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Soli Deo Gloria: Ten Years to Go One Block
This is part of an ongoing series of introductions to the churches that are part of the PlantR network. In this post, David Avila shares the story of Soli Deo Gloria.
I remember the day; how could I forget? It was Reformation Sunday, October 31, 1999. On this same day, some 482 years earlier, Martin Luther had penned and nailed his famous 95 theses on the Wittenberg Door. I was on the heels of a personal reformation in which God and His Word were at work in my own life, breaking down long-held legalistic distortions of the gospel and giving me a renewed passion for the church. In God’s providence, I took a step of faith on that day to plant a new church in East Austin, Texas, fueled and guided by the great slogans of the reformation:
- Sola Scriptura (by Scripture Alone)
- Sola Fide (by Faith Alone)
- Sola Gratia (by Grace Alone)
- Solus Christus (Christ Alone)
- Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone be the Glory)
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Welcome to Austin: Michael Dennis
This summer, a handful of new church planters have made their way to Austin. We’d like to welcome each of you by learning more about your story and ministry. (If you are a new planter in the area, please let us know via the join form.)
Michael Dennis isn’t new to Austin, but his church is, so we wanted to give him an opportunity to tell more about it:
Name: Michael Dennis
Name of your church: North Village Church
Church Affiliation (denomination, network, etc.): NondenominationalTell us a little about your family:
Married for 10 years with two children (Kennedy 4, Tucker 1) and one dog (Dignan).What geographical area are you focusing on? North central Austin
What have you been up to prior to church planting in Austin?
Worked in college ministry through the local church for the last 10 years at University of North Texas, Stephen F. Austin, and University of Texas. I love college students, but it seems like there was a pattern that when they graduated, got jobs, got married, and had children that they became distracted from their affection and devotion to Christ. Our hope is to see young professionals and families still live on mission in addition to their other responsibilities.What has drawn you to the Austin area?
Austin is the best city in Texas. It is diverse, artistic, eclectic, and beautiful.How do you hope to see the next 12 months unfold for your church?
Our goals are three-fold: Continue to fall in love with Jesus and see people around us do the same. Continue to move Christ follwers to build individual relationships in the community. Continue to be a benefit to the community at least once a month as a church.How can others be praying for your work?
Emotional stability because it feels like a roller coaster and we are just getting started. In September we will start meeting weekly at Lucy Read. Also, for leadership to challenge and train people to live on mission.Where can we find you online? (blog, twitter, church site, etc.):
Blog: www.gogetscatter.com
Twitter: @_michaeldennis
Church: www.northvillagechurch.com -
Austin Bible Fellowship
This is part of an ongoing series of introductions to the churches that are part of the PlantR network. Zac wrote this for the blog last week, prior to sharing at our July meeting. We will post notes from his talk later this week, but it seemed good to offer this first to provide some background about Zac and Austin Bible.
My name is Zac Allen, and I moved to Austin in July of 2006 with a dream to gather a group of ordinary people who love the gospel and want to make their lives count. Prior to moving, I spent a year in a church planting residency in Arkansas. Austin Biblebegan as a bible study in a home, and currently gather at O. Henry Middle School across the street from Lions Municipal Golf Course. I want to use three words to describe different aspects of our church planting journey: Team, Identity, and Influence.
Team: Our greatest setback, pre-launch, was losing my potential staff teammates. All my plans and timelines were dependent on having their horsepower. For me, team can be an idol. I can lean on people in place of God. So when those guys said no, it was as if God was saying, “So you believe in the priesthood of believers, put your money where your mouth is and go build team with who I give you. I will bring staff when you need it.” God forced organic church planting on us, and has raised up almost all our staff from within.
Identity: When you plant, you have a “hoped for” church identity. You think you know your target group and location, your mission statement, and your values, your niche for the gospel within Austin, but you don’t. People shape culture, no matter how great a leader you are. And there is no substitute for the refining process of time. As a leader, it is the delicate balance of clear direction, while discerning and flexing with the people and open doors God provides. It took two years of being a church plant to realize our identity as a church. It is now not something we hope for, it was who we are, the good and the bad. The good: We tend to be a group of Humble, Authentic, Unified, Celebrating, Risk-Taking people. The bad: We are more homogenous than I would like. One of my favorite things I tell people about Austin Bible, is that even if I were not pastoring these people, I would be doing life with them.
Influence. People ask me “Where do you want to be in 5 years”. Some are thinking bricks and mortar, some are wondering if we will be another church who begins in central Austin only to grow and relocate to the suburbs, while some wonder if I am that planter who gets something started and moves on to the next adventure. Truth is, we don’t dream of mega-church, we dream of mega-influence. We dream of equipping and releasing missionaries. If we were given the choice, we would rather have 100 missionaries who are giving their lives away, than 1000 attending on Sunday. But 1000 missionaries is really exciting too. And as far as location, we will do what it takes to remain a hub of the gospel in the heart of the city. Planting Churches is a great idea.
