Hey RiverChurch family
Can you believe it’s almost time for us to celebrate our first Easter together?
We hope you’ll invite all your friends to come celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ with us on Sunday, April 4th at 10am.
More information to follow about the weekend’s events
One of my “bucket list” items in life is to set sail on a sail boat one day. I know that doesn’t seem like an ambitious dream to some people especially if you’ve had the privilege of sailing before. But for me its truly a dream.
I don’t know much about sailing. I know the conditions certainly have to be perfect, and I know that there is a great deal of preparation in making sure the sails are set just right before launching out to sea. I think I would enjoy the preparation part, but the part I would enjoy most, which is what I presume most “sailors” would say is their favorite part is when the wind hits those sails and the boat truly launches. I imagine there is no more breathtaking feeling to stand below massive cloth panels with wind and to glide across the water.
Another item on my “bucket list” was to plant a church. A life giving church that was committed to truly being the church that Jesus created during his time on earth. After nearly six months of preparation, last week we finally raised the sails, and launched RiverChurch officially out into the city of Chattanooga.
Now if you’re a church planter reading this, when I say the word “launch” you will certainly have a prescribed set of images that may run through your head. At least images of what you’ve heard a church plant launch should be like:
An energetic worship service, with lights, smoke machines, a rockin band of 20 somethings in Aerropostle shirts and pointy shoes, nifty giveaways for the guests, all preceded by a huge community wide marketing blitz letting people that your church, a different church from the other 50,000 in your city, is coming and its “gonna be cooler than all the others.”
Well the launch of RiverChurch was probably nothing close to that. We did the community blitz a week before, just letting people know we were new to the neighborhood and would love to get to know them. We left them a couple pieces of candy, with the expressed wish that we could find a way to make their lives a little sweeter, (cheesy? Maybe. Effective? Likely.)
I can tell you more about the specific details of our launch, but let it suffice for me to say that the launch of RiverChurch was certainly not textbook. In fact, one friend told me sometime ago that I was going about this whole churchplanting thing in a very unconventional way. That bothered me at first, but I’m cool with it now.
No, our launch Sunday was primarily attended by the 25-30 people that had comprised our launch team and then about twice as many guests and people who were meeting us for the very first time.
Launch Sunday for RiverChurch was more about launching our individual lives into our own worlds, fulfilling the Great Commission. It was kind of like untying the ropes of multiple sailboats, and launching them out into the spiritual waters of our city, rather than one large mother ship. That day we focused on the fact that we’ve been called to make disciples and in fulfilling that Commission we will find our purpose.
For those who were new to our gatherings, which had been in existence for several months before, we invited them to become a follower of Christ, if they weren’t one, and challenged them to set sail as well, living a life as a disciple who makes disciples.
It was an exciting day. It was a cold day. Two days prior snow and ice fell on our community, forcing nearly every other church in the city to cancel services or meet at an alternative time. But for us launch Sunday was as much about a community of faith recommitting to be launched back out in a cold world that needs our light, as it was about opening our doors, and flipping on the neon lights that would say, “Yes, We’re Open”
Unless you follow us on Facebook, or twitter, our launch may have come and gone, and you may have never felt a tremor effect from it. But that’s okay. Last Sunday was launch Sunday for RiverChurch, Last Sunday a fleet of disciples were launched into their community for the purpose of making disciples, guided by the principles of loving God & loving others. And as unconventional as it was, I believe Chattanooga will never be the same again.
As 2009 comes to an end we’re looking back over the last half of the year and reflecting on some great memories. Our official launch is just around the corner, but we’ve been building momentum since the middle of the year. We joined with other churches in the community in filling and distributing backpacks. We partnered with a local elementary school that needed some fixing up on the outside and gave away hundreds of library books to other elementary schools in the area.
Our first official community impact event, City On A Hill, was a hit.
Thanksgiving brought us the opportunity to provide several families with full thanksgiving meals, complete with frozen turkeys, dressing, vegetables and even dessert.
A couple of weeks later we invited some families to join us for a special Birthday Celebration for Jesus, and sent Christmas gifts home with them for their kids to open on Christmas morning.
If 2010 looks anything like the last half of 2009, then its going to be a great year for RiverChurch. Check out some of our memories here:
Here are some of the photos from City on A Hill click on the pic below and checkout our album over at Flickr:
That was our goal last night; to Shine!! And I gotta tell you I think we did. Please don’t misunderstand that statement. Last night wasn’t about RiverChurch it was all about letting Jesus shine through us into our community, and man it was amazing.
We only advertised at the school where we held the event, that was scheduled to start at 7pm. We planned to start when it became dark outside so we could light the hilltop up with tons of lights. But people started showing up at 5:30 and we held them off as long as we could. Once all of our cars were in place and the decorating was complete we flipped the switch and the first ever City on A Hill was clear for lift off.
There’s no real way to know how many people came to City on A Hill, but suffice it to say there were a lot of people that came. We prepared almost 500 hotdogs and before the night was over every last hotdog was gone. We were even scrounging to find a few pieces of candy for people who were coming right up until 9pm when we shut it down.
Our team was amazing, they laughed, they dressed up in great costumes, and they smiled and hugged, and oohed and ahhed at every kid that came to their cars to play a game and get some candy. And these kids loved it. Some came by themselves and just clung to some of our workers.
