June 2009 Rhodes Family Church Planting Update

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been six months since we moved to Chico and it has flown by very quickly! These last few weeks have been very encouraging ones and we are so excited about where our ministry here is going.

Jeremy has been making some God ordained contacts here these last few weeks. He is building relationships with many people that we believe will be an integral part in our church planting process as well as continuing to foster the relationships he has built with several unchurched people. He has also been taking groups of people over to the Jesus Center to serve meals to the homeless. As well as being a volunteer coach for a summer flag football team. We have begun planning our nights of vision, which will take place once a month starting in September. These evenings will include some worship, a testimony given by one of the individuals we have been connecting with and a time to talk about our vision for Chico. We are very excited about these meetings, which will eventually turn into our launch team for the church! Please be praying for these evenings as we prepare for them and find a place to meet in.

Elizabeth has been very busy as well. She got cast in the musical “The Spitfire Grill,” which she auditioned for last month. She has rehearsals three nights a week and the show will open on July 17th. We would love to have anyone who is interested to come and see this great show. The kids are doing great! They go to the gym with Elizabeth every morning and participate in the kids’ center there, which is very much like preschool. They look forward to it every day and are making a lot of good friends.

Please pray for us as we find a place to meet. Also pray that God will bring the people into our lives that will be involved in His church with us. If you have not yet sent in your monthly support for June please do so at this time. Don’t forget that you can also sign up for automatic debits at www.sunergeo.org/donate. We are getting closer and closer to December, which is when we need to be at our next fundraising goal. Please pray that we will reach this goal. If you have not yet committed support to us and would still like to you may do so at anytime on the above listed website.

Blessings!
Jeremy and Elizabeth Rhodes

lesson from the past

Last night putting my children to sleep I learned a valuable lesson or more was reminded of a valuable truth. Occasionally I will read a passage from the Bible to my kids and last night I chose to read from a Bible that I got in 1986 from my parents when I became a Christian. I picked the passage to read based on what was book marked, underlined and highlighted (I no longer underline and highlight). The passage that I shared with them was Matthew 6:25-34 and more specifically the verse that hit me was:
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
As I read this out loud a smile crept onto my face.
The truth of the verse hit me square in the heart. Planting a Church can be stressful at times and you feel a lot of pressure to do everything yourself. This verse helped me understand once again my role. My job is to be obedient, seek God and let him draw people to himself. God is the only one who can build the Church anything done under our power is a social club.

two tragedies

All or nothing. That is the way you are forced to church plant. You have to go all in or walk away from the table. That often means living in a new place with little or no support. So you find yourself in much prayer and study to stay sane through the pain of life and ministry. The reality is that when you do all the right things pain still comes and for me yesterday it came in twos.
First... doing the right thing. There was a nice lady in my brother's church who asked me to visit her mom in a care center up here in Chico CA. I shared the good news with her about Jesus and how much God loves us. When I asked if she would like to pray, she said no, just no, no followed by silence.
Second... pain still comes. In the afternoon my mom called me to let me know that my younger cousin had taken her own life. She was 26 and obviously hurting. She also did not know about Jesus and the love of God.
Twice in one day I experienced lives opposed to Jesus and everything that is important to me.
This is not about me but rather about lives lost never knowing LOVE.
This is about the senselessness of not sharing our faith.
This is about wanting to see a new world but feeling it slip away.
This is about FAITH, HOPE and LOVE!

May 2009 Rhodes Family Church Planting Update

Dear Family and Friends,

We are sorry that we did not get an April Newsletter out to everyone. The month just flew by!

We would like to do something a little different in this newsletter. We would like to give you a glimpse into the life of a church planter. This was Monday May 4th!

