Connexus Community Church

The Most Important Thing

How do you boil the launch of a church down to one thing that is most important?

I thought about what to tell you the most important thing was this weekend.  Candidates for the one thing included: that I could preach a crazily good message. That the music would kick. That we would be authentic and real, and everyone would feel they could be themselves. That the service would flow smoothly from a technical perspective. That we got the "churchiness" out of our system so that people could walk in and have a fresh encounter with God and each other (I like that one).  That we treat people as they want to be treated: respecting anonymity among those who join us and want to be anonymous, and yet also reach out with an open heart to those who are ready to be greeted and welcomes. 

More candidates: that the friends we invited would actually come. That the kids love it so much they drag their parents back next week, and the parents love it so much they drag their kids back. 

But none of these really are the most important thing. As much as I hope all of the stuff above happens, and we'll be doing all we can to ensure it does,  I think the most important thing is this:  for us to pray for God to move in everyone's heart.  That's it.

See, we can create amazing environments, but if God doesn't move -- they're not worth the wood, fabric, paper and sweat they're made of.  The music can rock and the preacher can be engaging, entertaining and eloquent, but if God doesn't move, you might as well just bring an iPod and read the phone book.

When God moves in people's hearts, history gets made.  Cynics become freed.  Sadness gets trumped by hope.  Environments become irresistible because God is there. 

When God moves in people's hearts -- everyone's heart (yours and mine too) -- movements are born.  People change.  Communities change.  Nations change. 

So pray.  Pray that God would move.  That's it.  Because from that, every other good thing (and there are so many great things) gains its meaning and purpose.

Getting Ready for the Grand Openings!

Well, it's been a great week so far.  Connexus Barrie is scheduled to open this weekend to the community.  We're praying, working hard, and very excited about all that is possible in our region starting this weekend.  Hope you've got friends and family coming this weekend at 8:30 and 10 in Barrie!

Thought we'd bring you up to date with some quick, but important updates:

1. The Connexus web-site is live!  Go to www.connexuscommunity.com and it won't point to the blog (you can access the blog off the website), but to our website.

Some neat features:

i.  You can invite friends through our e-vite feature on the main page.  It will email an invitation to your friend telling them all about our current series and inviting them to come with you.

ii.  Starting next week, you can view the message on line, download it, podcast it or syndicate it.  If you click on the "connexus community" icon next to the video message, it will take you to the blip.tv site where you can subscribe to Connexus content via iTunes, an RSS feed, or even add a message video to your Facebook account.  Right now, we have a video on there called "I Am a Chair" (about whose invited this weekend), but starting next week, our own messages.

iii. Your community group can base its study around our current (or after we've got a series under our belt) past series.  Attached to each week's video message will be a downloadable PDF of community group questions for your group. 

2. Starting this weekend, Connexus will record and broadcast our messages via high-definition.  Watch for a jump in quality, which should improve constantly over the next few months as we get better and better at doing video church.

3.  Speaking of constant improvement, a handful of Connexus people are locked up for three days with some awesome PCI people (Portable Church Industry) people reworking all our gear to tweak it for the grand opening.  We are labeling everything, fixing known errors and upgrading other equipment.  All of this is aimed at making our grand openings December 2nd in Barrie and December 9th in Orillia all we can make them.

4.  Watch for this blog to get a make-over in the next week too!  It will be cleaner, meaner, and leaner.  Okay, that was supposed to sound good, but it just sounds stupid, doesn't it?  It will be different, and hopefully, better.

Spending a lot of time in prayer this week for everything this weekend on both campuses.  Thanks for your partnership!

Carey Nieuwhof
Lead Pastor
carey.nieuwhof@connexuscommunity.com

 

Smile Connexus....You're Being Filmed This Weekend

Here's something we never anticipated: Connexus is going to be featured in an upcoming one hour prime time special on network television as an example of a church that's reaching out in relevant ways to the next generation.

I've had a series of great conversations with a documentary film maker who has been following the birth of Connexus via our blogs.  She called me over a week ago to explain that she is working with Global TV to produce a one hour prime time special with Kevin Newman about the growth of the Canadian evangelical church (yep...we're evangelical even though we don't talk about ourselves that way, normally anyway) in an era when most churches are declining.

Anyway, over the next few months Global will be filming snippets of life at Connexus in preparation for the spring special.  It starts this weekend, December 2nd, at the Barrie site as a crew will be there to film our e-team at 6 a.m. sharp and hang with us throughout the morning to film the first Sunday at Connexus.  Should be a GREAT day on every level, and it's great to have our friends from Global there to capture it.

The crew will return from time to time over the next few months to chart our progress, and also do some interviews with our people. 

