New Vision: Smyrna

A new Direction

2010-09-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

News About the New Church and A Strange Twist in Our Personal Lives

We know several of you have been asking what is going on with us and the new church that God allowed us to plant in Smyrna TN.

First let me tell you about the church!

We are happy to say that New Vision Smyrna is healthy and will celebrate its one year anniversary by moving into a brand new community activity building just being completed by the Boys and Girls Club of Middle Tennessee. The new home for the church will be centrally located right beside the city baseball fields and Smyrna Middle School. It will give us more worship space, more classroom space, and the ability to have Wed night programing and permanent signage!

To think that two years ago when God first laid the vision on our heart for a new church, there was no money, there were no people, and neither the movie theater that we now meet in or this brand new community center that we will be moving into in October were even built. What we discovered is that if we trust God and take that step of faith, He knows what is coming and is more that able to take care of us and to do what He says He will do.

Which brings us to a brand new twist in our personal lives.

After an incredible Easter service at the new church last April (almost 300 in attendance) and really seeing what God had accomplished in 2 years, we came to a very strange conclusion. God used us to get people excited about starting a new church, He allowed us to watch Him literally do miracles as it came to fruition, but now that it was launched and healthy, He had a different plan for us.

We know that sounds crazy but this thought had been brewing for a few months and in April God made it very clear that we were supposed to step aside and let New Vision bring in a new campus pastor for the new church. There are several reasons why we felt this was the right thing to do, but the main one was that Blake felt like this is what God was saying. We announced this to the church and in July we officially stopped being supported by New Vision and handed the leadership of the campus to an interim pastor.

What now?

Well that's a great question? All we know is that God has a plan and we are patiently waiting till God reveals that plan. Rebecca is still working for Women of Faith Ministries and homeschooling Sydnie, Sara and Shae. During this time of unemployment, Blake is working as a children's entertainer at local daycares and schools and has started to be invited by some local churches to do special programs for kids and teenagers. (We are wondering if God is going to open up a ministry to families where Blake would come in and do weekend events at churches.) He is also in conversations with several churches about possible staff positions.

We're not sure where the next step on our journey is going to take us. What we know is that if God could take a dream of a new church and use our small talents and experiences to make it happen, then we are confident that same God is faithful to move us into the next part of our journey. We are excited to discover where God is leading next!

2010-09-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

The Nichols Family and New Vision Smyrna

Well hello everyone! Greetings from the Nichols Family in Nashville TN. We just wanted to take a few minutes to catch everyone up on the new church and what God is doing in our lives.

What Has Happened So Far

April 2008-We feel God telling us now is the time to plant a new church and start considering where God wants us to locate it.

June 2008-We visit with the Tennessee Baptist Convention and first visit Smyrna TN, a growing town south of Nashville in need of some new churches focused on the young families moving into the area.

August 2008-We tell our home church about our new journey and begin raising funds for the future new church: Crossbridge Community Church in Smyrna TN.

October 2008 -We move to Smyrna!

November 2008 to June 2009- We continue fundraising, we secure a location at the Malco Theater, we gain a local church sponsor, we launch our website, we begin meeting people, we start going door to door sharing information about the new church, and we do a 30,000 phone call greeting to the surrounding area.

July 2009- We begin discussions with a local church about a larger partnership and the possibility of launching Crossbidge as a campus of their church.

August 2009- We transition the Crossbridge church plant into New Vision Church: Smyrna Campus, Blake will become the Campus Pastor.

October 2009- We launch New Vision Smyrna at the Malco Roxy Theater with over 200 people in attendance.

November 2009-March 2010- The church averages over 175 in attendance each week as we learn the best way to have church in a movie theater.

April 2010- Two years after God begins laying the vision on our heart, we run two services and have almost 300 people in attendance on Easter Sunday morning!

May 2010- We have our first baptism!!!

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What's Happening In Smyrna

2009-06-14T20:10:00.001-07:00

Hola!

Guess what is going on in Smyrna, Tennessee!?! No, we are not going to Mexico, as you might have predicted from my introduction!

So what is happening, “B?” I know you must be asking yourself. We are (insert Doobie brothers tune) Takin’ it to the streets!! Not that I am trying to prove my age, just giving a shout out to our Nashville neighbor, Michael McDonald!

What does ‘takin’ it to the streets’ look like in Smyrna? As you have heard before, we have found additional success in getting the word out to the community through door hangers. These door hangers communicate general info about Crossbridge, direct readers to the website, and supply information as an invite to first preview service on July 12th.

When: Next week
Where: Smyrna, TN
What: Distribute door hangers to 5,000, or 50% of the homes in Smyrna
How: Accepting the assistance of FBC Cordele Georgia’s rockstar youth group
Why: Because it works!!

