Another "boat load' of church planting material

Since our goal is to create a culture of rapid expansion understanding how the church multiplies becomes important. One way the church multiplies is through church planting. Here is another site with a lot of free material and a lot of links to other church planting sites. There are literally hundreds of links, both in the "Free Resources" link but also in the "Tutorial" link. If you work through the tutorial you will find both excellent material and helpful links.

Here is the link: http://www.churchplanting4me.com/seminars.htm

"It's a boy" - well actually three boys

Three pastor's families are welcoming the addition of a new boy to the family.

Nathan Gerald Rushik was born to JR and Kim Rushik on Sept. 21, 2007. 10lbs. 6 oz.

Ephraim Jose Flemming was born to Curtis and Nancy Flemming on Oct. 17, 2007. 7 lbs. 14 oz.

Nathanael Alexander Souza was born to Jim and Keri Souza on Oct. 17, 2007.

Baker Rigg appointed to Culpeper, VA

Baker Rigg, from Seaboard, NC, has been appointed pastor of Culpeper, VA church. Baker, along with another pastor, has planted two churches in North Carolina, both of which are thriving today. Baker also is a skilled worship leader. Baker and his wife Sheran have seven children and began their ministry at Culpeper in November. Baker has been used by God both in the areas of evangelism and in growing new converts to maturity in Christ. We are believing that God is going to use him in the community of Culpeper to bring the Good News to many people who desperately need Jesus.

Check your end of year mission's giving

Here is a note from Warren Hawkins describing the urgent need of FM missionaries (sorry the file does not copy and paste well.) Please be sure that your church has designated your mission's giving to go to specific missionaries and/or countries. If you need your password to get into the record of contributions from your church that is listed on the web, please contact Kerrie at marfmc@aol.com, or in New York Conference you can also contact Sue Gonzlaez who can walk you through the process of designating your giving.


Greeting Missions Mobilizers,
Many of you have probably seen the original "Star Wars" with Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. And maybe you even remember the scene where Luke, Han and the Princess are trapped in one of the Death Stars trash compactors. The walls are closing in on them from both sides. They can see their time is running short, and Luke keeps yelling into his communicator, "C- 3PO, are you out there? 3PO, come in."Last month, I told you we are now into crunch time. This month you need to know that many of our missionaries and those responsible for country ministries can feel the walls closing in on them. January 1 is only 35 days away, and 12 of our 52 missionary families are still below the 75% commitment level for next year. If this situation is not remedied quickly, these missionaries will be required to come home to do additional support raising in 2008. At the same time, 15 of our 48 Country Shares are below the 25% commitment level. We will not be able to send first quarter funds to any country that does not reach the 25% by January 1. In all, we are still working to get $938,605 in individual and church commitments to fully fund all FMWM missionaries and ministries in 2008.To date, we have heard from 535 of the 1,018 churches in the U.S and U.K. with commitments to FMWM missionaries and ministries totaling $3.7 million. For the remaining 47% (or 484 local churches), we are calling out for your help before January 1. "Hello, hello, are you out there? Please come in. Can you help us reach this planet Earth for Christ?"
- Warren Hawkins, Director of Development

DL's to attend Exponential Conference, April 21-24, 2008

Understanding multiplication is a key ingredient to our stated goal of creating a culture of rapid expansion. One of the best places to learn what God is doing in that area of multiplication is at the National New Church Conference (called "Exponential 08") in Orlando in April. This is an amazing gathering of people whom God is using to expand Jesus' church. It is the largest church planting conference in the U.S. and focuses on reproduction of churches, preaching sites, and groups. The Mid-Atlantic District Leaders are attending this conference as are all the eastern superintendents.

If you want to attend the registration is just $99, but it goes up Dec. 1st. Check out the speakers at http://www.exponentialconference.org/

Dundalk doing 75 days of prayer

Baltimore Dundalk is spending 75 days asking God what is next for the church. I am now pastoring this church along with pastors Cesar and Virginia Freitas. We believe that God will reveal his next step for this congregation and that His plans are good. This is also a good place for me to see if we can create a culture of multiplication from the ground up. Dundalk is a church that is surrounded by tens of thousands of people who need Jesus. We are working hard at planning a Christmas Eve service and are asking God to bring some people to that service with whom we can connect.

