First, we are excited about Mission Training. Tod, Charles, and I were in Williamsburg, VA, this past weekend facilitating the first lab of our new equipping cycle. Thirty-six participants (from three new/beginning church plants and three established churches) explored how to “Cultivate Personal Discipleship.” These participants were both growing as disciples themselves and learning to help others do the same.
Second, we are excited about new church planters–committed, talented, people of experience!! For example, Wes Gunn recently announced to the Landmark Church in Montgomery, AL, that he was resigning to follow God’s call to plant a new church in the area where he lives. Praise God for the words of encouragement and affirmation that Wes and Amanda and their core team received from their church family. Please pray for Wes and Amanda Gunn (pictured), Tim and Diane Castro, Rob and Rivers Sellers, and Rob and Joy Williams as they begin to reach out into their community. Read more about the Redland Hills Church at http://www.redlandhills.org/blog. And we are thankful that this church planting is fully funded from the beginning. Praise God with us!
Third, we are excited about the leaders who are growing to heightened spiritual vitality and understanding through our Equipping Communities, which we have been calling Huddles. A Huddle is a forum to nurture (or disciple) church planters and church leaders in the process of discipleship and mission based upon our belief that the key to renewal is a powerful return to Jesus’ heart for making disciples and multiplying them into missional leaders. Becky and Melinda Ballard have just begun a huddle for eight women on staff at a major church in DFW. My Monday afternoon huddle with church leaders is one of the most transformative experiences I have had in training. Would you pray for these and three other new huddles of church leaders and church planters that have just been initiated by Gailyn, Becky, and Tod? Pray also for leaders who are huddling others within their churches but also for Mission Alive. Pray for those in the huddles who are planting new churches. Pray for the participants to involve themselves fully in the process. Pray for Gailyn, Becky, and Tod as they invest in each of the participants.
Fourth, we are excited that others are becoming excited. Last week Charles Kiser and I met with leaders of a major church in DFW and talked with them about the possibility of sponsoring Mission Training in the DFW area beginning next March. They had both been in an equipping huddle with Charles Kiser. As we shared and dreamed about what might happen, one of them said, “I believe that we are on the cusp of something!!” We are excited because we are learning forward, developing new modules of training that are focused, experiential, “sticky,” spiritually transformative, and practical. We are on the cusp of growth and renewal.
Finally, we are excited because of your support and backing. Many of you have stood with us during times of immense learning as we developed spiritually formative models of disciple-making, mission, and community formation for both church planting and renewal.
Did we say, “We are excited?”
Living for the sake of the kingdom,