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PlantR Churches Partnering with Communities in Schools
What follows is a guest post from Alissa Magrum. Alissa is the Director of Volunteer Services and Community Partnerships for Communities In Schools of Central Texas (website | twitter). Several churches in the network have partnered with CIS in their mission is to help kids stay in school and prepare for life. We thought it would be good to share those stories!
A year ago, my phone rings. It is Jacob Vanhorn. He tells me that he is the Pastor of an Austin church plant called Soma Community Church. My first thought is, “What the heck is a Church Plant?!” I kept that thought to myself. Anyhow, Jacob tells me that he is planting this church in the 78704 zip and wants to connect Soma to serve the 78704 community. CIS has programs in 78704 schools, so we have one meeting and the partnership is rolling.
Soma asks what CIS needs:
We need mentors. So they recruit mentors for our Middle School Mentoring Matters collaboration with Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
We need CIS space spruced up. So they do an Extreme Makeover of the CIS space at Dawson Elementary. And bring in Ecclesia (and many other local resources) to help.
A CIS family is in crisis. They respond immediately to help in many ways.
We need volunteers at our Smart Kids after school program. Soma folks apply, get trained and begin volunteering.
CIS wants to get set up on Twitter to extend our reach. Jacob volunteers to get our account set up and going.In his free time, Jacob tells Matthew Hansen of Austin New Church (then Emmaus Austin) about CIS. My phone rings again. They want to help CIS programs in South Austin. Uh Ok. This time no meeting needed. Partnership is rolling.
New Church Plant, same question. What does CIS need?
We need School Supplies. ANC sponsors 14 CIS students with school supplies.
We need CIS space spruced up. ANC does Extreme Makeovers at Langford and Rodriguez Elementary.
We need runners for Team CIS in the Austin Half/Full Marathon. Matthew and Luis Sanchez sign up, raise $1000 and run the Half Marathon for Team CIS.
We need more CIS space spruced up. ANC gets the local Wal Mart to give us $1000 grant and sign up to do an Extreme Makeover of the CIS space at Paredes Middle School.
We need CIS families sponsored with Holiday Assistance. ANC sponsors families in Hays County.
And on and on. CIS needs come up ANC responds.Now in his free time, Matthew begins sending more of these really cool Church Planters to CIS. My phone keeps ringing. These partnerships between CIS, Soma Community Church and the Austin New Church are giving birth and life to many other connections between CIS and local Austin Church Plants. Meetings are happening. Additional Austin Church Plants are connecting with CIS programs all over Austin and even in Hays County. The magic of these partnerships seems to be a pure desire to serve the community coupled with knowledge and access to real people and community needs.
Thank you to Jacob (and Soma) and Matthew (and ANC). CIS truly cherishes these partnerships and we are excited to continue developing additional ones. Please keep my phone ringing 512-464-9724 and my email account full: amagrum@cisaustin.org.
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Iglesia Nueva Vida Georgetown
This is part of an ongoing series of introductions to the churches that are part of the PlantR network. In this post, Marcelo Lamas shares about what is happening with Iglesia Nueva Vida, a Hispanic church plant in Georgetown.
We thank God for what he has done at INVGT during the month of May, 10 people made professions of faith in Christ! We also thank God for the great start of a men’s meeting. We have had around 12 men come to our bi-monthly meeting in which we have begun to study the book “The Man in the Mirror”, by Patrick Morley. The meeting has proved to be a special time where the men have felt free to open their hearts and share with each other.
Our Friday night Bible study attendance has also grown. Those who are participating are growing in their knowledge and faith in God . They always have such good questions!
We have begun the membership process in our church and now we are planning our first baptism service for this summer. We have 12 candidates that are ready to follow the Lord in this important step!
There are many other activities planned for this summer :
- June 20 We will visit soccer fields and constructions sites handing out waters and invitations to our Father’s Day Celebration.
- June 21 Father’s Day Celebration
- July 4 2nd annual “Living Water Campaign” we will pass out waters and invitations to our church at San Gabriel Park.
- Church Family picnic and baptisms.
- Children’s Back Yard Bible Club for 5 days ending with a family Carnival. We are teaming with Hill Country BC Georgetown for this activity.
- Open air concert. We will have mariachis, and present the gospel.
Pray that God will continue to provide for this church plant, that He would send souls that will be saved. My goal for this year is to see this church grow to 100 people and to have a active youth ministry in the church.