I think the coolest thing about the night was what happened at very beginning. All day long it had been raining, and although the weather forecast was supposed to clear up there were times throughout the day that it didn’t look very promising. We started setting up at 3pm under a vey heavy cloud cover, and from a distance we could see what looked like more rain coming. I walked through the parking lot of ths school praying that God would blow the rain over. Then somewhere around 5:30 or 6 the sun came out just as it was setting behind the school, and directly over our hill appeared the most beautiful full rainbow. It was absolutely breathtaking.
The custodian for the school walked up to me, and said “I think somebody’s happy with you tonight!”
I’d sure like to think so. I’d like to think that we shined for him last night, and it made him happy!”
It’s our very first Community Impact event!!
And we are PUMPED!!!!!
On Saturday, October 31 @7p we will be gathering at Hillcrest Elementary School off Highway 58 and we’re gonna light that hilltop up! We’re using spot lights, flood lights, Christmas lights and any other kind of light we can find to light up the night sky. If you’re driving by on Highway 153 you’ll see us.
Its a trunk or treat type event, but when people arrive on the hill they’re gonna find our peeps, sitting outside of their cars, loaded with candy, decorated like city shops, prepared with fun games, ready to have a rockin’ time. We’re renting an inflatable slide, which will be the city park.
We’ll have a
Post Office,
a Grocery Store,
a Candy Store,
a Pet Shop,
a City Jail,
a Used Car Lot,
a Beauty Shop,
a Toy Store and
a Hot Dog Stand, stocked with over 400 hotdogs!!!!
Our Goal:
- To be a City on A Hill that cannot be hidden.
- To let our light shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven.
In other words: To do just what Jesus told us to do.
If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and say hi!!!
See ya at the City on A Hill!!!!
Oh yeah, Mr. Weatherman says its supposed to rain. Help us pray he’s wrong – just this once ‘-)
RiverChurch has been worshiping together now for the last three weeks, and our times together have been so encouraging and meaningful. We have entered our “pre-launch” phase, which is really just a time of preparation before we “Go Public” at the beginning of 2010. In addition to getting to know one another, and developing a sense of community with one another, we are discovering what our DNA looks like.
In a teaching series we’re calling Inside/Out, we are taking time to examine the inward conditions of our own lives so we can be better equipped to influence the outside world around us. We’ve been unpacking the Great Commandment of Matthew 22:37-39:
37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
In reality our obedience to this Great Commandment will determine our effectiveness in fulfilling the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20:
19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We believe that the DNA of RiverChurch is to simply love God, and love people. If we can truly do this then we will do what Jesus calls us to do, to GO and GROW new Christ followers.
If you would like to be part of this part of our growth process, please feel free to join us Saturday nights at 6p at the 58 Commons. For Directions go here.
RiverChurch kicked off our weekend worship experiences this past Saturday night, and what a GREAT night it was. Our weekend services will provide us the opportunity to grow together as a true community: worshiping together, and growing together in the Word. We are using this time to develop avenues of ministry into the city of Chattanooga, as well as initiatives within our faith community. Over the next 4-5 months we will be further developing our launch team, gearing up for our “Going Public” phase in January 2010. If you live locally and would like to help us we would love for you to join us on Saturday nights. Here are some other great opportunities to join us THIS WEEK:
- Hamilton County High School Prayer Walk – We’ll be gathering at Central High School tonight, Tuesday 8.18 at 7p to pray for our local High School.
- Help Hillcrest Day – We’re going to be working around the grounds of the Hillcrest Elementary School, cleaning, raking, painting, repairing windows, etc. We would love for you to join us as we help spruce up this local elementary school. We’ll be getting together at 8:22 on Saturday 8.22. Hillcrest is just off of Highway 153 exit 5B. After you get off of the Highway you’ll see the school up on the hill to your left.
Directions to RiverChurch @Fifty Eight Commons:
Highway 153 to exit 5A.
At the first traffic light turn left.
The Fifty Eight Commons will be on the immediate right.
The Fifty Eight Common sits between the Exxon station on the left and Sonic Drive-In on the right.
Enter the building at the front middle entrance down the hall to suite 103.
. . . because RiverChurch is coming!!!!!!!
Saturday night is our very first service and we would love to have you join us. We’ll meet at 6p at the Fifty Eight Commons. We’ll worship together, spend some time in the Word, and even offer a special time for kids ministry as well.
Dress is casual, so come and celebrate with us.
Can’t wait to see you there.
My grandmother could fry some mean fried chicken, she wasn’t to shabby at all of the other southern, homestyle dishes we would eat for special occasions at her house. But my favorite part of the meal, was when “MawMaw” would come around and take my main course plate away and say to me “Hold on to your fork.” That meant she was about to roll out the real good stuff; banana pudding, chocolate cake, or pecan pie. Mmmmm, my mouth is watering right now thinking about it.
Food should be the last thing on my mind after tonight’s VisionMeeting down at the Riverpark. We had so much food and the biggest group we’ve had at any previous VisionMeeting. We talked about the future, we laughed together, and got to know each other a little better, it was like sitting down at a family dinner, for some of us with family members we’ve never met before.
But I gotta be the one to say it, to everyone who was there tonight “Hold On To Your Fork.” I think the best is yet to come. This week we launch some significant community impact efforts, specifically working with some area schools. Then in less than seven days we start our very first weekend services. Its so exciting to see what God is building and allowing us to call it RiverChurch. I can’t wait to see what He’s going to do next with us. But whatever it is, hold on to your fork, it only gets better from here.
