Merry Christmas and a happy new year!
John Chisham
We are off to a great start for this plant to happen. Some 21 people
have responded that they are committed to helping launch this church.
Wendy and I are so excited we didn't want to leave the state, but there
is much to do. So, I sit here outside of Nashville, Tennessee after a
14 hour drive to give you all some updates.
The first week of January, Tim (our Church Planting Director) will be
meeting via phone with the church planting team and DEXCOM to let them
know about the positive results of our first meeting in Marshall. This
will be a time when they will determine if it is time to move forward,
and if so, where they will get the funding for the plant's budget. We
will be getting a grant both from the national and district office, and
we are also looking for some help from the local churches and, of
course, those who are going to be a part of the church.
If this meeting is successful, we will be looking at coming sometime in
February. At that point, we will hold a few more public information
meetings while we start to formulate our small group(s) and some target
dates and goals for the launch. These will include some 'come and see'
meetings for the general public, launch team 'boot camp' training, and
leadership formation and training. Of course, in the process, we will
be doing the work of evangelism in the community.
I really encourage those of you 'on the ground' in Marshall to
communicate with one another in the meantime. This forum is open to all
who want to pot. Several of you have already given your name and phone
numbers as a reply to one of my posts. As many as feel comfortable
should feel free to post their name and numbers there, as well as
prayer requests that come up. You can always feel free to e-mail me at
johnc...@bellsouth.net or call me at 407-365-1504 (home) or
407-965-6758 (cell). Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.
If there are any requests that cannot be shared, please let me know. I
will pray for you, as I am for some already.
God Bless You greatly in this New Year!
Pastor John