90-Year-Old Church Starts New Church Starting a new church was not in my mind nor a part of the thinking of Pomona First Nazarene when they invited me to come as their pastor in April of 1995. But now we have two churches meeting in two locations with one pastor. What happened? God got my attention. Here's how. Initially, my mind was opened to the potential of a NewStart through an in-depth study of Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God Workbook and Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven church . My district superintendent, Dr. Tom Goble, encouraged me to follow my heart. He demonstrated his belief in NewStarts by bringing Jim Dorsey, Rick Eastman, and Bob Babcock to the Anaheim District to plant what have become successful NewStart churches. Then I met David Biggs, who had researched the possibility of a NewStart in LaVerne in 1993. God used these people and resources to give me a vision for the many possibilities of reaching people for Christ in our area, especially church planting. What did God want? He wanted me to help Pomona Nazarene see we had everything He wanted and needed to start a new church. Did we have money? No. We were probably in the most difficult financial season the church had experienced in its 90 years of existence. Was it an excess of people needing something else to do? No. Our attendance, membership, and leadership had been on a steady numerical decline since the 1970s. In 1998, we averaged 118 in worship and 87 in Sunday School. What God helped me understand was that we had a group of people who loved Him and wanted their faith and actions to grow. They believe God is at work all around us. And they are eager to do the good works He created in advance for us to do. During this process, I had a new awareness and sensitivity to God's daily activity. In January 1997, I was approached by a Spanish-speaking church who actually made a $1.2 million bona fide real estate contracted cash offer for our Pomona location. That got my attention because our church was not for sale. It was significant to me because Pomona has had major demographic changes since the 1970s and is currently 54 percent Hispanic. I felt like God wanted us to consider this offer, so I began to look for other locations for our church. That search led me to the LaVerne community directly north of Pomona. We decided not to sell, but from that point on, the idea of doing something in LaVerne kept burning in my heart and mind. Twelve months later, in December 1997, I shared with the Pomona Church Board my growing passion to start a church in LaVerne. They listened to my proposal and committed to a month of prayer. With our discussion at the next board meeting came legitimate questions like, How would we pay for it? Why not focus that energy on spiritual and numerical growth in Pomona? Strong and sincere feelings were expressed by myself and by board members reflecting various viewpoints concerning the NewStart. Major questions could not be adequately answered. This was not an easy time to be on the board. Our discussion spanned over the first three months of 1998. We set the March 1998 meeting as the time to make a decision. Between our February and March meetings, the Board of General Superintendents sent out a general letter to many churches in our nation with computer-generated research and demographic maps suggesting areas with strong potential for NewStart churches. The demographic map they sent to Pomona contained the exact section of LaVerne we had targeted. Our church board voted to go for it, and the start date was set. As the idea was introduced to the entire congregation, it was clear this was not the easy path to take-but it has also become clear it was a path God wanted us on. Eight months later, in November 1998, the core group of 10 people from Pomona began meeting on Sunday mornings at nine in a home in LaVerne. On Easter Sunday, April 4, 1999, in a multipurpose room at Oak Mesa Elementary School, the LaVerne Community Church celebrated its "Grand Opening." It was clearly a "God thing." We have been averaging 44 people with a current high attendance of 60 on December 19, 1999, The financial miracle in this story is that once the facility use agreement with the school was signed-not before-God started bringing in new money to the church from sources we did not have prior to this giant step of faith. Additional costs for the facility, sound equipment, an enclosed utility trailer, and mailings to 11,000 households all came in. For the first year since I had been in Pomona, we went to district assembly with all budgets paid, and we were suddenly a 10 percent missions giving church because of this home mission project. The Highland Avenue church on our district, under the leadership of Rev. John Watkin, received recognition from the General Church of the Nazarene as a New Church-Type Mission Sponsor because they included LaVerne Community Church in their missions giving. What a boost and blessing they have been and continue to be to us. During this same time period, January 1998 to January 2000, at Pomona we have begun sharing our facilities with an independent new start Korean church under the leadership of Rev. John Lee. They are averaging 65 people and expressed interest in becoming Nazarenes. An added blessing is that they provided all the paint and