Spotlight: Bryan Loney & Christ The King Roslindale
See what Bryan Loney has to say about one of our church plants - Christ The King - Roslindale in the Boston area
Ron on the Road: The Summit Church
We arrived in Plano, Texas in time to have dinner with Joel and Michelle Miller. Joel serves as the senior pastor of The Summit Church in Allen, Texas. Joel planted this church just two years ago after planting a church in Mississippi. The Summit Church has had to move locations three times this year, and that has caused some struggles for the Church. Allen is located just north of Dallas, and the area has been greatly affected by the economy. Joel has lots of stories of folks coming to Christ through his ministry, and is starting to see some real leadership being developed in the Church.
Michelle is not only very busy with their four children, she also substitute teaches at a local Christian school. Joel and Michelle are excited to see what God is doing through The Summit Church and appreciate the support of Spanish River Church. Joel also appreciated the coaching he received from David Nicholas, and is committed to preaching the Gospel.
Please keep the Millers in your prayers as they deal with all the changes and challenges of this community.
After leaving Dallas, we are making a beeline to home, and will arrive in Boca Raton tomorrow. It has been a great trip, but we are ready to be home. We have travelled over 13,000 miles, seen 33 states and visited with 51 pastors. Most of the pastors have been supported financially by Spanish River Church. It has been amazing to see what this investment has returned. The vision that God gave David Nicholas and Ernie Tomforde has resulted in an unbelievable network of Churches that are preaching the Gospel and serving their communities. It is a great honor to serve at a Church that is so kingdom minded.
Miriam and I will arrive home four days before I leave for India to visit with our church planting partners in that country. Please keep us in your prayers as well, there is much to do.
Ron on the Road: City-Wide Redeemer, Las Vegas
We rolled into Las Vegas in time to have dinner with the Phillip and Angie Glassmeyer, Phillip serves as the senior pastor of City-Wide Redeemer Church. Phillip along with Eric Phillips came to Las Vegas in 2007 to plant City-Wide. The church currently meets in a local school and averages 130 on a Sunday morning.
November, 2009, saw the formation of CWR’s first missional community. These missional communities number between 20-40 people and exist to give localized expressions of the gospel among neighbors. They meet regularly to consider God's word, pray, share a meal, and to serve the neighborhood. At present there are three of these MC's meeting around the city. The vision is for many more neighborhood missional communities to form throughout the city for local transformation through word and deed ministry.
In February, 2011 They launched their second site, City-Wide Redeemer, Paradise. This congregation, centered just east of the UNLV campus, meets for worship Sunday afternoons. Keith Robinson has come on staff to oversee this second site. Please keep Phillip, Eric, Keith and their families in your prayers as they build a church in a very difficult and challenging city.
After leaving Las Vegas we continued east and took a quick detour to see the Grand Canyon. We arrived there right at sunset, and braved the sleet and cold weather to get some great photos.
We then headed out of the park but got delayed when we hit a deer crossing the road. The car had some minor damage, not sure about the deer, he trotted away.
Ron on the Road: Shaun Garman of Seed Church
Seed Church
This week we headed south to Ventura, California to meet with Shaun Garman. Shaun is starting a new church in Ventura County which is just north of Los Angeles. SRC partnered with Shaun to plant a church in Portland about six years ago, that church, Red Sea has now sent Shaun south to plant once again.
Shaun's new church will be called Seed Church and they will begin Sunday gatherings this coming weekend in a local pub. They have already begun building a core community which includes 12 people who have moved into the Ventura area from Portland.
Shaun and his wife Daisy have seven children ranging in age from 5 to 21. This past summer they went on an 8 week road trip across the United States. Realizing how exhausting a road trip like that is I can't imagine doing it with all those children, but Shaun said it was a great time for his family and a little break before settling down to another challenging role as a church planter.
After meeting with Shaun we headed across the desert to meet with some pastors in Las Vegas, and then we are heading home to Florida. Looking forward to being in our own bed soon.
How to pray
Please keep Shaun and his family in your prayers. Ventura is an upscale community which has very few churches and lots of challenges. They also have a large hispanic population and Shaun has a real desire to see these two distinct communities come together as a worship community.
Ron on the Road: San Francisco Church Planters
We have spent a long weekend in San Francisco visiting with pastors, and also taking some time to visit with our son Calvin and our daughter-in-law Alexandra.
Grace Church of Marin
On Saturday morning, I had breakfast with Rod Miles the senior pastor at Grace Church of Marin. This church is six years old and is located in the upscale community on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge known as Marin County. An amazing 30% of the people that live here are self-employed and the average income is almost $100,000.00/yr. This makes the cost of living and raising a family here very expensive. The Miles are parents of three teenage boys and are very involved in the community.
Grace Church of Marin averages around 130 in attendance at their Sunday worship services. Rod shared some stories of some men in the community that have recently trusted Christ, and have gotten involved in the Church. Rod is very appreciative of the financial investment that Spanish River made to Grace Church, and also of the coaching he received from David Nicholas in the early days of his church. He hopes that Grace Church will be able in the near future to have the same kind of impact for other bay area church plants.
City Church of San Francisco
On Sunday morning we drove into downtown San Francisco to worship with City Church of San Francisco. City Church is led by church planter and Senior Pastor, Fred Harrell, and Mike Hayes who serves as the Executive Pastor. City Church began in February 1997 and has grown to a congregation of around 1600 attendees. They partner with ministries throughout the city and the region ranging from homeless shelters, to AIDS hospices, and women's crisis centers.
Christ Church East Bay
City Church is also active in new church development globally, nationally, and locally. Spanish River has partnered City Church to plant several churches in the Bay area. One of those churches is Christ Church which hold services in Berkeley and Rockridge. On Sunday evening we attended the service in Rockridge. The senior pastor Bart Garrett was away on vacation, so the service was led by Jonathan St. Clair. Bart and Jonathan came to the East Bay Area in 2005 to start this ministry with the help of SRC. The church is growing and is actively engaged in serving their communities.