Bart told me that tonight is his last large group meeting on campus. In June, our Reformed University Fellowship will officially be under the leadership of Steve Allen as Bart and his family move to Minneapolis to plant a church and launch an RUF chapter at the University of Minnesota.
First, let’s consider the fact that when Bart came to UNL seven years ago to start RUF in Nebraska, his first “large group” meetings could just about fit in the back seat of a Toyota. Today RUF at UNL regularly has 50-60 students at the weekly large group meetings, building relationships and hearing solid Bible teaching. That kind of ministry building does not happen easily. We have seen something remarkable.
Even as we see Redeemer Church launch in Lincoln with Tobey and Adam, we will watch as Bart works to start a new church in Minneapolis. I am so thankful to be part of a church that keeps the kingdom task in plain view. And I can’t help but think about the next plant after Redeemer. What will it be like? When will we be ready to launch it? What will my role be?
There are certain comfortable qualities about being in a church that is, well, “stable.” In such a church you can have many long-term relationships and things continue as they have always been. But even though change is hard and growth is difficult, I want to be in a church like Zion. Only let us always be faithful in the ministry God has called us to for the glory of his son Jesus Christ.
Posted on April 17, 2008.
Rob Hotz and John Anderson are co-teaching a class on grief and suffering in the AFC classes this year. The first sessions in AFC3 have been superb. Drawing from their own experiences with loss and affliction, they are able to engage the subject in a way that fully respects the difficulty of the questions we face in days of trouble. Much of the material is their own. They also draw from D. A. Carson’s book, How Long, O Lord? Reflections of Suffering and Evil. Carson has a special place in my heart, since he was one of my seminary professors back in the day. He’s the kind of guy who, I don’t doubt, dreams in Greek. But he also has the kind of clarity of heart and mind that reminds me a little of C. S. Lewis.
Anyway, look for John and Rob’s class coming to an AFC near you. According to the current schedule, AFC1 gets them next fall. AFC2 in February.
Posted on April 16, 2008.
We can think about the costs of planting a new church in several ways. One is the dollar cost. Church planting costs money. Zion is commited to planting multiple churches in Lincoln, and this will always be a challenge for our budget.
But every family faces the same kind of thing. Raising kids costs money. Sometimes there seems to be no end to the financial demands. But would you rather do without children? A thousand times no.
Raising kids is also difficult when they come of age, because there comes a day when you say goodbye. They move away. The house seems empty. But that is the natural way of things. A boy who still lives with his parents at age 35 is not what you hope for. At Zion we are preparing to go through the same kind of thing with the Redeemer plant. The day is not far off when we will say goodbye to a hundred of our dear friends and family. They will move on. To those of us who remain, our building will seem empty. But this is the natural way of things in the church. We will feel the loss, but we can be glad to pay the cost.
And I believe that committing ourselves to such costs pleases our Lord Jesus. The kingdom of heaven is like a woman who took a pound of very costly ointment and poured it out at the feet of her savior. And the whole house was filled with the fragrance.
Posted on April 15, 2008.
The work progresses. The new nursery space is almost finished. It should be available before the end of April. The infants will have their own room (separate from the toddlers), with a rocker room, a quiet crib room plus a separate nursing mothers room. Thanks for your patience as we work on these projects. Thanks especially to Megan Wesche, our Nursery Coordinator. If you would like to serve on the Nursery Committee, contact Megan.
Posted on April 15, 2008.
I have an appointment this afternoon to put my signature on the documents that close the deal on Zion’s purchase of the property at 5511 South 27th. A check for over a million dollars will change hands. And we commit ourselves to the payment of another $600,000 over the next two years.
I wasn’t originally one of the guys with signature duty, but Wayne is in Texas this week, so ... I was at hand.
It gives new meaning to the idea of a representative office. There is no way a bank or seller would take my signature individually in a transaction like this. But I won’t be signing for myself. I will sign as a representative for the whole church. We are all committing together to take ownership, care, and responsibility for our new building.
It also reminds me that nothing I do as a minister of the gospel is on my own authority. Whenever I preach and teach, I do so as an ordained minister, as a designated representative of Jesus Christ. So I call people to repentance and faith not because of my personal feelings on the matter, but because Christ has commanded it. I preach God’s word because it is God who has chosen the foolishness of preaching to convert sinners, to call the wicked to forsake his way, and to admonish and encourage the faithful.
So when I sign the purchase documents today, my signature will count because it is NOT just mine. And when I preach and teach the Bilble, my words count because they are NOT just mine; the gospel of Christ is the very word of the Living God.
(Signed,)
Pastor Keith
Posted on October 17, 2007.
This quarter’s financial report and news letter is now online here:
Zion3rdQuarter.pdf
Contents include:
- 3rd Quarter Giving
- Update on Facility Purchase
- When do we move into the new facility?
- Facility Renovations
- Update on Church Planting
- FallFest
Posted on October 15, 2007.
Planning to start a new church is one of the more administrative intensive projects I’ve ever been involved in. It has given me a new appreciation for Solomon’s request for wisdom. In 1 Kings 3:5 the Lord appeared to King Solomon early in his reign and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you?”
What would your response be if you were in charge? Money? Influence? Power? Relationships? A new job?
1 Kings 3:6-9 is Solomon’s response:
“You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.7 “Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
1 Kings 3:10 states, “It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.” And 1 Kings 4:29 tells us the Lord’s response: “God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore.”
James 1:5 teaches that God’s gift of wisdom isn’t limited to Kings in Israel. James writes, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
Later in his letter, James teaches the wisdom God gives leads to the building and flourishing of community. James 3:17 says, “...the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”
This is what I need. This is what the growing launch team needs. We have three important discussions occurring among the ever growing launch team at this time: 1/ what should we name this new church?, 2/ where should we meet to worship?, 3/ what ministries should have priority focus when we launch? We are having a fruitful discussion together as we begin talking and thinking about these questions. It’s been encouraging and I’m learning a lot.
