Last week, we announced some exciting new changes in the leadership of the church! After speaking with many leaders of our sister churches at the Jubilee, it became very apparent that we had a need to raise up leaders and form a core leadership group in the church! The model we used was based on the way Moses chose leaders for the Israelites after leaving Egypt. Moses, following his Father-in-law’s advice, appointed leaders from among the people. He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. – Exodus 18:25 The reason that he needed to do this was so that he could take care of all the needs of the people, without wearing himself out. In Exodus 18:17-23, Jethro explains this principle. “Moses’ father-inlaw replied, ‘What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people — men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain — and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.’ ”
Last Sunday, Danielle’s mom, Lupe Savedra (pictured with the women who studied with her), was baptized into God’s Kingdom
This was like a great plan, because Moses would be able to stand the strain, and all the people would all be taken care of! In our church, for the past 5 years, we have really only had “leaders over tens,” or what we call BibleTalk leaders. We have not had leaders of fifties or hundreds. In following the model of the Bible, we selected couples to be “leaders over fifties,” or house church leaders! These couples will help take care of the needs of the people and make sure that everyone ”goes home satisfied!” As we continue to grow, we will appoint leaders over hundreds and thousands as well!
The concept of a “house church” is very biblical, (Romans 16:3-5, Colossians 4:14-16, Acts 20:20) in fact, there is quite a bit of evidence that this is how the church in the first century was organized! A house church is pretty much exactly what it sounds like – a church that meets in a house! We have decided to assign four house churches based on the geographic regions of the city. So we will meet as a congregation on Sunday the majority of the time, but we will meet in our respective regions of the city, in house churches about once every 5-6 weeks. Here is an illustration of the geographic regions of the house churches and the leaders of each house churches:
South
Scott and Sandy Lunde
West
Mark and Keri Garrido
North
Jason and Susan Bond
East
Luke and Brandyn Speckman
Each house church leader is given the responsibility of overseeing multiple BibleTalks within the House Church, planning new BibleTalks strategically to effectively expand throughout that region of the city, training new BibleTalk leaders, ensuring that all of the people in the House Church are taken care of, and evangelizing that area of the Phoenix Valley! This is certainly a high calling and a great responsibility! Each house church has the responsibility to evangelize a region of the Phoenix Metro area 1-2 million people in population! This will take much hard work, and we will all need to share in our portion of the load! Also, we thought it would be best to have a strong married couple to oversee the different ministries in the church (Singles, Marrieds, Campus, etc.). The charge of the couple leading the ministry would be to shepherd over the people in the ministry and strengthen that ministry, to plan events and lead the way in the evangelistic growth of that ministry, and to forge unity between the members of that group and unity in the church. We currentlyhave the following ministry leaders:
Kids Kingdom / Children’s Ministry
Scott and Sandy Lunde
Pre-Teen / Middle School Ministry
Rob and Jenny Bolton
Last week, we appointed the following couples as ministry leaders:
Teen / High School Ministry
Richie and Elizabeth McDonnell
Campus Ministry
Luke and Brandyn Speckman
Singles Ministry
Robb and Teresa Hamblin
Marrieds Ministry
Brian and Dawn Terry
Last Sunday, Angelica Lopez (pictured with her mom, Melissa), became our Sister in Christ!
Proverbs 16:3 simply states, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” These plans we commit to the Lord as we do our best to be humble, accept guidance, and work hard for the Lord. I believe He will multiply our church many times over! And to God be the Glory!
Luke Speckman
