KC Church Plant News, February Update

[ariell...@gmail.com]

February was a big month in this crazy ride that is church planting.

In the last several weeks, members of our team showed up at events
with the Downtown Neighborhood Association, KC Rescue Mission, and
Crossroads Community Association. Our goal is to begin forging
friendships downtown that will enable us to rub shoulders with our
neighbors and start meeting some strategic needs even before we start
public services. We want to earn a reputation as a church that loves
Jesus and serves our community transparently with no strings
attached.

In particular, we are stoked about a connection with the Arts
Incubator, a well-known non-profit in the Crossroads District that
houses dozens of local artists. Early talks with Jeff, the manager
there, have turned up opportunities to work with the artist-tenants to
clean up the building, staff an upcoming conference, and potentially
meet in their 3rd-floor event space. This is exactly the type of
connection we've been praying and working for.
As we continue to invest time getting to know the folks who care about
the downtown communities, more of these opportunities to serve
relationally are coming into focus. Thanks for praying!

In addition, this past month featured a commissioning/sending service
at Cornerstone Community Church, the church home for some of our
launch team, where I(AJ) also got to preach—and thoroughly enjoyed
myself. Two more local partners, Pisgah Baptist Church and
LifeConnection, came online this month, and started supporting the
plant financially. God is slowly and steadily aligning us with gospel-
loving churches who want to see Jesus glorified in the KC area—and we
continue to look for more of these gutsy alliances that must make
Jesus smile.

There's more. Among other things, we're still negotiating a potential
deal on a building on the West Side that could house the Vanderhorst
family as well as meeting and office space. Our launch team has grown
with the addition of another couple, Steven and Abbey Dragan,
affectionately "donated" from Fellowship of Grace, another local
partner. Our team was also happy to host Kacey and Stephanie Nelson,
and their 2-yr-old, Ingrid, for a weekend as they consider relocating
to KC from Illinois to be part of this plant.

It's an exciting, bumpy ride, and the terrain keeps changing—but we're
thrilled to be on this journey…even when we get motion sickness.
Please keep praying that God will bless our team with solid
friendships downtown, that he'll continue to grow our team, that he'll
guide us toward some more substantial partnerships with churches, and
that he'll direct us toward a home by downtown that will serve as a
well-located staging area for us as we invest more and more in this
city we love.

God bless you with more of Jesus. Thanks for praying for us and
reading our updates.

Peace,

AJ (Ariel) & Lindsay

http://arieljvan.com