We have been eager to get this newsletter out to you. Please take the time to read the updates from our church plants and pass along their prayer requests to the leaders in your churches. Consider writing a note of encouragement to the planters. (We’ve included their contact info in their updates.) Obviously, this is a difficult time for all of us, but especially for church planters and their young churches. They need our support now more than ever.
This current crisis has created a great deal of uncertainty about the future. We are very fortunate that it does not require any change to our funding of current or even future planting projects. Thanks to the generosity of our member churches, we’ve operated with a surplus the past two years that can now be used to ensure we fulfill the financial commitments we’ve made. This also allows us to continue to plan for 3 new church planting projects in 2021, as well as new apprenticeships and internships for the sake of the future. So, again, thank you for your continued support of our Network.
I’ve been reading Tod Bolsinger’s Canoeing the Mountains, and trying to take to heart his four-fold advice:
Start with conviction,
stay calm,
stay connected,
and say the course.
We have a conviction that church planting is a fundamental strategy for gospel advance in our state. There is no reason to panic. In fact, this new set of circumstances is an opportunity to better connect through the technology available to us. We are spending the time trying to improve our database records. We have created a church planter cohort that will begin to meet monthly for training and mutual encouragement. We have also begun a cohort with students at RTS Orlando that will meet monthly during their seminary education. These are the future church planters and leaders in our state. I also committed to serving on the state RUF committee. I am getting to know the campus ministers and the students in their groups that show potential for future ministry – trying to create a pipeline for generations of church planters and ministry workers in Florida. The mission continues to move forward.
Friends, take heart! In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has set a demolition charge in the world, to reduce the old stones of corruption and decay to dust so that he could rebuild the new world on top of the old. Jesus is risen and reigning in heaven. His going away is the detonator. And the Holy Spirit coming down is the explosion! … What a gospel we have!
Praying for you all in this strange time. I pray you are encouraged by what you read in this newsletter.
Drew Bennett | Executive Director
Christ CHURCH BEACHES
JAX BEach | Kevin Bigelow
LAUNCHED: September 2019
EMAIL KEVIN
While the realities of COVID19 have been disruptive, disorienting, and certainly not what Christ Church Beaches had planned for the second six months of public worship, we have nevertheless seen Christ at work in ways we've been deeply desirous of and yet could not have imagined. At the most foundational level, we have moved our gathering for worship to Facebook Live - which has been simpler than we thought. For anyone interested, our worship services can be viewed at facebook.com/christchurchbeaches. Specifically, our Easter service can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/christchurchbeaches/videos/541306780096247/. In the move to Facebook live we have seen the Lord tangibly at work in at least four unexpected, yet longed for, ways:
1. An already high desire to be together among our congregation has grown rapidly
2. Our people have reached their friends and family through sharing and engaging on social (not only are views up, but new people are regularly gathering for worship with us that weren't before)
3. It has further clarified who we are, and who we're not, by requiring us to make decisions about how to handle worship. The center of our ethos is knowing and being known so how we handle virtual worship has caused us to recommit ourselves to this.
4. It has opened up some partnership opportunities and created new ministries - two of our musicians are partnering with the Jax Beach BMA to be part of a charity virtual worship night, causing them to explore making and recording music together.
While we've moved to Facebook Live for gathered worship, we've also moved our community groups to Zoom. We (the Bigelow’s) have benefited deeply from Parakaleo and have longed to continue finding ways to engage our people in locating their story in the story of Christ. This season has given us the opportunity to do that by turning our community groups into smaller, mostly gender-specific groups that are together working through the Gospel Fluency Handbook. This curriculum has been encouraging early on. This pivot also caused us to multiply our leaders, giving us an opportunity to put more leaders into the field sooner than we likely would have otherwise. Before this we had four groups meeting. Today we have eight and our total number of people engaged in groups has increased. Alongside this we also think, Lord willing, he'll use this to accelerate our multiplication of community groups when we go back to that playbook. Net, net, the Lord seems to be using this season to prepare us to multiply, rather than to retreat.
