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A New Teacher’s Lounge, Water Bottles, and Week 3 At CityLife!
Today I am celebrating an amazing weekend of ministry at CityLife Church! Here are a few of the highlights.
- About 35 friends from the choir at Allison Park Church joined us for the weekend. They had awesome attitudes as they served South Philly.
- On Friday night we outfitted the teacher’s lounge at The Academy at Palumbo. You can see the before and after photos above. So thankful for our relationship with this great school and happy to invest in their teachers!
- On Saturday we gave away hundreds of bottles of water and distributed thousands of door hangers. During the day one of our church’s 94 year old neighbors committed his life to Christ!
- Yesterday we had our 3rd service. There was so much energy and excitement that filled the school!
- Counting the choir, we had 196 people in attendance, and at the end of the service 19 people responded to plead guilty and surrender their lives to Jesus!
Launch Recap
Wow! Yesterday was such a fun day for CityLife Church! For months we have been preparing for September 11 with the goal of throwing the finest God party we could. And yesterday it happened. The Academy at Palumbo was packed with people, energy, and LIFE!
Yesterday was my 33rd birthday. In the morning, one friend who forgot CityLife was launching, posted a message to my Facebook wall that said, “Happy birthday. I hope it’s a blast and that you do something you love.” Honestly, I can’t imagine anything I’d rather do on my birthday than start a church, and can’t remember ever having a birthday that was as much fun as this one.
We weren’t quite sure what to expect but were thrilled with what God did. 210 people attended the service, and 12 made a commitment to cross the line of faith and surrender to Christ.
I was so proud of our team. I can’t begin to calculate the number of hours and cumulative sacrifice they’ve invested in the birth of CityLife Church. There’s no way yesterday would have happened without you. I love you guys and feel honored to share in this dream with you.
If you’d like to get a taste of the fun, check out the CityLife Launch photo album on our Facebook page!
Thinking of Visiting CityLife This Sunday?
Are you thinking of joining us for the launch of CityLife Church this weekend? Check out the VIP Guest Guide to quickly reference location, times and directions.
You can find all of the other juicy details by visiting our website!
The End of the Beginning
On Sunday our launch team celebrated our final weekend together before CityLife Church officially launches this coming weekend. We had an outdoor service, our first three water baptisms, and then spent the afternoon relaxing together. It was a fun conclusion to what has been a very meaningful season in my life.
The pre-launch phase of a church plant feels a lot like being engaged. You spend some extended time preparing for a big day, and then the real commitment and hard work begins. Honestly, I am going to miss this season. It has been a highly relational, organic, meaningful time for my family and our core group. But all good things must come to an end, and we are all pumped to see what God will do this Sunday when CityLifegoes public!
Kickoff!
Hard to believe that it’s almost been a full year since Leah and I moved to Philly! And it’s hard to describe how much we’ve grown to love this city–parking wars and all!
For the past year we’ve been eagerly anticipating the official launch of CityLife Church on September 11, and it’s finally here!
September 11 is an important day for several reasons.
- It’s the 10 year anniversary of the tragedy that forever changed our country.
- It’s my birthday.
- It’s the day my daughter Claire turns 6 months old.
- It’s the start of the NFL season!
While They Were Fasting
While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them (Acts 13.2).
This week I am leading our CityLife Church core group through a focused process of prayer and fasting. We have specific prayer points we’re agreeing for throughout the week, and tonight we’ll gather to worship and pray.
Honestly, I called this week of prayer and fasting with an agenda in mind. Our public launch for CityLife Church is just a few weeks away, which gives me a sense a desperation for God to bless all the work we’ve put into starting this new church. As I wrote earlier this week, we need his hand to be on us.
But this morning I read this verse about a similar experience at the Church in Antioch, and was reminded about the potential of fasting. As these first century church leaders pursued God together, He surprised them with a Divine strategy session. He spoke to them, and led them to take a step of faith by sending Paul on the first of three church planting journeys. It was a directive that undoubtedly changed the course of church history.
And it hit me.
If we’re not careful we can get so focused on what we want God to do for us that we forget He has something He wants us to do for Him.
My prayer today is that God will use this time to direct us, stretch us, guide us, and get us focused on His agenda.
The Hand of the Lord Was With Them
I’ve always been inspired by the story of the Antioch church plant in Acts 11. An anonymous group of church planters moved into the third largest city in the world and set in motion a chain of events that changed the Roman Empire.
There’s one phrase in particular in verse 21 that I’m thinking about today.
…and the hand of the Lord was with them.
The city of Philadelphia often makes me feel small and powerless. Big buildings. Big population base. Big challenges. There really is nothing our new church can accomplish here without the hand of the Lord being with us.
With a little less than three weeks until CityLife Church launches, my sense of dependency on God is growing. We’ve worked hard and prepared, but only God can produce lasting fruit from it.
That’s why our launch team is dedicating this week to prayer so we can connect to an even bigger God.
