Life. Faith. Jesus.

Okay, I went to an Acts 29 Bootcamp conference that was truly amazing. There were many messages and sessions that I connected with and took notes of. There were a few, though, that really hit home with me. This particular session, “Discipleship and Ambition” by Bob Thune really hit home with me. I’ve always had a passion for discipleship and that is one of the values I will need to continually enforce and be held accountable when planting. I know this because they way you start your church is the way you will have to feed your church, and I don’t want people coming to my church to be fed anything but Jesus. So, that being said, I thought I’d share some of my notes with you Jesus freaks out there about Church planting and Discipleship. Let me know if this helps you, or if it hits home with you.

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And I suppose it couldn’t come on a better day.

Last week, as you saw for yourself, I left a post up all week long in honor of Charlie Matthews. He will be missed by many, but I know he’s experiencing something beyond what he ever thought Heaven to be. Last week was rough in many ways, but I’m glad it’s a new week and I’m looking forward to it.

I am excited in particular about Tuesday and Wednesday because I get to go to the Acts 29 Bootcamp in Louisville, KY! I am really Read more

Trust Jesus and His Church from Dave Dorr at Passage Church in West Chester.

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The role of a shepherd is nothing to fool around with

If you have been given this task, do it will sincerity in heart. God has reminded me today of the importance of this duty, this job, this calling. It is not to be taken lightly, and not to be taken selfishly. Read more

Tomorrow is the meeting

Many of you know what is going on with me at this time in regards to church planting. In reality, there is nothing “official” as of yet. A church has not formed, there are no logistics scheduled, there are only people who have expressed interest in doing a church start. Thus, my intentions are to gather with these particular people and discuss what some of our options are.

That being said

Tomorrow is the meeting that I will gather these folks together and make some suggestions and my recommendations, as well as get some feedback and insight from them. After all, God has called them personally. We will be having our first meeting this Saturday, 4.17.09. There are a few different opportunities we can go with this new church start.

1. We can proceed with a fresh, new start from scratch
2. We can partner with another church in a re-start, which is considered a plant
3. We can continue to meet together and talk about a church start while worshiping together at a church that models something like what we want

So far, the association (SBC) that was going to sponsor me in the plant will not be able to do so now. That being said, that is a door that has closed, because with the sponsorship comes, though not much, some funding. The door that has been open, though, is a great opportunity to re-plant a church. This church has been “sent” by another church, and the sponsoring church has been wanting to support me for some time now; I just didn’t think this would be the way God would move.

This Saturday the team and I will discuss these options, though I am sensing more and more that the merge with a re-plant is the door that is open. I will update after the meeting.

God bless!

- Jonathan J.