Pete Wilson Hearts Soul City Church
Our Friend Pete Wilson from Crosspoint Church in Nashville offers up great support for what God is doing through Soul City Church. This is from a blog post he wrote earlier today from his blog Without Wax.
Most of you know that I”m a huge fan of church planting. God has allowed me to be a part of two church plants. Both Morgantown Community Church and Cross Point church were launched because a group of people believed in the importance of launching a church with a unique vision to reach it’s community.
And while every church plant excites me every once in a while I hear about one that I’ve just got to jump in and help. Soul City Church is starting in the City of Chicago in 2010 and they are committed to helping people become all of who God created them to be. I believe in Jarrett & Jeanne Stevens– they spent 12 years at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL and 3 ½ years at North Point Community Church in Atlanta, GA. They are two of the most incredible leaders I’ve ever been around! I’m so excited to see the vision of this church reach many people in the city of Chicago and beyond and I have decided that I want to be a part of the story of seeing this Church start.
God is going to use this movement to make a significant impact on the city of Chicago!
Let’s help Soul City Church Start. Click below and give a one-time gift!
Carlos Whittaker wants this Year End to be a Great Start…
Our Friend Carlos Whittaker wrote an awesome piece on his blog about WHY Team Whittaker is moving to Chicago to BE a part of Soul City and how WE can all invest in and BE a part of the Vision of Soul City Church. Here’s what Carlos wrote:
I am moving to Chicago to BE a part of a movement.
Of’ course the movement is initially a selfish one.
I want more transformation in my life.
I feel like this is the community where the next stage of growth in my family’s life will happen.
Some people think I’m crazy.
But I’m just following the story that God has placed in my heart to lead my family with.
So with that, I feel confident in asking you guys to pray about contributing in some way to Soul City Church.
Not it’s not an orphanage.
No it’s not a women’s shelter.
No it’s not a teen crisis center.
But I think it will be ALL these things one day.
I believe in my pastors, Jarrett & Jeanne Stevens – they spent 12 years at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL and 3 ½ years at North Point Community Church in Atlanta, GA.I can only imagine that guy. Let’s call him Carlitos.
In the HUSTLE that is the city life of Chicago.
Hustle, sleep, play, hustle, sleep, play.
He puts his head down every night wanting that other thing.
But he can’t put his finger on it.
I can.
Meaning.
Transformation.
Community.
I think this community could be the one he’s been dreaming about and we aren’t even there yet.There are lots of things that the church needs to get rolling…one would be to create a gathering space where we can communicate the transformational message of Jesus Christ.
You know I’m all about environments.
It’s what I do.Here is my ask.
If you have resources at the end of the year that you are looking to give away for any reason…
I simply ask that you pray about providing for the Start of a new church at the End of your year.Your gift today will help install sound, lighting and video systems that will be used to create authentic weekend experiences that speak right to the heart of that hustler I was talking about earlier. Carlitos
Let’s help Soul City Church Start. Click HERE to give a one-time gift!PRODUCTION – $50,000
Thanks again for your partnership in this adventure. You are playing a huge role in the Kingdom of God extending in the city of Chicago.
Late,
Carlos
We love that Heather and Carlos are a part of the Vision of Soul City Church. We love the idea that ANYONE can BE a part of that vision. One of the easiest ways to BE Soul City is through a small but significant financial sacrifice. You may be thinking, “Man, the most I could give is $10.” You’d be amazed what God can do with just $10. And you’d be amazed at what God can do in our hearts when, together, we move the kingdom of God forward like this.
To find out how you can Give / BE a part of Soul City Church, check out YEAREND START.COM
3 Easy Ways To Start A Church From The Comforts Of Your Own Home!
Let’s face it – building a brand new Church from scratch takes a divine sort of insanity. It is a faith filled, knee knocking, miracle requiring endeavor. You’d be crazy to want to do it. Trust us…we know.
That’s why we would like to offer you the opportunity of Starting a Church without ever having to leave the comforts of your own Home…or stable paycheck! Here are THREE EASY WAYS for you do to just that.
- 1) Commit to PRAYING once a day through the month of December for Soul City Church and for the City of Chicago. Seriously. We’re asking you to pray BIG PRAYERS to a BIG GOD who can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. If you would like to explore how to be a part of our Prayer Advocacy Group you can click HERE
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- 2) Direct a portion of your TITHE or YEAR END GIVING towards the Start of Soul City Church. This is one of those Unique opportunities that your financial faithfulness and generosity can quite literally make a HUGE and tangible difference. You can make a COURAGEOUS One Time Investment by clicking HERE. Or you can make a CONSISTENT Investment by going HERE.
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- 3) Invite Jarrett & Jeanne to SPEAK at your Church, Weekend Service or Retreat. Inviting them to speak at your Church can meet a very real need for Their Family as well as meeting a very real need for Your Church. I believe they call this a Win Win. To inquire about a potential speaking opportunity for Jarrett or Jeanne click HERE.
There you have it. THREE EASY WAYS that you can be a part of the Start of Soul City Church. We would absolutely love to have you join with us in whatever capacity you can. We are grateful for anyone and everyone that comes alongside of this unique and powerful vision.
thanks.
Amy Lawlor Thinks You Can BE Consistent!
“I just wish I was more consistent.” I probably say this to myself or someone nearby at least once a week (if not more frequently). I’ve said it about exercise, I’ve said it about eating right, I’ve said it about going to bed at a reasonable hour, I’ve said it about making time for solitude or prayer, I’ve said it about my spending and my saving habits…and the list goes on.
Ironically “being consistent” is one of the things I pray about most consistently…at least I’m consistent about something.
