16th Street Church reports that their fundraiser was a great success and a very positive experience for their church. They were able to raise $476 towards their goal for the upcoming BILD Conference. “We were very excited about raising that amount, and everyone had a good time working together while being in the community.”
Stop by the Ames Main Street Farmers’ Market this Saturday, October 10, to support the 16th Street Church donut fundraiser! As the 2015 BILD Conference approaches, all of our churches are considering how they can financially contribute.
Read more of Mark Your Calendars - 16th Street Church Hot Donut Fundraiser
Once, the Pharisees tested Jesus with a question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Our Ames–Des Moines CityChurch is structured as a network, a church of churches. We in turn are part of a larger web of like-minded churches called the CityChurch Network.
Read more of Powerful CityChurch Network Meeting in Los Angeles
The leaders of Huxley–Ankeny Church take seriously the lifelong establishment of their church. Recently, they have been focusing on establishing their church in God’s story.
Our network’s summer Immerse program has drawn to a close. Randy Beckett says the group this summer approached the program exactly how he hoped they would. “I was encouraged by the seriousness they brought to the summer. The whole group came obviously ready to invest themselves in the process. They were ready to play ball.”
Last September, Woodview Drive Church put on its first campout for fathers and children. Tents were pitched in Mark and Shon Stephenson’s backyard, pancakes were eaten, s’mores were toasted, and fathers and their children had the chance to spend some fun, quality time together.
A three-year long study of the book of Psalms has had quite an effect on South Ames Church. Through the study, the church as a whole has sharpened its interpretive skills, developed an environment where everyone participates, and created a body of psalms-inspired artwork.
Yuma Church has been hit hard with difficult situations the last few months. In turn, almost every family in Yuma Church has come to a point where they needed help. In these situations it would have been easy for them to drift away from each other and set church aside. On the contrary, though, the church as a whole has experienced a profound deepening in their sense of being there for each other as a family.
From the very beginning of their marriage, Nathan and Stephanie Haila have had a commitment to showing hospitality. “We’ve always viewed our home not just as our home, but as a resource that we need to use for God’s purposes,” explains Nathan.
Rick and Crissy Masonbrink started coming to North Campus Church in the fall of 2013. They moved to Ames in the preceding year and had been “church shopping” for a while. Joining the Ames–Des Moines CityChurch network was exciting to both of them, but for different reasons.
Read more of Transformed by the Teaching: The Story of Rick and Crissy
When 30th street was first planted, they had a discussion about “The Story” series that Jeff Reed has been taking our network through on Sunday mornings. Caleb Keller was surprised to find that most people didn’t feel like they knew the Story well at all. Caleb decided to fix this.
When David and Rachel Haila moved into their new neighborhood a year ago, they were looking for ways to connect with their neighbors. After getting the idea from a friend, Rachel started inviting neighbors to her front yard on Friday nights as a way for moms to get together, relax from the busy week, and look forward to the weekend. While it started with just a few moms and their kids, the Hailas say it has gotten much bigger.
Northwest Ames Church is becoming skillful at using music as a teaching and community building tool. The church just happens to have two talented singer/songwriters as part of their family, Jaime West and Emily Hilleman. A couple years ago the leadership of Northwest Ames Church—Steve Kemp, Kevin Berg, and Chad West—started thinking about how to use the musical talent of their church with more purpose.
Every summer our church network puts on a summer program called Immerse. It is led by Randy Beckett, a leader on our apostolic team. Immerse is geared towards young adults – college students and post college – who are trying to figure out what course to set their lives on.
Two Monday nights ago, the leaders from each of our churches gathered together for a meeting that will happen once every quarter. At these meetings, our leaders will discuss the successes, the problems, and the goals of every church. Two Mondays ago was the first of these meetings to happen. It turned into a powerful time of frank discussion and idea-sharing as reports from each church were presented and discussed.
We’ll be using this place to share our story as we plant churches in the Ames and Des Moines area. We anticipate stories of success and stories of challenges as we endeavor to carry out the work of the ministry. Our vision is that this blog would encourage and create conversation within our own churches and also create a greater conversation for others who are seeking to plant churches following a similar model as ours.