We are amazed at the joyful sacrifice and generosity of our Soul City Starters.  God has lovingly overwhelmed us with an amazing space for our Church in the heart of Chicago’s West Loop.  This is a BIG answer to months and months of BIG prayers.  And now, our team is responding to God goodness with BIG Shoulders.

Every Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday we gather to build this Church together.  We work. We sweat. We eat. We laugh. We pray. And in the process, we are BEcoming the Church.

We would love for you to join us.  You don’t need any previous construction experience to be a part.  All you need is the desire to be a part of this amazing story of our start.  You can LITERALLY build a Church with us.  It’s a crazy adventure that God has us on.  And we’d love for you to be a part!

Tuesdays 4.00p – 8.00p
Saturdays 9.00a – 1.00p
Sundays 2.00p – 7.00p

Our next Work and Worship is Sunday, August 12 from 2.00p – 7.00p.  You can sign up to work and Worship with us below.

• Courage
• Creativity
• Generosity
• Sacrifice
• and Partnership

We love the ways that people have responded!  From One Chair, to Three Rows of chairs, to Whole Sections being Purchased and Given.  To date our church (as well as other churches who have partnered with us) have purchased 168 Seats! That means that we’ve put 168 Seats in our space at 1130 W. Adams as well as 168 Seats in the new Family Plex that Breakthrough Urban Ministries is building on the West Side of Chicago.  It’s simple – for every seat that is purchased, we are giving a seat to Breakthrough, one of our partners here in the city.

Our goal is 250 seats purchased by the end of this month….and that’s where you come in.

We would like for you to prayerfully consider the Creative and Courageous Cost of making room for people here in the city.  You may never sit in these seats yourself, but others will.  People who are far from God. People who have been praying for a Church to call home.  People who have hit rock bottom.  People who have searched their whole life for purpose and meaning.  People like me.  People like you.  We can make room for them together.  One Seat At A Time.

It may seem like just a chair…but it is so much more than that.

If you would like to partner with what God is doing at Soul City Church and Breakthrough Urban Ministry, please click below.

At Soul City, we simply believe thatGod has made us FAR too Creative and Courageous than to simply settle for being a Consumers of Church.

This is one small way that we can prove that.

We are so honored to partner with Breakthrough Urban Ministries for a truly unique opportunity to make room in the city of Chicago.

Both Soul City and Breakthrough are in the process of Making Space for people to have a Transformational Experience with the life, love, and hope of Jesus.

Soul City is focusing on the Unique Needs and Oppertunites of Chicago’s West Loop, while Breakthrough is focusing on East Garfield Park.

We are privileged to be Partners Together in loving and serving this city as God leads.

And you can tangibly be part of this great partnership and the work that God is doing by Making Space.

For $60 you can purchase two seats: One of those seats goes to Break Through, the other goes to Soul City Church.

Regardless of whether you can make it out to our Celebration on August 15.  Regardless of whether you live in Chicago or not.  Regardless of whether you will actually ever sit in one of these seats.  You have the opportunity to join in something that God is doing, in a city that God, loves, for people you may never meet.  You can give someone a seat.

You may be able to buy more than one.

You may be able to buy an entire row (10 seats)

You may be able to do more.

Whatever God leads you to do, we would ask that you pray for those who will find rest, those who will find hope, those who will find freedom, those who will find Jesus in the seat that you gave.

To purchase your seat(s) please click below

the whole process takes about 57 seconds

To hear more about the Story Behind The Start of Soul City Church, check out this video by Jarrett Stevens

To get a glimpse of how YOU will be making room at Breakthrough Urban Ministries, check out this video from the head of Breakthrough, our friend Arloa Sutter…

I was having a conversation with a friend recently who is about as much “unchurched” as someone could be.  I was telling him about Soul City Church and all that God is doing to start this church.  And it struck him.  “I guess I never really thought about where churches came from before.  This is fascinating stuff.” His revelation is not far off from many of our assumptions.  When you drive by a random church on the street or when you pull up to the church that you are a part of, have you ever wondered, “Where did this church come from?  How did it get here?”  We just sort of assume it’s always been there, and is some cases…it hasn’t ever changed.