Questions? Yes, You in the back there. ‘Blake, How do you know people have taken notice of the church through these initiatives?’

Glad you asked! I just happen to know the answer to that one! If inundation was not enough, through the 1,000 door hangers we passed out through neighborhoods with the Southside youth group from Tyler, TX, mailing 250 more brochures to, specifically interested people, 200+ ‘business’ cards passed to people that we made connections with, and 37,000 phones calls with over 2,000 listeners being interested in more information…if that was not enough to gain an audience, I will share one of the encounters that I had over the previous week.

Last week, I preached at a church in the heart of Nashville. The service went great and it was wonderful to meet several more people, but there was one lady that came to me and offered me a bit of encouragement, whether she knew it or not.

Through the course of our conversation, this lady asked if I was the one starting the church at the theatre in Smyrna. After stating that I was beginning this new venture she shared that her sister had a door hanger placed by her phone. Her sister told her that once this new church started she was going to start back to church again.

How exciting!
Those are the conversations that we measure our effectiveness and this is only one of the stories that we have heard of Crossbridge getting someone’s attention!

With all that said, we know that this is not something that we have done alone and only the LORD controls the destiny of His church. He blesses us through you all who have prayed for and supported us throughout the last several months. We praise the LORD for you all and request continued blessing in your life for you willingness to be used by our maker.

Philippians 1:3-6
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Amen!

It's Time To Start Ramping UP

2009-06-08T07:08:00.001-07:00

Okay prayer warriors I think God is bringing me out of my slump. The last month has been a battle just to stay focused. But this morning something just feels different. Let's load up the prayers and start moving ahead. God's got a church to start!

God Moments 2: Southside Mission Trip

2009-04-07T16:36:00.000-07:00

It was great having the Youth Mission Trip from Southside up. There are a 100 great stories ranging from Chic-Fil-a Guitar Guy, Playing Outburst in the Garage, and Bowling for Missions.

Two of my favorite stories are:

1. My friend Chuck Brown and I were going to a local apartment complex to ask if we could put door hangers on the doors. We already guessed the answer would be no, but it never hurts to ask. Just as we thought, that request was met with a resounding "No". But then it was as if God whispered something in the manager's ear, she turned around and said maybe you can do something for the kids here in the club house! Wow! We were invited by the apartment complex's manager to come back Wed. night and do a kid's activity night and hand out our flyers. That night Bruce Thompson and I did a magic show, we handed out popcorn, and did face paint. The kids loved it. But the coolest part of the night was all the apartment kids hanging out afterwords and singing worship songs with the mission team. It was a God Moment.

A few weeks later I was at a local church and a kid came up to me and said "Your the magician," I smiled.

2. The Super Door Hanger: We hung literally 1000 door hangers on Wednesday. Several of the door hangers were put on empty houses. We figured that you never know what might happen. Sure enough, 3 weeks later I get a call about the new church. I asked them where they had heard about us and they said last week they were looking at a house that was for sale and our door hanger was still there!

God Moments 1: Answered Prayers

2009-04-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

A couple of cool God moments and answered prayers since our last Newsletter:

In our last newsletter we put down some "need" requests:

1. 37,000 Phone Calls - $3500
Answer: This need was answered by a diverse group of people and churches giving anywhere from $100 to $1000! It was the most incredible outpouring of support as friends from high school, pastor friends, churches that we had come in contact with all joined together. We raised this money in 4 days!

2. Starter for the Truck $400
Answer: This one was all God. I went out one day and just had the crazy idea that maybe God had fixed our truck. The truck had been dead for over a month and had not responded at all when we tried to jump it off in December. But this time, I got in and turned the key and it started. Not only did it start but it has kept on starting for a couple of months now. I'm sure there is a mechanical explanation but I like to think God just decided that we needed our truck to work.

3. New Computer $500
Answer: Two computers. That's right. We had a good friend come and visit us from Texas. He said he had a gift for us and he brought in two brand new computers.

4. Living Expenses for 4 months
Answer: Well here it is April and we haven't missed a pay check yet! We're not exactly sure where the next pay check comes from but everyone has been so generous and God has been so good!

5. Business Cards and a Block Party
Answer: We've done them both!

Good News/OK News and a Immediate Need

2009-04-06T16:15:00.000-07:00

Hey every one! Well, today will go down as one of those Good News/OK News days in the brief history of the Crossbridge Community Church.

The Good News is really good and the OK news isn't that bad.

The Good News is that our funding request for start up funds was approved by the Tennessee Baptist Convention!!! TBC has decided to put up considerable start-up funds for the Crossbridge Community Church. These funds will help us pay for block parties, preview services, mail outs, equipment, and community events for this summer as we ramp up to the launch in September. It greatly improves our ability to reach out to the Smyrna/LaVergne area! I'm so excited to see God provide this way.

The OK News is that our request for personal monthly support through the TBC was only half way met. We asked for $2000 a month for the 1st year and it looks like we'll receive about $850 a month. Now this isn't bad news. I'm am so thankful for the $850. That's over $10,000 TBC will be investing in us personally this year not counting the start-up money. God is Good!

But, we will have to figure out how to make ends meet. Rebecca and I have both put resumes out for extra jobs and we are waiting to see what happens. I actually had an interview this morning for one possibility. It will take a bit for us to find these alternate streams of income so the big need will be over the next two months.

The Immediate Need with the lower number than we had hoped for from TBC and a pretty hefty tax bill due on the 15th, we are going to come up short of our needs by about $1200 this month (and possibly the same for the next month). So if God has been stirring anybody to give, now would be a good time. Every little bit helps and adds up.

When you give you will be partnering with us and the vision of creating a new church focused on the 100's and 100's of young families that have moved into the Smyrna/LaVergne are of Tennessee.

You'll give us the ability to keep meeting and recruiting new families. So far we have gathered 5 strong families and have another 10 families that are very interested. I'm having coffee with two new families this week to discuss the joining the launch team.

You'll be giving us the time to plan the out reaches, the block parties, the kids events, and the preview services and vision meetings.

Thanks for considering partnering with us!

-Blake

Click here to donate

That's My Storm!

2009-04-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

I read the story of Jesus calming the storm this morning in Mark chapter 4.

It hit me that when Jesus stopped the storm and replied "why were you so afraid" basically he was saying " Didn't you know this is my storm. I can stop it and start it anytime I want. If it is here, it is because I have allowed it to be here. If you trust me, then you don't have to fear."

It's kind of hard for me, just like the disciples to be able to grasp this: The Storms are His!

I wonder what would happened if Jesus had not stopped the storm, was there something else that the disciples would have learned if they would have just trusted Jesus.

I can have peace, not because the storm stops, but because I trust the one who can stop the storm.

When the pressure hits I'm just going to imagine Jesus saying "That's my storm" and then I'm going to just keep trusting that the Storm Maker is in control.

FBC Cordele GA

2009-04-03T07:01:00.000-07:00

I got to meet Scott Alexander from FBC Cordele GA yesterday. He's bringing a group of middle schoolers up June 13th to do some leg work for the new church. Our goal is to do 3 events (block party, Chick-fil-a Family Night, apartment outreach) and to put door hangers on over 2000 homes in the the 3 days they are with us.

God just keeps sending cool people and churches to partner with us.

Hanging Out At Bethesda

2009-04-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Well April is now here and this will be our first month that (if things stay like they are) more money will need to go out than we have money coming in. In other words, we're broke.

Rebecca is trying to get a job, I'm trying to do more fundraising.

The cool thing is that my Bible Reading today was on the story of the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5.

Jesus just entered in his life, basically said "Do you really want this." The man says yes (in my opinion using all the wrong words but apparently that didn't matter.) And then Jesus said "Get Up." That was it. Boom and everything changed. He didn't have to , but this time He did and there was no question of who just intervened.

It's really cool to think that any circumstance plus Jesus can equal the perfect time for Him to just blow us away.

Now we are not going to stop exploring all the possibilities of what God wants us to do to raise funds for the new church. But, I'm praying that this time is a "Bethesda Time" in our lives.

I think God is asking us "Do you really want this." and in my totally inadequate way I'm telling Him yes with all the honesty and sincerity I can. And now we're going intentionally watch to see if this is one of those times He wants to do something cool.

He doesn't have to, He may not, but if He does, they'll be no question of who just did it.

I'll try to keep you guys up on what happens over the next two weeks.

Live Your Faith, Share Your Life

2009-04-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

We've started meeting with 3 other families every Sunday for prayer and Bible study. Can I tell you how refreshing it is just to hang out with people and laugh and pray and sing. We share about what God is doing in our lives, our faith walk. And we are strengthened by how God is working in each other lives. That's Church!

I heard a great quote the other day. I pastor got tired of hearing people say "we need to share our faith" and coming up with a program to help us do it. It all seemed so mechanical. So he came up with the line "Live your faith, share your life."

I love this. If we are daily living our faith and then intentionally sharing our lives, the result is much more authentic transferal to others of what God is doing in our lives.

It's nice when they call.