A "Boat Load" of Church Planting Information

Follow the link below for a page full of free downloads from Leadership Network regarding church planting. This includes in latest Ed Stetzer study which has just been released. The downloads include both podcasts and papers.



http://www.leadnet.org/LC_Resources.asp?IsSubmit=True&LC=churchplanting&SortOrder_AV=DatePublished%20Desc&SortOrder_Books=DatePublished%20Desc&SortOrder_Downloads=DatePosted%20Desc&SortOrder_Events=StartDate&SortOrder_Links=DatePosted%20Desc#Downloads

Storehouse Video wins award

A video produced by Storehouse Church for use in a sermon series has won an award. Pastor JR Rushik wrote the script for the video and it was produced by Storehouse staff member Al Whittaker.


The award was one of Church Production Magazine’s 3rd Annual Video Production Awards. The winning category was "Sermon Illustration, Church size 600 or less".


You can view the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU1QHAeY6II

You can view more Storehouse videos, including some teaching videos by Pastor JR at: www.youtube.com/storehousechurch


Storehouse Church continues to grow and is now pushing past 300 in attendance.

Waynesboro initiates 100 Days of Prayer

I met with the pastor David and Lisa Kurtz and the board at Waynesboro, VA church to have a talk about the future direction of the church and some of the issues they were confronting in the present. After a time of discussion and prayer together I asked the board to take the leadership in leading the church in 100 days of prayer. They have taken on this challenge and have divided up the 100 days among the board members. Each of them will take the lead in leading the church in prayer in his or her assigned time. They are producing a prayer guide, are emphasizing personal prayer, prayer in groups of three, and all church prayer meetings.

After 100 days I will go back and meet with their board again to see what God has said to the church during this time. I will let you know what happens.

Elizeu returning to Brazil

It is with great sadness I announce that Elizeu Gomes and his family are returning to Brazil after being denied a Green Card. Elizeu and Linnea have done great work at Danbury, CT. When they went to this church about seven years ago it was a struggling church plant with fewer than 10 people. Today it is a church that has about 300 on Sunday and has helped to plant eight other churches.

This has been a very painful time for Elizeu and his family, and for the Logos Communidade church family. It is very difficult to replace a pastor who has built the church up from very little to become an organization that is thriving.

We have taken several steps to deal with this transition. We are hoping and praying that Elizeu will be able to begin the process over again of obtaining an R-1 visa when he goes to Brazil. If that happens it is possible that Elizeu may be able to return, perhaps even within a year. Because of that possibility we are leaving Elizeu as senior pastor of the church. Janine Ventura (daughter of Jessie and Leda Carvalho) has been named interim pastor to direct the ministry and do the preaching. Alberto Oliveira, who pastors one of Communidade Logos' daughter churches in Waterbury, CT, has been given the oversight role of leading the board of Communidade Logos.

Elizeu will continue his music and crusade ministry in Brazil as he waits to see if he can return. We will miss him greatly.

Baltimore First celebrates their 100th anniversary

October 29, 2007 was a great Sunday at Baltimore First. Over 120 people gathered to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the church. We had a great service and a dinner afterward. Baltimore First has a great history of strong, Godly leaders over the years. I enjoyed listening to the stories and seeing the pictures of what God has done in that past through that church. I was honored both to preach that Sunday and to be listed as one of the past pastors of the church, even if it was for only two years.

Darrold and Louise Phillips were present (Louise played the organ), along with several other past pastors. I don't know the exact numbers but Darrold has pastored that church twice, both for extended periods of time. If I find the exact number of years I will post them. I will also try to find some pictures to post.

Loren and Pam Edwards are doing a good job there now. They continue to lead an excellent youth program and a Kid's Club, both which are reaching many inner city kids. We are thankful for the good work they are doing.

Why a blog?

I've been trying to find a way to keep people up to date on news from the two conferences. We really have had no point of contact that was available to everybody since the time when Virginia was sending out a newsletter. There are a lot of things that happen that people would like to know about, but unless you are on some board or committee this kind of information doesn't often get around to everybody.

So we will try this blog and see if it gets some circulation ( and see if I can keep it going!) I really prefer a blog over a newsletter because my life is in constant motion. It was difficult for me to remember all that things that could be included in a newsletter even when we had someone who was writing a periodic newsletter. This way I can add items of news "on the run" and not have to keep track of a bunch of things to add to the newsletter.

I really intend this blog to be primarily a news blog. Perhaps if we succeed at this one I will add a teaching blog later on. As soon as I figure out what I am doing with this I will begin to add some pictures as I post some news. We will also probably add a few other people as writes on the blog.

If you have any suggestions or think that there is something that should be on here but is not, please e-mail me or Kerrie and let us know.