Taking Our First Steps (a thank you letter to their "mother" church)
by Todd Brady, Lead Pastor
North Village Community, Fayetteville, NC
One of the most memorable moments in a parent's life is when their baby takes their first steps. Everyone rejoices over the baby's simple but profound accomplishment. It's such a thrill to see our children grow and start taking their first steps.
That's kind of what it's like in church planting. You hope, pray, invest and encourage to see your baby take their first steps as a "baby" church. Well I am thrilled to say, North Village Community is taking their first steps and maybe a leap or two!
I want to give you a sense of where we've come and where we're going so you can keep this "baby" in mind as you hope, pray, invest and encourage. Our first meeting took place at Village Baptist Fellowship Hall on January 9, 2005. We met to worship, organize, train ministry teams and cast the vision that God has given us. On February 6th, we had a "Super Sunday," where we opened up for membership. We had 44 people join to identify their commitment to planting this new church. This group of people really became our CORE group. We met in the Fellowship Hall through March 6th, as we continued to build up steam for our "Launch Sunday."
On March 13th we had our first service on the campus of Methodist College still preparing for our Launch Sunday, which was scheduled for March 27th (Easter Sunday.) We were learning how to set up our nursery, children's church, welcome center, and sound & video equipment for worship. We spent a lot of time training all of our Children's servants, Parking Lot Attendants, Greeters, Ushers, Praise Team members, Sound & Video Technicians, and even the pastor had some learning to do!
We were thrilled to have 185 in attendance for our Launch Sunday. Since that day our highest attendance has been 160 and right now we are averaging over 100 each week. We have done a lot of special events to build relationships and invite unchurched friends and family too, such as our "Incredible Cookout" on April 22nd. We had a hamburger/hotdog cookout and showed "The Incredibles" on a big screen in my backyard. We expected 40-50 people; we had over 100 show up, and one profession of faith at the cookout!
Our first membership class in April was attended by 35 people, 17 new folks and 14 of them joined; the other 3 are waiting on their spouses to attend the class! We have over 20 folks signed-up for our May class!
On April 30th, we had a "Living Water" Outreach in front of Lowe's, Wal-Mart, and Big-Lots. As people exited the stores we gave them ice cold bottled water (750 in all) and then helped some load their cars and trucks with their big stuff from Lowe's. One of our values is "to serve more than being served." I was deeply impressed with our children and youth who served with a whole heart that day.
Two weeks ago, May 1st, we had an Outdoor Worship Service at the Methodist College Amphitheater that was absolutely wonderful. We gathered to celebrate new life in Jesus Christ! We had a live band and our praise team led us in worship. I preached in blue jeans! (There's a first for me!) But the highlight was the privilege of baptizing 5 new believers by immersion in a galvanized horse trough! It was just fantastic! Then we had dinner on the grounds and played in the moon-bounce inflatable slide, and dunking booth. One of the highlights was just sitting back with our friends listening to "Emmaus Road," a Christian-Jazz band that played throughout the afternoon. We didn't leave until after 4:00pm! Some of us ate twice!
Last Wednesday our LIFE Group had their monthly dinner together and heard from a native Romanian Missionary. We are praying about where God would have us serve and start churches internationally. Pray for us to know God's heart on where He would have us serve.
This past Sunday, Mother's Day, was great! We introduced 5 new members that had completed our membership class, dedicated 3 babies, had 2 professions of faith and gave over 45 moms a potted plant! It was just an awesome day!
God has been truly working in North Village Community and we are thrilled and humbled. Thank you for helping us take our "first steps." We've got a lot of growing up to do, but we want to walk & run together to reach others for Jesus Christ.
'till the whole world knows, Todd
[It has been our privilege at NCI to support Todd and some of the core through training and coaching!]
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