Church Planter’s Forum — Voxtropolis Sacramento

Are you a church planter getting ready to launch your church? You need cheer leading, no doubt. But you also need to get real. Eric Sweiven, VoxSac promoter and IMN Mentor, gets real with you. Here’s an article Eric sent me this week. Enjoy.

Becoming a Friend to those we Seek to Reach…
My name is Eric Sweiven, I’m a church-planter. Over the last 16 months myself and a team of missional leaders have hosted art and music shows in Sacramento, called VOX Parties. These have been hosted at two places.
First as a traveling show where we loaded and unloaded a 23’ truck full of furniture, decorations, coffee bar and even walls (the venue would not let us hang art on the walls, so we created our own). Then, more recently (since Feb ’07), at a semi-permanent location that will soon be leveled for new development.

There have been many challenges, adventures and memories made as we planned, bought furniture, built walls and arches, made coffee and swept floors; then, ultimately hosted parties for artist and musicians to share their creative spirit and passion – but none of these compares to the relationships we’ve made and the lives that have been joined to ours.

Prompted by some recent time “in the quiet”, I felt God pushing me to make a list. Now, I write many lists, mostly due to my lacking memory and busy life…I forget stuff. The list God was asking me to write was a list of names of the people we’ve come to know during the last year and a half. As I began the list I had no idea of the impact it would have on me.

Some things about me: I haven’t always been missional, although I thought I was. I haven’t always been passionate about people and their lives and passions, although I thought I was. I haven’t always been more of a giver, although I thought I was. I wasn’t always “being” a disciple of Christ, although I really thought I was. What I was, however was a GREAT Christian.

Back to the list. When we first began our grand adventure and experiment in creating a missional community, bent on sharing the mission and love of Jesus with others; I had many friends, but almost all of them were Christian. I knew some people who, if you asked them, wouldn’t have called themselves Christ-followers or even religious. In fact, on my list of the top 10 closest people in my life, 10 were Christians. Today things are decidedly different.

As I wrote my new list of people I’ve come to know or even been so honored to call new friends, I was awestruck. It began slowly, quietly…but as I wrote names, more names flooded my brain. Not just names, faces, hearts, but lives,…souls. Instead of a list filled with the names of Christians, there are now 57 names on my list of the kinds of people we’re trying to reach, and it grows each day as God brings more to mind. I don’t know all of them intimately. But many I do. I can’t call them all friends, but most would recognize me on the street in Sacramento…I’m the guy at VOX Café where they had a show or came and saw a friend’s show.

Our current “church” gathering is a whopping 12 people. I suppose it might be said I’m a dismal failure as a church planter. 16 months, 12 people.. But, through Vox, I’ve come to have relationships with at least 57 people from all walks of life who know me as one of the folks behind VoxCafe in Sacramento.

Each name on my list represents a significant connection and relationship where I get to bring the life that comes through Jesus and the freedom that comes in knowing Him into their lives. I get to hang out with artists, musicians,… and dreamers. I’m one of them. I’m not really a church-planter, I’m a friend.

——————————–

Thanks, Eric. What if every church planter traded in their meetings with 12 Christian friends for throwing parties for 50 plus non Christian friends?
The term church planting would come to mean something different then. I think the next 18 months will be different for Eric’s team than the first 18 when they were “church planting”.

Register NOW for HUMANA 2.08