Five Fold Ministry – APEST

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Pastor Jesse

Pastor Jesse's avatarLearning and Launching a Missional Community

Do you know who you have in your MC, church, or ministry?  You have been given gifts from God – and those gifts are the people who are with you.  Starting a church, I can say that each person feels so much like a precious gift from God.  That’s good for me as a pastor.  But they are also gifts in another sense.  The role God has for them in the MC is a gift.

We’ve been looking at APEST recently in our communities.   I taught about it and gave everyone some tasks related to learning and personal discernment.  On top of that, I heard Alan Hirsch speak on it last week at the ECO/Fellowship of Presbyterians gathering in Dallas.  So I guess the whole five fold ministry thing is very much on our minds.

What, you may ask, is the five fold ministry all about?  It’s rooted in…

View original post 779 more words

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Ask It! The Haunting/Clarifying Discipleship Question

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Pastor Jesse

There’s a question than haunts me and drives me in ministry. “If all the Christians in the world were killed and none were left but those in your church, would they be equipped to start the Christian movement all over again?”  Would they be able to imitate Christ? Would they be able to pass on the essential pieces of what it means to follow Christ in a way that others could receive it and pass it on, too?   That question made me think: was I making disciples of Jesus Christ who were both equipped, willing, and motivated to make disciples of Jesus? Was I making disciples who would make disciples who could make disciples…

Now, if your theological warning bells are going off, please relax.  I firmly believe in a Sovereign God and the future of the church is in God’s hands.  But think about it: Are you confident you are doing what Jesus commissioned you to do when he said, “Make disciples…”  (Matthew 28:16-20)

When I first heard that question, the troubling answer was, “probably not.” I was doing my best to be a disciple. But if I made disciples who made disciples, it had been by accident.

After eighteen months of learning to lead communities for mission and discipleship I am beginning to have a much better answer. I had always believed that the church had the potential to change the world, but now I am beginning to understand how. Because when a follower of Jesus Christ imitates Christ in a way that can be passed on, a movement of discipleship and mission can grow.

And we’re seeing fruit: Kent has gained confidence to pray with patients. Tita discovered the joy of personally experiencing Christ. Cathy knows what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Norma and Kris have taken opportunities to pass on what they’ve learned. Andrew has a burning desire to help others no matter what he has to do. Heather and Alesandra stepped out of their comfort zones to serve. Nicholl got people talking when she opened her home for healing service. Teams are now prepared and willing to pray for healing. It’s been pretty cool!

And it is very gratifying to see everyone in our huddles learning skills for discipleship that can be passed on. What makes me excited about the future is when I hear the people of First Coast Missional Communities express their desire to step out, to follow God, to bless their world, and to pass on what they are learning.

So in the next year, we are hoping to start new discipleship huddles, sustain and launch healthy micro-churches, and meet for worship.

Do you think God may be preparing you for a season of growth? There’s a spot for you at FCMC!

Posted in Discipleship, evangelism, mission, Missional Community Experience | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

A Simple Way To Boost Church Planting

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Pastor Jesse

The other day at Starbucks, I bumped into Jeremy.  He’s preparing for ministry in college with an eye toward church planting.   He’s a the son of a two church planting co-pastors.  He’s got incredible gifts for leadership.  He’s majoring in Religious Studies and plans to start a church.  He’s also majoring in Communications.  That’s because he expects to have a day job while he works in ministry.   He expects to.

And I know he’ll be a great asset to the church.  But I also know that whatever business or organization outside the church that is fortunate enough to hire Jeremy will have an incredible asset on their team.  He’s a go-getter.

Most church planters I know have entrepreneurial instincts, good people skills, and increasingly, practical trades.  Case and Point: Recently, I read a Boston Globe story about a pastor named Seth Hoffman.  He worked for Starbucks and later started a company with friends called Catchfire Creative while helping to start New Frontiers Church.   Check it out.

The reason I’m thinking about this is because I’m looking for work in order to continue my church planting habit.  (Thank the Lord I have some marketable skills and experience!)  The historical term for someone who has a job to pay the bills in order to do ministry is “tent-maker” from Paul’s experiences in Corinth described in Acts 18:1-5.   Here’s an obvious aha: Paul’s tent-making ministry was a two way street. Not only was the apostle Paul willing to earn a living by plying the tent-making trade, but Aquila and Priscilla were in business and were willing to take him on to advance God’s Kingdom.

