Randy’s April, 2011 Update:
Mission Church Information Night:
I recently attended an Information Night for Mission Church – a church plant that will be officially launching on October 2, 2011. The lead pastor of this church plant is Jon Peacock, a thirty year old who previously led Axis, the 20something ministry at Willow Creek Community Church.
I had the privilege of walking with and mentoring Jon during the years he led Axis. Planting a church like this has been a long time dream of his.
I’m very excited to see a number of Legacy Shepherding alums and mentorees (Jon, Kelly, Brian, Jodie, Mike, Rob, Charity, and Casey) getting involved, following what they sense is God’s call, and even more fully living out their unique designs, purposes, passions, and belovedness through this pioneering endeavor. No doubt, they are going to grow incredibly as they leave the familiar behind and step out into uncharted territory. My hope is that it will draw them, and everyone around them, into an even deeper intimacy and humble dependence on God.
The Vision of Mission Church – per excerpts from Jon:
“Chicago land is 3rd on the list of most un-reached cities in the U. S.
“God has given us a dream. We are convinced that He has invited us to plant a reproducing church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago—a church committed to seeing those far from God become redeemed and restored.
“He has downloaded a vision into my heart that grips me daily, a vision of seeing the Church re-claim it’s sent-ness, the Church becoming dangerous again, the Church truly living out the Jesus mission.
“God has invited us to take the Church into our culture, to be the Church on the move.
“We dream of the day when ‘The Ten’ (the towns of Bloomingdale, Itasca, Medinah, Roselle, Wood Dale, Glendale Heights, Carol Stream, Hanover Park, Addison and Bartlett) are transformed by the planting of a reproducing church; an epicenter of Hope and Redemption that brings change to these neighborhoods.
“ ‘The Ten’ is an area of over 262,000 people who are not in need of another church, but in need of a movement of people who live and love like Jesus.
“With Jesus as our consistent example of leadership, we recognize that if we desire to be a movement our leadership style will be different than if we are trying to lead an organization.
“In a movement, the goal is to release leaders;
in an organization the goal is to retain them.
In a movement the dream is transformation;
in an organization the dream is sustainability.
In a movement leadership is messy, unpredictable, and always changing;
in an organization leadership is fixed, clean and predictable.
“This is not a Sunday morning dream—we are committed to living it out daily.
“We will begin by recruiting and building a launch team. In May of 2011, we plan to launch Life Groups, which will be a collection of people living on mission to serve and impact the communities around us. Impacting these cities by living out the gospel in a tangible way is what fuels the dream within us. Each weekend we will come together as a church body to celebrate all that God has done in our communities in the past week and be encouraged and challenged for the week ahead. The weekend Celebration Services will launch in October 2011.
“I dream of a day when Chicago Land is covered with hundreds of Missional Communities.
“We are convinced that this is not only an opportunity, but a call.
“Come dream with us!” – Jon Peacock
Love Thy Neighbor:
Recently Jon and Kelly bought a house in the area they feel called to serve and love. As the weather warmed up a bit, Jon decided to move his fire pit from the backyard to the front yard, along with some chairs – yep, he’s got some red-neck in him! The first night he sat out there alone. The second night the next-door neighbor came over and sat with him. They called another neighbor from across the street over to join them. The three hung out until around midnight. As the neighbor across the street left, he told them that he had lived alone in that house for the past sixteen years. This was the first time he’d ever hung out with a neighbor. I would guess that there are going to be many more hang out nights this summer. It seems like something Jesus would do. Hanging out with a wide variety of people, serving the community and the world, meeting tangible needs, doing life together, loving God and others as best they can, bringing healing truth and redemptive presence right where people are at – the other six days of the week. That’s the kind of church they hope to build, the kind like Jesus modeled.
Mission Church will initially meet in the Bloomingdale area.
For more information, check out:
You can see more photos on Facebook, at Mission Church.
A church website will be coming soon.
Thank You:
Thank you for journeying with me on this adventure. It’s impossible to describe all the fruit I’m seeing in a monthly newsletter. Extraordinary things continue to happen. Your investment is multiplying. I think we are investing well in the next generation and in the future Church.
In His Love,
Randy
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