David Kennard

David Kennard is the campus pastor of Mill site, which is the second location for River Side church in the Philadelphia area. The second site was set up in a mall which effect at drawing people in just to enjoy a few minutes of a sports game in the lounge or for a Sunday service. Well operating in a mall is expensive David pointed out that it was still a lot cheaper than building a multi million-dollar facility and it is in a great location. 

River side employs free market growth groups. They are structured in a way that many who attend them are not aware at first that the group is affiliated with a church. The leaders are trained to help those in the groups find their way towards Christ when God opens a door. These groups are effective at reaching out to the community and putting believers in contact with people who would be unlikely to get connected with a church in another.

River side is very focused on reaching out to those who do not yet know Christ. They try to shy away from using words that might carry a lot of whight with people that they are trying to minster too. For example they might say Christ follower rather than Christian. They make their services very visitor friendly by explaining what is going to happen before it happens and why they do what they do so that people new to the church don’t feel insecure or uncomfortable with what is going on around them. This is something that I think all churches should try to emulate. One of the biggest turn offs for someone visiting a new church can be a feeling that they don’t belong and that they don’t fit in. The church today needs to be as open to those who are familiar with the church as possible.

Steven Defrain

Steve Defrain felt the call of God at the age of eighteen but he wasn’t sure what God wanted him to do at the time. Steve grew up in the church and was somewhat put off by the politics that happen inside of some churches. It wasn’t until he went to college and had a chance to step back from the church that he really came to Christ. He got involved with another church and again really felt the call of God. He got a position their as a janitor. Eventually he took a position at a church in Oklahoma for 4 years as a children’s/ junior high pastor. He ran into the same problems there that where in the church he grew up in with people arguing about the way things looked rather than trying to serve Christ. His third year there he went to a life church and was really impressed. He Got a sense that they really new what they where doing and knew how important their message was and they weren’t hung up on unimportant things. Eventually he started his own church and he wanted to model it in a way after life Church. He cut out all the stuff that people where getting hung up on rather than serving God and preaches to those who do not yet know God. He often tells the new people in his congregation form the pulpit that if they are a church person they are not a win, as in the church is their to win people over to Christ and not to pull people from other churches. 

Lifechurch.tv

Lifechurch.tv began in 1996 in Oklahoma and was started by Craig Groeschel. Since than it has grown to13 different locations around the United States and offers people the chance to meet globally online.  Lifechurch.tv offers its viewer’s live worship music and a weekly message that has been pre recorded that are biblically based.

When I first say lifechurch.tv I was concerned that a church experience entirely based online would not fully meet what God had intended for his people. When I started to look into what they have to offer I discovered that they help people get involved in small groups in person no matter where they are. This helps people form much stronger relationships and have fellowship that I don’t think is possible from a completely online experience.

One of the major advantages of providing church this way is that it can fit into just about anyone’s schedule as long as they have internet. Also, those who can’t get out of their home at all for whatever reason are given a chance to experience church. With the online community, those people are also given a chance to communicate with other Christians.

Lifechurch.tv can be viewed from anywhere in the world which brings me to another one of its advantages. It’s targeting the world. Unlike most churches that put their services on line so that a potential visitor can check them out, lifechurch.tv is using the internet to reach out to people in places that Christians might have a hard to even getting to.

Over all I think that lifechurch.tv and pastor Craig have a good and successful concept but I don’t think that it should replace weekly attendance at a local church however there is no harm and there is a potential benefit to adding lifechurch.tv to your schedule at some point in the week. 

Daniel R. Schafer

Daniel R. Schafer has been in ministry for 47 years serving as a pastor and a Chaplin for various agencies. His ministry has been built around waiting for God to open doors in his life so that he can reach out to the hurting. He would not have been able to get anywhere that he has gone if it had not been for God. One of those places was New York City after the destruction of September 11, 2001. God allowed Daniel to coordinate the Chaplin efforts throughout the recovery process. He can with out a hesitation, that God was their with them.

            Another way that he is able to minister is through “red, white, and, blue services”. During these, his church invite in all of the paramedics, firemen, police force to come for a special service in which the honor them, feed them, and at the end they pray for them. His church also holds similar services for racecar drivers and bikers. People appreciate these services so much that one year the bikers brought their keys with them when they could not bring their bikes so that they could get prayer.

            Daniel put a great importance on a ministry of presence. When someone losses someone else sometimes the best thing to do is to be with them. Words don’t always help and sometimes the only thing that does is the presence of someone else.  

New Believer: John

Tell me about your journey to faith in Christ?

“I grew up in a home that was Christian by name but we didn’t really live it out. My family went to church most days when I was younger but stopped, as I got older. They didn’t seem that interested. I didn’t have many friends at that time but that changed when I got connected to a few kids from a youth group that I ended up going to.”

What helped you the most to step over the line and make the commitment? ·

“I went to an event hosted by two local churches that would get me out of school for a few hours. At that event was the first time I really heard anyone talk about the saving work of grace and I new than that it was true.”

        

What has been the best part of becoming a Christ follower for you?

“The best part of following Christ for me is the freedom and the hope. When you stop to think about it there isn’t much about this world that is worth living for but God is defiantly living for and I never had that feeling before I came to Christ. The hope that comes with faith in Christ is amazing because you just know there is so much more.”

What has been the most challenging part of following Christ? ·  

“There is so much to learn. It seems like ever one you look at in the church has it all down and has been like that since day one but here I am having to pick it up from scratch. To add to that I come from a Lutheran background so the Pentecostal church seems a little different.”

What do you think is helping you grow the most in your faith? · 

“The friends I have have really helped me. I’ve been to a few events that have really help my faith come alive. The fellowship that I was missing out before I came to God has really made a difference.

What advice do you have for me in helping others like you to grow in their faith?

“Discipleship. Not just the stuff out of a text book that you do with someone for a few weeks but true discipleship where two people can form a deep and lasting relationship. I think missing that person is the only real thing that I feel like I’m missing at all so far in my walk.”

Write a reaction paper on what you experienced and learned from your interview. Each report should be at least 300 words and should be posted on your blog. Do not include the full name of the person you interviewed.

Response:

I think that John’s point about discipleship is an important one. I too went through a few generic programs that only last for a few weeks or for a summer. I always felt like the focus was to much on the material and there was never much room for a relationship to grow. When it comes down to it that relationship is more important that whatever the martial could be. First, it is important to have a person we can really get to know and see the work of Christ in, to have someone we can share the revelations of our time with God with, and someone we know will be safe to talk to if we are really struggling with a problem that would be hard if not imposable to tell someone we had only known for a few weeks. Seconded, Having that relationship in our lives will teach us how to disciple someone else when we are ready too. The “how do I do this?” will be gone or at lease diminished because we will have already lived through it. True discipleship is something I think is lacking in our church today and it is something I hope to have in my ministry.          

I think that John’s salvation is a good testament to faithfulness in God. The program that he came to Christ through was mostly being used by those who attended, to get out of school and that is even what John thought he was doing as well. The leaders kept it going however and they were able to reach him when it seemed Christ had no other avenues at the time into his life. As far as I know that program has having little success other than this one instance.

The leaders of the one of the churches youth group’s did a great job help John make new friends quickly. It didn’t take John long to feel at home and fit in with at least a few of the other students. This is a very important part of ministry. I think fellowship is one of the most basic needs that is not being met in our society today in or outside of the church. People are so quite to close themselves up in the groups they are apart. The youth leader picked put a couple and pretty much limited them to hang out with John at first so that relationships could be built.