God matched up church-planting Paul with business couple Aquila and Priscilla.  As a result, Corinth was blessed.  Later Ephesus was blessed.  We’re told that everyone in Asia Minor heard the gospel.  Priscilla and Aquila got to share in what God was doing.  They beheld God’s glory!

What we need is a way to match up our  Pauls with some Aquilas and Priscillas.

Most Christian business people I know understand that part of what they do is about creating jobs and extending offers of employment in ways that build their business and strengthen their community.   They often see their role in the church to be about lending their talent and offering financial support.   This takes it a step further.  What if the business leaders who attend our churches began to understand they had a vital role in advancing God’s Kingdom by hiring church planters to work in their business?

Church planters are already doing this.  I read an article on the two jobs most church planters tend to stay afloat as they launch their churches:  1) Website design.  2) Barista.  In other words, they work for themselves or they work for Starbucks.  Consequently, I suspect the leading employer of church-planters is Starbucks.   Starbucks has a reputation as a good employer, but when it comes to advancing God’s Kingdom, should they get all the glory?

If you know someone in a position to hire a church-planter encourage them to do so!

Posted in Discipleship | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

This Week at First Coast Missional Communities

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Pastor Jesse

We are looking forward to several things in the New Year. I wanted to let you know what is happening this week.

  1. Monday – The 210MC is helping out with Young Lives
  2. Wednesday – Fellowship of Believers and the 210MC meet at Norma and Andrew’s house at 6:00 for dinner an 7:00 for a joint meeting (12534 Woodfield Circle W, 32258). Everyone is welcome – just let us know you are coming.
  3. Friday – Prayer at Stan and Carleene Hubbards at 1:15. Let us know if you have any prayer requests. We’d be honored to pray with you.  Send prayer requests to PastorJesseAlexander@gmail.com.
  4. Saturday – 2nd Saturday Celebration Worship at 6:30 at Faith Community Church (3450 CR 210, 32259). We’ll be commissioning some folks who are going to YoungLives weekend camp later in the month.

Looking forward to what God has in store in 2015!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Go Up, In, and Out for Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Pastor Jesse

Have some fun this Christmas and take time to do life like Jesus on Christmas.

Go Up for Christmas!  Respond in worship and prayer as you take time to remember what Christmas is all about.  In Jesus Christ, God became one of us out of his great love for us.  God entered into our mess and trouble and did in order to set us free from the curse of sin and death.  Respond to the good news.  There are candlelight services all over the place. Check one out tonight.  Or hold your own.  Read the Christmas story.  Pray.  Listen for God to speak.  Bless the Lord tonight!  Jesus did up very intentionally.  So can we.

Go In with some people for Christmas.  Take a little time to reconnect and maybe even pray with people who have invested in you and in whom you have invested.  And while you’re at it, find ways to connect with the people who are investing in you or in whom you are investing.  Tonight, several of us are gathering for the candlelight service at Faith Community Church at 6:00.  So we’ll enjoy some up time and in time.  Jesus was very intentional about going in with his disciples and a few others like Mary and Martha.  We can, too.

Out – The other night, some members of the 210 missional community and some of my fifteen-year-old sons friends were over.  Those of us in the MC decided to go caroling.  We invited my son and his friends.  He wasn’t all that excited, but some of his friends had never been caroling before.  They got enthused.  They gathered a few more friends.  We ended up caroling with about dozen young people.  We surprised and blessed our neighbors.  At one of house, a teenage girl asked if she could join us.  “Sure”.  You may not be able to sing, but I bet you can go out.   And it gave us opportunity to get to know some kids, to learn portions of their stories, and to talk about Christmas and our missional community.  And it was just fun.

Do you have cookies?  Put some on a plate and take them to two or three of your neighbors and tell them “Merry Christmas.”  Go on a prayer walk.  Wish everyone you see a Merry Christmas.  Go to Starbucks, hand the barista a twenty, and say, “Would you mind helping me out.  Let the next person’s drink be on me – and put any change in tip jar.  And God bless you on this Christmas.”

Has it ever occurred to you how much fun Jesus had going out – meeting needs with God’s love grace and power.  Go out for Christmas!

Just be careful.  Imitating Jesus is a lot of fun.  Merry Christmas!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment