New Planter Spotlight: Brian Sullivan
The Sullivan Family
Brian Sullivan
BRIAN SULLIVAN IS THE HEAD PASTOR FOR CROSSPOINTE CHURCH JUPITER IN JUPITER, FLORIDA. WE ARE HONORED TO PARTNER WITH HIM AND THE CHURCH COMMUNITY BEGINNING IN 2018.
How have you seen God working in your life?
God is growing in me a deeper appreciation and awareness of his faithfulness, which leads to greater contentment in Christ. God is always faithful (1 Corinthians 1:9), so the issue isn't with him, it's with me seeing and believing his faithfulness. So often my heart can drift to worry - about the church, our family, finances, people, etc. - but the gospel reminds me that the power is in Jesus being faithful for me. There have been numerous times over the past year of planting CrossPointe Jupiter that I can reflect on and see God's faithfulness. This reflection has been a healthy practice for me. I often stop and praise him for the ways he has been, is and will be faithful. This discipline has helped cultivate more and more a heart of trust, rest, joy and celebration of Jesus and his faithfulness.
"Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant...but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope." Hebrews 3:5-6
How have you seen God working in your family?
We knew leaving a church community that we helped plant would be challenging. The people of CrossPointe Winter Park loved and cared for us so well. This was the only church our children had ever known. Moving into an area where we didn't have many Christ-centered relationships forced us to lean more heavily into Christ and one another as a family. While planting has had a lot of challenges, it has also been sweet as we have sought to be intentional with our family time, but also with others as we invite them to be a part of the church. My relationship with my wife Corrina has also strengthened as we have gone through this church planting process together. We are one another's biggest cheerleader and encourager through both the celebrations and the struggles.
We are grateful for God's faithfulness to build his church and to bring Christ-centered relationships into our lives to support, encourage and care for our family.
How have you seen God working in your church?
Jesus is faithful to build his church (Matthew 16:18) and he provides. While we have sought to be faithful in what Jesus calls us to - missional living, making disciples, prayer, proclamation of his word and loving others - it has been so impactful to see how Christ has worked and is working. To look at the people who have connected in community, the meaningful friendships he's brought, meeting our financial needs both as a church and personally, places to gather at just the right time -- over and over God has been faithful and provided. This has changed me in that I regularly look back and celebrate what he has done. This gives me great peace in the present as I trust that he will continue to build and provide now. This gets me excited about the future to see how he will continue to build his church as we seek to point this community to Jesus.
Church Mission
The mission of CrossPointe is to point our community to Jesus Christ.
As this happens, we will see our vision of our "community being informed and transformed by the power of the gospel for the glory of God" realized.
As the GOSPEL continues to work in us individually and collectively as a church, we believe that it will radically transform the contours and fabric of our lives individually, communally and culturally.
Our prayer is that we would see people move:
From Suppression to CELEBRATION (Romans 1:18-23)
It is clear from the scriptures that we are not spiritually neutral. We desire to help people move from suppressing God's truth into a full-blown celebration of God’s truth.
From Distraction to CONNECTION (Matthew 13:18-23)
The affluence of our community offers much opportunity for distraction. Connection is about being cut to the heart and repenting of our idolatry - our love of lesser things - and helping people connect their story to God's story.
From Isolation to COMMUNITY (Acts 2:42-47)
Busy schedules coupled with an individualistic culture create a situation that is ripe for isolation. We will seek to live lives in authentic community.
From Consumption to CONTRIBUTION (Mathew 28:18-20)
Perhaps the dominant narrative of our Western culture is one of consumption. However, the true narrative of the Bible tells us that we were made as contributors, as stewards. This has implications on how people utilize their time, talent, and treasure.
If you would like to reach out to Brian, you can visit the church's website at www.cpjupiter.com.
New Planter Spotlight: Josh Floyd
The Floyd Family
Josh Floyd IS THE THE HEAD PASTOR FOR Grace Community Church in Lakeland, FLORIDA. WE ARE HONORED TO PARTNER WITH HIM AND THE CHURCH COMMUNITY BEGINNING IN 2018.
