the glorious exchange

This list is about church plants from around the country that are making a difference in their community. Here’s the original post that explains the list and the definitions used (link), and the first five [link] (in no ranking system whatsoever). Without further ado, here’s the second five (in no particular order).

• Reston Community Church (Reston, VA)
  • Reston Community Church is a ‘new’ church plant in Reston, Virginia, outside of Washington, DC. The reason ‘new’ is in quotations is because they have replanted from History Church in the same city. They have, however, changed locations, target audiences, and ministry philosophies.  If anything has remained constant, it would be their pastor, Ben Arment, which many of you are familiar with in the blogging world. They are trying to start a movement of ‘town center’ churches, which I consider Harmony Church to be. I’m excited for RCC and Ben and what they’re trying to do in one of the toughest places to reach people for Christ in the nation, if not the world.
• Journey 2l2 (South Brunswick, NJ)
  • Most people haven’t heard of Journey 2L2. Their website isn’t extraordinary, and they seem like an ordinary church from the outside looking in. But dig deeper. Bob Cushman, the lead pastor at J2L2, is leading an extraordinary church. What’s so extraordinary about it? Well, it’s a growing church in New Jersey, of all places. (For those of you who know me, that’s only half funny about NJ). North of Maryland, it gets increasingly harder to reach people for Christ because of the religiosity and the indifference to religion. But J2L2 is doing it. And doing it well. Something else that’s extraordinary? They do weekly community projects. That’s right, weekly. Most churches do something quarterly; monthly at best. Journey does a community project every week, placing Christ prominently on display at least once every seven days. Amazing. It’s a testament to the fact that the greatest churches out there are the ones most people have never heard of.
• Wellspring Church (Charlotte, NC)
  • I had the pleasure of meeting Pastor Dwayne Bond at a recent Acts29 luncheon, and I can attest to his honesty and commitment to Christ and His Kingdom. So what’s so special about Wellspring? Their active pursuit in racial diversity in one of the most racially divided cities of our nation, outside of Birmingham and Atlanta. They are also doing community in a coffeehouse in addition to their weekly worship gatherings, and are reaching out to their community through the outdoors as well; a very often neglected area of God’s creation. Looking forward to more out of Charlotte!
• Treasuring Christ Church (Raleigh, NC)
  • Treasuring Christ Church is another church that I’m real excited about, and yet another exciting church in my home state. Led by Sean Cordell, whom I’ve also had the pleasure meeting, TCC is different in that it is actively reaching the disenfranchised (read: poor, lower class) of Raleigh, one of the nation’s fastest growing areas. Just take a look at their outreach ministries page on their website for a small glimpse. In talking with JD Greear of The Summit Church in Durham, he said that TCC was one of the most exciting churches in the Triangle. That’s a huge compliment, considering the source.
• Church of the Outer Banks (Nags Head, NC)
  • The Church of the Outer Banks (OBX, for you foreigners) is an up and coming Acts29 church plant on the coast of NC (I’m not biased, really). They are home to some really awesome cultural ministries, and are actively involved in reaching out to their surrounding community, Nags Head. Their worship services are very artsy and integrate art very well into their gatherings, which means they integrate artists into their gatherings. Some really awesome redemptive culture is coming out of the Banks, from Noah’s Arc (documentary about surfing and Christ) to Jessica McLean (awesome singer/songwriter from Nags Head who attends ChurchOBX) and Bad Bean: a coffeehouse loosely (by people) connected with the church. Really awesome to see a church who is not just talking missionally; but is doing it.

There’s the second 5; 5 more to go!

Just got done watching The Departed via Netflix…I’m literally speechless. I lost my breath twice during the movie. It was absolutely incredible, and Scorcese, as always, was incredible. The cinematography was second to none. The storyline was superb. It didn’t even seem like 20 minutes and then the movie was done. Bravo. If you haven’t seen it, go pick it up now!

Now released! It’s on the second part of our vision: live. Short and sweet at under 8 minutes; but well worth a listen!

Harmony Church Podcast

As I posted earlier, I’m doing a list again. It’s about that time. This list is about church plants from around the country that are making a difference in their community. Here’s the original post that explains the list and the definitions used (link). Without further ado, here’s the first five (in no particular order).

• Epiphany Fellowship (Philadelphia, PA)
  • Epiphany is an Acts29 Church in Philly led by the team of a former member of the Cross Movement and a D.Min. If that’s not enough for you, they are planting a church in the middle of the inner city of Philly: it’s not exactly where most people would choose to plant a church. They have a street evangelism team, they pray specifically against gun violence, and they are currently trying to purchase the building they are currently renting. They plan on renovating it to include a cafe, multi-purpose room, and a ‘technology center’, where they can train people of all ages to use computers. One of the most intriguing aspects of EF? They want to start a barbershop, filled with Christian barbers to flood the streets of Philly with the Gospel.
• Elevation Church (Charlotte, NC)
  • Most people have heard of Steven Furtick by now. He’s an incredible young leader in the western part of my home state, and the church he, his family, and 9 other families moved to Charlotte from SC during the year of 2005 in order to plant Elevation. In 2006, Elevation launched, and the rest is history. They’ve baptized 388 people over the last two weeks (spontaneously), and have reached 2000 people in attendance in their first year and a half in existence. Incredible. Yeah, God.
• Crossings Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
  • Crossings has just launched in Knoxville this February and they are already knocking it out of the park. They are meeting in a downtown movie theater, and have already created a buzz in Knoxville. Supported by Stadia and NewThing, they are reaching out to their community by connecting with community leaders from schools and the city in order to make Knoxville a better place to live, work, and play.
• Momentum Christian Church (McDonough, GA)
  • Momentum is another Stadia supported church in GA that is rocking their community’s world. They are actively focused in being a part of the community, not just reaching out to it, by working with the AIDS networks in the area, as well as various local food banks and other ministries. It’s very encouraging to see a church plant taking such a strong stance on community relations. On their website, they also have series wallpapers and resources for download; pretty cool stuff.
• Catalyst Church (Kent, OH)
  • Catalyst Church, led by Jonathan Herron, is an Acts29 and GBNAM church in Kent, OH. I hope I get to meet Jon one day; he seems like a cool cat. All that aside, Catalyst Church is trying to reach 250,000+ people in their area for Christ. How? They’re currently meeting at an awesome location: the Kent Stage, a historic music venue. This summer, they also plan on leasing real estate across from the Stage, which they plan on renovating for community art space. It’s going to blow Portage County out of the water, and I’m looking forward to hearing more about it!

There’s the first 5; 10 more to go!

I’m sitting here on the patio on a beautiful night writing curriculum for the upcoming semester of our Echo Groups, and I’m getting frustrated with the ESV on one point. I’ve always noticed it, and when I was teaching through Matthew, it didn’t really bother me, but in Ephesians (our target book for the fall), it does pretty bad. So what is this singularity that is causing me so much angst?

The ESV doesn’t capitalize pronouns that point to the Trinity.

Anyone else put off by this?