Along with this, the primary work he seems to be doing is broadening the Gospel among ourselves (the Bigelow's) and the launch team. We're having more and deeper Gospel conversations than we were before and less physical interaction but more Gospel opportunities with our neighbors than before. At the most fundamental level our illusion of control, and with it our latent demand for independence, have both been assaulted and Christ has invited us to take deeper and deeper rest in him.
Easter was particularly encouraging. Even though we couldn't be together as a congregation we were reminded in real ways that Christ's getting out of the grave is still the prevailing reality of history. COVID19 may have led love of neighbor to keep us from gathering but it did not, will not, and cannot make untrue the resurrection. Come what may our God became man and trampled over death for us.
While we walk through this season, waiting on Christ, you can pray for us that our families find rest in Christ and not changed circumstances, that our children and families being home from school and work works in us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control as the Spirit of Christ advances in our hearts even as our circumstances retreat. You can also pray for our momentum, that it accelerates rather than waning, and that that momentum would be Gospel momentum in our own hearts, missional momentum among our friends and neighbors, and worship momentum as we find rest, joy, and fearless in Christ. During the first few weeks, the financial impact to our people has been real but minimal - but that situation is evolving daily. Pray that our people are provided for and that with them the mission is provided for. Mostly, pray that we and the world with us have a palpable sense of Christ risen and reigning and that when we look back on these days we will see Christ having triumphed over the darkness, making a public spectacle of it by taking what evil intended for harm and turning toward the good of the Church and the glory of God."
NEW CITY CHURCH
PALM BAY | BEN HARRIS
LAUNCHED: October 2019
EMAIL BEN
We are so thankful! I have thought many times during this pandemic how grateful I am that God allowed us to be church planters with New City Church during this crisis. God has been so good to us through all the changes. Like most churches in America we have moved worship to a livestream only format which we stream on facebook live each Sunday morning. One of our launch team members opened up his photography studio for us to use as our new worship studio. We continue to have a great team that helps us lead worship, Word and prayer each Sunday. We have also moved our four City Groups, our prayer team and our leadership team to zoom weekly calls. We have seen our church family find creative ways to care for people in the church and in the city like taking walks and making evening phone calls, drive by gifts in mailboxes, kids video lessons, posting kids art projects on facebook, setting up pen pals among our kids and also purchasing and serving food at public school pick up locations in partnership with Children’s Hunger Project in our county.
This was New City’s first Easter together and certainly it was different than we had first planned! But we have been so encouraged by seeing truly the whole church staying connected and joining us for worship live each Sunday. Pray for us to continue to live by faith over fear. Pray for us to be prayerful. Pray for us to not forget about outreach and evangelism during a time of social distancing. Pray that we can return to worshipping at our public school facility when the pandemic has subsided. Thanks!
GREATER HOPE CHURCH
MULBERRY | Stan McMahan
LAUNCHED: December 2017
EMAIL STAN
God continues to bless the work of Greater Hope Church in Mulberry. We entered 2020 with big plans for the development of our church plant, but of course God has redirected our steps! Life has changed significantly for our members—most are still working, but are on reduced and modified hours. We’re working to be the church even when we can’t gather as a church. During social distancing, we’ve been holding online services on our website (http://www.greaterhopemulberry.org/live-stream) and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/greaterhopemulberry). We’ve also been producing regular devotional videos and are in the midst of a three-part series of short talks on “Where Is God When I’m Hurting?” based on Psalm 73. We’re thankful for the response of our members and regular attenders to these online resources and for the opportunity to engage with others in the Mulberry community about the gospel. We’ve focused our attention on staying connected in our community groups, creating new online resources, supporting local non-profits to help distribute food to families in need, and caring for our neighbors and family members. It’s been encouraging to see church members taking initiative in this work! This Easter was certainly unusual, but it was a great opportunity to share the good news of Jesus overcoming death and sorrow with a wider audience.
Please pray for Greater Hope Church during these uncertain times. Ask God to continue to make us faithful (that we would use this time to grow deeper in a sincere relationship with Him) and fruitful (that we would be creative and energetic in loving God and our neighbors) for the sake of Mulberry. Pray that God would provide for our tangible needs and guide our steps.
