When God Builds a Church

Alright! It begins...
My suggestion is this: We all read the intro and chapter one over the next 2 weeks, and then blog our insights at the end of that time on the H&R Blog. We should focus on both what we like about his approach, and what we might question. I think we should also brainstorm ways that we can adapt or utilize (but not copy, of course) the info for our specific situation. Sound good everyone?

Update on Bryce Wiley

Has anyone been in contact with Bryce? I know that Randall contacted Joe about him, but I also understand that Bryce lives in the Indianapolis area. It would be cool to talk to him and explore the possibility of him joining us in October. Would it be possible for Nate and Whitney to visit him?

Blessings!

Hello fellow bloggers. Hamish and Molly...I figured that you probably have a new address, I was wondering if you could share that with us please. Joe and I are very excited about NZ right now! We have spent the better part of this week finishing up the major part of getting our support letters out. We are excited, and speaking for myself, anxious to see how God will use our friends and family to encourage and support our ministry! Last night (Wednesday) we were updating our list and sending out the last of our almost 200 letters and we got a phone call from one of our good friends (Candace Baker...her and her husband are up near Chicago doing a church plant...they are interested in joining a team in NZ in a couple of years). Anyway she called and said that she had great news and asked me to guess...naturally I guessed all of the wonderful things, babies, puppies, new jobs, etc...and she was like it's even better. She went on to tell me that their new church had decided to start a mission's team. They asked her to be the head of the team! This is something she has wanted for a while and she is very excited about the opportunities it will bring. She called us knowing that we are at the beginning of our support raising to let us know all about it! We are so excited to see what will happen with this. It was perfect timing too because it was like God was saying to me (again) See, I am in control...I will take care of you before you even ask...I know what you need! It gave me such a sense of peace. We will keep you updated with the happenings of that. I now have a week of school under my belt and I am still feeling great. I love school but I tend to freak out on ocassion...I'm sure you can't imagine that, seeing as I am usually cool, calm, and collected! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

An Update Sent to Jeff, Richard, and Randall

Hey people. I just wanted to share with you the email update I sent to Jeff Metzger, E. Richard Crabtree, and Randall. Here it is:

Richard, Jeff, and Randall,

Whitney and I wanted to give you all an update on our situation:

As you know, we are 100% committed to going to New Zealand barring any major "stop signs" at the assessment in October. We have been in contact with what we hope will be our biggest financial supporter - North Terrace Church of Christ. We have a meeting scheduled with them in September. They seem to be very interested to meet with us.

I have been collaborating with my wife and Joe Flammer to produce a DVD to be used in fund-raising meetings.

We have stayed in close contact with Hamish and Molly through one of our web-logs, email, and cards. They are both doing well - they have an apartment of their own now in Auckland and they both have jobs! We are hopeful that Western Hills Church of Christ in Cincinnati will be providing at least some support for their air-fare back to the states for the CPAC assessment.

We met with Rueben and Anna and Joe and Amy at our house this weekend in Danville, IN for some relationship building. We had a great time with them and we are scheduled to do it again in mid-October. We talked to Rueben about joining us for the assessment to be a third assessor for our group (which was suggested by Brent Foulke). He will need to make that decision closer to October when his dissertation is nearing completion.

All six of us have been reading through the Church Planting and Leadership books suggested by Jeff as well as some others. We have done a lot of dreaming and talking about the future, but, as Rueben reminded us last weekend, what we really need to plan on is being flexible. With Shore's current state, we may need to be a support to them until they are ready to support us for another church plant. It is all in God's hands. We are trusting in Him to lead us as He as led us this far.

Thank you for your support and prayer. We are looking forward to meeting with you (Jeff and Richard) for the assessment in October.

In Christ,
Nate

That's all for now. I hope everyone is having a great day!

How Can We Help?

Momish (that means Hamish and Molly),
Have you heard anything from Western Hills about support for the plane tickets? If there is a need, we (as in the Hutchison and Flammers...but I'll just speak for Whitney and myself ;) could possibly do some type of fund-raising for that purpose as we meet with our future supporters in the next couple of months.

home sweet home

You know, I never really realized how wonderful it is to have a place of one's own! The transition has been going well although I am craving the internet :) I love our new apartment and I can't wait to show you all it! It has been so great to hear from you guys. Hamish is right, every time I see a letter with my name on it I just get so excited! We really couildn't have been blessed more with such an encouraging team.

You all are in our prayers and we are constantly thinking of you. God is going to do amazing things and the journey is going to be well worth the wait.

Sweet As

Mostly just wanted to say "Hello" and that I love Bob Russle and his son Rusty! (okay mostly I just like that his son's name is Rusty) Anyway I read "When God Builds the Church" and really liked it a few years back. It is inspiring and he has a great way of writing it so I am all for us reading it as a team. When I read this book for class I liked it so much that instead of reading the few chapters we were assigned through the semester I picked it up in January and read through it all right away! I have been slowly reading CPFTGU this summer...not making much progress but I am putting it in to high gear now because my goal was to read all these Church Planting books over the summer and I only have one week until classes start. I've got some time this week so I hope to really dive into some of the chapters that seem to apply most to me and to our team. Hope everyone is having a jolly weekend! ( I don't know if jolly is a NZ word or not, it seems like it should be so if it's not thats one more thing to share with our fellow kiwis.)

Miscellaneous

Hey Guys,

I have a couple of things to talk about:
1. Randall emailed me a few weeks ago. One of the topics in his email was to talk to a friend of his, Bryce Wiley, about possibly joining our team or at least working someplace in NZ. Randall suggested that we discuss this in time for him to come to the assesment if we decide to do so. Let us think about this and pray abou this.

