Lenexa, Kansas, United States - Global Church of the Nazarene "Evangelism Ministries Newsletter, September 2014"
Evangelism Ministries Newsletter
September 2014
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TABLE OF CONTENTS An "Inside to Out" Shift in Chanute Share Your "SHIFT" StoriesWhat Happened to My Wife?How Do I Get Involved? Lingo Legend Subscription Changes
HERE TO SERVE...
Bill Wiesman– Director
bwiesman@nazarene.org
Thea Ardrey– Coordinator
tardrey@nazarene.org
Shelma Warner– Assistant to Director
swarner@nazarene.org
Joy Wilson– Special Events Assistant
jwilson@nazarene.org
UPCOMING EVENTS
CPE & CPC
New England District September 14-16
Church Planter Assessment Center
Salem, Oregon September 14-16
CPE, CPC, & CT
Northwestern Illinois District September 15-19
CPE, CPC, & CT
Missouri District September 16-18
CCU
North Arkansas District September 19-21
CPE, CPC, & CT
Wisconsin District September 21-24
CPE, CPC, & CT
(English & Spanish)Central California & Sacramento Districts September 22-26
CPE, CPC, BAM & CT
(English & Spanish)Illinois DistrictSeptember 22-26
CPE, CPC, & CT
(English & Spanish) South Texas District (Houston) September 23-26
CPE
Canada Central District September 27, October 3-4
Church Planter Assessment Center
Philadelphia District September 29- October 1
CPE, CPC, BAM, & CT
Pittsburgh District September 29-October 3
CPE & CPC
Canada West District September 30-October 2
CPE, CPC, & CT
Indianapolis District October 6-10
CPE, CPC, & CT
(English & Spanish) Iowa District October 13-17
Church Planter Assessment Center
Joplin District October 21-23
CPE, CPC, & CT
(English & Spanish) Dallas/Ft. Worth Metro Area November 10-13
CPE, CPC, & CT
Chicago Central District November 10-14
CPE, CPC, & CT
Northeastern Indiana & Northwest Indiana Districts November 10-14
CPE, CPC, & CT
(English & Spanish) Northeast Oklahoma District November 17-21
CPE, CPC, & CT
(English & Spanish) South Carolina District November 17-21
CPE, CPC, & CT
(English & Spanish) Florida District December 1-5
CPC, BAM, & CT
Joplin District December 8-12
View our complete church planting event schedule on our events page.
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Fall is in the air and one of the biggest transitions which comes with the new season is when students start another school year. But in Chanute, Kansas there are other changes taking place. Read an excerpt of the story of how the SHIFT book has been one of the ways God is bringing renewal to Chanute Church of the Nazarene and in the surrounding community.
Perhaps the story of vibrant renewal in Chanute reminds you of how God has worked within your own church and community through SHIFT. Your story may encourage others who are on the journey and those who are considering taking the first steps and we want to share some of them at our upcoming M15 Conference. The first ten people who submit a story will received two copies of SHIFT to use or share with someone else who would benefit from its principles and stories. If you want to share your SHIFT Story, visit our Vibrant Renewal webpage.
Nazarene church plant Plumb Line Community Church of the Nazarene has made it their mission to share the love of Christ with the people in and around Livonia, Michigan. But this story gives a behind the scenes look at how an atheist was transformed into their pastor. Read more about her journey to plant a church and her husband's response.
What Happened to My Wife?
If you talked with Robert Bastien, he would tell you he asked this very question about his wife JoAnn. When she began praying, reading scripture, and attending church on a regular basis, he wasn’t sure about the changes. You see, JoAnn grew up in the Catholic Church, but eventually stopped attending services—not only that—she stopped believing God existed and began to live as an atheist.
Having relinquished her belief in God, she began to struggle with depression, was weighed down by the guilt of her sin, and became suicidal. After some time, not knowing where else to turn, she decided to “give this God-thing a try.” She found a Catholic church in which she knelt down and surrendered herself to God. Shortly after this, when she was reading John 1:14, her eyes were opened to the truth that this Jesus she’d heard about is God. And this one truth was enough to cause a 180 in JoAnn’s life.
