30 Jun The Crossroads Up Close

A few days ago, Jeff Bleijerveld talked about “crossroad cities,” a concept that fascinates me. He says he’s got a lot more to unpack on that subject.

Fort Wayne, like so many American cities, has some crossroads qualities. We’ve got the largest population of Burmese outside of Myanmar, plus a lot of immigrants from Bosnia and Darfur. And yet, they remain somewhat invisible to me. I don’t know where to find them.

Last Saturday, I attended the dedication of a Habitat for Humanity home that my church, Anchor, along with three local Presbyterian churches, funded and built. The keys were handed over to a Muslim family (seven kids!) from Somalia. That’s them in the photo, along with some other folks from Somalia. This family spent 13 years in refugee camps before making it to the States four years ago. The husband and wife, and I assume the kids as well, now speak English very well.

During the ceremony, two young men, immigrants from Ethiopia, expressed their appreciation to us for helping their “brothers and sisters” from Africa. Very cool.

So we got a touch of the crossroads thing. In building this home, they saw the best of Christianity, and maybe some seeds were planted.

25 Jun Entrust to Young Men…

Bethany House of the Lord is a four-year-old United Brethren church planting project in Cumberland, Maryland. The congregation emphasizes a simple household approach to ministry and worship. Using an age-integrated curriculum for daily devotions based on the Sunday sermon, parents are encouraged to take responsibility for the discipleship of their own children.

On Fathers Day 2008, Pastor Michael Mudge took vacation and left the responsibilities for leading worship and preaching to the congregation for the fourth consecutive year. This year, the preaching was done by three young men of the congregation…ages 15, 13, and 39!

23 Jun Cooperating to Start a Church

L-r: Thurm Payton, Howard Matthews, Mike Caley, Mark Ralph, Scott Hergert, Darrel Bosworth, Gordon Kettel.

J. Michael Caley, Banner Church, Byron Center, Mich.
Banner Church is part of a LEAD team, the first one in Michigan. The initials stand for learn, encourage, achieve, dream. It’s a group of pastors getting together for the specific purpose of thinking and praying together about the most strategic places God might have us plant a new church.

The commitment of that team and church, by the pastor participating, is:

• Identify a potential church planter.
• Pool resources.
• Set goals for how often to start a new church.
• Do everything possible to support and encourage the planter.

Gordon and Lori Kettel

Our LEAD team gathers every 6-8 weeks to support the work of Gordon Kettel, who is planting a church in Grand Ledge, Mich. Our experience has been good. Gordon is so fun and entertaining; we have a great time together. In addition to me and Gordon, there are:

• Howard Matthews (HomeFront UB, Grandville)
• Scott Hergert (First UB, Lansing).
• Thurm Payton (Lighthouse UB, Williamston)
• Darrel Bosworth (Kilpatrick UB, Ashley).

We have committed for a period of 2-3 years to start a church and see it through. We serve as a sounding board for Gordon. He shares struggles and asks questions, and we agree to always laugh at his jokes.

In the 1980s, I became a church planter. I felt entirely alone, even though I received a regular paycheck from the conference treasurer and was told the conference backed us. God used that experience to teach us, as a family, some amazing things, and we learned how to share Christ without any real support. But the LEAD team concept excites me, because I feel it’ll lead to some real success stories.