Tuesday for The Town (11.3.2009)

Good morning friends and family. It is Tuesday, yet again. We are well. Praise God, we have had a full week of health in our house! We are mostly unpacked and beginning to create some routine with life again. It is good to begin to exit transition and enter a new normal.

Today, will you please pray for us in the following areas:

1). Praise God that I have had several good meetings with local pastors and individuals, with several more networking meetings set up this week.

2). Praise God that Kirsten has had several opportunities to meet a few ladies through a local Bible study with which she has been able to connect. Please continue to pray that she and the boys would be able to quickly make friends and feel connected to the community of Fort Collins.

3). I have been reading a book on prayer. The author essentially says that we do not pray for people because we do not truly love people. I have been convicted that I need to be even more earnest in my prayers for the people of Fort Collins. Would you please pray for me, that I would have a severe burden for the lost and pray faithfully for them out of a love for them?

4). Please continue to pray for wisdom for me as I begin to gather people for The Town. Pray that I would love and care for people and long to serve them and not simply be looking for numbers.

Thank you, as I say every week, for your prayers. This week I have seen very small glimpses of what things could be and have been encouraged as I continue to see God’s hand leading. God’s grace to each of you!

Vince & Kirsten

What is Acts 29?

The director of Acts 29 answered a few questions about the church planting network with which we are involved.

Acts 29 was founded in 2000 with Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle when it was about 200 in attendance and David Nicholas, a Presbyterian pastor (now retired) of a large church in Boca Raton, Florida. They formed the network to plant qualified, entrepreneurial men who held to a reformed soteriology (salvation) and were willing to engage urban cities with the gospel.

Acts 29 exists to make gospel-transformed disciples by planting church-planting churches.

Gospel Message: The major emphasis of Acts 29 is the gospel. The gospel is the power of God for salvation and sadly many churches are ashamed of proclaiming it (Rom. 1:16). As a result we may not be experiencing the fruit of transformation in our churches that is normally associated with the gospel (Col. 1:4-6; 2 Peter 1:3-9). God has given us His Word to proclaim to all nations in the power of the Spirit. Gospel transformation occurs with gospel proclamation.

The gospel can be (cautiously) summarized in the following manner: Jesus Christ, God’s promised rescuer and ruler lived our life, died our death and rose again in triumphant evidence as the first-fruits of the new creation to bring forgiven sinners together by the Holy Spirit to live under his gracious reign as His Kingdom people. Our full doctrinal statement can be found here.

Gospel Men: Our church planters are assessed on the basis of their qualification as elders, according to Scripture and their character as examined in an extensive review of their life and doctrine (1 Tim. 4:16). This includes a thorough examination of a man’s leadership in his home. A man’s family is his first congregation and his wife and children are his first disciples. We are looking for men who have been transformed by the gospel and are captured by the grace of Jesus and are following His mission to make disciples.

Gospel Mission: We believe church planting is the best way to take the gospel to the community it desires to serve. We believe new churches are the best means for Spirit-led followers of Jesus to make disciples of all people groups (Matthew 28:19–20). We believe church planting is the central process of evangelism in the Book of Acts, but also that doing so can spread the Gospel to every people or group, large or small, in every corner of the world. Throughout the Book of Acts we read narratives of the Gospel being planted in city after city. The book ends abruptly in Acts 28. Our mission with Acts 29 therefore is to carry on the discipleship making, church planting in the culture where God has sovereignly placed us (Acts 17:26-27).

Mark Driscoll, President and Founder; Scott Thomas, Chairman and Director; Darrin Patrick, First Vice President; Jeff Vanderstelt, Second Vice President; Board members:Matt Chandler, Chan Kilgore, Eric Mason and church planting strategist, Tyler Powell. Other regional leaders are Brian Howard, David Fairchild, Russ McKendry, Daniel Montgomery, Tyler Jones and Ed Marcelle.

Tune in tomorrow for Scott's answers to: What distinguishes Acts 29 from a denomination?, Do all Acts 29 churches follow a prescribed method or model?, How do you expect Acts 29 will be different in 10 years?, and What are some of the ways Acts 29 has seen evidence of God's hand of blessing?

Tuesday for The Town (10.20.2009)

Good morning! It is our second Tuesday to wake up in Fort Collins. We thank God for allowing us to wake up today and praise Him for His new daily mercies. It has been an eventful week, to say the least! Today, please pray for us in the following areas:

1. Please pray for health. Solomon just finished a round of antibiotics for a cold turned to sinus/ear infection. It seems that Kirsten and Obed now have the cold. I spent Saturday morning in the E.R. with Asher after he became so dehydrated from a severe stomach virus that he could no longer walk or stand on his own. We are thankful for health care providers and friends that can give us wise counsel on tending to the needs of our children. Praise God that no one else in our family has gotten the stomach virus Asher had. Please pray that He would continue to protect us from this illness and that we would all begin to get back to health.

