Pantano Christian Church

This past weekend a group of 12 folks from Pantano Sierra Vista (14 if you count my two girls) traveled to Gilbert, Arizona and supported the launch of Genesis Christian Church (GCC).    You can check them out at www.mygenesischurch.com.  What an awesome adventure.  We observed first hand what it takes to launch a strong, vibrant and healthy church. 

Tim Kelly - Lead Pastor at GCC did an excellent job reaching out the community around the church and had 188 adults and children attend on opening day.  This is an tremendous start for GCC.  We were honored to serve side by side with his team as they held their first worship service. 

Some observations that I had that I would like to share. 

• It takes more people than you think!  Tim had 35 people on his launch team for one service.  Our goal is to launch with two services in Sierra Vista.  You do the math.
• Genesis had been given an amazing church building complete with and education building.  Lots of parking and a huge auditorium.  (We are not jealous!  Okay we are…)   We are looking at having our weekend gathering in a school or someplace similar.  This all equals more folks needed for set up and tear down, audio and visual needs, greeters and the like.  Again, you do the math. 
• I also observed that most of the attenders at Genesis hung out in large groups after the service.  Listening to them talk to each other and to me it dawned on me that most of these folks already knew somebody at Genesis.  Which means that the folks on the Launch Team, in the church invited them.  Duhhh.

I know people will come to PCC- Sierra Vista because of the people already in PCC - Sierra Vista.  For those on the Launch Team already, don’t underestimate what a personal invitation can do.  Think about the Valentines event.  ALL of the people who came did so because a Launch Team member invited them.  We did not do any advertising or marketing besides talking to our friends, neighbors and co-workers. 

Don’t think that we have to offer them someplace to come to.  I am getting so caught up in the “location” of the service that I must remind myself that Pantano is about what happens during the week, not just on Sundays.   Now, we will do a high quality worship service on Sundays, and offer outstanding Children’s and Student Ministries.  That is not what I am saying.  

Offer people something to be a “part of” not just a “sitter in”. Invite them to be a part of your life group.  Invite them to be a part of a service project.  Invite them to be a part of something that is bigger than any of us and invite them to be a part of the launch team.   Invite them to be a part of your life and a Life in Christ.  This is what changes people forever. 

I remember Pastor Tim Coop making a statement in the Welcome to Pantano Class that we attended 4 years ago that has stuck with me.  He said “We don’t need more members at Pantano.  Honestly, we have plenty of those.  What we need are more people engaged in the mission of loving people to Jesus and launching passionate people to make our world different.  Can you imagine what that would look like?”