GOOD SHEPHERD CHURCH
LAKELAND | Jeremy Kemp
LAUNCHED: January 2018
EMAIL JEREMY
Good Shepherd Church has been rolling with the punches as best we can! We have transitioned to Zoom for both our Sunday services and our City Groups and it has gone surprisingly well. It has created a much more personal atmosphere on Sunday morning, allowing us to see each other’s faces, smiling and waving before service and catching up afterwards, which has deepened our community and given a personal feel to our virtual worship time. Our engagement online has been very encouraging and consistent, especially on Easter. We’ve had more households join us in worship live online than ever in person!
You can pray for a new online workshop we are launching in early May. In conjunction with Dr. Jeremy Cummings, a psychology professor at Southeastern University, we are offering Abundant Life: An Emotional Health Workshop. It will be a 10 week online course to teach practical skills for managing stress, anxiety, and sadness through a Biblical lens. Please pray that this will be a blessing not only to our church, but to the community around us, meeting a felt need in our current situation and connecting it with the Prince of Peace.
You can access our livestream at 10am Sundays, view previously recorded services, and learn more about Abundant Life at our website, www.gsclakeland.org.
GRACE COMMUNITY CHURCH
NORTH LAKELAND | Josh Floyd
LAUNCHED: September 2018
EMAIL JOSH
God continues to bless Grace Community Church and show us the riches of his kindness during this pandemic. We have taken our service online like much of you. We are using YouTube. Our Children’s Director, Worship Director and myself are pre-recording our respective portions of the service then embedding the videos into a worship guide that we have linked to the homepage of our website. Our three Community Groups have taken things online, as well. Zoom has become the preferred method. Some are meeting weekly and some are meeting every other week. Members are checking in with one another on a regular basis through texting and phone calls and we had a church-wide Zoom call this past Saturday. One woman had pneumonia and thought she had COVID-19 (which she later found out she didn't) and another family took in a 4-month-old foster baby named Josh a few days ago and meal trains started up for both of them very quickly so it was good to see the body of Christ respond this way despite this social distancing.
This was our 2nd Easter as a church plant and this one was a lot different than the last one. But other than the weirdness of preaching in a room by myself to a computer, it was still a sweet day of celebrating the resurrection of King Jesus and worshipping with my family. I do miss seeing everyone on Sundays. But I am getting to wear my seersucker again…so there’s that. As far as prayer requests go, probably the same as the other guys…a continued sense of mission for our people. We are more than simply pulling off a Sunday morning service. We are the body of Christ, a redeemed people, we have the good news and we get to live out of this truth and display it to those around us. And prayer against fear. We have some people with respiratory issues, children with underlying health issues and several elderly people who are genuinely afraid. So please keep them in your prayers that they would continue to anchor their hope in the gospel.
WAYPOINT CHURCH
PONTE VEDRA | James Brignac
LAUNCHED: SEPTEMBER 2016
EMAIL JAMES
Waypoint has done what most churches are doing with the pandemic and have moved our church services and ministries online. We have started uploading all of our services onto Youtube and links can be found on our website (https://waypointchurchfl.com/sermons). At this point we are thankful for the opportunity to move online because it has allowed us to continue our services, community group meetings, and Bible Studies via Zoom. One of the most amazing aspects of this transition is we’ve actually seen increased participation in all of these ministries and look forward to seeing what God will do during this time. Our leadership is working diligently to stay connected, meet the needs of the congregation and community, and restructure our ministry to fit within social distancing.
The word I would use to describe our Easter is different. We were not able to meet corporately (it is usually one of our most well attended services) and we were not able to have families in our home (we’ve been able to connect with families within our church on Easter Sunday), but it was an amazing day all the same. We were able to watch our service online as a family and connect with several families throughout the day via call, text, or FaceTime. We have also noticed the majority of our people are looking forward to being able to meet together again and our prayer is this will lead to our congregation seeing the beauty of the church. We look forward to gathering together again, but we’re thankful the church has continued to be the church in the midst of major chaos within the world.
I would ask that you continue to pray that our church will be effective in reaching the community with the love of Jesus during this time. The church has not been able to gather together, but we’ve had people making masks, helping with donations, and spending more time than ever with neighbors. Our hope and prayer is this will lead to our people reaching out to those right in their own neighborhood and the message of the gospel will give peace and comfort during this time.