How have you seen God working in your life?
The biggest way I've seen the Lord working in my life over this past year is in dealing with my idol of performance and looking like I have it all together. I gave a talk on a men's retreat a year ago and it absolutely bombed. It was so bad it actually threw me into the grief cycle. I realized how I was finding my identity in how well I spoke and could deliver a message rather in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross on my behalf. It has been an incredibly humbling yet very blessed journey over the past year drinking deeply more and more from the fountain of grace.
How have you seen God working in your family?
Seeing my wife, Liz, continue to grow in grace has been such a blessing. Being a stay at home mom of four little kids, and keeping the house clean, cooking meals, running kids to school and back, washing and folding all the clothes, hosting launch team meetings and being a supportive church planter wife is a full time, often times thankless and unpaid job! And she does it as unto the Lord! My faith has been increased by watching how she clings to the Lord in everything she does. It has also be great watching my young children grasp the gospel, understand who Jesus is and what he has done for us, and a desire to pray and be in God's word.
How have you seen God working in your church?
We have not launched yet but I have seen God work both in our mother church, Trinity in Lakeland, and in our small launch team that is getting ready to start Grace Community on the north side of Lakeland. People who have been sitting on the sidelines for years in church are wanting to throw in, use their gifts, serve and tithe like never before. People have gone from not knowing the names of their neighbors to befriending them, inviting them to our new church and praying for their salvation. People are coming alive to the biblical implications of living in authentic community like they never have before. People who are de-churched or un-churched are telling us they plan on coming to our church because of the individual and personal invites they are receiving from our launch team. God is so good!
Church Mission
To be a church where people know Jesus through worship and biblical preaching, grow in Jesus through authentic community and personal practices and go with Jesus where he calls us to serve and surrender.
Church Vision
Grace Community Church exists to be a blessing - where we live, work and play - in North Lakeland and beyond all to the glory of God.
We hope to impact our context in North Lakeland by providing a grace-based, gospel-centered PCA church in a city that is predominantly peppered with works-based, legalistic churches that do not preach the gospel (sadly). And North Lakeland does not have a PCA church.
We are trying to reach the lost, those who have been de-churched or un-churched. Success looks like remaining true to the gospel of Jesus Christ as presented in the infallible Scriptures of the OT and NT, befriend and meeting needs of the people in our community who the Lord lays on our hearts and brings to this community of believers, and we prayerfully hope to be self-sustaining in three years. We believe we will be bearing fruit as people are growing in the walk with Christ and more and more people are coming to faith in Jesus, we are growing in numbers and plan on planting a church in 7-10 years. We hope the school in which we are meeting in is blessed by us being there and more and more families come to faith in Jesus through our presence and care to this community. We also pray that our city is blessed by our presence.
If you would like to reach out to Josh, you can visit the church's website at www.gcclakeland.com.
New Planter Spotlight: Keith Doane
Keith Doane is the the head pastor for Living Branch Church in Fishers, Indiana. We are honored to partner with him and the church community beginning in 2018.
Gospel In Life
There is a verse in John 1:19 where the priests and scribes ask John the Baptist who he is. He does not answer the question by telling them who he is, he answers it by telling them who he is not. He says, ‘I am not the Christ’. This simple statement has repeatedly been a powerful reminder to me. As a church planter and pastor there is a temptation to place ourselves in roles that we cannot possibly fulfill. At times, I sense the pressure and tension of trying to fix the brokenness in the lives of others or in our community, which are tasks that are beyond me. I sense the pressure to grow our church in ways that may fulfill the expectations of others, but may not be the will of God.
‘I am not the Christ’ reminds me that I must first go before God as his child and not as a church planter. It reminds my that my calling is to proclaim and show others who Jesus is. It reminds me that God’s will for the lives of other people will not often match my will for their lives. This simple statement reminds me that my power, knowledge, love, and goodness is so limited and finite, but that Christ is infinite.