2009-03-05T04:26:00.000-08:00

Last night I had another call from someone who had got our phone call but could not make it to the meeting.

Since the phone blitz I have 6 people call me to tell me how interested they are in the new church. At times I am amazed that not only are people being drawn to what God is doing but some are being DRAWN to what God is doing.

I guess my biggest prayer is that I don't somehow mess this thing up.

Please pray for me not to procrastinate.

Please pray for protection for my wife and my family.

Please pray for energy for me.

Please pray for boldness.

Day One

2009-03-05T03:44:00.001-08:00

I've asked God for today to be "Day One". As I look back over the last four months I see God has done some incredible things but I also feel like I've been holding back. I think God is going to do incredible things whether I'm fully vested on not...but what if I just went all out over these next 6 months. How much more would I be able to enjoy what God is going to do? What if over the next 6 months I Loved God, Loved Others, Loved my Family, with everything I had. I mean we've taken this faith step, why hold anything back? Why not leave "it all on the matt"?

I calculated the days of my life this morning: 14,615! But I'm going to reboot. Today is "Day One".

I love Technology

2009-02-22T19:29:00.001-08:00

This blog entry is being done from my igoogle account. With all the gadgets I can check email, post to my twitter account, and post to my blog account, all from one page. Technology is just incredible.

Phone Blitz Story #4

2009-02-19T06:04:00.000-08:00

God kind of slapped me around last weekend. I had been returning some of the phone calls and kind of dreading calling back the ones that seemed older. The Crossbridge is going to be more contemporary in it's worship style and I just kept thinking that an older generation would not be interested in that.

Saturday night we went to a very contemporary church in Murfreesboro. As I looked out over the crowd I saw just an incredible number of gray hair worshippers. It really caught me off guard.

I stopped singing and just thanked God for people who have walked with Him for decades and still have a desire to be a part of a church reaching this generation.

I pray that our church will have many of these "senior" saints to model a true walk with God for all the middle aged parents and especially the young "whipper snappers".

I'm excited to see the incredible people who God will draw to our church that I might have just written off.

Phone Blitz Story #3

2009-02-17T12:53:00.000-08:00

Talked with a young man named Jackson. He was raised Protestant and his wife Catholic. When they first got married they tried finding a church that they both liked but never could so they just stopped going. They now have a 3 and an 8 year old and he realizes that as the Dad he has the responsibility of helping his kids connect with God. He's excited that maybe a new church is something both him and his wife can join.

When I hung up the phone, I thanked God. This is exactly who we felt God had sent us to. Young families that had disconnected from church. It makes me want to work even harder to make Crossbridge a church that reaches out to families like this, that gives them a safe place to reconnect, and then gives them the tools to go deeper in their relationship with God.

Stories from the Phone Blitz 2

2009-02-17T08:50:00.000-08:00

It's crazy what God does when you step out in faith. Of all the things I thought we would get from the phone calls, this was not one of them.

On the Wednesday of the phone blitz I get a call from Ken Russum. Ken had heard about our calls, googled the name of the church and got my cell number and called me. He and his wife were former church planters living in Smyrna and wanted to meet me, Rebecca, and the girls.

After talking with Ken for a while it turned out that he and his wife Pauline had lived in my hometown and knew my Dad!

We've now visited with the Rusum's twice and they have already become such a huge blessing and encouragement to our family.

God continues to surprise us.

Stories from the Phone Blitz

2009-02-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

One of the first return phone calls I made was to a lady named Sheree. When I introduced myself on the phone she got so excited. She said that she was going to have a medical procedure the next day and she was laying on her bed crying to God for just some assurance. At that moment the phone rang and it was me! I was able to pray with her and check up on her once. Whether Sheree ever becomes a part of The Crossbridge or not it sure was cool to be used by God to give a hurting person some reassurance that he is there!

Sorry Guys

2009-02-17T08:40:00.001-08:00

Wow I'm getting bad about updating the blog. I'll start catching everyone up now.

When last I posted, we had just done 37,000 phone. 213 people responded and asked for more information.

Another 6,000 people listened to the entire message but decided not to leave more information!

We've called all 213 people back and have sent them an brochure (it's posted on www.themoviechurch.com under downloads if you want to see it.)

I've now started calling all 213 agian for the second time to invite them to an information meeting on Feb 24th at the Hilton Garden Inn in Smyrna!!!

Initial Results of the Phone Blitz

2009-01-23T15:16:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't updated the blog. The phone blitz has been incredible. The final numbers came in and we have 213 people who said they wanted more info! I've spent the last week calling each one of those and then getting a mail out ready to send them and updating the website for them to look at.

