Team logo from Whitney

The team logo and letterhead were also emailed to you. Thanks Whitney!

Team Conference Call

Thanks for taking time to meet together for our first team conference call and our first official team meeting since CPAC! I'm glad we got to discuss and agree where we stand as a team (BTW - I deleted the Draft Memo of Understanding post from this blog since it's not quite public knowledge yet).

Check your email for the Conference Call Notes document from Whitney. I was wondering what you guys would think about adding one more action step to the notes. Do you think it might be a good idea to share the information on that document with the SPCF board members? I'm asking because I think it is important to maintain regular contact with them. It would be like an official response to the board meeting discussion from our team as a whole. If we keep them informed as to where we are as a team, I think the Management Team will form more readily. Maybe we could modify the notes and put them on our letterhead with a quick opening statement from our team or something. What do you think?

Annual Meeting

Man, I wish you guys could all be here for these meetings. There is alot going on here in the Post-Modern Barn. To start off on a positive note for our team... Trent Hensley had some good news for us. Although he has decided to discontinue his pursuit of ministry for New Zealand, he has determined that the majority of his remaining funds go to the members of our team. For us this means that each couple (Taylors, Hutchisons, Flammers) will be getting roughly $3000 from Trent. I had never met Trent before, but I think how he handled this was mature. He was thankful for all that SPCF did for him. He also asked for information from each couple on our team (a brief description of us as couples, a high resolution picture, and contact information) that he can put into his newsletter and communications to tell about our need. I think it would be hard to be in Trent's position, because he is still active in ministry and pursuing God's will. lets all be in prayer for him. It would also be good if we all sent him letters thanking him for passing on the money he had raised for this project. Here is his info:

E-Mail: trently@gmail.com
Mobile: 330-317-3852
Work Address:
P.O. Box 6432
Louisville, KY 40206

We will all have to discuss more about these meetings when they are over. I look forward to talking to you all (except Nate, your kinda wierd)

A Hot Tub Conversation

Bill read a letter from Randall in the meeting today. It said that Shore loves the idea of partnering with SPCF to plant more churches, but there are some concerns about doing it right away with our team. He said that it was the view of the Shore eldership that they are not in a position to substantially partner with any team right now...perhaps in a few years. He also said that our team needs to gain some practical NZ ministry experience before launching (which we would all agree with and have said all along).

However, he also said that Shore is prepared to assist our entire team to work alongside Shore's ministry team "with a view to strengthening the health of Shore, not creating an autonomous group/church that would then become a daughter church plant. The role of the team while at Shore would be to invest in Shore itself, while at the same time preparing themselves for their own future plant. Provided that this team is open to gaining ministry experience within NZ, the leadership of Shore will explore a more formal partnership in the future."

He said they can't say when they will be ready to help plant a daughter church, but the time isn't now and that they would re-evaluate this option in 2 years. Randall wants to help us succeed in church planting...I really believe that. He and the Shore eldership recommended that Hamish "take the initiative in finding NZ ministry experience before he assumes the full leadership role of this church plant."
If by that Randall was saying that Hamish should find another NZ church in which to gain NZ ministry experience, some of the SPCF board members (and Joe and I) would be in disagreement with that idea. Jeff Metzger said the wrong experience is sometimes worse than no experience. He then went on to tell about how Bill Hybels started Willow Creek at the age of 19 with no ministry experience while in Bible college.

Joe and I were talking in the hot tub at the hotel tonight. We both feel like our plans don't have to change, but that we do need to get some clarification from SPCF and Shore as to roles and expectations. I'm sure there is a lot of experience to gain working alongside Shore with The Well or whatever we are involved in. In the meeting today, there was a lot of positive talk about our team being an asset to Shore for a year or two (it sounds like they need help), raising up leaders to help them grow, working diligently (for the Lord, and not for men - Col.3), gaining nz ministry experience, and possibly helping shore get to the point where they CAN give us support like a core group or financial support. Randall mentioned in the letter that they would re-evaluate this stance after two years of our involvement there. If they still can't commit to a daughter plant with us after that, we could move on to starting a wholly separate church if God leads us that way. I believe two years adjusting to NZ culture and helping Shore would be a good amount of experience in the country for me before tackling a plant with or without Shore's involvement.