Gospel In Family
One of the great joys of church planting has been being able to witness how the whole family has been involved in our efforts. In the early days, our children recruited (without my knowledge) one of their teachers to be a part of our Core Group. They have invited their friends to church and have shown an awareness of what our church is about. It brings me great pleasure to see how people in the community and in the church respond to my wife. They would all rather talk to and spend time with her than me, and I know that one of the best things I can do as a church planter is to simply get out of the way.
On the other hand, church planting can be consuming and can overshadow our life as a family. These past few years have reminded us that we need to be more purposeful to create and protect our boundaries. Our vacations in the summer have become longer because it takes all of us of more time to ‘unplug’, we simply need extended time away from thinking about and being around the church. My wife and I talk about and try to cultivate relationships outside the church that allow us to simply be ourselves.
Greatest Impact
I have been struck over and over again by the reality that Living Branch is not my church. While I have the high calling of being a church planter, it is a privilege to be a part of what God is doing in our community. I remind myself that my dream and vision is that this church will thrive long after I am gone and forgotten.
This has given me valuable perspective in the midst of the inevitable ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ of church planting. When those that I long to see join our church don’t show up or walk away, I realize my prayer is for their heart and soul before the Lord and not simply that they would be a part of what we are doing. In the midst of blessings and victories I am reminded that God receives all of the glory and praise.
Church Mission
The mission of Living Branch Church is to glorify God and enjoy him forever as we make disciples of all nations.
Our church is located in a northern suburb of Indianapolis. Our county is one of the fastest growing counties in the country. The population of Noblesville has tripled in the last 25 years and is expected to triple in the next 25 years. We are a young and unchurched community. Despite all of the growth in Noblesville, there has been few churches planted. The public schools are not open to hosting church plants and there is little other public meeting space, which has led most church planting movements to skip over our community.
By God’s grace we hope to see Living Branch established as a healthy Gospel-preaching church in Noblesville, but we also pray that God would use us to raise up the next generation to lead Gospel movements in ours and the surrounding communities.
Church Vision
We have a vision that God would use our church to reach the younger generations and to partner with other ministries that have a similar mission. We realize that we are living in a post-Christian context. The community of Noblesville places and emphasis on traditional Midwest values and wants to pass these ideals on to our children. These values, however, have no foundation in God’s Word and are devoid of meaning and power apart from Christ.
Our vision is to create a church that engages in the community and does not seek to retreat from it. We make no assumptions that our neighbors and friends have an understanding of the Gospel simply by virtue of where they live. We want to be a part of the larger building of God’s kingdom and not simply be engaged in the building of our church or denomination. Our vision is in the next 5, 10, or 25 years is that the young people coming out of our church would be leaders on their college campuses, in our community, or wherever God may send them.
If you would like to reach out to Keith, you can visit the church's website at www.livingbranch.net.
New Planter Spotlight: Tom Kubiak
The Kubiak Family
Tom Kubiak is the the head pastor for Imago Dei Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. We are honored to partner with him and the church community beginning in 2018.
Gospel In Life
By GOD'S grace, I was raised in a solid Christian home in the city of Chicago and responded to the gift of repentance from sin and faith in JESUS CHRIST at a Christian camp in Michigan as a middle-schooler. The LORD has used His life-changing Word, my family, the Church and many GOD-loving people to guide my spiritual journey. Two of the most profound, ongoing works of the SPIRIT in my life is taking me from a self-orientation to a Gospel-centered orientation of life (Luke 9:23-25) as well as leading me to greater depths of living by faith and not by sight (Hebrews 11:1,6).
Gospel In Family
Back in the day, it was tempting to assume that if our lives were focused around full-time Gospel ministry that it would naturally lead to effective, meaningful discipleship within our family. After leading two "turnaround" ministries and now leading a second new church start-up, we're more aware than ever before of the need to guard our hearts collectively, set up healthy boundaries and find our identity in CHRIST rather than the ministry or corresponding fruit of it. Thankfully, the LORD remained gracious and our marriage/family life was pretty tight and rooted in the love of GOD; but in the earlier years I should have been more intentional--disciplined--in providing protection for our family. After all these years, GOD has mercifully grown us in these areas (Proverbs 4:23).
