So many things...

Let me just give a short list of things that we are excited about right now...

• The River Christian Church is partnering with us to get some advertising pieces out about TPC
• We will be hosting a booth at the Allen County Fair
• We have established the God-sized goals of

1. Performing 8,000 acts of service before September 13
2. Fasting from 150 meals between the members of the launch team before September 13
3. Adding about 35 people to the launch team before September 13

• Our Associate Minister, Ed McColley, was recently engaged to a wonderful lady!!!
• We have a leadership team in place
• Someone anonymously paid our rent for next month!
• The pastor (me!) is beginning to be paid for the first time (yay!)
• Several new people have recently decided to give to TPC's mission
• Our volunteer financial guys are working hard to get things set up right
• We are very close to having our facility lined up for the fall

Please join us in thanking God for what he is doing.

Rejection

I believe most, if not all, of our launch team has finally experienced rejection on some level.

When you try to do something significant, people will always push back against you.

We have been slandered, accused falsely, and gossiped about.

Our motives have been questioned, our plans bashed and our reputations tarnished.

As we have moved forward with kindness and boldness, rejection will be a permanent part of life.

But we have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.

If it does come to that someday, we will be ready to do so for the name of Jesus Christ because he was not afraid to do so for us.

Facility Search

This week we have been on the facility search.

We have had a short list of considerations, including:

• Location
• User Friendliness to people outside the church
• Children's area
• Adult Worship area
• Connection with the leader of the facility
• Cost

We have been fortunate enough to discover several spots that meet at least most of these criteria. Ed and Samantha have been very helpful in this process. Thanks guys! I've just been along for the ride.

We don't have our facility nailed down, so I am not prepared to announce our location for the fall, but we are making great progress!

We appreciate your prayers.

Am I a bad dad or minister?

So, we had planned to go to an area church this morning that we have never been to.

Naturally, it's Father's Day (hopefully you were already aware of this).

So, Kristen asked me what I really wanted to do.

I said I really didn't want to go to church....

I would rather take some time as a family and to the the local park with a cooler of popsicles and give them out as an act of love in Christ's name and maybe meet some new people.

Which we did. And met a family and had a great talk.

So, did we go to church today?

Hmm, we served. We prayed for the peple we might meet. We also prayed in the backyard this morning at about 11:00 for a new church- Disciples Church that launched today in Folsom, CA.

You be the judge- did we go to church?

Church measurement

Most churches measure two things...

Sunday morning attendance and

Sunday morning offering

What's wrong with that- it's wrong, that's what.

It's like saying that as long as your kid is getting taller and fatter he's healthy.

It's important that your children get bigger, but that is not the only test of health.

What you measure is what matters to you. And when we only measure Sunday morning attendance and offering, it betrays that our heart only cares about those things.

The Church had better wake up to the fact that everyone knows that this is all normal churches care about. And they hate it.

We've got to find a way to measure things that matter more. Things that are culturally and spiritually significant.

The battleground is the human heart. It's where God goes to work each day. It's not the Sunday morning service or the church bank account.

Church Taking

One of the major problems with church in America is that it is more about taking than giving.

It's as though we have forgotten the old saying "it's more blessed to give than to recieve."

We like to guilt people.

We like to take their money.

We like to take their time.

And for what?

So that we can list in the publications we put out that we had a lot of people and money show up.

What happened to the church serving the community and not themselves?

Didn't Jesus say he came to serve... not to be served?

Whirlwind Trip

Our trip to San Francisco with Growing Healthy Churches started with us leaving Fort Wayne International Airport Tuesday morning at 6:00 and returning the next evening at 9:00.

In between we saw the inside of four airports, prayed with other church planters, heard about church planting works all over the nation, was encouraged and trained by church planters in the trenches, took in a major league baseball game, drove highway 1 along the Pacific, saw the Golden Gate bridge and more.

One church planter shared that at his church 150 people have come to know Christ since January.

150 lives saved since January.

Another shared about a new church they helped start in Haiti.

Another about the transitional housing for the homeless they are opening.

God is on the move.

Are we moving with him?

You betcha. TPC is on the move- taking ground for the Kingdom everyday. Join us.

BTW- Ed- next time don't make that face when we take your picture.

From BK to SanFran

Yesteday our launch team, minus one family who was out of town, held our first service.

We met at two different Burger Kings and gave out 5$ BK gift cards as a way to show people Christ's love.

We had plenty of positive and inquisitive responses. The bottom line is that although we don't get much for free and just out of love in today's culture, that is exactly what Christ give us.

Revelation 22:17, some of the last words of the Bible, say, "Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life."

Christ came not to be served, but to serve, and that is what he had called the church to as well.

On another note, Kristen and I, along with Ed, are heading to San Francisco in the morning. At 2:00 CA time we have a session with a leading writer on Church planting and some time to share with and encourage, be shared with and encouraged by other church planters around the nation.

We will return late Wednesday. The trip is provided by Growing Healthy Churches (GHC).

We can't wait.

Get off the fence

At our new home we often find ourselves telling our kids to "Get off the fence!" But what's the big deal?

It's not like their 44 or 60 pound frame is going to tear the fence down.

I think it's that we want to know that they are in our yard.

And that they want to be there and nowhere else.

In John 6, when the going got rough (Jesus started talking about his followers eating his flesh) most everyone left Him.

At last, he turns to the 12 disciples and says, "Will you leave me too?"

Peter answers, "Where would we go? You have the words of eternal life."

In our day I think Jesus wants to know who is in on this whole thing. Are you in church to help seek and save the lost, or are you just here for you?

Get off the fence.

Are you just playing games at church?