We're excited about this opportunity to tell the story of what God is doing through us.  We've done our homework, and the documentary will not be an expose or 60 Minutes style investigation, but rather will try to answer the question of why some churches are growing and reaching unlikely segments of the population while most are not.  There's a genuine curiosity and interest out there about these things.

So how does this affect you?  If you don't want to be on camera, please attend our Orillia campus this weekend.  Otherwise, just act normal.  They're here to catch the first day as it really unfolds, which is kind of exciting, because that means we'll have an archive of this special grand opening day too.

Kind of cool to see all that God is doing, isn't it?  Remember to bring your friends and family with you this weekend in Barrie as we launch publicly!  While it will still be a number of weeks until all of our full gear arrives (more will be here this weekend), we should have a wonderful weekend together.  Should be an amazing time!

Three Quick Wins

Hey Folks...just some really quick pieces of good news that we received half way through a Monday...

i.We think we have the go-ahead on a really cool way to do Christmas Eve service together.  Stay tuned.  We hope to have something to announce shortly.  We've been working on this for a month, and a few more things have to fall into place, but if it all works out, I can promise you that you've never had a Christmas like this before!

ii.  There were 158 kids out yesterday at Connexus.  That rocks.  You know how much kids matter to God and to us.  That was quite a bit higher than we expected for soft launch, and no service was overcrowded, because we have four services on two campuses.  So there's plenty of room for growth.  All in all, the more kids, the better.  Bring 'em on!

iii.  You are generous, again!  Our offering yesterday was $69,000.  Over $55,000 in over-and-above giving was received toward our $800,000 goal ($600K + $200K), plus almost $14,000 in general offering.   We appreciate your quick and generous response.   We want every family to participate in  the founding of Connexus in some meaningful financial way. If you haven't made a commitment to an over-and-above gift yet, please do so this week and bring it with you this weekend.  I think you'll find long-term that you won't want to miss out on the blessings that come from generosity toward God and others. 

Looking forward to all that's ahead. 

Carey Nieuwhof
Lead Pastor
carey.nieuwhof@connexuscommunity.com

Soft Launch -- Week Two!

Wow!  It's hard to believe, but we did what many said was either crazy or impossible.  We opened two campuses within seven days of each other.

Man!  I can't imagine being part of a finer team of people.  Committed to Christ.  Committed to each other. Committed to the community.  Committed to getting the job done, not matter how huge the challenge!

Orillia, it was so great to be with you Saturday morning and watch four trailers full of gear pull up, be emptied, set up, put away and then unloaded again this morning for our first services in Orillia.  Check out this photo collage from Saturday morning!

By every account I've heard, Orillia was a big success.  Barrie had a solid second week as well.  Trust me, there are many challenges lined up to overcome, but we have seven days to do it and we're committed to doing it.

Some highlights from the weekend as a whole:

• An unbelievable positive spirit...week two.  Even when we started the Barrie service late for the second week in a row, people were so encouraging and enthusiastic.  We had a great time, didn't we?

• Sacrifice.  You guys rock.  You've reset your schedules, bought new alarm clocks, and given it over to service in a way I've never seen you do it before. All because you want to see people led into a growing relationship with Jesus.  What you are sowing now will reap such a powerful harvest in changed lives in just a few weeks, months and years.  Wow!
  

• Our tech team pulled in video quality was much better today in Barrie.  Thanks guys!  Thanks for being so generous in Orillia with what our team thought was not the best quality video for Orillia's week one.  It will just keep getting better every week from hereon in.

• The lights were so much better!  Again, the team was committed to making the environment better every week.  I could see people.  By the end of the 10:00 service, I felt like I was the real pastor of a real community passionate about a real God.  It was so good to be together on both campuses.

• The sheer number of people.  There were about 500 adults in worship between the two campuses this morning.  When you add volunteers and kids into that count, it's a very, very encouraging first Sunday with both campuses open, especially since we're not really "open" yet.

We are also aware of what needs to be done in the next week in Barrie and two weeks in Orillia.  We'll be spending our week completely getting ready.  In fact, PCI from Michigan (our gear guys) are coming back Thursday to get us ready.  What are we working on?

• Labeling all cords and gear so we have an easier system for our incredible e-teams to do an even easier and more efficient job.

• Solving the power-load issues at both campuses.  We need our friends at Cineplex to authorize the changes, but we have some great ideas.  Power issues led to a lot of the delays in Barrie the last two weeks.

• Sorting out the video issues.  New cabling, smooth transitions...the whole deal, will be the focus of attention.  There are like a million moving parts in operation, and tweaking a few of the key pieces will solve so many issues.