The next step will be to call them all back again next week and invite them to an information meeting in February.

How the Phone Calls are Working

2009-01-14T07:21:00.001-08:00

Last night we received an excel file with 83 names of people that received are phone call, listened to the entire message and then left there name and address to get more info.

We also received voice files so that we could actually here what all 83 people said. Most of them were just them saying and spelling their names and addresses, but a couple would say some very encouraging things.

It was so interesting trying to visualize the person connected with the voice.

We'll receive an updated file all this week as the phone campaign continues to call all the phones that didn't answer.

Our next step will be to call each person back and reconfirm their address and then send them a brochure.

After the brochure we'll call them back one more time and we will have a great idea of who is really interested.

This should be about a 3 week process. Keep up the prayer cover.

2009-01-14T07:13:00.000-08:00

Thank You Tuesday prayer team. You've covered yesterday wonderfully. We think there is going to be another 30-40 names coming in this afternoon and we still have 2-3 more days. Feel free to pray on another day :)

TUESDAY PRAYER TEAM
Lonnie King
Kimberly Harris
Sarah Wonder
Josh Wonder
Cari Rae Fetters

The Tuesday Goal!!!

2009-01-14T07:06:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone it's Wednesday morning and here's the result of the weekend fundraising:

$3420!!!!! Okay we were about $80 short but I know there's still a few people out there praying, so I think we are going to top the mark.

But if it stopped right here... $3420 dollars in 4 days is definately a God thing.

Thank you guys so much!!!!

This Could Get Exciting-$3500 by Tuesday #6

2009-01-13T07:22:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah! $200 more this morning.

We are only $600 to reach the $3500 mark!

Guys you are an incredible blessing to us.

Blake

This Could Get Exciting-$3500 by Tuesday #5

2009-01-12T13:31:00.000-08:00

Okay it Monday at 3:30 and we just had another $600 come in for the phone calls! That means we are only about $800 short of our goal. We need 2 more at $350 and 1 more at $100.

God just keeps on surprising us.

-Blake

This Could Get Exciting-$3500 by Tuesday #4

2009-01-11T07:29:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday morning and we just got word back from one of our prayer support churches that they want to throw in $350!

That puts us at 6 out of the 10 spots covered! Over halfway and we still have 2 days left. In a little over 2 days we have had $2100 come in.

I'm getting God bumps!

Blake

This Could Get Exciting-$3500 by Tuesday #3

2009-01-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

All right, it's Saturday afternoon...one day after first posting...and we're half way there!!!!

Since yesterday morning we have had $1700 donated.

Today we had an old high school friend and good friend in Houston join the team to make the phone calls happen.

We're still have a long way to go but we have a couple of churches that are going to bring it up.

God is really cool.

This Could Get Exciting- $3500 by Tuesday #2

2009-01-09T14:53:00.000-08:00

Read the last post for all the info!

We've got our first $350 contribution!

We only need 9 more! This is going to be cool to see God provide for this one.

This Could Get Exciting- $3500 by Tuesday

2009-01-09T08:57:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, the 35,000 phone calls begin Tuesday. These are the calls that will basically kick-off The Crossbridge Community Church with the simple statement: "There is a new church forming in your area, for more information press 8." If statistics hold true, 150-200 people will press the #8 and from that we will begin gathering the core group for the new church!

The only problem is the church that we were hoping was going to donate the money to help pay for the phone calls, does not look like they are going to be able to help.

So we have to very quickly start looking for other funding sources!

We're looking for 10 businesses, small groups, churches, or individuals to donate $350.

We are also gathering groups of 10, so if you could donate $35 we'll put you together with 9 other people to form a group.

We'll keep you updated on the number of groups we've gathered and how close we are to the goal through the weekend and the first of next week.

And then next week we'll start letting you know about what God did with the phone calls.

Just think, you could quite honestly be a huge part of starting The Crossbridge Community Church.

Dontate here at the website http://www.themoviechurch.com/ or go straight to the donation page https://www.donation-net.net/donation/donation1.cfm?dn=1153&source=8&CFID=6198017&CFTOKEN=57346609

Can we find the 10 giving units by Tuesday- this could be exciting.

Everybody

2008-12-31T12:59:00.001-08:00

Hey I've added a "Follow this Blog" tab at the top. Be sure to sign up to follow the new posts.

Rebecca's Driver License

2008-12-31T10:03:00.000-08:00

Rebecca went to get her Texas driver license switched to a Tennessee license yesterday. This process is an incredible ordeal because the same place does reinstatement of DL's and apparently there are quite a few of my fellow TN rednecks that lose their licenses. All that said Rebecca was waiting for over 3 hours. But as God often does, He used the situation for her to meet someone. The guy beside her started talking, and it turns out that he and his family are new to the area. They felt that God wanted them to move from Florida to Nashville for a reason but they haven't figured out why yet. (Does anybody else get that funny feeling like I get when I heard this?)

