We held our first Detroit cluster for church planters the last week in October.  About twenty people came.  The group represented church plants in Michigan, especially the Detroit Area, the Cincinnati Area, and Indiana.  It was amazing to see a new cluster born.  The group plans to meet every other month--rotating meeting in Detroit, Cincinnati and in between Toledo and Lima.  

Several new churches have launched and more are in the preview stage.  Here are some updates from three GHCN churches who are currently running preview services:    

GHC Network:  What was your most recent preview like?  

Steve Brown, Fullerton, CA:  “The Vibe” Pretty much every Sunday is a preview right up until our launch on January 4th. This most recent one was awesome! This was the first time we had a full band leading us in worship. The entire vibe of The Vibe changed. A few people after the gig came up and excitedly told me how much they enjoyed everything about the morning.  We walked the neighborhood and hung about 300 door hangers the week prior. We were encouraged to find that one of the women who got one actually showed up to check us out. Her name is Hilda.  One of the “park people” (homeless people living in a nearby park) invited a couple of his park buddies to come on by. Their names are Luis and Ray and they told me that they were touched by the entire gig.   Basically something cool happens every week at The Vibe. We are just so excited to see God have his way with this body of believers and this community.  We have strived to set up a comfortable, cool and non-threatening environment for folks to discover and learn about God. Based on what I saw, felt and heard on Sunday, I believe the Lord has granted us just that.  

Steve Bentley, Flint, MI:  “The Bridge” Our second preview was the most recent.  We had over 20 new people, 2 confessions for Christ, great children's program, but music was weaker than we wanted.  

Damon Delillo, Oxnard, CA:  “Riverpark Community Church”  We are doing things a little differently here.  We have alternated Kidstuf Productions and Worship Experience services.  We have had three Kidstuf Productions and one Worship Experience.  Being in the River Park Community has been a great asset.  We have done minimal promotion (door hangers on 700 homes in the community and email invites.)  Already we have seen 18 families from the community visit over the last four weeks; they have responded to the postcards and signage.  We have also had three of those families already connect in service and two others desire to join our community groups.     

GHC Network:   What was the best thing that happened?  

Steve Brown, Fullerton, CA:  “The Vibe” The best thing was the first time visitors. All of them seemed down with The Vibe and the way we presented God to them. All of them said they planned to come back. Yay God!  

Steve Bentley, Flint, MI:  “The Bridge” Four major new connections that are still being built upon  

Damon Delillo, Oxnard, CA:  “Riverpark Community Church”  We were intentional about coaching our launch team to invite the people they have been investing in to Kidstuf or the Worship Experience.  We know that many people who support us in the community may want to come and see what we are doing, but have no intention of staying.  So we encouraged our launch team to invite those who need a church.  As a result many of the people who are attending are people who are returning, seekers or people looking for a church because they have just moved into the area.  For the last four weeks we have maintained an average of 130 people—people we think will stick with us.    

GHC Network:  What’s difficult about the preview stage?  

Steve Brown, Fullerton, CA:  “The Vibe” Trying to get the sound just right was the toughest thing. Our equipment isn’t the greatest and this was our first gig with a full band.    

Steve Bentley, Flint, MI:  “The Bridge” Music - need more musicians - doing the best we can with canned music and 2 vocals  

Damon Delillo, Oxnard, CA:  “Riverpark Community Church”  We have discovered that there is very little overlap between Kidstuf and our Worship Experience except for our volunteers.  The good news is we have over 200 people coming to River Park.  

GHC Network:  How has the GHC Network helped?

Steve Brown, Fullerton, CA:  “The Vibe” The GHCN has been instrumental in helping us put all this together. Everything from the Discovery Center assessment to the coaching along the way has allowed us to grow like we know what we’re doing. Having the GHCN in our corner when it comes to some of the business, insurance and startup stuff has been a huge blessing as well.   

Steve Bentley, Flint, MI:  “The Bridge” The coaching/mentoring has helped a ton in working out details for the start, idea sharing has helped, and stress relief in sharing with others that have gone through this and survived  

Damon Delillo, Oxnard, CA:  “Riverpark Community Church”  Thanks for all your help.  

GHC Network:  What is your biggest prayer request?  

Steve Brown, Fullerton, CA:  “The Vibe” We have a good thing going at The Vibe but 2 things are heavy on my heart: 1) growth and commitment of those we have; 2) finding some effective way to directly engage the lost in this community.  

Steve Bentley, Flint, MI:  “The Bridge” Biggest prayer request?  for the music program to get where it needs to be - specifically more musicians volunteering(recruited) and getting it right

Damon Delillo, Oxnard, CA:  “Riverpark Community Church”  We have some financial needs.  God is coming through.

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