• Getting more pieces of the environments from our suppliers.  Most of the Upstreet design backgrounds are still coming, as are basic things like skirting for the main stages.  We hope to have much more of this.  Oh, and signage.  Yeah...in the next while, you'll see the campuses fill up with some great and very helpful signage to take the guesswork out of what theatre is what!

• Communicating with our teams.  We know you need a little more information to succeed in all the things you'll do.  We'll be helping you.

• Advertising.  Among other things, we'll be mailing flyers to 13,000 homes in Barrie, Orillia and Oro-Medonte this week.

• Launching the full web-site.  We're going to finish up the beta and launch it this week!

• Praying for you.  We know many of you have been inviting your friends, and we'll be praying for all of us this week as we pick up the phone and invite our friends and family to Barrie (December 2nd) and Orillia (December 9th).

Okay, there's about a bazillion other things we'll be working on, but thank you for the privilege of getting it done together.   We appreciate you so much, and deeply anticipate all that God is going to be doing through you and through all of us working together!

A Huge Weekend!

This weekend we're going to launch the Orillia campus of Connexus the week after we launched Barrie. 

In church planting circles, when you launch two campuses within a week of each other when you are a brand new organization, this is officially known as "nuts".  But I think we're going to do it anyway.  I think what you have displayed in heart, faith and sacrifice will more than make up for everything else.  Barrie was so amazing last weekend, that I can't imagine Orillia being anything but that this coming weekend.

So here are some drill down details. 

Orillia Campus - Galaxy Cinemas at West Ridge Place

• 6 a.m. sharp | Saturday, November 24th.  All Orillia e-team volunteers are on deck as we get a first glimpse of the Orillia gear.  We'll unload it, unpack it, admire it, test it, repack it and reload it.  We're out by noon.

• 10:00 a.m. | Saturday, November 24th. All Orillia host team and family team members are invited to join us to observe the gear as it's set up and get a basic orientation to actual Sunday set up.  The music team is also welcome to come and kick the tires!

• 6:00 a.m. | Sunday, November 25th. E-team arrives to unload for real and set up for the first Orillia 8:30 service.   Other serving teams please find out from your leaders Saturday or watch your in box to see exactly when your leader wants you present!

• 8:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.| Sunday, November 25th. Our first Orillia soft-launch services.  If you can put up with a few hiccups, make sure you don't miss worship.  Full band, the first sample of children's and student ministry to come, plus I'll start an all-new two week series called "Leap" -- cuz that's what we're doin'!

Barrie Campus - Galaxy Cinemas at 72 Commerce Park Drive, South Barrie

• Saturday, November 24th.  Nothing!  You did so well last weekend.  Pray for your Orillia sisters and brothers.

• 6:00 a.m. | Sunday, November 25th. E-team arrives to unload for real and set up for week two of soft launch.   Other serving teams please be present by 7:45 a.m. at the latest or earlier as your team leader directs you!

• 8:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.| Sunday, November 25th. Our second full soft-launch Sunday.  Barrie Connexus people are all invited (no friends until the grand opening next week please).  We'll still have the hiccups, but we'll also have a full band, week two of our children's environments  (Waumba Land, UpStreet and Xtreme) plus I'll finish the "Leap"  series with a message I am very excited about -- on what this is really all about and why it matters.

A couple of other reminders:

• You can still sign up to serve.  People are contacting us daily to serve. Thank you!  But there's still room, especially on the Barrie campus.  Emails us at admin@connexuscommunity.com and we'll direct you to the appropriate leader!  This is an all-hand-on-deck moment, so please grab a mop!

• We would love for everyone to consider making an over-and-above gift to launch Connexus.  To those of you who have pledged, thank you!  We look forward to receiving your pledges as soon as possible (this is a big cash flow month as we need to pay for our gear!).  For those of you who have not pledged but would like the opportunity, please contact Rich Birch and he'll get back to you with full details.   You can bring your pledge in Sunday at either campus or mail it to Connexus Community Church | P.O. Box 277 Orillia ON L3V 6J6. 

• We will be able to receive a regular weekly offering at both campuses this weekend.  If you ultimately desire a charitable receipt for your giving, remember to stop by the finance table at either campus and pick up a donor package, sign the acknowledgment form, and hand it in.  This will make your donations ultimately eligible for a tax receipt when we get our charitable status next year.

• The public launch dates are only one week away in Barrie and two weeks away in Orillia. Remember to tell your friends, and be sure to bring them along December 2nd and December 9th.  What a great opportunity to tell others about Jesus.  I posted some thoughts on my personal blog about how to share your faith with others, which you may find helpful.  It's way less intimidating than we think!
  

Can't wait to see you at both campuses this weekend.  Pray for God's Spirit to move and be very present as we gather for the first time in two locations!

