Dear Church, Today marks our first steps forward as we seek God’s vision for our Church. The Avenue has been an incredible place over the last 4 years, and in its doors we have seen hundreds give their lives to Christ and be baptized. The bible says that we are known by our fruit (Matthew 7:15-20), and I am proud to say I am the Avenue. However, we never want to be so stuck in our ways that we die rather than change. So, I embrace this new journey with my wife by my side and we will fight and do everything in our power to seek God daily. We will lead the Avenue with our eyes set firmly on Christ and His headship. I believe in where God is leading us and want us. I want us to be a necessary and life giving part of our community, and I want to do this from right in the heart of the city. Our core values will never change. We will lead people to become fully devoted Followers of Christ. We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ; To reach people no one is reaching, we’ll have to do things no one is doing. We are spiritual contributors not spiritual consumers; The church does not exist for us; we are the church and we exist for the world. Following these values we will, God willing, plant ourselves in a store front and build a place that serves and connects daily with the community. People gravitate to coffee shops for the atmosphere and fellowship that they bring, so I want us to capitalize on this and build a church within that format. On top of the daily ministry happening through the coffee shop, we will offer multiple service times to reach a vast group of people. We will create small “LifeGroup” style experiences that maximize our resources by having multiple small gatherings rather than large services. We will create an excellent kids area, multi-use our cafe and stage area for students, offer after school programs and even create a midweek night service to cater to college students. I can see this building being used in so many different ways and becoming a vital part of the community. All of this ultimately allows us to cut overhead and maximize our financial resources, giving us margin and more ability to do ministry in our city. My heart as your Pastor breaks especially for homes without fathers and with single mothers. Kids and students need a place to fight for them; I want us to be that place. We have been AMAZINGLY effective with students since the day we began and this is a reputation that I do not take lightly. This is our calling as a church. God is using us and allowing us to be a part. I am writing this letter so that you can know where we are headed as a church, understand the vision of your Pastor and pray about your role moving forward. Many of you have already stepped up and let us know that we have your support and you have no idea how much that means to us. However, I am going to challenge us all to really step up and ask ourselves how we can go beyond serving and giving comfortably, to pushing ourselves to sacrifice. I am challenging us to commit to 6 months of sacrificial giving and serving. I will lead this with my family, as I always have, pushing ourselves to be sacrificial contributors to what God is doing at the Avenue. If you are local and a part of our church, then my challenge to you is to join a life group, find a place to serve and sign up to give online for 6 months. A lot of you already give, tithe and serve. Moving forward, I would love to get you set up with “online” and “recurring” giving, in order to understand the actual budget we have to work with and move forward according to that budget over this next 6 months. Push yourself to take these steps and be a part of this journey on the frontline. If you already tithe 10%, then maybe your step is to go beyond. If you have never truly tithed then try it for 6 months and make it automated online so that you never miss. If you have never served, dive in for 6 months and watch how God changes your life. Serving and life groups are the number one way to grow closer to God and his word. To my family, friends and supporters of our ministry outside of this community, I also want to challenge you. The Church of God is not a building, but a people, and you have the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing in our small part of the world. A lot of you are already pouring into the local church where you live and do life, through the tithe and serving. However, I would ask you to please pray about possibly committing to supporting the Avenue for 6 months, or even beyond that if God leads. You can do so, by going to our website and clicking on “GIVING”. You can set up a recurring gift under Avenue 2.0 and be a huge part of what is happening in our city. I dont want this to be a push to raise money as much as I am wanting to understand where we stand and who is committed to our journey. Having things automated and laid out in front of me helps me as your leader to know what our reality is and what our next step should be. I am humbled to have the opportunity to serve and build upon the foundation that has been laid. I will do everything in my power to follow God’s vision, knowing that we have a place in Social Circle. I know that some of you will choose to join us and make a sacrificial commitment and so I thank you in advance. We love you, Jordan & Ashley Flores LINK TO GIVE - theavenuechurch.tv/give/
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 22:26:57 +0000
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