professional painters when we painted the exterior of our church in the summer of 1998. In December 1999, the board granted a local preacher's license to Oscar Fernandez, one of our laymen who is now giving pastoral leadership to the growing number of Hispanic people attending the Pomona location. There is an adult Spanish-speaking Sunday School class and a Friday night Bible study that averages about 20 people. In all these settings, people are finding forgiveness for their sins by the grace of God though Christ. They are getting connected with other believers and growing in their faith and knowledge of God's Word. Perhaps God is trying to get your attention right now as you read this story. I have discovered when you give Him your attention, He will guide you with every obedient step. Our slogan has become, "Step by step, day by day, following Jesus in His way." I hope you have great joy as you obediently take your steps following Jesus in His way. Pastor Jim Schar Highland Park Starts New Church Lakeland (FL) Highland Park church is a "flagship" Nazarene church by any standard. Its location, staff, facilities, music, commitments, people, and various ministries make it a wonderful place to worship and a grand model for other Nazarene churches. Pastor Larry Dennis has served as senior pastor for six years; during his ministry, the church's attendance has grown from 790 to more than 1,100. The church has expanded its ministries in many ways and built a magnificent children's facility in the recent past. At Highland Park Church, the Nazarene spirit is evident everywhere. It shows in their missionary giving, revivals, pastoral care, and midweek ministries. As Pastor Dennis and the church's ministerial staff continued to seek additional ways to win more people, they seemed to be directed by the Lord again and again to the NewStart emphasis of the denomination. Describing what was taking place in his own heart, Pastor Dennis said: "The only way I can describe what happened was that God opened my eyes and my heart to church planting. Bill Sullivan had a great deal to do with it through his writings and gentle persuasion. Ultimately, I came face to face with God and the result was basically an act of obedience on my part. To be candid, I have always felt we couldn't afford to give up 10 to 15 families to start a church. Now I realize we can reach more people by 'franchising' than by staying focused on one site." Dennis couldn't forget studies he had read that show that as churches age, they reach fewer and fewer people. For example, in churches that are 50 years old, it takes an average of 487 members to reach one new convert as compared with an average of 11 members to reach one new convert in churches five years or younger. About the same time, the Board of General Superintendents wrote pastors where demographics showed a new Nazarene church was needed. They made this simple request: "The enclosed demographic data describes an area that holds potential for a new Church of the Nazarene. We are writing to request that you pray about your church becoming the sponsor of a new church in this promising area." When Dennis shared his idea of planting a new church with the staff, Kenny Ellis, who was serving as Highland Park's youth minister, stepped up to say he had felt the Lord leading him to such an undertaking. And when Dennis approached Highland Park's Church Board, its members unanimously approved of the idea. With the goal agreed upon, the planning started. By January 1999, Ellis was "interviewing" members at Highland Park who thought they might want to be among the core group to help start a new church. The idea was that every family that signed on would commit to specific areas of responsibility. In February and March, the new church team was training together, meeting two hours on Sundays. A school, Medulla Elementary in Southeast Lakeland, was rented as a meeting place. The Highland Park members who were setting off as spiritual pioneers were dedicated in what for Dennis was an emotional service. "I found out it was easier for me to sent $100,000 off to missions than to send five families across town," he said. Ellis and his wife, Jennie, said it was an emotional but exciting time. "It was just so clear that God was in it," Ellis said. Here's the up-to-date story if what God is doing in the new church. Let's start with the second baptismal service of the new Southland Community Church of the Nazarene. Water dripped from Vernon Reid's white robe, leaving a trail back to the swimming pool steps. Five-year-old Scotty Thomas beamed at him. "Vernon, you won." "He may have meant he liked the baptism or something like that. But I know it's true for another reason," Reid said later, sitting on Mark and Kathy Willis' porch finishing off a potluck lunch celebrating the day's five baptisms. This was the second round of spiritual new-birth celebrations in the Willis pool. Nancy Thomas was baptized by Pastor Kenny Ellis at the first celebration. Scotty Thomas wants to be next. That kidney-shaped swimming pool has been Pastor Ellis' baptistery. His office is in a shopping center. He preaches in an elementary school auditorium. And the nine-month-old congregation (started Easter Sunday, April 4, 1999) he leads, Southland Community Church in Lakeland is proving to be a soul-winning place birthed by mother church Highland Park Church of the Nazarene located about five miles away. "How do we measure success? Reach unreached people and have everybody sharing the gospel," Ellis said. For Connie Legate, the new church provides an opportunity to grow. She and her husband, Mike, and their four children, ages four to eight, were among the Highland Park families who left to help start Southland. Some of the most important things that happened each week at Southland don't take place on Sunday or in any other service. During the week, members host gatherings of people, usually about a dozen, called cell groups. The Legate household opens up from 7 to 9 p.m. each Tuesday. There is childcare, and when a group gets too large around 16 people-it splits, and a new cell group forms. Ellis said the cell groups are one reason for the church's success. The church started with about four and by January had six. It's the same kind of growth seen on Sundays. After starting with 70 or so at the first spring service, the church was averaging more than 100 each week by winter. There are members of every age, through many of those attending are in their 20s. A transformation takes place each week in the second-floor auditorium of the school. Carpet runners are rolled out over the wooden floor. Seat cushions are spread out to soften the fold-down theater seats. And Scott Pearce oversees volunteers running yards and yards of sound equipment cable. Pearce and his wife, Marsha, and daughter, Erica, were in the first group of families who moved over from Highland Park. In open-collar shirts and slacks, Pearce and Kenny Ellis lead worship. Pearce plays a keyboard and takes the congregation through a mixture of songs, from contemporary Christian tunes to more traditional hymns. The worship style helped draw Vernon Reid and Nancy Thomas. They visited Highland Park, but it seemed too large for them. "Southland's not meeting in a church building was a major, major thing" that attracted Thomas, she said. "And the way Kenny is more casually dressed, he's more on the same level," Reid said. At 40, Reid and Thomas gave their hearts to Jesus at Southland. For each of them, the change in their life has been amazing. Where before they shared a distaste for churches, now Thomas said she has a spiritual bond and a church home. "I can't wait for church now. When we walk out of church, we know more about Jesus every week," she said. "There's a spirit of power in that room." Reid feels himself growing. "The first thing is just to obey. Keep learning and obeying." He said a lot about the influence of the new church with his comment. --Lyle McBride with Pastors Larry Dennis and Kenny Ellis Team Starts Regional Church Near Sacramento After years of effective pastorates in well established churches, Pastor Tom and Linda Anderson felt called to start a church. When Anderson announced their commitment to plant a new church near Sacramento, several staff members from their church at Corvallis, Oregon, felt directed by the Lord to join them in this faith venture. So the Anderson, Montgomery (youth), Wickersheim (music), and Gilstrap (children) families now comprise a church planting team that is developing a new regional church near Sacramento, California. Staff members have taken secular employment to support themselves during the startup phase. Several lay families from Corvallis are seriously considering moving to Sacramento to become church planting "missionaries." The church will be called Placer Hills Church of the Nazarene. Located in fast-growing Placer County, where 200 new people move in every day, the church hopes to win people from Lumas, Rocklin, Lincoln, and Roseville. Their church plant strategy is to hold Sunday services at Rocklin Community Center from now until the grand opening service in early September 2000. In the near future, 30,000 mailers will be sent to area homes inviting them to preview services, something like a big-event service once each month. Later in the spring or early summer, another mass mailing will be sent offering preview services for six consecutive Sundays. It is expected that between those who start attending the present worship services and the preview services a strong core of persons will already have identified with the new church by the grand opening Sunday. Prayers of Nazarenes everywhere are requested for this new work. It could be possible that God wants to raise up other church planting teams all across the church. Grove City Sponsors Two Newstarts Church planting has been added to Grove City church's many cutting-edge ministries. Located near Columbus, Ohio, Grove City Church of the Nazarene was started in 1963 as a new church by Dale Galloway. This fellowship of believers has shown unusually strong growth throughout its entire history. For the last 10 years, Senior Pastor Bob Huffaker has served the mother congregation and led the church to increased growth and health. Last church year, Grove City reported an average worship attendance of 2,242; 1,687 members; and ministered to 1,024 in Sunday School. Over the last decade, membership has grown 151.4 percent. More than 1,000 new Nazarenes have joined their church family in that time frame. Current average worship attendance is 2,700. To accommodate so many new people, the church recently built an impressive new, high-tech worship center that seats 3,200 people. In every conversation, Huffaker is quick to tell everyone the Grove City church is exciting, lively, contemporary, and focused on winning people to Christ. The Columbus Dispatch , on the day the congregation moved into their new sanctuary, quoted Pastor Huffaker as saying: "We wanted to create a church that is relevant to our age. Church is sometimes boring, but it doesn't need to be. How anyone can make the most exciting thing in the world boring -I don't know how they do it." When asked what keeps the church healthy so it can grow so well, he answered, "Discipling people, vision, outward focus, risk taking, relevant ministries and prayer." Grove City is presently involved in two new church starts. And when Huffaker shares all the ways the Lord has blessed this effort, he calls it "a God thing." Crossroads Community Church of the Nazarene was the first church plant sponsored by Grove City church. The Grand opening service was held November 9, 1997. Its worship attendance average has already reached 140. As the new church was being formed, the core group was powerfully supported by prayer when 1,000 persons from the mother congregation pledged to be prayer partners for a year. During that year, Pastor Rob McCorkle served on the ministerial staff at Grove City church where he was encouraged to recruit the new church core group from within the sponsoring congregation. Salary and equipment purchase support for Crossroads church was provided by the Central Ohio District. The clearly focused and inspiring vision statement for the new church reads: "We desire to reach unchurched people and help them become fully devoted followers of Christ." With a desire to provide a balanced ministry to both reach the unchurched and nurture believers, Crossroads offers an outreach service on Sunday and a worship service called Next Step for believers on Thursday. That pattern balances inreach and outreach -two sides of the directive Jesus gave His Church in the Great Commission. When asked what motivated him to start another church in the Columbus area, Crossroads Pastor Rob McCorkle stated three reasons: (1) Columbus is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation with a 67 percent unchurched population, (2) he sensed a specific call from God to plant a church in Columbus, and (3) he personally possesses the three most needed spiritual gifts for starting churches -teaching, evangelism, and leadership. Concerning the positive ties between Grove City church and the newly developing Crossroads church, McCorkle observed, "Pastor Bob Huffaker has become our greatest cheerleader. There is love, excellent support, mentoring and encouragement provided us by the mother church." When asked about the future of Crossroads, McCorkle said, "We open wide our arms of acceptance to seekers at all stages of spiritual development. And we work hard to help everyone grow into a radical, fully devoted ambassador of Jesus Christ. Our church is relevant in its ministries, cutting edge in its style, and noncompromising in its message." He continued with deep conviction: "We believe the local church is the hope of the world. There is nothing like a local church when it works right and serves with excellence." The second church, known as Hilliard Community Church of the Nazarene, opened with its first service on March 26, 2000. The church planter leaders are Kevin and Jennifer Meyers. Like many new congregations, this baby church meets in a school. Following the pattern of the pastor of Crossroads church, Meyers served on the ministry staff at Grove City church for a year. During that period, he gathered a core group of interested persons from the mother congregation. This church plants to build its congregation with small groups; four were meeting regularly months before their first service. Thirty adults made up the core group, and when children and teens of core members are added, their number reach more than 50. The Central Ohio District also teamed with the Grove City church in sponsoring this NewStart, making it possible for them to have a full-time worship leader from the start. This provision made sure the church had excellent music from the beginning. Lacking effective music leadership in new churches is often among the most frustrating limits on growth. When asked about his experiences in preparing to open this new work, Meyers said: "Without question, the process of beginning a new church as to this point been filled with great joy. It has been one step of faith after another. God is really using this time to show me how to trust Him. And he is slowly shaping me into a man of faith. Never have I experienced so much fear and anxiety only to receive such assurance and joy. This process has been the most exciting venture of faith I have ever taken. I can't imagine doing anything else. This is what God called me to, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world." When asked to describe their relationship with the Grove City church and staff, Meyers said: "Grove City has embraced my wife and me. We have been blessed to be part of this wonderful worshiping community. My time here has been a tremendous learning experience that will always affect the kind of pastor I will be. I couldn't ask for anything more from a mother church." Senior Pastor Huffaker was asked about the effect of two NewStarts on the sponsoring church. With wholehearted enthusiasm he replied, "The year we began our first NewStart, we had our best year ever numerically, spiritually, and financially." When asked if he thought other churches could sponsor new works, Huffaker replied. "As a mother church, we have found this effort to be a positive and exciting venture. We love the continual, happy relationship with pastors and people of the NewStarts. We love having them back from time to time for a shared service. Our people love meeting the new people these churches are winning for Christ. We enjoy seeing the baby churches growing and becoming like the mother church. Most of all, we find great joy in seeing the kingdom of God increase." Starting new churches is quickly becoming a significant part of the ministry of many Churches of the Nazarene. Why not consider where a new church is needed near you? What can you do about it? When you check the NewStart informational material available from the Evangelism and Church Growth Division, you will discover there is a place for everyone to get involved. Even the smallest church can have a significant part in seeing this church planting effort move forward. Not every church will be able to plant a new church. But the opportunities are ripe for every church and every pastor to do something in this Kingdom effort. The harvest is plentiful. The harvest hands are in short supply. Centuries ago God asked, "Who will go for Me?" Many are seriously considering that question as it relates to NewStart. All over the world and in your neighborhood, thousands are waiting to hear the message of Christ. Consider what you can do. Consider what your church can do. If we wait for ideal circumstances, new churches will never get planted. Why not move out into this rich and ready new harvest field? Take a risk. Start. Go to work. Harvest the crop. Push past theoretical details to do what God commands and experience the immense satisfactions it brings. Average Attendance Reaches 100 in Church Plant
The Tim Fillmore family arrived in California, on June 1, 1997, with a commitment to pioneer a new church at Elk Grove near Sacramento. They started a Bible study in their home on September 9, 1997. Six people attended. And those people became the core group that decided to have their grand opening service on March 28, 1998. Seventy-four attended the first service. Then the congregation experienced "roller coaster attendance" during the summer that sometimes dipped as low as 25. But that soon changed. The average attendance now is over 100 and the church is only two years old. About those early days, Pastor Fillmore observed: "The growth story is kind of funny when you think about how God works. At first I wanted 100 new souls. After recasting my sights several times, God and I agreed that one was terrific. So we prayed for one. That was what God had in mind. Then I realized we needed more leadership. So I prayed for 100 leaders and got one. But each time we prayer for a ton, God gave what we could handle. As it turns out, God had the better plan. He knows what we can handle. So I am learning to check in with God on a very regular basis to see what He wants from me and Laguna Family Fellowship. As God leads and prospers us, we will grow into a church that provides many needs-based ministries that offer people the healing hand of Jesus." In contacting new people, Laguna Family Fellowship prays for God appointments with spiritually needy people. In their area, mailboxes are located in the middle of a block, like it is in many new housing developments. So in a neighborhood where people pop open their garage doors and come out only to check their mail, this new congregation learned to check their mailboxes often-several times a day. Then at the mailboxes, they could meet their neighbors, make friends, and eventually invite them to the new church. Fillmore also shared the insight that "people are our greatest resource and our best evangelists. We can use mail, radio, TV, newspaper, or e-mail-all with limited results. But when someone asks another to attend our church, that does it all. People inviting people is the key to this growing church." When quizzed about the special enablements from God for starting a new church, Pastor Fillmore replied, "Besides being led by the Spirit, you need energy, energy, energy!" When asked about the other special characteristics of this church plant that could be replicated in other settings, Fillmore offered four strengths of this congregation: (1) he was called by God to this specific place to plant a church; (2) they try to do everything with excellence; (3) they have committed people who come every week to place signs, hang banners, set up sound, greet people, teach people, play music, sing, and give money; (4) they have a positive but realistic attitude that fosters and boosts morale. Fillmore believes his family deserves high marks for their involvement in this new work, especially his wife, Allison. He calls her a champion, "a gifted evangelist who always hares the joy of knowing Christ. She encourages new believers to be in Bible study, invites new people for a meal, and bakes for small groups." Grow salutes Laguna Family Fellowship for its rapid development. Hundreds more are waiting in the Elk Grove area to be impacted by their ministry. |