One question I have been asked by one of the team members is, “Who decides?”
My answer and goal, as much as possible is, “We do.”
So, my prayer request this week is for wisdom, the kind that builds community. The kind that will unite us as a new community of God’s people, here to serve the city of Lincoln. So, please pray and ask God to give His gift of community building wisdom to us.
-Tobey
Posted on October 03, 2007.
Here are a few prayer items for the week:
1/ Pray that the Holy Spirit would give us insight into how to be a “missional” church that is skilled at communicating the gospel in post-Christian Lincoln, Nebraska.
2/ Pray we would have a deep love for lost people and that Jesus would allow us to see many come to saving faith.
3/ Pray that we would love Jesus and know the power of His gospel.
4/ Continue to pray for 100 pray-ers. Thanks to those who have committed to praying. This church is only possible through the blood of Jesus and the prayers of His people.
Keep praying,
Tobey Brockman
Lead Pastor
tobeyb [at] zionpca [dot] com
Posted on September 26, 2007.
Friends,
When we consider the type of church we want to be, Tim Keller, Sr. Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC reminds us that understanding our context is critical to mission. In “The Missional Church” (link below), Keller writes,
“The British missionary Lesslie Newbigin went to India around 1950. There he was involved with a church living ‘in mission’ in a very non-Christian culture. When he returned to England some 30 years later, he discovered that now the Western church too existed in a non-Christian society, but it had not adapted to its new situation. Though public institutions and popular culture of Europe and North America no longer ‘Christianized’ people, the church still ran its ministries assuming that a stream of ‘Christianized’, traditional/moral people would simply show up in services. Some churches certainly did ‘evangelism’ as one ministry among many. But the church in the West had not become completely ‘missional’--adapting and reformulating absolutely everything it did in worship, discipleship, community, and service--so as to be engaged with the non-Christian society around it. It had not developed a ‘missiology of western culture’ the way it had done so for other non-believing cultures.”
Our task as we develop plans for this new church, is to know the people in our neighborhoods and our city well enough that we are skilled at “adapting and reformulating absolutely everything we do in worship, discipleship, community, and service - so as to be engaged with the non-Christian society around it.” We must develop a “missiology” of Lincoln, Nebraska.
I’ll never forget sitting in my office with a young woman who grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and was now attending the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. She had asked to meet with me following a presentation I gave to college students on dating relationships, at the end of which I had shared how I had come to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. This young woman had experienced a number of painful dating relationships and was intrigued by what I had shared about Jesus. As we talked together the next day, I mentioned that much of the pain we experience is due to our sin. She wanted to know what sin was. I mentioned that sin began with Adam and Eve. This young, college educated woman from Omaha, Nebraska then asked me something I will never forget - she said to me, “Who is Adam and Eve?” I just looked at her in amazement that she had no idea who Adam and Eve were and I realized at that moment that all my assumptions about the Midwest were wrong. Everywhere we go we will find a “post-Chistian” culture and the people living in it have very little if any Biblical insight that shapes how they look at the world, at relationships, at themselves.
So, what type of church should we be? Keller mentions five elements of a “missional church”. We are to:
1/ Discourse in the vernacular
2/ Enter and retell the cultures story with the Gospel
3/ Theologically train people for public life and vocation
4/ Create Christian community which is counter-cultural and counter-intuitive
5/ Practice Christian unity as much as possible at the local level
I encourage you to read the brief two page article, The Missional Church, for further development of these ideas.
http://download.redeemer.com/pdf/learn/resources/Missional_Church-Keller.pdf
Also, as a follow-up to last weeks email on worship I would recommend the following article on “Evangelistic Worship” (and no, to clarify, we are not going to have a “seeker friendly” worship philosophy along the Willow Creek model. The following article will help explain our approach.)
http://download.redeemer.com/pdf/learn/resources/Evangelistic_Worship-Keller.pdf
- Pastor Tobey
Posted on September 25, 2007.
Dear Zion Family,
Following months of examination and prayer for God’s guidance, the congregation approved a recommendation to purchase the former Southwood Lutheran facility at 5511 S. 27th Street. We believe that this purchase will allow Zion to continue to proclaim the transformational power of God’s grace as well as fulfill our mission to be a resource church for Lincoln and the greater Kingdom of God—pouring ourselves out for others.
We have not abandoned the 9th and D neighborhood. Our mission there has simply changed. Rather than being the location of the mother/resource church, 9th and D will be the location of the next daughter church of Zion. As a resource/mothering church, we will have an opportunity from our new location to support, equip, and commission church planting efforts—the first of which will be headed by Pastors Tobey Brockman and Adam Odell back to the 9th and D neighborhood.
We hope to finalize the purchase of 5511 S. 27th by October 1, 2007. However, the church is obligated to honor an existing lease to MiddleCross Church until March of 2008. We will be working with MiddleCross Church—who is currently renting the facility—on a transition plan. MiddleCross has been very gracious during this period of decision, allowing us access into the facility for inspection on many occasions and praying for us. Please pray for their future as well. We are pleased to be partners in the gospel with MiddleCross and other gospel-preaching churches.
As time progresses there will be some improvement projects at 5511 S. 27th. Stay tuned for opportunities to spruce up the grounds and facility.
Please continue to pray that we would be a grateful, Kingdom-minded, gospel-living people. The facility is a helpful tool in ministry, but people are always God’s primary tool.
Yours in Christ,
Stu Kerns
Senior Pastor
Posted on September 24, 2007.
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