Are you politicking instead of loving?

Is it all about a little bigger building, a little bigger attendance and offering? About feeling good?

Get off the fence.

This thing is a rescue mission and people are lost and dying without Jesus Christ. If you are looking for a cruise ship to ride in quiet luxury, let me warn you where that will take you...

Get off the fence. Don't play Jesus for a fool.

Announcing our second staff member!!!!

I would like to announce the addition of our second staff memeber at Triple Pointe Church. Ed McColley, Associate Minister joins the staff in the next few weeks!!!

Ed believes so much in the mission of TPC that he has agreed to raise his first two years salary!! So, we are getting high quality help virtually for free! Isn't God amazing?

I have wanted Ed to come join us for some time in this work, and God finally convinced him I was right (haha). Seriously, God has all but lit the interstate north for Ed.

Ed will be continuing his Masters while in our midst and will be part time. He may work a second job in the area to build more connections with the community.

His primary roles will be:

1. Community Connection- Ed is an extreme extrovert. We will allow him to play to this strenght by buildling relationships in the community with both individuals and organizations for the sake of the mission of TPC. I cannot stress how significant this is for a new church.
2. Serve Others Champion- As you know, our mission is to help those outside the church to LOVE GOD, GROW TOGETHER and SERVE OTHERS. Ed will champion the area of SERVE OTHERS. He will lead service evangelism and probe the membership of TPC with regard to their service to others.
3. Administration- Ed is a detailed organizer (if you know him, you might be surprised about this). He's one of those guys with a hundred file folders on his computer screen and who records everything. This will be so crucial to a new church as we track new guest, people who accept Christ, those who need follow up, those who are joining a small group, and those who are serving.

The Kingdom strikes again!

The River

This morning we went to church at The River Christian Church. It was a huge blessing.

Mark Cleaveland's message was entitled "God is Able." Even when we do not feel as though we have the strength, that God does. This is a message we take to heart right now.

They had a list of items on the screen that they are praying about as the Kingdom advances.

Needless to say, we were surprised and excited to see at the bottom of the
screen, "Triple Pointe Church"

Mark and Scott (the teaching pastor) have been encouraging from day one of our conversations.

People came up to us afterwards with good things to say. But here is the point...

They are seeking to reach people who need the love of Jesus Christ in their lives just like we are. They view themselves as an opportunity for God to reach out to the local community, just like TPC.

I read this at about midnight last night from William Barclay.

"To us all is given the tremendous task of helping God make his promises come true."

Our First Service

On Sunday, June 14, Triple Pointe Church will have its first service. By that I mean we will perform a service.

A few of us will be at Burger King on Dupont across from Parkview North, and a few others will be at the other Burger King on Dupont near Casa Grille. That morning we will eat breakfast and play in the playplace there with our kids from 9:30-10:30. We will also be equipped with 40 $5 gift cards and little cards about the church. We will simply give other families the cards in a 'random acts of kindness' way.

Afterwards, at about 11:00, we will all congregate at our house to celebrate and worship with our families and have lunch.

The good news is this- WE CAN"T LOSE! If all we do is serve people and love people and no one ever gets on the TPC website, WE WIN because we served others. And if some people gain interest in Jesus and TPC, WE WIN!

Feel free to join us either at BK or at our house afterwards- just let me know by emailing me at patrick@triplepointechurch.com

Help Wanted

We need your help. This whole thing is getting bigger by the moment.

Our vision is to plant 8 churches in the next ten years.

Our twenty year vision is to plant 100 total churches, domestic and abroad.

Can we do it? No.

Can God do it? Apparently.

I just read this morning about God giving a baby boy and then an entire nation of descendents to a couple in their 90s. "Impossible!" Sarah laughed.

Nothing is impossible with God.

But to do it, we need your help. As a new friend asked me yesterday what we needed, I came up with this preliminary list…

• Start up funds-
  $42k would purchase a trailer full of everything from sound equipment to toys for kids classrooms to signage- this will enable the church to be mobile.
  $6k would pay for the 8-10 backyard parties we will host this summer to generate contacts and interest.
  
• Advertising-
  We are looking to market our launch date (Sept 13) in multiple ways. We need yard signs, vehicle decals, newspaper articles, pens, web advertisement and personal connection cards (and connection with a good printer/advertiser)
  
• Launch Team people-
  We need people to commit to TPC for 6,12, or 18 months as short term missionaries to serve in one of the following areas:
  -Financial Team
  -Facility Team
  -Children's Ministry
  -Love God team (outreach, Sunday morning, marketing)
  -Grow Together Team (small groups)
  -Serve Others (community service)
  
• Regular financial gifts-
  We are looking for organizations and individuals to partner with us to the tune of $8,000 a month for the first 24 months of the church's life.
  
• Facility-
  We need a place to rent this fall that can hold a service for several hundred people and have some space for kids' classes. We'd like the spot to be somewhere on this side of town- the Dupont, Lima, Tonkel area.
  

I will post soon about our first service, June 14.

If you live in the Fort Wayne area and sense God is calling you to play a part in one of the ways I list above (or any other way), please email me at Patrick@triplepointechurch.com

Only Just Begun

We are now setting up Task Teams- small ministry teams that will lead the following areas-

• Overall leadership
• Finances
• Children
• Facilities
• Love God (outreach)
• Grow Together
• Serve Others

People are excited to be matched up according to their gifts. And I am excited that we are taking another step towards functioning properly.

I am sitting at a Coffee House before an appointment with another church planter. I am excited to ask him some of these questions:

• How they did fundraising and how funds work now for them, a couple years in
• How they reach out
• Their leadership structure

Foundational times.