CHURCH PLANTERS
This will be a church where messy people can come as they are, and find the transforming love of God’s grace.
In a thirty-mile radius of the Bluefield College campus, there are over 175,000 people. Yes, there several fine churches in the area, but the uniqueness we will bring will be the heavy focus on the 15 to 45 year old un-churched crowd. Truthfully, those already active in a local church are unlikely to enjoy our style of worship and major areas of focuses.
A church for messy people who are simply unreached for Jesus, exploring what it means to be real, not in only who we are, but in our spiritual growth. We will focus on being diverse culturally (the campus itself, I was glad to discover is over a third non-white!), diverse economically and diverse generationally. Together we will not only learn what it means to be transformed for the cause of Christ, but to bring transformation into the world.
We will begin with the students at the college, exploring what authentic discipleship is all about, branching out into the community at large.
Our primary calling will be to the ministry of reconciliation. In the garden of Eden we became broken in our relationship with God, our understanding of self, our relationships with others and we entered into a broken world. Through Jesus we can discover reconciliation with God (spiritual formation) with self (our identity in Christ) with others (community) and in the world (both justice and compassion ministries as well as helping others get connected with Jesus)
One last cool thing to mention: the harvest is ripe in Bluefield. There have been many individuals and churches praying for a new church to come to the Bluefield community. God has been preparing this area for this ministry for years. We will come in humility, understanding that God has been at work long before our arrival, we just simply get to reap the harvest.
Now I get to mention my favorite part. Terri and I get to do this as a team! 18 years ago, when Cornerstone was launched, we did it together. While hopefully I brought something to the table, Terri connected with people in such an incredible way, I am confident that the church would have never happened without her. As the years went by, and our area got more expensive, Terri began working more and more hours to help support the family budget. We decided that we missed the days of doing ministry together. So even if it means a lifestyle change, Terri and I are determined to being a team again. So while technically I was the one hired to come to launch a church in Bluefield, Terri is the best thing they have coming! I cant wait to be doing ministry with my best friend again!!!