I know three
couples that in the past two weeks that have had a baby. For a few months I have been asking them how the pregnancy is progressing. The birth is always intense with a mixture of
excitement, anxiety, exhaustion and celebration. Friends and family want to know “Boy or girl?
Who the baby looks like? How much did he weigh? How many inches long was she?”
This past
Sunday we officially celebrated the grand opening of New Life Rogers Park on
the North East side of Chicago. I realized how much it felt like one of my
friends was having a baby. I was excited
to hear how the spiritual birth went. I wanted to see pictures to see what the
baby looked like. I received a text with a picture as soon as the baby
congregation was born.
As a parent I
also know that no matter how intense the work leading up to the birth is…the
work will become even more intense after the baby is born. I feel like a proud
grandparent. Several years ago we helped
launch New Life Portage Park. This week New Life Rogers Park was birthed out of
Portage Park.
Dwayne Eslick
sent an email to our entire pastoral team the morning of their first service.
Here is an excerpt;
After years of dreams, months of prayer, weeks of
preparation, days and days of
Overtime labor, we are only three hours away from
the first service of the 15th
location of New Life.
1) Thank you for your giving. We have some nice new tools for the kingdom
and
‘The hospital bill’ for the baby (church) location
has been covered thanks to each offering at New Life where 5% is given to home
missions. Thanks Pastor Mark for your
wisdom in dividing up the missions budget to 50% home and 50% foreign missions!
2) Thank you for praying. I feel the prayers of the saints across the
city.
Please lead your congregation in doing the
same. It is our
"not-so-secret" key to success in church planting! Imagine even the children's ministry across
the city praying for the new children on the far North East corner of the city!
3) Thanks for just being a team… I am better
person, better leader, and better soldier for the Lord because of your
influence!
4) Thanks for (New Life) Portage for being the
mother location and being willing to take in a wandering ex-youth pastor a
couple of years ago. We will be a nice
mixed cultural baby thanks to you (and also Lakeview and a couple of other
locations.)
5) Thanks to Central Service as Fellowship One has
been a great tool for this
launch.
Thank You.
6) I could keep going and going... but I am
thankful this morning to be a New
Lifer since May of 1995. I am excited to be part of a church planting
movement.
I am excited that God has put me in Chicago's
greatest mission field... what I
believe to be the least ‘churched’ part of the
city. I thank God for a wife and
family who has shown me more grace and forgiveness
than I have ever thought
possible. I’m
thankful for the youth of the southwest side who broke my heart for people over
and over and over through countless funerals, hardships, and just allowing me
to be part of their families.
7) I am thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ because he chose the
foolish things of the world and made them tools in
his hands. I am thankful
that my name is written in the Lamb's book of
life. Everything else is sweet
icing on the cake :)
As you pray today at your location ... you can now
officially say we have 15
locations ….Love you all... will send pictures
later.
Walking by faith one step at a time.
decrease Dwayne
I am
happy to report that the baby was healthy.
It’s name New Life Rogers Park. It looks like its relatives…very
multi-cultural. It weighed 247 people at
birth. It’s lungs sounded great in
worship. It will need a lot of attention over the next few month, but I am
believing it will grow up to look like Jesus, have great influence and one day birth
children of its own.
Congratulations
New Life Roger’s Park.
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| Grand Opening New Life Rogers Park |