CHRIST SATISFIES CHURCHTAMPA | JIMBO MULLEN
LAUNCHED: MAY 2018
EMAIL JIMBO
CSPC has not met as a church since March 15, 2020. Our situation is a bit unique as our meeting facility is in a public, open-air pavilion located in the midst of the College Hill community. (We do not have a permanent building site in which to meet.) The location itself is quite unsanitary under normal circumstances, so it was determined when the COVID-19 concerns first began that we should halt our in person gatherings. The majority of regular attendees and visitors to CSPC do not have the access/ability to meet online, therefore, holding our worship service in that manner, as most other churches have chosen to do, was not really an option for us.
I have been staying in contact with our church regulars via phone calls and text messages to those who have phone & data access. Some of the people we minister to in College Hill do not have access to a phone and/or internet. I have also been able to creatively evangelize in the community. Recently, I purchased a bullhorn for such purposes. With a basket attached to my van window and filled with care packages, I was able to do a Christ Satisfies Ministries (CSM) homeless outreach about a week ago. I also fill the basket with gospel tracts and invite people to come up and take one. Through doing this, I have been able to see and talk with some of the CSPC congregants in person. It has been a great blessing. I miss them. In recent days, there has been more of a police presence in College Hill seemingly there to "remind" people of the safer-at-home orders, which did not seem to be followed to well during my previous visits to the community.
In addition to this ministry in College Hill, I have been able to continue my ministry in the Polk County jails, though it has changed. At the start of things shutting down, I was able to go into the jails and preach/teach to the inmates in the faith-based quad. That has since changed. Only non-contact visits are now allowed. I am able to meet one-on-one (non-contact) with the inmate who is the leader of the program. He reported that the guys are not doing so well and things have been a struggle with no ministers coming in to preach. It has been a blessing to be able to encourage him to gather the men to read the Bible, pray for one another and additional prayer requests, and study God's word.
I have recently begun a Saturday morning Bible Study via Zoom. A variety of people from both Florida and Minnesota have participated. The CSPC congregants have also been invited, but only Darnard Winborn has participated at this point. Remember, the majority of the CSPC people don't have access.
By God's grace, Darnard is pressing forward with his studies and was recently recommended by the WPC Session and the Candidates for Ministry Committee for internship. He is awaiting full approval at the next Presbytery meeting.
Please pray for wisdom for Christ Satisfies Presbyterian Church as we go forward during this uncertain time. Pray for opportunities to minister to those who regularly attended our worship service. Pray that the Lord would open doors for His word to continue going forth through both CSPC and CSM.
BERAKAH COMMUNITY CHURCH
DAVENPORT | Dony St. Germain
LAUNCHED: Fall 2018
EMAIL DONY
This is very difficult time in the life of the Berakah Community Church. 85% percent of our families lost their jobs. As you know, they are working in the hotels industry, restaurant, Disney world. Because of Covid-19, we are using Zoom to continue train our leadership team on Tuesday and Thursday. All of our meetings, small group, prayer, youth and children are on zoom. We opened a zoom account that allow us to continue minister as we can see each other and pray together. However, on Sunday afternoon, we used also my facebook MERH for our live services. We also have daily devotion and teaching on in order to help them continue to grow in the word. We have also developed WhatsApp group where we communicate daily with the members.
We had a very good easter weekend but very different. We were able to reach people in Haiti, France, Canada, French Guyana and many Haitian heard the gospel. Thanks for your faithful support as we reach this community for our King.
Continue to pray with us as we plan to build a facility on the land we have purchased in Davenport. We have an engineer working on the plans. Pray that God will open doors for us to raise the necessary fund to build this building. Pray for the families who lost their jobs and can't support themselves and heir love ones in Haiti. Also, pray with us as we are in a process of starting another church in Winter Haven Florida. We have signed a contract to buy an old Methodist church building in Winter Haven. Pray that the Lord will provide all the resources needed for that work.
Thanks for your partnership in the ministry of the Gospel. Praying that God will continue to empower you to reach many for His Glory.