2. We have had opportunity to meet many of our neighbors and are excited about getting to know them in the months and years to come. We are confident that God has intentionally placed us at this very location. Please pray that we would be wise in knowing how to make the most of every opportunity in reaching out to our neighbors for the sake of the gospel.

3. Pray for me as I will soon begin working on building a core group. Pray that I would be wise in knowing how to begin this process and that I would trust God to provide the people needed to build His church.

4. Pray for us as we begin to try to build relationships in Fort Collins. Pray that we would be able to build friendships quickly and start feeling connected to this community. Pray this for our boys as well as they are feeling the loss of friendships.

Thank you for your faithful prayers. We are excited to see what God is up to with The Town and the growth of His church. Praise Him for His faithfulness!

Vince & Kirsten

We've Landed

We arrived on October 8th. Everything with the travel went well. We close on our house today. All of our earthly possessions arrive on Monday. We will live in an empty house for three days. The boys are excited to have lots of room to play cars and trains.

We are excited to "live" in Fort Collins, Colorado now. Thanks for all of the prayers and encouraging words. We'll keep you posted as things progress.

Tuesday for The Town (10.6.2009)

Wow, moving day is here. It’s hard to believe. All the months of prayer and preparation are finally upon us and we officially close the North Dakota chapter of our lives and move onto the next. Today, and throughout the day, would you please pray for us?

1). Please pray that we would represent well the name of Christ with all our interactions today. Pray that as we interact with the movers, with our children, with one another, that we would be ambassadors for Christ and that others would see Him through the way we communicate, both verbally and non-verbally.

2). Pray for safe travels. The movers will pack up the truck today. We plan to clean the house, spend the night with some friends, and head out in the morning. Please pray for traveling mercies. Pray that as we shove 4 boys in car seats, 2 adults, toys, food, sleeping items, suitcases and an 80 pound dog into one minivan, that we would be overflowing with patience and kindness and that we would have safe travels, cherishing this time we have together as a family.

3). Praise God for bringing us to this point. It was a year ago that I traveled to St. Louis to go to a church planting conference with the Acts29 Network. It’s amazing how much has transpired in a year’s time. Praise God for His leading and for making His plan so evident. Praise God for the way He has provided. Praise God for His many mercies to us every day and throughout this process.

4). Pray for us as we are about to embark on a huge, and in many ways, unknown adventure. Up until today, just about everything we’ve worked on has looked forward to this transition. We are now officially starting down the path and are excited, nervous and overwhelmed all at once. Pray that we would keep Christ as our focus, grow in faith and love, learn more daily of what the grace of Christ means, extend to others the mercy God grants us, and allow our light to shine before men that they may see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven. To God alone be all praise and glory!

Vince & Kirsten

Tuesday for The Town (9.29.2009)

Good Tuesday Morning

Thanks for taking a few minutes to pray for us and for the ministry of The Town. We appreciate your commitment.

1. The movers will arrive one week from today. We have quite a bit to accomplish in the next week. Please pray that we would exhibit the fruit of the Spirit as we strive to accomplish much in these next days.

2. Please pray that we would know how to love and shepherd our boys as they are feeling the pressures of moving and all of the transitions that come with such an endeavor.

3. Please pray that we would look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others. The last few weeks have been busy with things we need to do. The next week will be busy with things we need to do. Pray that we would serve and love others and that we would desire to see and be a part of the progress of the gospel.

Again, thank you for your partnership in prayer. Please let us know how we can partner with you in prayer.

Vince & Kirsten

Tuesday for The Town (9.22.2009)

Good Tuesday Morning!

Again, we thank you for your faithfulness in praying for us on a weekly basis. As you remember the ministry of The Town this Tuesday, please lift up these requests to our God.

1. Please pray that God would protect us from attacks from the enemy who wants to destroy the work of the gospel – both in the church and in our family. Pray especially for our family over the next few weeks as busyness ensues and patience may be a secondary response. Please pray that Satan would not be able to take hold of these moments and that we would lean on the power of God and the work of the Spirit to battle sin.

2. There are many details that need to be taken care of over the next two weeks. Please pray that those details would not be forgotten and that we would see God’s hand in all of the details. Pray that the entire moving process (packing, loading, traveling, closing on the new house, the arrival of our belongings, unloading and unpacking) would be a smooth transition and that we would seek opportunities to praise God for His work.

3. Please pray that God would quickly raise up several people to be the core group of The Town. Pray that I would know how to lead them and train them to pursue the mission of Jesus for the church.

Thanks again for your prayers. We know that our Father delights in hearing from each of you. Please let us know how we can be praying for you.

Vince & Kirsten