To nerd out on you a bit – the word Consistent is rooted in the Latin consistere and the meaning has been consistent (PUN!) since the 16th century. One of the meanings of the word I like a lot is “standing firm”. There is something very comforting, very solid, very safe about knowing some things stand firm. Some of you naysayers/devil’s advocates are already saying “but consistency will put you in a rut and you’ll be bored and never be creative, and only watch CSI Las Vegas because you can’t branch out…” I totally agree with you…but want to acknowledge that some things in life MUST/SHOULD BE Consistent. I’m not saying everything…just some things. Some things in life must STAND FIRM.
You have to be consistent about
- Showing up at your job
- Telling your spouse or your kids you love them
- Eating food and drinking water
- Stopping at red lights and going at green ones (unless you live in Atlanta, then red ones are really more of a suggestion than anything else).
These consistencies lend a STABILITY, and a SURENESS that is good for us. It’s healthy, and it’s necessary and we rely on many of these consistencies every day.
At Soul City Church we need some Consistency too – we need some Sureness and some Stability in order to keep pressing towards the reality of this Vision that God has given us.
One of the big pieces of the BE Campaign is the challenge to BE Consistent. We believe that Consistency in our/your giving is a declaration of our dependence on God…we declare that we trust him to take care of our needs, and that He has called us to give financially to His work. We need people to Give Consistently to Soul City Church. This gives us a baseline of financial stability and sustainability that we’ll need, especially for these first two years.
Our Goal is to have $500,000 committed to Soul City for the next 2 years. This means people like you, who will commit to and follow through on giving consistent weekly, monthly, or quarterly gifts. Our hope is that you would pray about Being a Consistent Giver to Soul City Church, and if so led, that you would start giving now.
So, we invite you to pray about BEcoming a Consistent Giver to the vision of Soul City Church and then, as God leads you, Start Giving and BE Consistent.
- You can click the Link Up to the Right to get started.
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Amy Lawlor is a vital part of the Leadership Team of Soul City Church. She’s making the move from Atlanta to Chicago this Spring to start Soul City. She Consistently has to tell Jarrett that his jokes aren’t as funny as he thinks.
Amy Lawlor Thinks You Can BE Creative
Creative is a word that has always made my hands a bit clammy. When I was a kid I was so much happier to have a coloring book with patterns I could follow rather than a blank sheet of paper that forced me to be “CREATIVE”. But over the years I’ve realized that it’s not that some of us are creative and some of us aren’t. We have the thumbprint of the author of creation on us…creativity just might look different for each of us. It’s easy for me to dismiss something because it doesn’t seem like it applies to me, or it isn’t how I’m built or wired. And for a long time “being creative” was one of those things I shrugged off, believing it was something I just wasn’t built for.
In a parallel way I’ve felt God, over the last few weeks, calling me towards something…something that makes me even clammier than the call to be creative. He’s calling me towards GENEROSITY. (For some reason I keep hoping that one day He will call me to sit on the couch, eat Doritos and watch Law and Order re-runs but that’s looking unlikely.) Admittedly (and ashamedly), as I felt God speak deeply to me about generosity, my 1st response was “Really God? You do realize I’m broke right? You do realize I almost have a panic attack every time I look at my account balance?” See 2 Corinthians 8:1-10 if you want to see how God sort of punched me in the gut with this theme one morning.
The reality I’m learning these days is that generosity isn’t something that God calls us into only in seasons of plenty. And generosity isn’t something he only expects from those who have a perceived abundance. God is calling many, if not ALL OF US to be Generous. Even in difficult financial seasons, when it’s not easy or comfortable to do. And sometimes this means Being Creative.
As we invite people to BE Soul City Church we know that we, and many of you have the ability to BE Creative as you give and serve with us. Some of you can’t write a check even if you wanted to right now. But, many of you can find creative ways to help provide the resources we need to launch Soul City Church. We need a ton of resources that you may have access to and have the ability to offer.
- You may have or know of a way we could get all of our production equipment given to us.
- You may have items that you could could sell to turn in to cash for Soul City.
- You may have a talent or skill that you could offer to us as we launch this church.
- You may have access to some very specific items that we need such as books, toys, games for kids, computers or office equipment, furniture etc..
We’re asking you to think and pray about ways you can give Creatively through your Resources, Time or Talents to Soul City Church and to encourage others to do the same. There is a LIST on our website of needs we have (and there are probably plenty of creative things we haven’t even thought of!)…please check it out and see if there is a way you can BE Creative with us! Or simply Click The Link to the Right of this post that says CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT SOUL CITY. You may not feel like you have “a lot”, but we ALL have so much to GIVE.
We’re grateful for those of you coming alongside us in this season and are so excited to have you BE a part of Soul City with us!
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Amy Lawlor is a vital part of the Leadership Team of Soul City Church. God has led her to BE Crazy and join the Soul City Team and make the move from Atlanta to Chicago – a place that defines the word Winter!
Online Giving is Live, Everybody Dance Now
We are very excited to announce that On-Line Giving for Soul City Church is LIVE! It’s Simple, Secure, Tax Deductible and incredibly Easy To Use. In fact, within a few hours of our account being active we already hard our first gift. We can’t tell you how incredibly humbled, honored, and grateful we are.
We chose to partner with Easy Tithe, because of it’s simple interface, robust platform, and rock solid security. We highly recommend them. (btw – mention us and we win a free toaster!)
So, now that you can support Soul City Church and give to our BE Campaign simply, consistently, and securely online, we expect every gift to be given…just…like…this…
…and…this…(watch out little girl!)
everybody dance now.
