Renovate Hosts CCAP Supply Drive

Hey everyone! We are doing a supply drive for CCAP. If you are unaware of CCAP, they are the Congregational Community Action Project. You can view their website at www.ccapwinc.org The event will be on Sunday June 13 from 11 am to 2 pm, at the Jaycee I Shelter in the Jim Barnett Park. The [...]

Tired of the Show – By Troy Hamby

This blog was written by my friend Troy Hamby, who is planting Sanctuary Church in the Baltimore suburbs. What he is saying, feeling, and dealing with mirror closely our situation here with Renovate. Enjoy! Stolen/borrowed from http://troyhamby.com/2010/03/20/im-tired-of-the-show/ ———– If you ever want to experience the greatest stress imaginable, plant a church! We are only in the [...]

Book Review – Finding Organic Church by Frank Viola

The subtitle of this book is “A Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Sustaining Authentic Christian Communities.” I’ll say that is a correct subtitle, if you agree with Viola’s approach to church and church planting. I will start this blog the same way Viola starts his book, and that is disagreeable. He lost me when he [...]

I Felt Dirty

I was recently in a church setting, surrounded by many people that I have known for quite some time now, and had the chance to connect with someone I haven’t seen in a few years. Being the outgoing person I am, I went up to this person, said “Hello” and attempted to initiate a conversation. [...]

Re-Presenting Jesus Christ

At Renovate Church, our mission is “To engage the emerging culture in ways that Re-present Jesus Christ.” Honestly, I wasn’t going to write mission, vision, and values statements until I moved and collaborated with my team. ELI required I go ahead and do it, and I understand why. This is MY God-given vision to plant [...]

Loving Winchester

The title of this blog is more of a rhetorical question. I’ll attempt to answer it, but I’d also welcome some discussion on “How do we go about loving Winchester?” By “loving Winchester,” I mean its people, places, culture, worldviews, idiosyncrasies, etc. For some people, even those in Winchester, this will be a challenge. For [...]

Book Review – Church Unique by Will Mancini

I just finished reading Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement, by Will Mancini. It was on our reading list for ELI for the month of January. Last week, those of us going through the Cultivate program with ELI (and some special guests) were privileged to interact with Will on [...]

Awesome blog from my wife on Tolerance

You need to read this blog from my wife. ‘Nuff said.

Book Review – No Perfect People Allowed

John Burke is the founding pastor of Gateway Community Church in Austin, TX and also founded the Emerging Leadership Initiative. ELI is the church planting network that I am partnering with for Renovate Church in Winchester, VA. He also wrote the book I am reviewing: NO PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED: creating a COME AS YOU ARE [...]