|giv| Church Planting 2015

Each year during our |giv| series, we rally together to give our time, money, or resources towards something that pushes back darkness and furthers the kingdom of God in our world.

This year, our goal is to raise $40,000 to help with our upcoming efforts to plant churches in Lexington, SC and Knoxville, TN.

Lexington, SC

Our Lexington church began informal Sunday Gatherings back in September of this year. So far things have gone well, with averaging 70-80 people in Gatherings and LifeGroups.

The next step for our Lexington church is to launch formal Gatherings. In order to do that, they'll need to cover sound equipment, Kidtown supplies, and various other start-up costs. 

Knoxville, TN

A team of around 30 people from our Downtown church will be moving over the next year to plant City Church in Knoxville, TN.

As they move to the city, they'll be meeting together in LifeGroups. Eventually, however, they hope to launch Sunday Gatherings. When they do, they'll need start-up costs similar to our Lexington church.

Our goal is to raise $40,000 by December 20, 2015 to help launch and support these new churches. Give easily online using the link below:

An Update on our Facilities & Plans for this Sunday

We wanted to give you a quick update on our facilities in light of the recent flooding in Columbia.  Our auditorium and Kidtown areas were completely unaffected, but there was a good bit of flooding in the basement, ruining most everything in the Connect Hall, restrooms, and overflow room.

We've been working to have the basement drained and cleaned up, but since our restrooms are located down there, we will not be able to host Gatherings this Sunday.

Instead, we're encouraging everyone to gather in LifeGroups. In light of that, your LifeGroup is encouraged to choose one of the options below:

  1. Be family. Feel free to use Sunday as a day to get together as a LifeGroup, pray for our city and the victims of the flooding, and/or enjoy a meal together. While you're together, you may want to discuss adopting a family, or head to Walmart to purchase some gift cards for the victims.
  2. Serve someone affected by the flooding. If you know of family, church family, friends or neighbors affected by the disaster, give them a call in advance and let them know you've got folks in your LifeGroup ready to help. Do whatever it looks like to serve them well: cook them a meal, wash their clothes, move stuff out of their house–whatever it looks like.
  3. Help us with demolition and restoration. We have a limited amount of space available to help with demolition and restoration of affected homes. If you're interested in you and/or your LifeGroup helping, let us know you're coming here.

Thanks for being great missionaries in our city this Sunday.

A Request from Jon

Sunday, August 30, was a great Sunday. Our Two Notch church had their largest Gathering ever and our Downtown church had one of the largest Sundays I can remember for the month of August. So between these two churches, we had over 1000 adults and over 100 kids hearing the gospel of Jesus that undermines superiority and self-righteousness.

Large crowds are never our ultimate goal. We want to see mature, healthy followers of Jesus getting after His mission as part of His family. However, as long as numerical growth is the result of health, then we’ll celebrate it all day long. And the growth of large crowds come with some practical realities. For right now, that means we need to ask our Downtown folks for a favor. On August 30, our 9:00am, 11:15am and 5:00pm Gatherings were all maxed out and folks had to sit in overflow. 

So if you can make it work, will you make the 7:00pm Gathering your weekly rhythm for this semester? We know this isn’t a realistic possibility for some of you who have kids or have to work on Sundays. However, if you can, here are seven opportunities you can take advantage of by regularly attending the 7:00pm Gathering:

  1. Hospitality. When you attend the 7:00pm, you’re opening up a seat for a guest at one of our other Gatherings, so they no longer have to sit in overflow. Hospitality for the win!
  2. Help make it great. There are some folks in our city who would prefer to come to a Gathering at night. By being there, you get to help welcome them into a warm, inviting environment that feels like family. Hospitality for the double win!
  3. Personal Space. Are you claustrophobic? Concerned about germs? Tired of having people breathing down your neck? You won’t even know what to do with all the free space you have for activities at the 7:00pm. 
  4. Invite Friends. Having open seats means you can invite your friends and sit with them, without the risk of some of you having to sit in overflow.
  5. Surprises. Commit to come to the 7:00pm and we’ll find creative ways to say thank you. I can’t tell you when or what, but I can tell you they'll be worth it.
  6. Travel schedule. When you come to the 7:00pm Gathering you don’t have to cut your weekend trips short! Perfect example: If you’re heading somewhere for Labor Day,  come back this Sunday for the 7:00pm and then hang out with LifeGroup/Columbia family at the lake on Monday!
  7. Look like Jesus. Laying down your preferences to serve someone else is a beautiful picture of how Jesus laid down his life and calls us to do the same. (Luke 14:27)

This is a temporary solution and the good news is that we will be in a new bigger building in just a matter of months! And the other good news is that you’ve got a great opportunity to love and serve our city in the meantime. See ya at 7:00pm!

1800 Blanding Street

Columbia, SC