Her husband noticed the difference, but it took him about four years “to come around” and give God a try for himself. Family member after family member— from her mother to his brother and sister-in-law— came to faith in Christ through Catholic, United Methodist, and Nazarene congregations. Robert’s younger brother and sister-in-law invited the Bastiens to attend Detroit First Church of the Nazarene with them. It was the decision to join with this congregation which proved transformative for the trajectory of their journey.
JoAnn, now an ordained elder, was on staff at Detroit First Church for just over six years (2004-2010). During that time, she sensed a call to plant a church—but in her mind, it would be as an associate pastor, not a senior pastor. She was waiting for God to call someone else. Yet her desire to reach lost people would not go away. In 2010, she heard General Superintendent Dr. Jerry Porter ask the question in a sermon, “Would you rather spend eternity in hell or plant a church?” and “IF you were going to plant a church, where would you plant it?” JoAnn already knew the answer to both these questions and finally realized God was calling her—He wasn’t waiting on someone else to respond.
 Since 2010, JoAnn, has been serving as the lead pastor of Plumb Line Community Church of the Nazarene in Livonia, Michigan. The congregation is active in outreach and relationship building with over half of the things they’re doing focused on the community. In addition to Sunday services and discipleship groups, they have adopted the local elementary school to help stock a school supply closet, they’ve hosted an egg hunt and Secret Santa events, vacation Bible school, trunk-or-treat, and are really striving to, as Pastor JoAnn says, “live with our community.” Another way they do that is by opening their building and serving food and drinks to those who play soccer at the neighborhood association right next to their property. They will be launching a children’s quizzing program this fall with hopes of reaching kids whose now unchurched parents might have traditionally sent them to catechism through the Catholic Church. Plumb Line Community has seen transformation in a family who were neighbors of someone at the church. The family, according to Pastor JoAnn, didn’t initially have any use for church. After experiencing the love and hospitality of the congregants at their Thanksgiving potluck, the wife began to attend Bible study regularly. The family’s life, finances, and marriage improved and both the wife and her son accepted Christ. The family recently moved to Chicago and the wife was diagnosed with cancer, but Plumb Line has been able to be a source of prayer support as they face this new struggle. They’ve also found a new Nazarene congregation with which to share their lives in Chicago.
Another family crossed paths with the Bastiens through their involvement in Taekwondo; JoAnn and Robert’s black belts have provided multiple opportunities for relationships within the community. For the area family JoAnn and Robert met, although they had an awareness of God, they were standoffish and did not choose to be connected with any church body. However, after their child was born three months premature, the Plumb Line Community church rallied around them. Since then, the family not only connected with the church, but has begun hosting a Bible study in their home. Their daughter, now 18 months old, can see transformed parents who now have “some of the loudest voices” about what God is doing.
Plumb Line Community is currently launching into a new phase which includes adding a new mid-week ministry using Ray Neu’s “Tell the Story” interactive oral Bible Storytelling approach.
It is with a calling and vision from God to reach the unchurched, agnostics, and atheists of Livonia, Redford, and surrounding area that Pastor JoAnn and her husband Robert have set out on this mission. They hope there might be others like Robert who can ask in reference to their loved ones, “What happened to them?” The prayer of the Bastiens and Plumb Line Community is that the answer would clearly point to the love and salvation of Christ.(Written by: Thea Ardrey, Evangelism Coordinator for the USA/Canada Region as told by Pastor JoAnn Bastien, Lead Pastor of Plumb Line Community Church of the Nazarene)
Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future: M15
 The Mission 2015 Conference, hosted by the USA/Canada Regional Office, will focus on “Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future.” Mission conferences, held every four years since 1999, are the largest all-church gatherings in the USA & Canada between general assemblies. Held in Kansas City February 9-11, 2015, M15 will encourage, motivate, train, & inspire our church to action for our own mission field in which we live. Register now! Earlybird registration ($29) is available now through the end of October. College students can register to attend for free!
Confused by any of the acronymns you've read? Perhaps this will help!
BAM: Becoming A Mentor CCU: Cowboy Church University CP: Church Planting CPC: Churches Planting Churches CPE: Church Planting Essentials CT: Certified Trainer DCPI: Dynamic Church Planting International NACP: Nazarene Association of Church Planting | |
Evangelism Ministries
17001 Prairie Star Pkwy Lenexa, KS 66220 (913) 577-2876 | ||
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