Jeremy’s day started at 7:30am meeting with the Chaplain of Champion Christian School. We shared our stories and talked about ways to partner to reach Chico with the gospel. While I was waiting for my meeting to start I ran into a local girl that I have been building a relationship with and she shared some current struggles. Afterward I headed to my local coffee shop/ office where I scheduled a time to serve at a local shelter that feeds the homeless in the community. Then I invited one of my unchurched friends to serve with us and he agreed. Then it was off to check my mail, while on the way I ran into another guy who I had not seen in a while and we caught up on what he is doing, he shared his current struggles. Then lunch. In the afternoon I was able to go to the gym and meet new exciting people. When I was finished there I went to get my haircut and continued the relationship that I have started with the nice young lady who cuts my hair. I invited her to serve with us and she agreed. Then I went home and chased my kids around growling like a lion.

Elizabeth’s Day started at 7:30am with the kids asking for breakfast. After a morning of food and straightening up the house we headed to the gym. The kids had fun at the child care while I worked out at a gym for the first time in a whole lot of years! After the gym we came home for lunch and nap time/quiet time. Then we played for awhile. After dinner I went to audition for the Chico Community Theatre’s production of “Spitfire Grill.” A musical I have never heard of, but I watched the move and it was good. This was the first musical I had auditioned for in almost 8 years so it was kind of scary. I did my best and it went well. I also met a lot of interesting people that I hope to get to know better. So we will see if I get a part. It was all in all a good day!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and financial support. We are constantly being blessed by your faithfulness and your partnership with us. As we have said so many times we could not be here doing this if it weren’t for your faithfulness in God and in us. If you have not yet sent in your monthly support for May please do so at this time. Don’t forget that you can also sign up for automatic debits at www.sunergeo.org/donate. We have reached our first fundraising goal, but we still have another goal to meet by the end of December so if you haven’t committed support to us yet and would like to you may also go to the above website to do that as well.

Blessings!
Jeremy and Elizabeth Rhodes

oops!

I have not blogged for a while and I missed sending out a newsletter for April. That is simply because April was busy. That is a good thing, right?
Here is an April run down... well since my last post so the second half of April...
We had a quick run down to Hollister CA for the Annual Business Meeting where we affirmed a new District Executive Minister and heard from many different planters and pastors about what God is doing. I was able to share about the generosity that we have experienced from churches and individuals. We were there for the weekend and Tuesday for a lead team meeting. We barely had time to get ready for the Bible Study Thursday. So I feel as if we finally have our bearings and we are back at loving the people that God brings to us with a renewed zest. God is fantastic!

stuck in the middle

Yesterday I was having a conversation about the vision God has given us for a Church. At the end of the conversation the individual said " I really want to come to your church, when you get started?
Ahhh!
That is where we are in the middle. The Bible study does not appeal to the unchurched yet based on relationship they would be willing to come to a worship gathering. But I will hold that moment in my heart for a while, God confirms the vision along the way.
Pray for us!

Good Friday, Fun Saturday, Rocking Sunday

We had a busy weekend! Well not in the terms of most pastors this time of year.

We had Elizabeth's parents come up for the weekend. So my non-traditional Easter weekend was as follows.

On Good Friday we went up to a place called R Wild Horses Ranch. Gabriella and Josiah enjoyed their first horse rides. We lead the horses around while they chilled on their back. They had a great time... well Gabriella had a great time... Josiah's horse ride lasted a good five minutes by himself and another ten sitting on his Mom's lap on the horse. Afterwards they had lunch with Nana while Elizabeth, Rick and I went for a trail ride. I rode a horse called Thor. The biggest horse they had, it wanted to kill me. After the riding we headed home and had a quiet evening at home.

On Fun Saturday we explored all of Chico with the grandparents and colored Easter Eggs.

On Rocking Sunday (Easter) Elizabeth, a young man from our Bible study and I served at the Jesus Center. The Jesus Center provides meals to the homeless in Chico. We spent our morning serving food to the homeless. Afterwards we came home and I hid the Easter Eggs for the kids and they had a great time. After a nice lunch our visitors left.

Now we are back to normal, back to loving people in the Starbucks that is closing in the near future. Hoping for big things and thankful for a outstanding weekend!