A few years ago I had the opportunity to hear David Mohan share his story. He leads a church in India that has grown to over 30,000 people and has planted over 100 churches. They started with just seven people. And he made it very clear that prayer is the backbone of their ministry. In fact, on Friday nights, they have up to 1,000 people who gather at the church to pray all night long.
His most striking comment to me was this.
If I don’t pray as a pastor, then I am saying I can build my church without God’s help.
My dream is that several years from now, when the story of CityLife Church is told, it would be said of us–The hand of the Lord was with them.
CityLife Update
The official launch of CityLife Church is only 6 Sundays away! Here’s an update of what’s happening.
- On September 1st Leah and I will celebrate our one year anniversary of moving to Philly!
- Our core group has built hundreds of relationships throughout the city in our neighborhoods and through our jobs.
- The main purpose of our preview services the past three months has been to develop our Sunday morning systems so that on September 11 we are ready to throw the finest God party in the history of South Philly.
- We are now moving into a “season of inviting” these final six weeks.
- For the past three weeks, our team has met for worship at a large park in South Philly. It’s been hot–but special!
- There’s been something nice about the simplicity of this pre-launch season. No setup. Lunch together on Sundays. Relaxed and highly relational. I’m going to miss it.
- We’re also taking time to “plan for the marriage, and not just the wedding.” September 11 will come and go, and then we settle into the ongoing work of building disciples.
- July was a fundraising month for us, as we set a goal to raise $30,000 in 30 days to complete our pre-launch budget. We’re close to reaching that goal.
- If you’d like to make a one time donation, or a monthly commitment to help us get the rest of the way there you can send a secure gift through our website.
- All of our remaining equipment for making Sunday morning happen has been coming in.
- Without permanent office space, my house feels like a delivery station. Seems like something’s being delivered everyday.
- Currently we’ve got kid’s equipment, bistro tables, signs, office equipment and lots of CityLife boxes crammed into my basement!
- Last night we used our kitchen to make sure all of our signs were printed right.
- Next weekend is our final “preview weekend.”
- On Saturday, the 13th, we’ll host our second “Movie at Montrose” night. This is a monthly block party we’ve started in the middle of the historic Italian Market.
- On Sunday, the 14th we’ll setup at The Academy at Palumbo for our final preview service.
God’s Will–God’s Bill
On Sunday during my message I wanted to encourage our launch team to remember that CityLife Church is God’s idea. Before it occurred to any of us, this new church was an idea in God’s mind and a desire in his heart. Here’s the principle I shared.
What God originates, God orchestrates.
Or to say it another way, if it’s God’s will, it’s God’s bill.
Of course, this doesn’t absolve us of the need to do our part. It simply reminds us that if we are giving ourselves to something God is already doing, then the responsibility is ultimately His to carry.
Meanwhile, God gave us a fun experience to drive this point home. On Saturday Drew Sparks, one of our leaders, went to Lowes to buy some rope we needed for Sunday. The rope cost $16.67. And guess what Drew found in the parking lot.
A Lowes gift card with $16.04 left on it!
It was as if God said, “You can pick up 63 cents while I’ll take care of the rest!”
In the context of starting a church it might sound something like this. “I’ll build this church. Why don’t you setup the sound system.”
If you want the hand of God on your life, the best advice I can think of is to give yourself fully to something that God has started. You’ll find some serious momentum there.
Preview Service Reflections
Thanks to everyone who prayed for our first preview service at CityLife Church yesterday. We had a blast hosting our first public worship experience in South Philly!
The main purpose of our preview services is to fine tune our Sunday morning ministries so that when CityLife launches on September 11 we are ready to throw the finest God party in the history of South Philadelphia!
Here are just a few reflections from yesterday:
- Click here to see some pictures on our Facebook page!
- We’ve got a great team of dedicated, gifted, servants laying the foundation for CityLife!
- When that first guest comes in it’s a little like that scene in Cars where they all yell “Customers, Customers!” I felt a little awkward for that first guy:)
- I forgot how much work portable church is! Our team pulled it off on their first try with great attitudes.
- We had one person make a commitment to Christ, which is symbolic since our mission is for THE ONE!
- We had 40 people which is our highest core group attendance so far!
- Our sound system is a mix of equipment that was donated to us and new stuff that we bought. Wasn’t sure how it would all mesh but was pleasantly surprised.
- Can’t wait to get all our signs in the next few weeks!
- I preached a sermon called “What One Church Plant Can Do,” and three new people indicated on our connection card that “I believe a church plant can change the world and want to connect to CityLife Church.”
- We will now begin adding in more outreaches and making more invitations as we get closer to launch.
From here I’ve asked our leaders to create a list of 15 things we did well and 15 things we need to either add or improve for our next preview on June 12. We’ll also be adding equipment up until our launch in September, partly because of budget, and partly because adding something new each time is fun, keeps us on our toes, and creates an expectation of progress.
