It tends to be one of the first questions people ask when the idea of starting a new spiritual community/church comes up: do we really need another church in the area? Aren't there enough for people to go to? Well, turns out a lot has been written about this. The keynote essay on this in the...
Perhaps your initial reaction to the title of this post is something like "wow, isn't this a little too intense or out of proportion? I mean, transitions are hard, but to use the paradigm of grieving? That seems like too much." One on hand, I get it if you're thinking this way...
As God continues to lead us toward New Brunswick, we want to make it clear: I (Yucan) will be the pastor moving New Brunswick to start the new work there, and pastor Tim will assume the lead pastor role here in San Diego. Yes, you read that correctly. And yes, this is quite a big change!!! To...
While New Brunswick is the city most commonly associated with Rutgers University, two other towns are significantly connected as well. Here are some interesting demographic stats for the area. New Brunswick Demographic Stats: (Census 2010) 55,000 people 45% White, 16%...
I've talked to residents both inside and outside of New Brunswick, and it seems pretty clear: there are some tough neighborhoods in the city. One of the greatest calls we have as a Jesus community is to bring transformation through (among some other key initiatives) our being a...
One of the many puzzle pieces we sifted through as we were making a decision on New Brunswick was how God spoke to us in listening prayer during our leadership gathering. The following were the words members of our leadership team heard during this time (if you have questions about...
During this process, some of us may be thinking "wow, I feel like this new work in New Brunswick is exciting and may be for me." If you're in that boat, awesome! Here are some characteristics to strive for if you're looking to be a part of the team: 1. A strong servant's...
This past weekend, our Elder, Vision, and Staff Teams (14 people total) decided to move ahead with what we sensed Jesus leading us to: to plant our next Ethnos site at New Brunswick, New Jersey. How did we come to this conclusion? We shared about the initial reason why New Brunswick was...
One of the realities we face as we plant churches is that of changing leadership. Of course, in our context of a global university town thus far, we have dealt with a constant fluidity of members and leaders already. But the challenges are little different as we send various top leaders and...
As we all make key decisions in this journey of church planting ("Where does God want our church to go? Should I be a part of the group that moves? What should I do if I stay?"), it's key that we know how to filter out the other "voices" in order to better hear God's voice...