Acts 29 Assessment (I had my 1 on 1 phone assessment yesterday)

Yesterday I had a two hour 1 on 1 with the Director of Church Planting at Acts 29. So far I have gone though the entire application process and this was the first part of the actual assessment. It was very in depth and detailed.

Acts 29 focuses on 6 areas; The Church Plant, Theology, Family, Calling, Entrepreneurial ability and Confidential (addictions, background, finances, etc.) They ask questions like; Explain the gospel from a Theological view? What is your stance on predestination? How do you pastor your wife and kids? Why are you called? Do you feel like you would be in sin if you didn't plant? Who has influenced you? Why Boston? What is your weaknesses? How do you strive for humility? and LOTS MORE!!

Overall, the conversation went great. I really felt like God had been preparing me for the interview for the last 2 years. I felt that I was able to communicate clearly what God was calling us to do. I felt that my life/beliefs/skills/personality/abilities are all in line with what they are looking to support.

Acts 29 is a Church Planting Network that provides Theological training, mentoring, coaching, accountability, funding, and opens you up to their network if you are accepted. I think it is important to note that they are the best in the country with a 100% success rate. To understand how amazing that is, you will have to know this little fact. In America, 80% of all church plants fail within the first year. So, to have a 100% success rate in all of their years of being established, shows how the hand of God is resting on them. Another interesting fact is that there has never been 1 known instance of infidelity or adultery of an Acts 29 Lead Pastor. In a world where stats tell us that 50% of pastors have confessed of having "indecent relationships" with someone other than their spouse; that is another outstanding fact. If your interested in learning more go to http://www.acts29network.org/

I feel so blessed today. I have a beautiful wife who is my best friend. She has walked along side of me though all of this. God has called us to a very difficult task and she seems to complain less than I do. I just felt it necessary to share that. If it were not for her, I would not be in the position that I am in today. She has taught me humility, servant leadership, and most importantly love. Above all the things that God has given me through the years, she stands far above everything else.

A Dialog between a "Consumer Focused" Pastor vs "Christ Centered" Pastor

This is a real conversation that is taking place between a pastor who is focused on growing his church and a pastor who is focused on trying to teach his church to be more like Jesus.

Jesus Focused pastor (aka Chris) wrote:

Dear Pastor Connor, (Consumer Focused),

I wanted to take a minute out of my day and congratulate you on all of the growth that you are seeing at your church. I drove by your facility yesterday and I saw all of the construction that was taking place; it looks amazing. The word around town is that God is really doing something in your church. I hear that you are seeing more and more people every Sunday attend. That's awesome. You have only been established for 3 years and already have probably 10 times the amount of attendees that we have on a given Sunday and your charasima, so I hear, is extremely motivating. My daughter went to visit your church while visiting from college and said that your Worship was out of this world. Everything was perfectly put together and the sound was awesome, she said.

I just wanted to hear from you, how you are seeing all of your success. I am an older guy who has been in ministry for 20 years and have never seen the success that you are seeing. Whats your secret? How are you drawing so many people? How are you leading such a monster?

Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you.

Bless you in Christ,
Pastor Chris, (Christ Centered)

To see the remainder of the conversation, look under the comments section.

ABC and Biblical Christianity (copy/paste)

I don't think that I ever have copied and pasted something on my blog. I think that a blog should be our origional thoughts. However, I read this and wanted to share. I thought it was extremely interesting and a good example of our current mainstream culture.

Jim Neugent is a coach in Childress , Texas ...Jim writes:

My name is Jim Neugent. I wrote to ABC (on-line) concerning a program called 'THE PRACTICE.' In last night's episode, one of the lawyer's mothers decided she is gay and wanted her son to go to court and help her get a marriage license so she could marry her ' partner. ' I sent the following letter to ABC yesterday and really did not expect a reply, but I did get one.

My original message was:

ABC is obsessed with the subject of homosexuality. I will no longer watch any of your attempts to convince the world that homosexuality is OK. ' THE PRACTICE ' can be a fairly good show , but last night's program was so typical of your agenda. You picked the ' dufus ' of the office to be the one who was against the idea of his mother being gay, and made him look like a whiner because he had convictions. This type of mentality calls people like me a 'gay basher.' Read the first chapter of Romans (that's in the Bible) and see what the apostle Paul had to say about it.... He, God and Jesus were all ' gay bashers ' . What if she'd fallen in love with her cocker spaniel? Is that an alternative life style? (By the way, the Bible speaks against that, too.)--Jim Neugent

Here is ABC ' s reply from the ABC on-line webmaster:

How about getting your nose out of the Bible (which is ONLY a book of stories compiled by MANY different writers hundreds of years ago) and read the declaration of independence (what our nation is built on), where it says 'All Men are Created equal,' and try treating them that way for a change! Or better yet, try thinking for yourself and stop using an archaic book of stories as your lame crutch for your existence. You are in the minority in this country, and your boycott will not affect u s at ABC or our freedom of statement.

Jim Neugent ' s second response to ABC:

Thanks for your reply. From your harsh reply, evidently I hit a nerve. I will share it with all with whom I come in contact. Hopefully, the Arkansas Democrat Newspaper will include it in one of their columns and I will be praying for you.- -Jim Neugent- -

Road Trip (Boston Friends - Please Read!!)

Beth and I are planning a trip to Boston the weekend of February 20-22. During this trip we would like to have some of our friends visit the area with us to see what we are getting ourselves into. This will be a time of prayer for our ministry, a time to connect with each other, and a time to seek God about our roles (if any) in this church plant.

If you are in Greensboro, we will look to get a 15 passenger van to drive. We'll leave Friday somewhere between 3 and 5pm. We will drive through the night taking turns in the cockpit and sleeping. We'll spend some time in the city and on the North Shore. Then on Saturday night, I would like to all get together at a church to just spend some time praying together. I am inviting some people who are in the Boston area and will be supporting us in some way or form to join us.

We have friends and family in the area so sleeping arrangements will not be much of a problem. I am sure there will be an aspect of Ghettoness to it, but ain't nothing wrong with a little ghetto. Remember Jesus said, "Foxes have holes and Birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. We're just tryin to be Christ Like!!

Get excited. It's gonna be fun!!!

If your interested in going with us, please let me know. Also, if you can be there on Saturday night, let me know. I would love it if you could!! Just leave me a comment on this blog or shoot me an e-mail at mwchewning@yahoo.com I will update the details as I work them out.

Netcast Update (our new website)

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to drop you all a note about where we currently are at with our church plant. Currently we are talking with Daystar Christian Fellowship, our home church, about how they will sponsor us. This past week we received our first donation, which was a total act of the Lord. We never asked for money and this couple felt the Lord put it on their hearts to give. I also just finalized my personality test for the Acts 29 network. It came back positive....I have a personality. haha.

The latest news is that we currently have a temporary website up and running. On it you can find detailed information about who we are, our time-line, the city we will be moving to and more. Please take 2 minutes and go and check it out at http://www.ourchurch.com/member/n/netcastchurch/

As we get closer to moving, my brother-in-law has donated his services to build us a full website. We're very excited about that.

Thanks for keeping up with us.