2. Hamish, I like the idea of reading When God Builds a Church together. I have never read it but my lovely wife is a big fan. Good on ya, mate.

3. On a personal note, my 12-year-old nephew and his mom don't really get along. My nephew started with the deck stacked against him (my sister got pregnant at 16, father left when my nephew was 1, that kind of thing). There is also a history of pshyciatric problems in his family. Yesterday my sister took him into a physchiatrist to be evaluated. He got mad and threw a MAJOR fit. My sister really had no option but to call the cops. My nephew, who turned 12 last week, was aprhened by the police, who kicked down a door to get in and carried him off in handcuffs to a pschiatric hospital.
I do not think my nephew is crazy. Homestly, I don't think my sister is doing a great job at being a mom, which has been a significant factor in this problem. Please pray for redemption in the whole situation. Pray that God uses the time that Cody is in South Oaks for the good and not for the bad.
Thanks, I appreciate your prayers.

Joe

Article from NZ Herald

This is really sad and disgusting. Taylors, you probably have already heard about this, but I read an article on the NZ Herald website about a topless pornstar parade that has been approved to take place on the streets of Auckland at noon on the 23rd. For me, it is just another reminder of NZ's desperate need for a Savior. Click here to read the article.

Also, Hamish, did they happen to get any video footage of you preaching at Shore? If so, perhaps you could get Bruce (I think that was his name) to email me a 30 second clip of you preaching for use in our fund-raising video. I wouldn't necessarily even need the audio from it...just a good visual. Thanks!

The rubber and the road...

It sounds like everyone is starting to settle after a frantic time of change! Molly and I have finally moved into our new apartment, and are in the process of setting up phone and email along with all the other ammenities and furniture! Please be patient with us as we figure all of this out.

In response to Nate's request for a timeline, I thought I should update you on progress I have made since I got back. I have talked to Dad and Randall about speaking with the elders, and they agree that it is a good idea to introduce the topic to them. Unfortunately, with the massive transitions the church is going through at them moment, it is going to be a while before they can really devote their attention to it.

Having said that, there is still much we can do! Randall mentioned a few areas that I can start researching up on, some steps I can take in the meantime. Now that I feel I am finally settled a little bit, I can have a crack at them. Most of this work will be demographic studies, scouting, and some strategic brainstorming. I will endeavor to keep you all up to date on how this is going through the blog or by email.

As far as a timeline goes, it is all very flexible at this time. Randall and I thought that shooting for arrival in NZ by Fall or Winter (US) of 07, and then planting by April 09 is as good an option as any. If more time (or less) is needed for support raising, then that can be changed. Also, if we decide that the plant could happen sooner once we have researched it more, then this can also be done.

In the meantime, now is the time for dreaming and reading. I think that this blog is a great vehicle for this, and I think that we should engage it regularly. If you guys are keen to do the synchronized reading thing, then I think we should start on it. Nate and Whitney mentioned Russell's book "When God builds the Church," which I think is great. When you guys have finished up your other books, we can dive in.

Sorry for such a long blog. I look forward to getting into a routine where I blog often and shorter! Please let me know what you think of the above.

Oh, by the way, the Tri-Nations Rugby is on at the moment (NZ, Aus, South Africa), and the All Blacks are dominating! Good times...

God bless you all, and thank you so much for the kind words you are sending to us. Molly's face just lights up to see her name on a letter from the States. You are doing so much to make her transition (and consequently mine!) easier. Thank you!

Hey Kids!

Hey guys,

It is good to hear that all of you are doing well. Taylors, it sounds like the transition has gone better than could be expected. That is awesome. I think we can see God's hand in that. Praise the Lord of hosts. Nate and Whitney, it is awesome to hear you guys are doing well and your retreat was well with your soul.

Wow, it has been a while since I have blogged. I have kinda missed it. Amy and I have been super busy (imagine that). We have had a week of camp, a few days with Amy's family on a great but short vacation (we even missed church on Sunday, which was kind of refreshing). We also had a week at Christ in Youth (CIY) conference.

God has been doing good things. We have had kids learn to read thier Bible for the first time and actually understand it, good conversations about meeting God, and several baptisms. We have also been a part of a cool new youth small group ministry at church, which is going very well. I have been doing premarital counseling, too. The jury is still out on whether or not I am keen on doing weddings for non-Christians, but this has really been an awesome opportunity to bluntly share the Truth of God with people. Now I am gearing up for a new year at South Fork and I am so excited. Amy is getting ready for a new job and a new semester.

With NZ stuff... We are so excited. We have sent out our first round of mailings (a prayer post card). We have been to several houses where it is hanging on the refrigerator, which was our hope. Some intrest has also been raised for financial support. One member of the missions team from a mega church in the area emailed me about the card, asking for more information. I was able to give him more information as well as get him in touch with some of the leaders at his church who could give recommendations for us. We also finished our "New Zealand Fact Sheet", which is a paper that looks like a cork board used for brianstorming. We are sending that out along with our support letters. We think it is really cool. I have to send you guys an attatchment with it in case any of you would like to use this resource to. It would be pretty simple to switch your picture with ours.

Nate, how is stuff coming on the video editing? I have to get you some footage of me being a minister still, sorry. Is there anything I can do to help. Would there be a time when it would be useful for me to come to Indy and help you?

Timeline question for Hamish

Mr. Hamish,
Whitney and I are in the process of assessing what to do next for fund-raising purposes. What would be helpful for us (if this is possible right now) is if you could let us know what the timeline is looking like from your end. What I mean is, now that you're back home and you've had some time to talk with the leaders at Shore and get a feel for their readiness, does it still look like fall of '07 would be the right time for us to move to NZ for good? Sooner? Later?