After a couple of hours of talking, Rebecca found out that they also have 4 kids, his wife homeschools, and they are strong Christians. She told him all about The Crossbridge and he was very interested and asked lots of questions.

At the end of their conversation, Rebecca gave him our email and asked if his wife could email us and touch base about homeschooling.

We're waiting now for that email and praying that God is going to do something really cool with this "random" meeting.

Newletter 2

2008-12-31T09:56:00.000-08:00

I've had several real encouraging calls since the newsletter went out.

A friend in St. Louis is coming down to see us next month (we're praying that they like Nashville so much that they will stay and help us start the church.)

A friend from Atlanta called and said that the design company he works for is going to design a cool portable stage set for our Children's area at the theater and do all the work for FREE. I love free. The company that he works for has done some really cool stuff, check it out at http://www.sgstudios.org/.

Also the friend from Atlanta said his wife has done a lot of fund raising for local charities and she's praying about how she can take some of the techniques she used in fundraising for charities and apply that to raising money for The Crossbridge!

God is still surprising us ever day.

The Newsletter

2008-12-31T09:49:00.001-08:00

Wow it has been great hearing from everybody after we sent out the newsletter.

We were able to gather 450+ email addresses and sent it out last Sunday. We're using a service that keeps up with how many people actually open the email (kind of scary huh) anyway 2 days after we sent it, over 250 people have opened the email! Hopefully we'll see a lot more next Monday when people that had the holidays off get back to work.

When you get the email, drop us a line of encouragement at blake@thecrossbridge.com . If you haven't emailed us, I can't tell you how encouraging it is to hear from you after you've read it.

Thanks for all the prayers, The Crossbridge Community is officially real and alive now that I know there are so many of you lifting it up!

Hold on to your hat and welcome to this crazy ride God has set before us.

The 3 Things God Has Told Me

2008-12-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

I'm not one to say that I've ever heard God's audible voice, but over the last 7 months I have distinctively felt impressed 3 times that God was saying something to me.

It first happened in May while I was praying through if I was really prepared and equipped to start a church. I was on a retreat to Yosemite National Park and I was reading some scripture and staring at the incredible mountains, when suddenly I felt God say "I am big enough." I took a deep breath and looked around at His incredible scenery and just started worshiping Him.

The next time was in July. I was working out in the yard and hauling off some stuff to the dump. While I was working I started thinking about why we were choosing Tennessee, was it just my desire to be back near home. I started wondering if the whole idea of church planting was just me and not God. Suddenly I felt God say "Don't doubt Me." The power of this feeling was so loud and I started to cry. (I'm glad no body else was out there.)

Finally, last week I was praying about our finances or lack there of. I was questioning why God wasn't supplying more funding. Suddenly I felt God say "Watch Me." In other words we have taken a huge step of faith and I need to keep my eyes on Him instead of staring at all the potential problems.

Now when anything happens I review these 3 statements: God is big enough. Don't doubt Him. Watch Him Work.

It keeps me going!

Angel at Super Target

2008-12-22T21:16:00.000-08:00

Okay this is one of those crazy God moments. I had been at Starbucks having a cup of coffee with a local pastor. Rebecca called and asked me to run into Super Target to get some soy sauce. As I pull into the parking lot I notice a front row parking space! I pulled up to the spot and saw the spot infront of this space was empty too . I started to pull all the way through but another car pulled in from the other side. So I put the cruiser in park and got out to go in to the store.

As I come around the side of the car, a man was walking by and said "Do you like your Cruiser?" I said yeah, especially since it was a gift. This led into a 30 minute conversation inside the store about the new church.

After we talked the man looked at me and said that he felt like God wanted him to give me something and he reached in his wallet and pulled out a $100 bill.

God's so cool.

New Theater

2008-12-22T21:01:00.001-08:00

Here's a picture of where Crossbridge Community Church will launch on Sept 13th of 2009!

I signed the contract with the theater the week before their Grand Opening. So we were part of the VIP's that got to attend the opening night festivities. We watched the mayor cut the ribbon and then we were among the first group to see a movie in the theater.

The kids couldn't believe that we all got free popcorn and drinks.

