Update: Interim Launch Team Members?
Two of my brothers from the HCPN (Houston Church Planting Network) launched their respective churches. I got to attend both church launches, which encouraged and blessed us.
Fr. Jon Beadle is the pastor at All Saints in Conroe, TX. All Saints is an Anglican church. Our Anglican brothers have produced some great Gospel-centered thinkers like C.S. Lewis, J.I. Packer, and J.C. Ryle.
https://www.allsaintsconroe.
Pastor Raph Peters is the pastor of Sojourn Southside in Houston, TX. Sojourn Southside is in the Third Ward of Houston and a hard place to do ministry.
https://reliant.org/raph.
Please take some time to pray for them, their church plants, and our launch team.
Interim Launch Team Members?
In the past, I have explained that there are four ways to get involved in our church plant: 1) Prayer, 2) Financial Support, 3) Joining the Launch Team as an interim member, and 4) Becoming a Launch Team Member.
Maybe you are on the fence, still praying about helping out and getting involved. Becoming an interim launch team member might be a great fit for where the Lord has you in life. Becoming an interim member allows you to begin learning about church planting, building relationships with launch team members, be challenged to grow spiritually, all while you are still praying about jumping in with both feet. Recently, I have had this conversation multiple times. Some people rightly love their friends in their existing church family and are sad about the idea of leaving them (I would encourage you to invite them to join you!). Some also want to be challenged through this process but are worried about being “disloyal” to their current church. Here are some things to consider:
First, church plants are not in competition with your local church. When we start seeing other churches as “competition,” we have lost sight of some fundamental biblical truths. The church exists to glorify God through evangelism, discipleship, and building up the body of Christ (Mat. 28:18-20; Eph. 4:12). The goal for all churches is to glorify God and reach the lost. When we have an inward and protective posture toward other churches that are fulfilling the Great Commission, it exposes the fact that we may not be glorifying God but our local expression of the church.
Jesus also handled these issues with his disciples. John came to Jesus and told him that they came across some people “casting out demons in your name” (Luke 9:49). The disciples' impulse was to “stop them” (Luke 9:49). The disciple's actions reveal a mindset that views others as competition and discloses the fact that they were territorial. Jesus told them, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you” (Luke 9:50).
The other reality is the fact that one church alone is not enough to reach a county or a city. Your city has likely not reached Gospel saturation, and there is still a plethora of unchurched people in your community. Combine these facts with population growth, and churches closing their doors almost faster than churches are being planted. We then begin to realize that we are not in competition and, in fact, should work together to evangelize, plant more churches, and revitalize churches just to stay afloat.
Second, would your church or church friends be upset with you for going on a mission trip? It is helpful to view the commitment of serving in this capacity as being similar to going on a short-term mission trip (in fact, “short-term missionary” might be a better title than “interim launch team member”). Church plants, by necessity, must be evangelistic and open to the unchurched. The stats also show that new churches are effective in evangelism and reaching the unchurched (Stezer and Im, Planting Missional churches, 7). By helping with a church plant, you would be engaged with helping welcome in unbelievers, new believers, and believers who likely have never belonged to a church. Like a short-term missionary, you would also be on the ground floor helping build up new evangelistic work. If you have ever been on a mission trip, it's eye-opening, encouraging, challenging, and refreshing. Helping a church plant will likely get you out of neutral and into gear.
If you or someone you know lives near Cypress, TX, and you are looking for a local church that preaches expositionally from the Scriptures, intentionally makes disciples, and is committed to planting churches, then let's meet for a cup of coffee or shoot me an email if you would like to come to a launch team meeting.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Travis
If you would like to help support and partner with us financially and/or through prayer, please use the link below to fill out the interest form. When making financial donations, please reference Acct# RR0822 (not our name). When you submit the commitment form, it will automatically direct you to the Redeemer Church's donation page. If you choose to set up an online donation, use the fund dropdown menu to select RR0822 for your donation. If you would like to pay by check, please put Acct# RR0822 in the memo line and mail to: Redeemer Church, PO Box 1126, Tomball, TX 77377.
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