But the truth is that every Church has a Start.  And there is always a Story behind every Start.

There is always

• :: People who prayed that church into existence
• :: Friends from whom that church desperately mattered
• :: Unbelievable and often unseen financial sacrifice
• :: A movement of the Holy Spirit that prompted and pushed people into a Great Faith Adventure

The paint may have faded.  The lights may be turned off more than they are on.  The vision may be lost.  That faith adventure may have drifted into sytems and routines.

But somewhere…at some point there was a Story behind that Start.  Maybe you know it, maybe you don’t.  Maybe it’s time for you to experience it.  Maybe one of the greatest things you can do for your faith is follow God on a great faith adventure.  To be a Part of the Story of a Start.

If you’d like to hear the Soul City Story and pray about being a part of this start, please join us July 11 at 6.00p at 1130 W. Adams (in the West Loop) for our Soul City Core Worship Gathering. A time of Story, Vision, Prayer, Worship, and Gratitude.

If you can’t make it on July 11, you can Contact Us about how you might be a part of this start.

You deserve the right to be a part of a Story like this.  You deserve the right to see God move like this.  You deserve the right to daily depend on God like this.  At Soul City, we simply believe that,

Every person of faith deserves a great faith adventure.

We would love for Soul City to be a part of yours.

This morning Jeanne and I had the joy of waking up to our little Gigi covered in some sort of Allergic Reaction all over her cute little body.  Jeanne and I had the exact same thought at the exact same moment – “How do we avoid having to go to the Hospital over this one?” Don’t get me wrong – We love our baby, we just hate our Health Care Plan.  And to be honest, I break out in an allergic reaction to Hospitals in general.

After embracing the inevitable, we packed Gigi up and took her to Children’s Memorial Hospital here in the city.  Here’s what we experienced in our first few moments there:

1. We found great parking right outside the entrance.
2. Easy to spot Signage that told us exactly which entrance to take.
3. Three people in the first 60 seconds asked us if it was our first time and if we needed any help finding anything.
4. An amazingly engaging and surprisingly calm environment.
5. Someone walked us from the entrance down the hall in the direction we were heading.
6. We got to keep our coffee!

Within 45 minutes we were signing out with the brilliant medical advice of “Just ride it out” (which was actually my advice from the very beginning, although not as welcomed by Jeanne).

We left that hospital wondering, Why can’t people’s First Impression of Church be more like ours at the Hospital (minus the bill)?  Why do we make it so hard and so confusing for so many people who already have a million little battles of resistance running through their morning?  What does a City Hospital know that the Church doesn’t?  I know that not all visits to the Hospital are like this.  But it brings up a great tension.

A great exercise for you and your team to do as often as possible is to go another church and see how they do it.  See what your First Impression is – from when you park your car until you park your rear in a seat.  Or better yet, survey your own experience:

• Where are you setting up unnecessary speed bumps or road blocks to people having a great First Impression?
• What do you assume that people know?  What don’t they know?
• How are you anticipating and and eliminating unnecessary resistance?
• How can you get every single “insider” in your church involved as an owner of your church’s First Impression?

It really would be a shame if people had a better experience at a HOSPITAL than they do at our church.  We could learn a lot.

Why does anyone walk away from a great job, at an amazing church, with fabulous friends, having just built their dream home in a warm climate?  It could only be Insanity.  Most days I think its Insanity until I am reminded that it’s something much deeper – Obedience.  An obedience that is rooted in Dependence.

We feel so blessed and grateful to have worked at Willow Creek & North Point – Both amazing influential churches that have developed us and prepared us for this great faith adventure that we are on.