Greatest Impact
In the process of this second church plant, the LORD has instilled a more genuine, keen sense of Gospel identity in Him rather than in the ministry itself or the fruit of it (John 15:1-11). Beyond theory, we find ourselves in life experience finding our sustenance from the VINE Himself and not merely the outward effects (whether uplifting or discouraging). It's affected our philosophy of ministry, metrics and source of contentment.
Church Mission
Imago Dei exists "to live out and share the Gospel in making devoted disciples of JESUS who, in turn, make followers of CHRIST." In this extremely neglected, under-served area of the City of Chicago (relative to Gospel-centered churches/planting), we aim to have a more organic, relational and incarnational local parish ministry that makes disciples of CHRIST who will reproduce their faith. Our prayer and aim is for a HOLY SPIRIT ordained spiritual awakening in our community that will provide the impetus for a multiplying church planting movement--up to five (5) new local churches in the next 10-15 years. Concurrently, this disciple-making model will prioritize equipping and empowering local leaders for synergistic Gospel impact throughout the far south side of Chicago.
Church Vision
Imago Dei's stated vision is to "see people transformed by the reconciling grace and power of the Gospel, find their identity in CHRIST, live in the SPIRIT as agents of peace and be equipped to make disciples for GOD’S glory." Our five core values: Gospel-centered, reliant prayer, authentic worship, missional movement and reconciled community. Due to the Gospel of grace as well as the demographics of our target neighborhoods, we are intentionally integrated ethnically, socio-economically and generationally. Praise GOD our new start-up already reflects this type of reconciled community! According to Scripture, "success" as we understand it is evident in life-change or transformation: in salvation and sanctification. So our metrics factor in spiritual conversations, conversions, baptisms, Gospel Community (small group) engagement, spiritual gift implementation, leadership development, loving neighborhood engagement, evidence of the fruit of the SPIRIT, reproduction and Kingdom of Heaven qualities (joy, peace and righteousness - Romans 14:17) seen in our church and community.
If you would like to reach out to Tom, you can visit the church's website at www.imagodeichicago.org/
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New Planter Spotlight: Kevin Rodgers
Kevin Rodgers is the the head pastor for Redeemer Church in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. We are honored to partner with him and the church community beginning in 2018.
Gospel In Life
After working for years as a salesman and consultant I have a high degree of confidence in my self. I believed that I was the kind person of person who could make things happen. I was confident in my powers of persuasion and anticipated that these skills were going to make church planting if not simple, at least easier.
But I soon learned that when I tried to rely on these skills, everything was harder, took longer, and was less successful than I thought it should be.
I wish I could say that I learned this lesson quickly, and began to rely more on prayer and the Holy Spirit to move our church plant forward. But it is a lesson I'm still learning.
Gospel In Family
Parenting five kids is never easy. But we seemed to have it better than many people. I used to think that I could write a book on parenting. After all we seemed to have it together, our kids were (reasonably) well behaved. Now I know better.
Church planting will expose your idols better than anything I have experienced. The schedule of church planting, and the swirl of kids activities have shown me the importance of scheduled time for family life. Being willing to admit when you have failed as a parent, and to go back and try again is a humbling experience.
Greatest Impact
I have learned the power of love and acceptance to open people's hearts to the gospel. I have learned how powerful silently listening to people is. I learned that the simple practice of looking people in the eyes and asking them "tell me about your story?" Is the most powerful evangelism method I have ever practiced.
Church Mission
Our mission is to build a community of gospel-centered people that work together to serve and renew the City of Moncton. We desire to build a deep community that is so filled with the love of the gospel that this love spills out of them in acts of service and kindness. We are a safe place for those broken by the effects of sin to grow in their understanding of the healing power of gospel forgiveness.
Church Vision
- To be a congregation that connects people to God and his people.
- To be a community that is growing in out understanding of the Gospel and is growing in our application of the Gospel to our lives.
- To be a community known for our willing, practical service of our neighbours.
- To multiply similar congregations across the Maritimes.
- To cultivate a culture that truly welcomes and embraces both anglophone and francophone members of our community.
If you would like to reach out to Kevin, you can visit the church's website at www.redeemercommunitychurch.ca.