Most of us would love to know what the future holds and be able to somehow control it to a certain extent. Many of us know, however, that controlling the future is ultimately not in our hands but in God's. 

So how do the leaders at Ethnos think about the timeline of what's ahead?  While we've tried to map some things out based on prayer and common sense wisdom, the reality is that we are looking to Jesus for the answers.  

Nonetheless, here's the timeline we believe we're in:

Spring 2013: The journey begins as we experience pastoral staff transitions. This leads us to pray and ask questions about what God is doing in the transition.  Through a series of different events, the staff and church vision team believe that God is wanting us to gear up to start planting new Ethnos communities in other global university towns.  The timeline is shared with the members of Ethnos, to begin when new staff are brought on.

Fall 2013: Pastor Tim and resident pastor Scott are brought on the staff team, to be trained as site pastors in preparation for new sites down the road.  The timeline  toward church planting begins.

Winter/Spring 2014: A church planting strategy team is formed, consisting of 8 Ethnos members: Bethany Reed, David Rideout, Eric Hazzard, Erika Ho, Stephanie, Tim Buechsel, and Yucan Chiu. Their initial tasks are: 1) define the characteristics of a Global University Town in order to properly evaluate the potential sites presented to the church, and 2) determine how the church sites should relate to each other; determine the sort of network that should be formed. Research- including interviews with 3 church networks- are done. The process of clarifying a network "charter" begins.

Fall 2014: The goal is to have the next site selected by Fall 2014.  A trip to the UCLA area is taken, along with a trip to the Rutgers area in New Jersey (coming up tomorrow!).  Currently, the site has not been selected yet; we are waiting for a clear direction from Jesus.

Winter 2015: Yucan is slated to take a sabbatical a few months early (Jan-Mar instead of July-Sep), with the anticipation that Fall 2015 will be time for a church plant.  In the meantime, we are praying that members of Ethnos will begin to pray not just for the new site, but also ask if they are supposed to be a part of a core team that moves to the new site.

Spring - Summer 2015: The core team continues to develop- both in numbers and also church-plant training. We hope to have the core team set and starting to move by the end of this time, including one of the pastors.

Fall 2015: Ethnos ____________ begins...

Prayer Points:

Whew, quite a bit to take in, isn't it?!  Let's join in praying for the following:

1. Location: Jesus, please show us where you want us to be. Help us listen well when you speak!

2. Core Team: Jesus, assemble the right team for the location you choose. Encourage and strengthen this team even now!