I'm not surprised. I think Shore is trying to protect us as a team and them as a church. God is still in control. His timing will be perfect for us. We just need to keep listening and trusting. I think a partnership/internship/whatevership with Shore is a good thing for us to continue to pursue as a young team who needs experience and cultural adaptation. That part Shore says they can handle. It's the planting part that they aren't ready for. We should be careful, though, to outline expectations and roles for sure. I'm just glad we're getting somewhere in that area. It is a need that was very apparent to SPCF in the meeting today...and we didn't even get to the Felt Needs document yet! Any thoughts?

Meeting with Reuben and Shore elder

Hey guys,

I had a meeting with Reuben and one of the elders of Shore (Noel Spanier) concerning the letter of invitation to partner with Shore. We will be getting an official reply in writing--as will SPCF, but I wanted to lay out the gist of what they are thinking:

• They have expressed that they want to be of as much help and support to us as they possibly can, but due to the tumultuous situation Shore is in right now, they are unable to partner with us in a formal capacity. That means that although they want to give us advice and as much experience as possible, they are unable at this time to commit any significant time (mentoring/authoritative role), money, or people (core planting group).
• They have said that they are excited about having the team come in October and help out at Shore in a sort of interning role. They also felt, however, that they could not provide me personally with the kind of ministry experience they think I will need before I can tackle a church plant. They are happy for me to work with Shore, but their advice is for me to try and find a job in a local church for a while to gain experience.
• On a more positive note, Noel has told the Shore eldership that he is stepping down from being an elder (that's not the positive part. Nor is it open information). He said that he would love to act as a kind of mentor for our team as we church plant. He would be an invaluable resource (and a great friend) for us.
• Shore also expressed that there is some confusion and a little frustration with the communication (or lack thereof) between Shore and SPCF. I think they are after some more clarification. It apprears that Randall will become the point man for SPCF in the South Pacific, but nothing has been made official.

Well, that's what I got out of the meeting. The impression that I get (and I could be wrong) is two-fold: They really want to help us out and get on board with us, but the timing is just downright terrible (no-one's fault), and they have to make the decision of putting Shore first. They have to be healthy before they can try and support another. Secondly, they are concerned with my lack of experience and would like me to gain some before we plant.

I have some ideas of potential options for us to take, but before I throw them at you, I just want to get some gut reactions from y'all.

Anyway, I'm sorry to bring a downer. I hope all else is going well. The whole website thing sounds exciting. I will probably leave that kind of stuff in your capable hands, but I am definitely interested.

Love you all, miss you heaps!

website stuff

I love my Macbook! There is a program that comes with any Mac called iWeb. This program makes creating webpages a breeze! If you use their templates, it's as easy as click n' drag for pictures and select n' type for text. And all their templates are customizable.

Last night we were just messing around and we posted a holder page for our website. Click: www.n8andwhitney.com. (Amy - we used two photos you took in NZ on the homepage. You have a knack for photography! Should we pay you royalties?) Let me know if you want to know more about our webhost company (1and1.com). They are the least expensive web host we've found...and reputable. At this point we're paying about $40 for the whole year for domain name, webhosting, and email addresses. That's a great deal. BTW - our new email addresses are:

nate@n8andwhitney.com
whitney@n8andwhitney.com

Go ahead and switch to those addresses for us - they will be permanent and we're already using them. Whitney's northview address expires this week anyway. Her last day of work is Friday! That will be such a load off. Well, thanks for listening. Let me know if any of you would like to talk about website stuff. We don't know much at this point, but we'd love to learn together if you have the time.

Update from Matt & Janie Mehaffey

Janie (from CPAC) has requested that I share this with her NZ friends. Here is what she wrote:

Nate! I hacked into the Bic Bac Blog and stole your email address. :)

Thought you guys would be interested in our latest Miami adventures. God blows my hair back!

If you could pass this along to our other New Zealand friends, we sure would appreciate it.

Please know we're thinking about and praying for you guys. You six are still our favorite people we know from (or soon to be from) New Zealand!

Happy day, Janie Mehaffey

Hey everyone!

We so appreciate all the interest and encouragement we've received from you guys as we continue on our church planting adventure to Miami.

In order for all our friends and family to stay in the loop with what God is doing in our lives through this new adventure, Janie and I have designed "The Miami Pursuit" blog.

