Summerlake update - 021209

My, my where to start.

This past weekend, Etta and I attended the Church Planters’ Orientation with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. Talk about a roller coaster. Friday night we wanted to quit. We once again had to go back to our call and, emotionally, start all over. We saw everything we are not at the orientation on Friday. Saturday was a little better. We realized the mistakes we have made and what we have to do. We also realized that we didn’t know what we were doing. We now have some direction and a coach assigned by the SBTC. We left, if not exactly encouraged, then hopeful. I can say that today I’m excited and pumped.

We’ve had to greatly rethink what we are doing. Our lease is up in June at the apartment and the decision has to be made about what to do with it. One of the first things we realized, and this dawned on us even before the orientation, is that we are in an apartment trying to start a subdivision church. We lost sight of our focus. Our calling is to Summerwood. By renting the apartment, our focus narrowed. We have now broadened our focus again. It includes the apartment, but is not limited to it.

Don’t get me wrong – we were called to the apartment. We believe we were absolutely in God’s will in getting it. If we see no other fruit from it, we have Kendra, an excited, dynamic member of our leadership team. This was no waste. We still have 4 months to continue outreach in the apartment community. The reality is, however, that the people living in houses are not likely to cross the gate to attend church in an apartment. However, apartment dwellers will go into the subdivisions to attend church. We had to adjust our focus.

That leads to the most major change and a BIG prayer need. We feel strongly that God is telling us to move to Summerwood. This will require a succession of minor miracles followed by a couple of major ones—no problem if it is truly God’s will. A major headache if it isn’t. I feel like He is telling us to move by June.

The second big change is a change of name for our church. Summerlake is too regional and we want something to reflect our vision and to be meaningful for a non-Christian who is looking for answers. We are working on a number of possibilities.

I am excited. I get a lump in my throat every time I think about what God has called us to do and how he has renewed our passion for it. I was unaware of how much my passion had waned. Confession time: I think a small, unknown part of me did just enough so that when the church plant failed, I could say I tried. I wouldn’t be blamed for the failure. I could it was a lack of a large financially sponsoring church. Or it was a hard area. Or it was this or that. In reality, it was me being discouraged that it didn’t go the way I wanted it so I would pout and show God. I’d blame Him.

No more. We are called. It will be hard. We will push through. Our verse for last night’s gathering was Deuteronomy 9:23. Moses told the people that God had already given the Promised Land to them; they merely had to take it. They rebelled. They lost the promise for 40 years. I don’t want to wander. God has told us to take Summerwood, so we’re going to take Summerwood. The obstacles are merely opportunities to point to the sovereignty and strength of our Father. But we will not miss out on the blessing of this promised church because we are stubborn or proud. We are on mission. Join us or get out of the way.

We have a top 6 prayer list this week. This what the leadership team is praying for and we ask you to join us on these specifics.

1. People of Summerwood: for soft hearts, receptivity, recognition of need, excitement about a new church
2. A prayer need that I can’t share publicly, but need you to lift up. God knows.
3. Saturday Pancake Brunch (Feb 14th): 125 people to come to breakfast, 25 0pportunities to share the gospel
4. Our timeline for the plant: this includes the first Sunday (Launch Service) we have a worship service (Sept 13 or Feb 14), all those steps that need to be taken to get to the first service
5. New name: reflects vision, meaningful to lost
6. Our move to Summerwood: all the many steps needed to get us there, including teaching jobs for me and Etta in the community of Summerwood

Please lift us up at every remembrance. Thank you for your love, prayers, and support.

This is getting good.

Prayer for Outreach

We are planning a pancake brunch for Saturday, February 14th for the apartment complex. We will be sending out postcards next week to alert the residents. We need two things from you.

The first is prayer that we will have numerous people come through so we can meet them, get to know them, build relationships with them, invite them to Bible study, etc. Three of us have met the last two Tuesday nights and have made it a prayer time for guidance and progress. It has also been a great time for us to strengthen our relationship with Kendra, an instrumental part of Summerlake’s leadership team and future. Pray that we hear God’s voice in our time of prayer.

The second thing we need is finances. This brunch will only cost about $50, but Summerlake’s economy is as lacking as everyone else’s. If you could give $5-10 toward this outreach, that would be a tremendous help to us. Give online at our website or mail it to us.

Reality Check

We have it easy. I heard today from Dmitry Zborsky, a Russian church-planter that was given a one-way train ticket to the town in which he was to minister. No convention support. No sponsoring church. No job. No place to live. Just a mission. (read his story) We have it easy. We have nothing on any missionary sent to a foreign country (Hey Tim and Mary). We have nothing on _____________ (pick a person) from the Bible. We have it easy. Sometimes my emails and posts sound as if we are being dragged backwards through barbed-wire, but the reality is that we have it easy.

Don’t forget, in all my whining, to pray for those people that really have it hard. Thanks Dmitry.

Prayers, praises, and a goof

Prayer requests:
Please pray today for our Tuesday night Bible study that starts at 6:30. We’ve had some interest shown in it and I pray it takes off. The time should be more palatable for an apartment community than Sunday morning, at least to start out.

Continue also to pray for Financial Peace. The goof is that I planned to start FPU on Super Bowl Sunday night. We all know that was a bad idea. Besides, I can work at Domino’s and make pretty good money. So we have moved the start date to Feb. 8th at 5PM. We have put out a little advertising for the bad start date, but not much.

Praises:
A very generous friend has funded 5 weeks of newspaper advertising for our FPU. This will put the ad in four papers reaching some 200,000 people. We are so thankful for the gift.
We have also been officially sponsored by a church. Pastor Larry Reinecke and First Baptist Church North Houston have agreed to be our sponsoring SBTC church. This is critical for the eventual funding by the state convention. It is also critical that we have a church that is fully behind us and willing to allow us to beg for ask for volunteers and logistical help. Along with Amite Baptist, First North Houston and Pastor Reinecke will keep us bathed in prayer and constantly on the minds and hearts of the members there.

Summerlake Update 1/4/09

We are doing a little restructuring. This morning was our 9th Sunday with no one but my family in attendance. Obviously, Sunday morning isn’t the ideal time for a Bible study at the apartment complex. Church plants don’t normally start on Sunday morning and I shouldn’t have tried to reinvent the wheel. So we are going to back up and punt.

As you already know, we are starting a Tuesday night study and Financial Peace on Sunday nights. Since we will have those two opportunities, we are stopping our Sunday morning study for a while. This will hopefully provide more accessible times for people to join us, and will also allow us to focus our time and resources.

The reality of our current situation is this: if our response to these two new meeting times is non-existent, we are going to have to seriously consider abandoning planting Summerlake. Our financial situation is untenable for more than a few more months. We are about to undergo a major reorganization of our personal finances in order to take some burden off the church, but that will only gain us a month or two. Etta and I are completely discouraged. I know we aren’t the first church plant to not make it—and we certainly won’t be the last—but I didn’t plan to be one of them at all. At this point, it looks as though we may become one of the negative statistics.

Pray that, if it is God’s will for us to continue, He will provide people, finances, and encouragement. Pray that, if it is not His will for us to continue, He will provide a graceful exit.

A side note:
If you gave financially to Summerlake prior to August 1st, you will receive a giving statement from Kingwood FBC. If you gave financially after August 1st, you will receive a giving statement from me in the next week or two.

Thank you for your prayers.