I just kept walking around, silently praying for everything I went by. Everyone else in town thinks the theater opened so people in Smyrna don't have to drive to Murfreesboro to see a movie. We know the truth though, God placed the cinema there so in September 100's of kids are going to ask their Mom's and Dad's to take them to the movie church! (Check out themoviechurch.org)

Crazy Snow Storm

2008-12-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

Last week Rebecca ran to Kroger to get some groceries. About an hour later she calls and says she's stuck in traffic and wondered if I had looked out side lately. I went and looked and saw the craziest snow storm I had ever seen. You see it wasn't freezing so the snow should have been melting as it was hitting the ground. But the snow flakes falling were so huge and falling so fast, that the sheer number and size were overpowering the melting and lo and behold it was sticking and accumulating! It was about 7:00 at night and we knew the snow would disappear rather quickly so we bundled up the girls and went outside.

We built a snowman and then the neighbors came out with their sled and it was on. The kids had a blast and we got to start building relationships with our neighbors. Thanks for the snow God.

The Search for the Support Church

2008-12-22T19:47:00.000-08:00

In December I began my search for a local support church. This is a must for any funding organization. A local support church is a church in the area that supports your vision for planting a church and is willing to back you with finances, people, resources and prayer. I have had several "pastorial" friends who have said I could put their church down as a support church so I could get funding from the Tennessee Baptist Convention but that they wouldn't be able to really help us with any support at this time.

I feel God that if God has given us this vision, then he's stirring a church somewhere in Tennessee to the same vision. My job is to find them.

Over the last two weeks I've begun to emailing every church in the area trying to meet and get to know as many pastors as I can. I haven't found that LSC yet but I've got to eat a bunch of free lunches.

ARC Round Table

2008-12-22T19:33:00.000-08:00

The first week in December I got to go to Little Rock to meet with a group called ARC. ARC is a church plant funding organization. Boy those guys are on the ball. They have a very clear vision of church planting and they have an incredible heart to help. Hopefully this trip will result in a connection that will be very advantageous in the future.

Amy Grants Yard Sale!!!

2008-12-22T19:21:00.000-08:00

One of our first weekends in Nashville we heard that Amy Grant was having a charity yard sale at a local college for a friend with a special needs child. Rebecca and I love a good yard sale so we headed into Nashville to check it out. We looked around at a lot of the booths and then headed to the center booth that was marked as "Amy's Stuff." And who was there selling Amy's Stuff? None other than Amy Grant herself. Rebecca said we should have brought the camera. I reminded her we were Nashvillians now and shouldn't act like tourist. All that said we did buy a few things from Amy and got to talk to her for a few minutes. Cool.

Our New Home

2008-12-22T19:03:00.000-08:00

We got to Smyrna on October 31st. Our first mission was to find a house. I kept all the kids and went and got a newspaper to look for other rental properties. Rebecca had set up a few appointments and she went out ahead to scout out the houses. The very first house she looked at, she loved. It's a country style house with a front porch and set up on a big hill. We knew this was going to be the house we would live in for at least the next year.

The really cool thing was that it was Halloween and the neighborhood this house is in goes completely overboard for Halloween. We brought the kids back there that night and trick or treated at all our "soon to be" neighbors houses.

It was a great first experience for the kids.

PT Cruiser

2008-12-22T15:53:00.000-08:00

At the end of October we were packing up the house and a good friend of the family came over. Her husband had just bought a new car and they were going to give their son their very nice old car. They were looking for something to do with their son's car a 2002 wood grain PT Cruiser. She almost jokingly said "Blake you don't need a car do you." I felt a little guilty since we had just been given a '96 Tahoe, but I instantly thought that the cruiser would be lot more gas friendly, it had almost half the mileage, and on top of that I'd look pretty cool motoring around Smyrna in a wood grain PT Cruiser. I confessed that we didn't "need it" but that I could see myself really having fun with it as I drove around meeting people for the new church. She kind of smiled and said she'd talk to her husband about it. A little later he came over and flung a set of car keys at me. And said they would love for me to have the car. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. (Thankfully as we sit here in Smyrna the week before Christmas, the starter went out on the Tahoe last month but the Cruiser is still going strong.)

Super Tater

2008-12-22T10:36:00.000-08:00

In October we took a trip to Southside Baptist Church in Tyler TX to share the vision of what we were going to be doing in Nashville . Southside was our first fulltime ministry that we jumped into after seminary. They invited me to say a few words about the church plant. During the service, I shared about a 10 minute vision and then afterward the church planned a baked potatoe fundraiser for us. The whole church turned out and we had a blast visiting with everyone and catching up with each other lives. And the end of the lunch, a few men walked over to tell me how much was raised, we were excpecting a couple of hundred dollars but the total was over $2000. God is so cool. The money came in especially handy when the brakes on the trucks went out during the move to Tennessee. The brake job ended up being over $500 plus we had to stay in a hotel and all the extra food. But God had already abundantly provided for this in advance!

