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Welcome to Christian church starters
November 12, 2006
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In light of Jesus Christ commission to make disciples and teach them to observe all things, and in light of Him receiving the first baptized repentant believers and planting the first Christian church, we share in these works by “raising up followers of Jesus Christ through planting Christian churches.”
Our area of service is the entire state of New Mexico, far southwestern Colorado, and far, far west Texas with a population of about 2.6 million people which is almost 1% of the people in the U. S. A. In this area on an average Sunday about 3000 people will attend Christian Churches.
In answer to our prayers God is giving us harvest workers for ripe fields. These church planters are developing churches that will parent many other churches within our area. Discover Christian Church is being planted in Rio Rancho, NM, the “fastest growing city in the United States” and Paseo Christian Church is being planted in El Paso, TX which is the 17th largest city in the United States. Both cities are experiencing dramatic growth resulting in ripe harvest fields.
God is leading us in developing strategies for starting Christian Churches in any place at any time where God gives us the harvest workers. We have a list of favorite places that are ripening for strategically placed high impact churches in fast growing communities.
But, God is working in every community and we will join Him anywhere.
God has amazingly provided for these two current church plants. Those who have supported us are experiencing the joy and will reap the Lord’s reward for their faith expressed in heartfelt prayers and gracious gifts to advance the Lord’s kingdom.
Church plants in progress
A letter from Boyd A. Hamlin...
Thank you for your powerful prayers and support for my family and the launch of Discover Church in Rio Rancho, NM. For the past two and a half months I started a Bible study entitled, "Jesus Is...", as a response to the question I had been asking people for one year, "Who is Jesus to you?" The study started with 3 adults and several children from Pre-School to sixth grade. Two months into the evening study, we moved our meeting time to Sunday mornings in preparation for our launch day. Three adults turned into 30 seeking to understand who this Jesus truly is.
We organized two major events in the park that drew a total of over 300 for free brisket and fun for the whole family. Contact information was gathered and I began following up on all families open to hearing. The week before Halloween, I asked Colinas del Norte Elementary School if we could serve alongside them during their Fall Festival for their student body. The PTA agreed to let us serve with them. Ten individuals from Discover Church showed up ready to serve in whatever capacity the PTA put us in. We were assigned to the best station in the house to meet people - The Pizza Table! As we served pizza to over 1,100 people, my boys handed out candy to every kid that crossed their path. We stayed and helped clean up the mess in an effort to go above and beyond. Collin decided that serving at the school was not enough. I honored his idea of putting candy and a business card in a zip-lock bag and dragging it around in his red wagon on Halloween night. He taped a note on our front door that read, "Look for the red candy wagon", hoping that kids would keep an eye out for us. We walked around for 3 hours and handed out 200 bags of candy. It was amazing to watch my boys stand eye to eye with their peers and invite them to come to church to meet Jesus.
We have worked hard learning to set up and tear down for our services in record time during the month of October. By record time, I mean that we are shooting for a goal to have everything set up in less than 30 minutes. To date, we are setting up in 45 minutes.
The day of launch had arrived and we were far from being ready. Outside of establishing relationships with people, putting out door hangers for our events, no other marketing attempt came to be for some reason. Prayer and relationships were all we had to go on in drawing people to our first official service. The Discover Team arrived at 8:00 a.m. to set up and pray for the morning service and for people to come. Including a handful of supporters, we had over 60 at our first official service. My message focused on the vision of Discover Church (Discover Life in Christ, Discover your Purpose in Life). It is my hope that a few years from now I can preach this same message and be able to look back and see the progress God has made through us. Compasses were handed out to all in attendance as I explained how we will navigate our spiritual journey as individuals and as a church. The fellowship was great. We are off to a slow, but good start. I reminded myself and our team that an oak tree doesn't grow overnight. It takes time for the roots to grow deep, the trunk to become sturdy before the branches of ministry begin to take shape.
There is much work to be done, but we are making progress. I had a meeting with a faculty member of the school last week regarding the many students living in poverty level situations. We are teaming up with the school to provide Thanksgiving for 15 families and Christmas for 3 families. I don't know how we are going to pull this off with minimal funding, but God honors risk-takers. It was interesting what Marion said to me as we ended our meeting, "You are a unique church in this community already because service is one of your focuses". What a huge compliment! It is our goal that as we serve our immediate community that opportunities to serve the larger community emerge. I believe that serving will be our greatest PR.
Continue praying for us. Here are a few items that are pressing right now:
1. Pray that our team of volunteers will grow in the wisdom and knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
2. Pray that our opportunities to serve this community and city will be constant and effective.
3. Pray that financial offerings will be steady. We are really behind at this point as far as funding goes, but rich in many other blessings.
4. Pray that God would make us courageous in seeking the lost. That obstacles can and will be overcome.
A book I recommend reading - "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson
Future favorite places for planting churches
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