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Two Valuable PlantR Events in August
We will continue our summer hiatus this month with no July meeting, but we will come back strong in August with two special gatherings:
PlantR Breakfast with Phil Miglioratti – Tuesday August 17th, 9am at the Austin Baptist Association
Phil Miglioratti is being hosted for several events by the ABA, and they have graciously provided a time for planters to connect with him as well. Phil is a consultant of sorts who has spent the last ten years of his ministry working with churches and ministries around the country. He leads, coaches, teaches, preaches, facilitates, writes, blogs, networks and prays to help churches and ministries take hold of prayer. Primarily working through the National Pastors’ Prayer Network and Prayer INC, Phil is involved with many organizations who share his vision of connection people to God through corporate prayer.Prayer is a topic that never dries up and we hope you’ll take advantage of this time with Phil. Please RSVP by Friday, August 13th to the ABA at 454-2558 or by email.
PlantR Lunch at Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood — Thursday, August 26 @ 11am
As a chance to reconnect after summer and get to know planters who are new to Austin, we are having lunch together at Salt Lick. The cost of the meal will be covered by the ABA, but we need to get a count so that Salt Lick can reserve a spot for us. RSVP by Monday, August 23 using the same contact info as above.Salt Lick would like us all to arrive no later than 11am so they can seat us all together. If you would like to carpool to save gas and share more time together, meet at the ABA at 10am that morning.
Hope you are having a great summer of rest and re-creation. We’re looking forward to reconnecting with everyone as we gear up for fall.
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October is a Great Month for Conferences in Austin
We are blessed to be in a city where there is so much activity and conversation about the shaping of the church. Austin continues to grow as a center of missional dialogue for the future of the church and the world. Two conferences coming up in October are a great example of that:
Together for Adoption Conference
October 1-2Together for Adoption Conference 2010 will be October 1-2, 2010, in Austin, Texas, hosted by The Austin Stone Community Church and Hill Country Bible Church (the conference venue), and in partnership with Hope for Orphans. Our conference theme is “The Gospel, the Church, and the Global Orphan Crisis.” Lord willing, the 2010 conference will be our largest and most helpful conference yet, with gospel-saturated general sessions, longer breakout sessions, and more time to network with other churches, organizations, and adoptive families. We’re intentionally structuring the conference around the gospel and community.
Learn More and RegisterGCM Collective Conference 2010
October 28-38The GCM Collective will be hosting their first GCM Conference in Austin, TX this October, bringing together church planters, pastors, and leaders to collaborate on the practice of missional communities. This three-day conference will feature main and breakout sessions under the theme of GOSPEL, COMMUNITY and MISSION.
You will get to hear from, meet and interact with leaders who are daily practitioners, living in gospel communities on mission in their cities. This is a unique experience that will present the why, what and how-to of starting, leading and multiplying missional communities. Interactive plenary sessions, breakouts and unique training experiences will fill our days both on-site and off.
Big church, small church, multi-site or neighborhood this event is for every church that seeks to effectively expand the gospel in their context.
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June Meeting: Summer Hiatus
We are taking a summer hiatus for PlantR, so there will not be a June meeting this Thursday. Use the time for some re-creation: connect with another planter you’ve been wanting to meet, take a prayer walk by the lake, or if you’re married, give your wife a chance to get out for time with a friend or on her own!
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Event: Why Science Cannot Be God
Why Science Cannot Be God
The Limitations of Science Evoke an Expectation of Divine Revelationpresented by
The Hill Country Institute for Contemporary Christianity
and
Reasons to BelieveFeaturing
Dan Heinze, GeophysicistWhen: Saturday, June 19, Breakfast Tacos at 9:45 AM and Meeting begins at 10 AM.
Where: Hill Country Bible Church Northwest, 12124 RR 620 North, Austin, TX 78750, Room 4.114
What: A presentation on the methodology and limits of science, leading to a fuller understating of the complementary nature of faith and science. The “Two Books” metaphor has long been a way to express the dual nature of God’s revelation, in scripture and in nature, and this presentation will be helpful for the non-scientist to learn more about the methods and limitations of science in the quest for knowledge.
Who: Dan Heinze is a geophysicist who has been active in the technical evaluation of oil and gas prospects for many years. Dan earned an M.S. from MIT in 1973 and a Ph.D. in geophysics from Texas A&M in 1977. During postdoctoral studies on earthquake prediction at Carnegie Institute of Washington, D.C., in 1978, he and his wife, Judith, started Applied Geophysical Software, Inc. (AGS). Dan was the founder and first CEO of AGS and carried out several other missions over its history including watering the plants and washing the dishes; he exited in 2007 upon its sale to PGS. Subsequently, he and Judith have enjoyed a mix of serving their family, pursuing science, taking a few vacations, and now working to put on the Vibrant Dance series of symposia on the Christian faith and science.
For more information, visit the event page on the Hill Country Institute website.
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Reflections: May Meeting
Our May PlantR gathering was marked by a sense of possibility and a desire for collaboration unlike we have seen before. After the meeting, Blake McDaniel, US Central Region Director for ACMC, commented to Jonathan: “I love what is happening in this network. God has put some special men in this room. I’d love to see a PlantR in every major city in the U.S.” And that is happening: PlantR has been reproduced in the Brazos Valley and in Houston, and more are developing. And while we’re excited to see what is shaping up elsewhere, we have a growing sense of anticipation for how the PlantR network might grow to a church planting movement in Austin.
We began by reviewing some of the key data that came out of the demographic study commissioned by ABBA. There was a general consensus that most of us weren’t surprised by the data. While many in Austin might name themselves Christian by religion, that isn’t consistent with a much smaller number who would say they have faith in Jesus. And a few of the anecdotal examples that were shared line up with that.
One metaphor that Ed Stetzer shared in the presentation the data rings true. Austin, as a whole, has just enough exposure to the Christian message to be inoculated. Many have experienced church first or second hand — just enough to feel that they understand what Christianity is. But those understandings, more often than not, fall short of a holistic gospel and the giving of one’s self to be a disciple entering into a life more abundant.
As PlantR seeks to be a church planting movement, there is, of course, a desire to help see more and more church planted in and around Austin. But another emphasis emerged as well yesterday. How do we do all that we can to help the churches that are already going survive and thrive? How can we partner with each other and established churches and organizations to this effect?
As we brainstormed those questions, these were the thoughts about how we can partner with each other to help existing churches build a sustained movement:
- Be a truly collaborative network of planters
- Encouragement for each other
- Helping to equip each other and other leaders
- Constructive criticism of our models and character
- Being financially wise
- Train missionaries to Austin
- Coaching
- Share and identify with more stories of local planters
- Identifying and strengthening our theological calling
- Soul care for planters
Let’s carry this discussion on in the comments. How have you seen the above list working itself out already? How, as a network of co-laborers, can we develop and provide these things to each other?