Strategic Partner Church in the Fraser Valley...What is it?...and WHY?

NPMi Strategic Partners in Plain English from NPMiPartners on Vimeo.">

The church that is partnering with us in this effort is North Point Community Church. If you want to learn more about them, visit www.northpoint.org.

SPRINGING into ACTION...

This past month was truly a very exciting time as we have seen some real synergy amongst the Vision Team and progress in our 3 main goals: Campus Pastor; Charitable Tax Status; Team Building.

UPDATES:

1. Charitable status. - We now legally have the name "FRASER POINT COMMUNITY CHURCH," (WOOHOO) and are heading in the right direction toward Charitable Status and being incorporated. Lawyer Bob Kuhn has truly been a "God-send" in his wisdom and expertise in this area. His corporation is trying to secure the Charitable Trust Status in a few weeks (so we can have our bank account all set up and give towards this.) They are also aiming for our Incorporated Status by Sept. 09.

2. Campus Pastor - We have some positive leads for the Campus Pastor. We also have some recommendations of names that have been brought to us by top Christian leaders in Canada. We soooooo need God's wisdom for the right person. One that will lead with vision and passion, someone that is excited about adopting the Northpoint Philosophy, and someone who will manage and pour into our staff. God truly needs to show us who this person is. Keep praying DAILY for this critical position.

3. Building the Team - It is exciting as God continues to bring across our path- people of 'like-mind.' It is only HIM who will build this team in His timing.

4. Drive Conference. - Seven of us from our team are going to the DRIVE CONFERENCE in May in Atlanta. We are all super excited about this opportunity to get poured into as leaders and for some of the TEAM to actually SEE for the FIRST TIME, what Northpoint is all about.

CAREY

So you think we need another church, eh?

March 6 - 2009
A friend of ours who is in the know about Canadian church leadership, church growth, and vision recently sent me a great email. He's actually a national Canadian church leader. Anyhow, his email encapsulates some good points about "why another church?" Take a look, I think these are worth remembering as we talk to people about our vision.

Take it away email...

"Here are some talking points from my world...

1. Why new churches? Research has proven that the best way to reach new
people for Christ is with new churches. Statistically speaking, new
churches do a much better job in this area than established churches.
Whether because it's hungrier, because it's scared, because it's focused?
I don't know, but a new church will perform better in this area.

2. Don't we have enough churches? Actually, we don't. Last time I
checked about 85-90% of the lower mainland had no consistent, regular
spiritual community that they were connected to. No disrespect of
existing churches, even if they doubled their present capacity we'd still
be short. We need more churches.

3. Why this one? Why a North Point model? Well, it takes all kinds of
churches to reach all kinds of people. North Point has helped us see how
we can develop a focus, start some strategies, identify some emphases and
go forward. It's not for everyone. But it's for a lot of people in the
Lower Mainland area.

4. What's the dream? go nuts...tell him the dream...work your plan. I'd
love to be there to help out. I will be watching and praying to see it
happen."

March Madness 2009

Well folks, our Vision Group meeting last Sunday was awesome. We felt such a feeling of "ahah!" and common excitement as we brainstormed on the white board. 1/3 & 1/3 and 1/3...that white board division has stuck in my mind. It is very exciting to think beyond just building the team to now focus as well on campus pastor considerations and charitable status. Go team! Go Canucks!

We are just so thankful for what God is doing in our midst. I am sure that Jess will post a blog in some of the connections and info she is getting behind the scenes, but both Carey and Jess were able to do some more networking, emailing, and information gathering done this week. A HUGE thanks to Nicki, who helped care for our kids while the women manned the phones.

Keep praying for our campus pastor, that God would be preparing the heart of the one He is calling. Also, keep praying for our second Focus Group members...we had our last session on Monday. Some absolutely awesome people. Our hope is that all who came out were challenged to start thinking about Kingdom work, passions, and how God is using them in their own sphere of influence. Pray that those who came out would continue in the things that God has for each of them.

Spot you later,
Bill

Newsy News...February 2009 Update

Hey Vision Groupies,
Hope all is well. Just a few things to update you on about current and future happenin's.
1. Focus Group #2 is up and running - a really great group of 5 people, plus Benniks and Hamiltons. Definitely like-minded individuals--> pray for God's leading in their lives.
2. Still no official word from FLEFC about involvement in a church plant.
3. Getting out the word to other churches - Carey and I are going to be doing small group leader training with the North Langley church that is wanting to use the Northpoint small group philosophy...meeting with their small group pastor when we get back from Atlanta....who knows what God has in store from this meeting? Please pray.
4. Next Monday in Atlanta, Carey and I have a meeting with the Strategic Partner (SP) leader, David McDaniels, and our main contact, Scott "The Tank" Tanksley. We are praying that God will lead during this time.
5. We are hoping to attend one, and possibly two SP churches while in Atlanta, hearing their stories and gaining in wisdom from their experiences.
6. I also hope to eat copious amounts of BBQ'ed meat...maybe that is not really news though.










Love you guys. Continue to pray that God will be raising up people of like mind for the next Focus Group in April. Just a word of encouragement from James, the brother of Jesus, to press on as a church to reach both outsiders and insiders. Acts 15. "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God." I am so convinced that God is creating a group of people, a church, that is built around partnering with Him to be fishers of men. All for His glory and His reknown.

Hey Bloggers...

Well it is an interesting and exciting journey to be on with you guys. God is at work all around us and being involved in something like this (which is soooo beyond us) is always such a reminder that it is all about HIM. We are so in need of Him to do this and bring his team of like-minded people our way. Even this week, some more exciting possibilities have come up. Can't wait to see you all on Sunday night.
Carey

All glory to Him

Thanks for getting the BLOG up and running Mr Hammy! This will be a great way to catch up on the journey and know how to pray for Fraser Point. How very exciting! May God be our vision and guide and may He get all the glory as we make this journey together!! From the SERF family :-)

And what an amazingly good lookin' group of people... Our First Focus group. The team grew in November 2008 from 2 to 9 members. Praise God.

Keep praying for Focus Group #2. Will keep you posted....

The BEGINNING of OUR JOURNEY

Hey guys! Well, the blog is now up and running! About time. This blog will be a record of what God is doing in our midst in the establishing of His Strategic Partner church in the Fraser Valley area of BC. This is in essence our sketchboard, our memo pad, our way of writing out and chronicling our journey. We can jot down thoughts, victories, questions, and experiences of our journey together. We can upload pictures, video, and pretty much anything....but I promise, "No interpretive dance videos!" What is so great is that as we live our different lives in different spheres of influence, that this technology will allow us to stay connected and build our vision as a group of visioneers together.
One of my favorite Old Testament phrases is that of "putting up stones of remembrance" [Joshua Chapter 4]. When Joshua and the children of Israel crossed the river Jordan in a miraculous manner due to God showing up, they did something to remember the journey. They cut out "stones of remembrance" and put them up on the banks for all to see. Here are our stones of remembrance. To His praise and glory. That's what it is all about.
Love you guys.

Bill & Carey