I just realized I posted about our going to an assessment and never put the results up. It may have appeared the assessment did not go well since I did not talk about it again. That is far from the truth! We had a great time at the assessment - we made new friends, learned new things and got a great affirmation. We were fully and unconditionally recommended for church planting! This only happens for 10-20% of the people being assessed. Heading out there we definitely had a little voice whispering in our ear that maybe we are not qualified to do this. We have not done any testing for our ability or affinity for church planting before this, but we did do a lot of study. It really was affirming to have a group of church planters and psychologists say we were real candidates for church planting!
This official approval has given us the opportunity to meet with church planting groups that want to invest in The Bridge as a new church. We have two groups - Growing Healthy Churches and Green Lakes Church Planting - that are putting up matching funds and offering training and coaching. We will be giving back a regular percentage to these groups to "pay back" their investment and add to the original capital so more churches can be planted. We are very excited to be part of these groups! Our vision for planting more churches in the area is better equipped because of these groups, their resources, training and investment.
We just got back from a round table meeting in Green Lake sponsored by GLCP and GHC. We were able to meet with church planters at all stages - from not started yet to planting their 4th church. We also got time picking the brain of John Jackson - a church planter from Nevada that has figured some things out. God is good! He is definitely working in Genesee County. I ask that all of you continue to pray for us. God bless you!
