Archives For Pittsburgh

The Rest of January

January 15, 2011 — 1 Comment

The rest of this month is going to be pretty busy as we prepare for our official launch/”Grand Opening” of The Bridge and spend time serving our community.  We will be hosting preview services, topping-off washer fluid for motorists at local gas stations, hosting a blanket giveaway, and, of course, launching!  In between we’ll be canvassing neighborhoods, inviting friends and neighbors, sending out postcards, and doing whatever else we can to get the word out to the community.

We have seen the Holy Spirit go before us in amazing ways, and in the next post, I’ll share some of the highlights of how he’s shown us his favor (it’s probably going to leave you speechless). In the meantime, we are asking you to keep the following events as points of serious prayer throughout the month:

  • Saturday, January 15 — Washer Fluid Top-Off (Exxon @ 7409 Saltsburg Rd, Penn Hills — click for map) from 10 am – 1 pm
  • Sunday, January 16 — 10:30 am preview service in our new meeting location (Grand Ballroom of 3 Lakes Golf Course)
  • Saturday, January 22 — Washer Fluid Top-Off (Sunoco @ 280 Hulton Rd, Verona — click for map) from 10 am-1 pm
  • Sunday, January 23
    – Final preview service (10:30am @ 3 Lakes Golf Course)
    – “Commissioning service” at Sandy Lake Wesleyan Church
  • Saturday, January 29
    – Washer FluidTop-Off (Sunoco @ 6500 Saltsburg Rd, Penn Hills — click for map) from 10 am-1 pm
    –  Blanket, Scarf, Glove & Hat Giveaway (@ Penn Hills YMCA — click for map) from 10 am – 1pm
  • Sunday, January 30th — LAUNCH SUNDAY! (1o:3o am @ 3 Lakes Golf Course Grand Ballroom, 6700 Saltsburg Rd, Penn Hills (click for map)).

Thanks for praying.  And thanks to to our committed launch team members who are taking an active role in seeing Greater Things coming to Pittsburgh.  This wouldn’t be happening without you!

In church planting , , , , , ,
 permalink

CELEBRATION! (with mom’s revisions :-) )

October 31, 2010 — Leave a comment

Almost a week ago, our journey here in Pittsburgh took an exciting new turn when our daughter, Jubilee Rayne, entered the world on her mom’s 30th birthday.  We can’t think of a better way to celebrate a birthday than with a birth day, can you?

Here are the vital stats for our little girl:
Jubilee Rayne Gomez
Born  11:38pm, October 25, 2010
Weighing 7lbs, 6oz
21″ Long
AND HEALTHY!

We know many of you were praying long before we knew Jubilee was coming that God would give us the joy of having children.  We thank God for those of you who stood by in faith with us as we went through the heartbreak of being told we may never have biological children and continued trusting God for his best in our lives.  We thank those of you who have already been praying for Jubilee by name — we ask that you would join us in praying she would fulfill the meaning of her name and not only be a follower of Jesus but bring freedom, redemption, and forgiveness to those around her.


We really do thank God for you; thanks for being part of our journey,
Jeremiah, Sarah, and Jubilee

In personal , ,
 permalink

FFD Video

September 15, 2010 — Leave a comment

I still can’t believe I get to be part of what God is doing in Pittsburgh.  One of the highlights thus far has been our Family Fun Day, held at the end of August when we were able to connect with a ton of people from the community and see what can happen when many churches come together just to love on people.

If you haven’t seen it already, this highlight video is well worth the four-and-a-half minutes or so it takes to watch — it does a great job of giving you a little sense of what it was like to be there.  (Thanks again to Ken Depeal and the Sandy Lake Wesleyan crew for shooting, editing, and sharing this video.)

In General , , , ,
 permalink

Day One

September 14, 2010 — Leave a comment

image: elleinad @ flickr

Yesterday marked a serious step into bi-vocational ministry for me.  I was able to get a four-to-six week temp position as a ‘personal care aide’ in a local facility for transitioning special needs students from high school to the ‘real world’ and yesterday was day-one for me assigned to a specific (and awesome!) student.

There are a number of reasons why this could be tough: I’m not sure I have the ‘makeup’ of someone who can successfully work a number of jobs, especially when one of them is of the consuming nature of church planting; I have a couple of health issues that mean exhaustion sets in easily; I’m going to be a new dad very soon and need to/want to be present with my family.  I may get to the end of this first stint at bi-vocationalism and realize I need to find a different, creative solution to our need, and I don’t think that would be shameful or out of place.

But there are also a number of reasons why this has the potential to be something really great:

  • Money: With some of our supporting churches not-yet sending in their promised amounts, and the uphill trek we’ve had to raising funding from individual and group sources, our personal support is running low.  Money helps us do things like eat and pay rent, both of which are awesome.
  • Delegation: working an additional job or two forces me to identify the things I’m doing that someone else should be doing because they can do them better and probably find more joy in them than I do.  Over the next few weeks, I’m going to have to be more intentional about giving ministry away–and that really, really excites me, not because of what will be off my plate but because it means raising other people up.
  • The future: if I can learn to hit my stride now as a bi-vocational church planting freelancer (:-)) while being a new dad trying to juggle life, ministry, and all the rest, it means I can develop a discipline that will allow me to keep working an additional job while planting The Bridge2.0–and that means more money for ministry/outreach in new ventures.

So, we’ll see how this next season of life goes, whether wildly successful or chalked up with ‘life lessons learned the hard way,’ I’m excited to see what God does.

In General , , , , , ,
 permalink

Preview!

September 13, 2010 — Leave a comment

The Penn Hills Library: Our Meeting Place

Part of our process in launching The Bridge involves a series of monthly ‘preview’ celebrations.  We’re hoping these monthly gatherings help build momentum while setting the tone for what will be once things are officially up-and-running.  They also help to figure out what connects well and what doesn’t work so well given the culture and context of Penn Hills.

Yesterday, we had our first monthly celebration–our very first public worship gathering, and it was a phenomenal experience.  Thanks to those of you who were praying for us before and during the gathering; we know that it is God’s Spirit who is doing the real work in Penn Hills and that he honors the prayers of his people.  We had a pretty healthy crowd of just over 50 (not bad for a first-go on a Steelers’ Home-Game Sunday!), but of the greatest points of excitement for us is that we’re beginning to see the answer to our prayer for a multiethnic, multicultural local church.  When your launch team is made up of a group of anglos from Western Pennsylvania, it can be difficult to help people see that though we may not look multiethnic or multicultural yet, we are.  It was awesome to see a great deal of diversity in our gathering yesterday.

Reflecting on what happened yesterday got me thinking about our future, as well.  Even though I know that The Bridge won’t stay in ‘church plant mode’ forever, there are a couple things I hope we never lose from these early days:

  • The sense–inherently part of a ‘preview’ service–that we haven’t ‘arrived’ yet: we’re moving toward something greater.
  • A culture of change: Elements of this month’s celebration, timing, and order may never happen the same way again–and that’s okay because we’re attempting a variety of things to connect with those far from God, help people get to know Jesus better, and send followers of Christ out to live as Jesus.
  • Permission to fail: as mentioned above, we’re experimenting to see what works, connects, communicates, and builds the Kingdom of Christ; the beauty of ‘experimentation’ is the freedom to fail at something but keep pressing on.
  • The safety to dream big: the more I journey, the more convinced I am that God calls us to dream big, as long as they are his dreams and not our own fabrications.  The dreams we have for what God can use The Bridge to do in Pittsburgh and the world are. huge.  At least to us.  And in these early stages it is still ‘safe’ to cast gigantic vision and grow in excitement about how ginormous our God is and what he can do, even with broken vessels like us.
In church planting , , , , , ,
 permalink