I learned a million things from both churches – but honestly – and this is not a commentary on either church – I didn’t really need to depend on Jesus while there.  There were always resources and people and buildings and leaders and steady paychecks and benefits – all great things, but at times, I let them keep me from true dependence.

I allowed those things to keep me from the kind of dependence that forces you to your knees regularly wondering if you are insane. Interestingly enough, I am finding that true dependence is an essential gateway to authentic influence.

TRUE DEPENDENCE IS AN ESSENTIAL GATEWAY TO AUTHENTIC INFLUENCE!

No one can have authentic influence, especially an Authentic Cultural Influence, if they are attempting to lead others in a direction that they themselves have not chosen to go towards.

Much like you, I long to have authentic influence with the gospel of Jesus Christ – so God has lovingly afforded me the gateway of doing that through the starting this church.  Brilliant.

So what about you? What Is a Gateway of Dependence that God is using in your life that could lead to real Authentic Influence?

By embracing the reality of what their product actually is and having fun with it, they’re kinda making it cool and seemingly important.  And…if that’s enough…it’s actually really funny.  We could learn something from that.

Here’s to you Toyota!  You almost made me want to buy a Mini-Van…Swagger Wagon!

Our Brand New May Snapshot is out.  It’s a great way for you to get a Quick Snapshot of all that God is doing at Soul City Church.  It’s Chock full of Goodies.  It’s Free.  And all the Cool Kids are reading it.

You can check it out HERE

And subscribe to it HERE

enjoy.

If you haven’t read John Ortberg’s latest book, “The Me I Want To Be”, I highly recommend that you stop what your doing (’cause I’m about to ruin…) and head to the Soul City Store and grab it right now.  It’s that good.  It’s that important.  In a sense it reads like a Cheat Sheet to the Transformational Mission of Soul City Church….a very very well written Cheat Sheet.

It explores the idea that there is a ME that I not only want to be, but that God has actually created me to be.  And one of the questions John asks is, “How would I want the Me I want to Be respond to…” What a brilliantly simple question.

How would I want the Me I want to Be respond to…

-       This huge disappointment that just blindsided me.

-       The fear I feel that I will always be alone.

-       My apparent lack of care for the poor

-       This strained or broken relationship.

-       The lack of discipline in my life

-       The temptation that has been staring me in the face all day

I know it may sound like a Stuart Smalley kind of concept, but I challenge you to practice it today.  To Reflect on the fact that there is a YOU that God has made you to be.  And to begin Responding to your life from that truth.  To actually start living (by God’s grace) into the life he created you for.  To being the You that God created you to be and to settle for nothing for less.

Let us know – Have you read the Me I Want To Be?  What did you think?  How can a church help people become who God created them to be?

A while back I (Jeanne) read the fabulous book INFLUCENCER with the Buckhead Leadership Team.  The author thoughtfully proves that when it comes to influence that the two primary questions that everyone asks before any kind of significant change / transformation is…

IS IT WORTH & CAN I DO IT?

And they need a story, many stories saying - it is possible!  That’s what Soul City Church is trying to do when it comes to Cultural Influence – Be a community that tells the story that Transformation is possible with Jesus!

A cheap tool that most of us use to change others expectations is the use of verbal persuasion because it is convenient.  Talk is easy.  Talk is cheap.  But stories of transformation provoke. They create a vivid picture that TRANSFORMATION IS WORTH IT & IT CAN BE DONE!

Those are some of the most profound and simple lessons that I am learning as a leader right now – I can talk about influence, cast vision, I can fund raise, and I can create systems and structures – but does my life tell a compelling story of authentic dependence and a life of transformation.  That’s where I believe my greatest influence comes from.

We long for Soul City Church to constantly be telling stories of Transformation.  We pray that every time someone encounters our community its as if they are on a Field Trip of Transformation.

So, the question is – How might you and your community take a Field Trip of Transformation together this week?