
• Finally for today’s post, I think that most people do come to church through personal invitation.  The ones that come because of signs, advertising or door hangers are few and far between.

There will be more posts regarding our “failed” church plant.  I put the failed in quotes for a reason I’ll get to in another post.  This post is long enough.

In the meantime, I’d love it if you would put any links documenting “successful” church plants.  It would encourage me.

This Weekend Lifechurch.tv

Cindy and I have decided to take this Sunday off from setting up the school for church and doing Lifechurch.  Last Sunday, only our family of 4 showed up.  Each Sunday that we get our hopes up that God is going to bring some people, we set up and we wait, we have wound up disappointed.  After each Sunday’s service, we have been so down emotionally Sunday afternoon and even through Tuesday that has worn us down.  We are tired of that feeling.  We don’t know what to do next so we just decided to take this weekend off and kind of regroup.

We still appreciate your prayers.

Church Sign

This is a sign that is for a church in our town that, I suppose, speaks volumes for why we have not just settled and joined a local church. 

Now, on first glance, maybe this is a nice sign for a nice little church in a small town.  But, I really have a problem with the word “good” on this sign.  I want to know which bible verse says that “God is looking for a few good men & women”.  In fact, I have always thought the opposite is true.  I have always believed that “none of us are good, not even one” Psalm 53:3.  Shoot, even the Statue of Liberty is a little more inviting than this sign “Give us your tired, your poor, etc…” 

Can’t the church be a little more inviting than this?  I know you would probably say to tear this sign down, but, how would you re-write this sign?

Answer to Prayer

I am very happy to report a positive experience this Sunday morning for Lifechurch.tv.  We had all our regulars plus our 15 year old’s Mom and 2 new visitors that came because of a sign Cindy made and put up at the local Community College.  We are very happy they came.  What a huge answer to all of our prayers.

I know it took a great deal of courage for these students to step into our little building.  In fact, I saw some surprise (fear) in their eyes when they saw our crew and that there was a video on a screen (not a “live” church) – it was certainly not what they were expecting.  However, I know that they became more comfortable as the service went on.  They didn’t sprint out of the building at the closing prayer.  They stayed a few minutes longer and visited with us without the fear in their eyes.  One of them was raised in church in Sierra Vista, AZ and the other has not spent much time in church.  These are the exact people we want to reach.

The thing we don’t fully understand is that we know where we hung the flyers up at the college and we didn’t put a flyer up where they said they saw our flyer!!!!???? 

Today definitely told Cindy and I that there is still hope for us here. 

After last Sunday, I was pretty low until probably Thursday.  I told myself that no matter what, I would not let the outcome of this morning affect my attitude like that again.  I’m glad I didn’t have to test that today, but there will certainly be more days that aren’t as encouraging and I can’t let circumstances affect me like that again.

Thank you for your prayers.  Maybe the light is breaking into this dark place.

I Wait for You

I have been trying to write an update on our opening day for the people that have been praying for our church all day and have been partially interrupted because I am supposed to be working and I also don’t know exactly what to write.
Probably the best term that I could use to describe yesterday was mediocre. I wish I could give a more positive report, but it was not a failure, we did have 4 people come that hadn’t come before.2 of the 4 people are committed to a local church already and came as a favor to our regulars.  I was happy to have them, but I don’t want growth by taking Christians away from where they currently fellowship and I don’t think they are looking to leave their church.  I’m looking for people who don’t currently attend church.  1 person who came fits that description and I hope she comes back. 

I guess if my evaluation was “mediocre”, I guess I have to look at what my expectations were.

• I was hoping for more people to come
• I was hoping that someone would come that we didn’t know and just came because they saw our sign.  We know everyone who came.
• I was hoping that some of the invitations (DVD’s with a copy of a message and the start date on the cover) we gave out to people would have turned into someone trying out our church.
• I was hoping for God to blow me away.

I know that I’m writing about what I was expecting and that the important thing is what God wants and is going to do.  It would be a lie though if I were to say that after all the work we put into this that I am happy with basically 2 new people coming.
So, I think mediocre is the best term I can use to describe yesterday. I was hoping for more. I know God does not do mediocre, so either it will get better if we perservere or something else better will happen. Either way, I am confident that He is with us.
Thank you for all of you that prayed for us and our day yesterday.  It is wonderful that people in different parts of the country were praying for little Thatcher, AZ.  Everything worked wonderful.  The sound, the video, the internet connection.  My daughter (11 years old) made a very cool Powerpoint slide show for before and after the service.  The message and worship was great thanks to Lifechurch.tv.

I still wait for God.  I know He has a plan.  I know He loves us.

Advice Needed

Our little “church” group will be meeting at our new site for the 2nd time this week.  This is our 2nd and final trial meeting before opening up to all comers on Sept. 7th.  Since we link up with lifechurch.tv internet campus, for the most part, all elements of the meeting are taken care of remotely.  This means all we have to do is turn on the projector, point it to the screen and follow along.

My wife and I think, however, that there should be some part of the service that is handled by a real live person standing in the room.  A typical Lifechurch internet service has live worship, followed by a welcome by our internet pastor and a prayer for the offering, then the pastor does the message, followed by an invitation from the internet pastor and then a closing statement to send people on their way. 

It seems like the most natural place for one of us to be a “live” presence is to do the welcome and turn down the volume on the internet pastor.  However, if anyone else has any other ideas, we are open to trying different things.  I’m sure at the end I’ll give a real quick closing statement.

Your turn….

 

P.S.    No offense Brandon (our internet pastor) if you read this.  I read that last paragraph and it made it sound like you are not a valuable part of the experience.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.  But, we want there to be a live body speaking and I can’t figure any other way without extending the length of the service.  I would love any suggestions.

Some Guy Named Bob

My wife told me that she was down at the printer’s getting some orders in for t-shirts for my son’s Pop Warner football team.  While she was there, she talked to one of the employees named Bob.  It turns out that Bob also made our banner announcing our meeting time and location for Lifechurch.tv.  When I worked with Bob to design our banner, I sent him to the Lifechurch website to look at the church logo.  Bob told my wife that he poked around the website and even watched all or part of a message from the current series “So You’re Dead…Now What”.  He said it looked interesting.

I only spoke to Bob through e-mail and never met him.  My wife was being helped by someone else, but Bob remembered the banner and he struck up a conversation.  How easy was that?  My wife invited him to our meeting and we’ll see if he comes.  I will be praying for Bob.  But, that is why we are doing this.  My living room can only attract people we know which is a pretty small sphere, but meeting in a building might attract people like Bob. 

I’m encouraged more than anyone can know about Bob.  Even if he never comes.