Missional Communities

Pastor Jeff Vanderstelt, of Soma Communities in Tacoma Washington, spoke at the Acts 29 Regional Training event held this past May 3 at Realife Church in Philadelphia.

He addressed a number of topics important for Mercy Hill's effort to plant a contextual, Gospel centered community of faith in South Jersey.

Missional communities have been discussed in a number of different contexts in these pages before. Read about them here and here, for example.

Hearing Jeff in person was a real treat--all total, more than seven of us came to absorb and think through these subjects in more depth. Here are a few things we learned.

Click to read more ...

Exponential & Steve Childers

God's grace and the help of Mercy Hill's extended support team has enabled me to attend Exponential, a gathering of church planters and church planting networks, in Orlando FL.

I'll be posting notes from some of my sessions from the week here.

As you read, you'll know better how to pray for me (or whoever your pastor or church planter is); also, these principles apply to people involved in church plants, too.

The first pre-conference session was taught by Steve Childers, missions professor at RTS Orlando.

He spoke on a subject I've heard him address before: "My eight biggest mistakes in church planting (that I can discuss publicly)."

My notes on these eight are below. You can read Steve's original here.

Click to read more ...

Our Second Preview

Sunday, April 11, Mercy Hill's growing community gathered for its second public worship service.

About sixty people came. About a dozen were new to our church, and several more were invited to check out our church because people in our community invited them.

All and all, people gathered to hear God's Word sung, prayed, and preached.

Kevin Kaye, a visitor from Grove City College in Grove City, PA, led in worship from the acoustic guitar, and was helped by Matt Austen, of Vineland NJ.

Pastor Phil Henry preached from Psalm 23. Click here to read or listen to the sermon.

Our next preview service will be held in the same location: Boyd Recital Hall, May 23, 2010, at 10am. Please make plans to join us!