Colonial's Big Gift

2008-12-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

In September we saw God do something incredible. We knew that our Church was praying through how they were going to support what we were going to do in Smyrna. Out of the blue, Pastor Tim called me into his office and told me that the personel team decided to coninue our salary and insurance through December. That meant we had 3 months to get settled and figure out what we going to do. I got so excited I gave Tim a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. The gift from Colonial was incredible, moment after I kissed Tim on the cheek was a bit awkward.

The Plan

2008-12-22T10:06:00.000-08:00

Pre-launch Phase
November –March 2009
After moving to Smyrna, TN, and secure a meeting space, we’ll start meeting the community and start engaging them through service evangelism. We will recruit and build a launch team and train volunteers to serve at our monthly community outreach events.

Preview Phase
April-August 2009
We will conduct monthly preview services, servant evangelism projects, connection events and follow-up. Church staff will be in place by April. Several friends have expressed a desire to be a part of the servant evangelism projects and the preview services. Please let us know if you would like to be a part of these.

Launch
September 2009
Launch and promote grand opening month. We have this crazy vision that God is going to bring 300 people to our very first meeting!

Growth Phase
After launching large, our plan is to connect visitors to our church through newcomer classes, life groups, and mission opportunities.

The Journey So Far

2008-12-22T09:48:00.000-08:00

Here's the recap of our journey :

April ‘08: Blake has this crazy feeling that God wants us to leave our comfortable life and go start a new church. Rebecca amazingly says “Let’s do it!” and the journey begins.

June ‘08 After much prayer and research, we “connected the dots” and the picture became very clear that God was leading to a town just south of Nashville TN named Smyrna.
-Smyrna is located in one of the fastest growing areas of Tennessee. The low taxes, scenic foothills, recreational activities, and incredible school systems are attracting young families like crazy. In fact the town directly south of Smyrna was just named one of the best places in America to raise kids by Business Week Magazine. It’s a perfect fit for our heart and vision to reach young families.

August ’08: Blake tells our church family that we will be leaving in October to start a new church in Tennessee. We put our house on the market and we begin fundraising.

September 08: We accept an offer on the house and go to our first Church Planter’s training conference. The offer on the house turns into a rental agreement as the buyers can't sell their house.

October ’08: We take a tour of Texas, visiting with 3 churches in 3 different cities in 5 days. We share the vision and the plan for what we are going to do in Smyrna. When we come back from the "tour" and we spend the next 2 weeks packing. We squeeze all our stuff into three fourths of a semi-truck (thanks to Rebecca and all the tetris loving packers) and head to Tennessee.

November ’08: We find a house to rent on our first day in Tennessee and we get moved in. Later in the month we launch a website (http://www.crossbridge.tv/), and sign a contract that will make the brand new theater in town the first location of The Crossbridge Community Church starting in September of 2009! We got to go to the Grand Opening of the theater and watch the Mayor cut the ribbon. We keep searching and praying for a local support church.

December ’08: We get our first Tennessee snow! And we send out a Christmas newsletter to all of our friends and family.

Cool things God has Done

2008-09-25T18:40:00.001-07:00

Thanks to that $1000 check we were given we are able to pay for our training trip to Tennessee. We're attending a "church planters basic training" up in the Smokey Mountians. It's our first step in getting connected with the Tennesse Baptist Convention. Good stuff and we're getting to meet lots of other church planters.

Before we left Texas we got a contract on our house!!!! It has a contengency attached but it is definitely a step in the right direction.

Also, we got a new vehicle. A 1996 Chevy Tahoe was donated to us. It will be great for hauling stuff for the new church.

First Post

2008-07-21T22:24:00.000-07:00

Well this is my first time ever to Blog. Kinda exciting. I figured if anything it would be self theraputic to journal our journey to the launching of The CrossBridge Church.

Currently we are getting the house ready to sell and I'm casting the vision every time I get a shot. I've been saying that we are going to start a church, but right now there is no money and no people. Well I can't say that anymore. This Sunday I preached at Colonial and I had one family walk up and give me a $1000 check, so we now have money! Later that afternoon a young couple we know told us God had told them that they were supposed to move to Tennessee with us and plant CrossBridge, so we now have people!

I'm spending some time trying to leverage my FaceBook to connect with some old friends. Hopefully this weekend we will put our house in Wichita Falls on the market, we will send out our first newsletter and we will have a basic website up and running.

A graphic artist friend of mine is working on a logo so I hope to let everyone see it this week.

Well that's all for my first post, I'll try to keep everyone updated.

Blake