Praise, praise, praise!

Boy, have we got a praise!

Let me remind you of our past:

Over two years ago, we began our outreach by eating at Manuel’s in Summerwood on Tuesday nights. We developed great relationships with the staff, two of which have continued to this day, but nothing that lead to anyone visiting our church start. By God’s leading—and not being sure what would come of it—we put out our business cards with a whole nest of others on the counter at the cash register.

Last summer, a family picked one up.

Tonight, they came to Bible study.

We don’t know whether they will continue on with us or not. That’s between them and God, but we hope they do. (Hey Brett and Amy.) But here’s the most amazing part. They are going to be our “sponsors” in Summerwood. That’s right—they live in Summerwood, not in the apartments. And they are looking into the rental of the community center. Since they live there, they can do it for us and we can use it. That way, if we are unable to move to Summerwood this summer, we still have access to all the facilities. They have agreed to do this, regardless of whether or not they join our church! That is awesome!

So now, we finally have our toehold in the Summerwood community and can begin outreach events there—like water at parades, cokes at the pools, surveys, etc, etc. So please pray for us:

Pray that we know the next step to take.
Pray that our finances improve enough to get us, specifically, through the next 3 months.
Pray for our cookout on Palm Sunday, as this may be the last BIG event we do for a few months in the complex (money, you know).
Pray for 3 families that WE are praying will join us at Hope.
Pray that, if it is truly God’s will, that the resources are there for us to move to Summerwood right on time.

Thank you so much for all you do.

Pray for the cook-out

First, I neglected to let y’all know of a loss in our lives. Etta’s Grandpa AD died last Thursday in Wichita, KS. We went up on Saturday (8 ½ hour drive squeezed into 12 hours), wake on Sunday, Funeral on Monday, returned on Tuesday (8 ½ hour drive squeezed into 12 hours). He had pancreatic cancer and had been suffering quite a bit the last couple of weeks so, as a child of God, He is MUCH better off. Pray specifically for Etta’s grandmother Lois. As we all would if in the same situation, she is taking it very badly.

Here are the promised details on our cook-out.

Palm Sunday, April 5th from 1-3, we will have an Easter egg hunt for the kids of the apartment complex. We have secured the donation of the money for about 1000 plastic eggs to fill with candy. We will also cook hamburgers and hotdogs on the grills at the complex. We are borrowing a sound system so we can play Christian music and make announcements and shamelessly promote ourselves. We want to have a 6x3 banner with our church name and website on it. We will have surveys to fill out and will have giveaways/drawings for those filling them out.

During the giveaways, we are going to invite everyone there to a short devotional/get-to-know-what-we’re-doing time at 3:30. It will be an opportunity to get them in the door and see what we’re about.

This is an extremely ambitious project for us, both in terms of work and finances. The total cost is going to be about $700. It is a lot of money, but the complex is getting behind it and advertising for us, so we want to make sure we do the best possible job. We are asking individuals and churches to help us fund it. I have listed below individual costs for different parts of the event. If you or your church could fund an entire part of the event, that would be incredible. If you can only give a donation toward the whole event, that would be extremely helpful.

We really feel like we are gaining traction in the community. We feel like, when the time comes to begin reaching out to larger Summerwood neighborhood, we will have a lot of momentum to carry us forward. But keeping that momentum depends on things like this cook-out. It seems simple but it is an awesome way for us to reach out with servant evangelism. Pray that we have the opportunity to present the gospel. Pray that we have a couple of hundred people come. Pray that we have the resources provided for us to be able to do this as well as possible.

Here is a list of the individual parts that you or your church could fund:
Candy and eggs: $200 (covered)
Banner: $150
Giveaways: $100
Food: $350

Whatever you can do would be a tremendous help. And your prayers are most important of all.

Big Announcement and Big Prayer

Okay, time for a big announcement: we are changing our name. We let you know we were praying about this a few weeks back and now we’ve come to a decision. Summerlake will now be Hope Fellowship. This name encapsulates our vision for the Summerwood community and beyond—bringing the only true hope for a lost, confused, and scared community. This name change is immediate. You will begin to see it on our website and in other places. However, if you are a financial supporter, please continue to make out checks to Summerlake until further notice.

I have not yet told you about our breakfast in February. We had a low turn-out, but that presented the opportunity for us begin deeper relationships. Pray for Rachel, a prospect for joining us and for Lynn and her daughter, a Seventh - day Adventist that we a long conversation with. Also pray for 3 other families that the Lord has lain on our hearts. These are people we feel like God may be leading to join us.

We are also hosting another outreach at the apartment complex. Sunday at 1PM, we are having a taco lunch. We also got permission to put flyers on the doors so we no longer have to mail announcements. Now we can be sure the people are looking at the card. Pray that we have a big turn-out for the lunch and that we can build relationships and witness for Christ.

Open letter to our leadership team

I'm really leaning hard toward a Sept 13 launch. All the reasons that we talked about plus a couple more.

I'm not real comfortable with the idea, but I don't think it's God's will for Etta to work. God has made it clear over the past few years that she is to be home with the boys. Our circumstances have changed--we need more money to get out of debt, I would like to stop receiving a salary from the church, and I need more time (read: no Domino's) to spend on the church plant. However, God has not changed. He has not given ME the go-ahead for Etta to work (maybe she's gotten it???). So I'm thinking she shouldn't.

So how does that make me want to launch Sept 13?

If we have reached a number that will allow us to launch in September, then we will likely have the income that will allow me to quit Domino's, thus giving me the time I need. If Etta doesn't work, then pushing the start date to February means I have a lot of work and no time. The summer affords us the opportunity to do a lot in a little time. We won't have that luxury during next school year. We are at a place where we have to do the work.

Another realization I had is this: the reason we haven't been blessed with the time or resources to really get going in the apartment is because we weren't supposed to really get going in the apartment. I feel like that is why I have had to continue to work at Domino's. If I had had more time, we might have actually been a little more successful and we would have an apartment church, not a suburban church. Remember our renewed focus? We are where we are supposed to be, but not to do the things we thought. We were trying to rush things.

Moving and summer vacation give us the location and time to do what needs to be done to launch. Please don't read this as an easy thing. I just piled a whole lot of stress and work on us. And if you disagree, tell me. That's why we're a leadership team. But I really feel this is the direction we are headed in.

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.