We have heard it said, that as followers of Christ, we should pursue adoption the way that Christ pursued us! We do, however, know that not everyone is called to adopt, but there are several ways you can be involved in the lives of neglected children. So, Austin New Church and Restore Austin are teaming up with Caring Family Network to host the required classes for Foster Care, Foster-to-Adopt, and Respite Care. If this is something that you or anyone in your church is interested in, please download the attached applications and send them to Sarah Mercado via fax at 512.719.4073 or email at smercado@cfntexas.com or bring them with you to the opening class. The first class will be at Austin New Church (11530 Manchaca Road, 78748) on February 24th at 6:00pm. At this class you will receive the schedule for the remaining classes necessary to be completely certified as a foster parent, adoptive parent, and/or respite care provider.
Documents: Screening Packet | Budget From | Application | Background Check | Schedule
I had the honor of debriefing one evening after The Verge Conference with Alan Hirsch (The Forgotten Ways), Neil Cole (Church 3.0), Lance Ford (Shapevine), and Matt Smay (Tangible Kingdom & Missio) in the lobby of the Aloft. And by debriefing… I mean sit quietly trying to absorb what they were saying. The discussion moved far beyond theory and best practices and quickly became an absorbing of sorts of what God was doing in our city.
In the words of Alan:
Something special is happening in Austin. We’re not seeing this kind of partnership and momentum in other cities.
He followed that up yesterday when he tweeted:
“I think Austin might just be the US city furtherest along the missional road.”
I instantly felt both thankful – and honestly -a bit burdened (in a good way). I was hit by the gravity and responsibility that comes with stewarding even a shred of God’s movement. And I was thankful that PlantR is neck deep in trying.
God help us.
It doesn’t really matter whether you’re a part of the mega or micro-church world. It doesn’t really matter whether you’re at an established church or a planting pastor with a dream. What matters is if you’re in this city and whether or not you’re for God’s Kingdom in this city.
We need to take a moment and acknowledge – with thanksgiving – what God is doing in Austin. To realize that what we’re experiencing is just a glimpse of what can happen. Recognize that there were men of God praying for His Kingdom in Austin way before we were even here. Prayerfully consider what we need to do to not get in the way. And do whatever it takes to be a part of advancing what He’s already doing.
I think John Herrington (Hill Country Bible Church) put it best in his recent post:
“It is time to coalesce the incredible talent I see in the pastors of Plantr and release it collectively into the city. The idea of tithing our time and talents beyond our own plant changes everything.”
Brandon Hatmaker – Austin New Church
web: www.AustinNewChurch.com
email: brandon@austinnewchurch.com
twitter: @brandonhatmaker
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As we begin to move deeper into our dreams for 2010 and beyond, it must be a movement of partnerships and cooperation from church planters across the Austin metro area.
John Herrington, a PlantR board member and Director of Church Planting at Hill Country Bible Church has this to say:
It is time to coalesce the incredible talent I see in the pastors of Plantr and release it collectively into the city. The idea of tithing our time and talents beyond our own plant changes everything. I am particularly excited about seeing us cooperate with Ed Stetzer in creating a well-researched spiritual map of the city. This is an effort that could elevate our church planting game enormously.
John will be sharing more about the upcoming research project with Ed Stetzer in the weeks to come. In the mean time, as we promised last week, here are some immediate and simple actions for each member of PlantR to take as we look ahead:
What’s Your Response? is a local movement dedicated to addressing modern day slavery that has gotten some local press recently. Kester Smith, pastor of Immanuel Austin, shares more of their story:
There are tragedies that we stumble across on television, in magazines, online, and in the paper that we are able to process, despite how horrific they might be –- Hurricanes. Floods. Fires. Even the injustices that we ourselves perpetuate; things like war and poverty, we have somehow gotten used to.
But some tragedies seem to come out of nowhere and blindside us. That was how a group of us felt when we discovered that there are 27 million people in slavery in the world today. That those slaves aren’t just living in places whose names we can’t pronounce, but right here in the United States. Right here in Texas. Right here in Austin. It was a fact so shocking that we found ourselves initially paralyzed. It was a fact so shocking that those we told about it hesitated to believe it. It was a fact so shocking that we set out to discover what we could do. What might our response be?
As we engaged in conversation with those who know the issue and have history fighting this injustice, we decided that our first response would simply be to spread the word and raise awareness. We knew that people wouldn’t be willing to fight the problem until they began to realize the gravity of the problem. We formed a group called What’s Your Response? and began brainstorming possibilities for bringing attention to the issue of modern day slavery. And so, on August 8, What’s Your Response? took to the streets for our first “coaster crawl” to bring awareness to the issue of human trafficking in Austin. A turnout of nearly 50 individuals gathered at BookPeople bookstore, organized into groups, and went around town distributing free stacks of campaign coasters to various bars, coffee shops, and restaurants. In just a few weeks we have seen that the word is spreading and that people are wanting to know more about what they can do to end slavery.
The fact is that each person who becomes aware of the reality of modern-day slavery brings us all one step closer to helping prevent the horrors of it. And even though this first initiative may have been a crawl, it really was a big step in increasing slavery awareness in Austin.
What’s Your Response? is a grass roots movement and so every person and every response gets us one step closer to ending slavery. We need your ideas, your energy, and your time. We believe all people deserve freedom, dignity, and hope. We are committed to ending modern day slavery. We invite you to respond.
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.