If you're new to the world of blogging, there is an orange "feed icon" on the left side of the page that you can click and subscribe (free). The next page will give you options of what program you want to use to get updates from. If you use Google or Yahoo as your homepage, you will want to choose one of these. I personally use Bloglines to keep up with websites I like to read. When you're done with this step, every time the blog is updated you will be notified. One person in the church office just did this in three simple clicks, it's that easy!

If it's all too technical just save the website to your favorites and check back often! =)

This blog will be updated on a daily basis (give or take) so make sure you keep coming back and feel free to explore! Feel free to forward this on to others who you think might be interested in what's going. This is one way that we can be specific with how you can be praying for us and this church plant. Thanks!

http://pursuit.typepad.com/

Yours & His,

Matt Mehaffey

m.mehaffey@sbcglobal.net

Traders Point Christian Church

317.291.7429 x233

www.tpcc.org

Slow Afternoon?

I wonder if anyone on the stateside of this team has accomplished much in the last two hours. It seems like we are all on the blog right now.

Philosophies and plans

Hey guys,

I've been meaning to start this up for a while now, but I wanted to start having some discussions and studies on some of the core issues and policies that we are going to put in place for our church plant. (This is th fun part of planning a church--at least for me). We are in a unique position, in that we are not bound by any tradition as to what we should or should not do with our church. We can (and should) do our own studying to determine exactly what we are all about.

The first order on the list is a general philosophy on what church is, why we have it, and what it should look like. I thought we could each go away over the next few weeks and do some studying of the Bible, books, and other people. Then we could come back at the end and discuss it over a phone call or Skype call or something like that. How does that sound to y'all?

Cornerstone Christian Church - Deltona, FL

Hey team! I just got off the phone with John Pierce - SPCF board member in FL. He met with the current senior minister of the church he used to lead in Deltona - Cornerstone Christian Church. He said they were very interested in supporting SPCF and they want Joe and me to meet with them on Wednesday night, April 25th while we're in Orlando for the conference! I called and left a message for the contact person John gave me (Kevin Key - sr. minister, no big deal). I checked out their website - I was impressed. Let's pray for some big-time support from these guys! Joe, I'll contact you with details. We'll let the rest of you know how it goes in April. Amy and Whitney, Joe and I will need some serious coaching before this one!

Click here to go to Cornerstone's website.

Fishers of Men

Hey guys,
I just read an article that I found really challenging. It's by a guy named Evan who leads a round-table for Christian Communications Directors. He sends out a monthly newsletter, and I thought the article he wrote this month could apply to our team as well. Click here to read the article.
Evan's company's name is Fishhook, which made me start thinking about how Jesus told the disciples that they would be fishers of men. And then I realized how silly (though easy) it is that we church leaders tend to surround ourselves with churched people and wait for the unbelievers to walk through our front doors - almost like fishermen on the shore, surrounded by other fishermen, waiting for the fish to start swimming up to them, asking to be caught. I am the worst at this...I am very shy around people that I don't know, and I use that as an excuse to not get out there and meet new people. I tell myself that the people who are really interested will visit the church, or check out our website, or randomly stop me on the street to ask me theological questions. Let's face it: I'd make a pretty crappy fisherman.
But, like I said, this article challenged me. I started thinking about ways we can encourage each other to be out meeting non-Christians, preparing ourselves for life and ministry in a new church plant. Obviously, Nate and I cannot just walk into the local bar in Danville - we have to be sensitive to our current ministry (1 Corinthians 10:23-33). But I think it is important that we start holding each other accountable to seeking out these opportunities, to getting out of our comfort zones, to breaking bread with the "tax collectors" as Jesus did. Let me know what you guys think.

John Piper and North Terrace

I think I already mentioned to Nate and Whitney that my brother and his wife are taking the "Perspectives" class that Nate took in the fall. So far they are really enjoying it. My sister in law is very missions minded and it sounds like this class is really laying a burden on my brother's heart as well. Andy (my brother) has always been a John Piper fan but now he is in this class that talks about it alot I guess. He was able to go to a John Piper conference this weekend through the class with some other pastors that are taking it. I'm escited to hear what he comes back with and I thought I would share that becuase I knew Nate would get excited. Also wanted to let you know I started "Don't Waste Your Life" this weekend. I have had many people recommend it to me so I am looking forward to reading it.

p.s.-Congrats on North Terrace!! That is very exciting. I hope it's all you've dreamed of and more.