We've got video mail! (2)

This afternoon we have video mail from Scott Tanksley from North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA.  Scott provides constant support and aid to our leadership team.  He's a great coach, resource and cheerleader for us.  He sent some greetings today for us to consider.  Thanks Scott!

Click To Play

Rich Birch
rich.birch@connexuscommunity.com
Executive Director of Operations
Connexus Community Church

p.s. If you want to get inside of Scott's head a little bit check out his blog: HippoChurch

Barrie Soft Launch Highlights

Wow!  What a weekend.

We went from zero to sixty (or 59) in 36 hours. Thank you to EVERYONE who worked on our Barrie soft launch. Hundreds of people pooled their energy, time and resources to pull off what many were wondering was even possible.  We went from having no gear in our possession Friday night to running two services Sunday with audio, video and the whole deal.  Thank you God, for the vision, the reason, the people and the fuel.  And thank you to the Connexus Community for being who you are.  You are SO much fun to work with!!!

Over 60 people gathered at something like 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning to meet the incredible PCI crew from Michigan. It took the PCI crew 12 hours to get here (two blown tires on the trailers), but they made it across the border and arrived here for first thing Saturday morning.   And when I pulled in at 5:30 sharp Sunday morning, five cars were in ahead of me full of people ready to get started.  You guys rock!

Sunday was so busy that none of our core team actually captured photos (if you have them, let our office know at 796.0603 or email them to us at admin@connexuscommunity.com).  But we do have pics from Saturday! You can view them here, and download, share or simply see them. I hope you can feel the enthusiasm in the group as we gathered in freezing temperatures and a trace of slight snow to unload four large trailers filled with cases of gear that would fuel our portable church environments. 

Highlights:

• The contagiously positive spirit of the Connexus crew.  You guys simply love doing this.  That spirit and many prayers for God to move are going to blanket the community in just a few weeks!

• The unseen-before level of commitment and dedication of an incredible volunteer crew.  I heard dozens of people introducing themselves to each other...that was so cool.  One great way to get to know each other is to serve together like this!  Kind of exciting to see your life and gifts used to change lives at this scale!

• Our amazing staff.  You guys have busted it over the last months to get us into this pocket.  What a privilege to serve alongside you! 

• The fact that we actually held two services Sunday.  Okay, the 8:30 was actually a 9:00 a.m. service, and the 10:00 at 10:10...but that's what soft launch is about.  We kept good notes, and it's only going to get better next week.

• The reality that Central Ontario now has two campuses where people are committed to leading others into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ through relevant environments.

Not all of our gear is here yet (Upstreet in particular is waiting on a lot of gear), but it will arrive soon.  You guys were so forgiving and so giving.  Our time line is very tight, but everybody has worked so hard to bring it about.

In all, well over 400 people were part of week one of our Barrie soft-launch yesterday.  That's so encouraging.  Orillia, your turn is coming Saturday and Sunday, and Barrie, we're gearing up for week two of soft-launch. 

So...you are invited to be part of Connexus at both campuses this weekend.  You can still sign up to serve!  Our two greatest needs right now are still the set-up and tear down E-teams (we need 120 people, and we've got a couple dozen openings) and small group leaders for UpStreet  (we still need a dozen more between the two campuses).  There are other places to serve...so contact us at admin@connexuscommunity.com to jump in.

Can't wait for Sunday to roll around again!

Carey Nieuwhof
Lead Pastor
carey.nieuwhof@connexuscommunity.com

The Soft Launch is Here

Well, the Connexus story starts in earnest this weekend.  Months of hard work, long days, long nights, and years of prayer and visioning begin to gel into something real for the community this weekend.  It's so amazing, and so exciting that the day is actually here.

This weekend we soft-launch the Connexus Barrie Campus.  For many of our volunteers, that means being at the Galaxy tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. (you know who you are) to meet the incredible PCI team who is hauling all our gear across the border tonight.  We'll spend six hours tearing up and setting down for the first time tomorrow.

Then Sunday we gather again at 6 a.m. for the real deal...set up and tear down in preparation for our first 8:30...okay, 8:30ish...service for "us".  No public invite yet (although we won't turn people away), but we've got a full band, full video crew and I'm preaching a new two week soft-launch series called "Leap".   That's a lot, isn't it?

Here are some bullet highlights:

• Sunday's soft launch is open to any and all Connexus people.  We won't turn others away, but it's a chance to learn the ropes and even sign up to serve if you haven't already.  We do need a congregation at both services, but we don't want to be overwhelmed with guests while we work out the bugs!  You are welcome to join us, especially if you don't mind glitches and want to be involved.

• Soft launch weekends feature two services as will be the norm: 8:30 and 10:00.

• Orillia's two week soft launch kicks off next weekend. Woo hoo!

• PCI, who is bringing in all our gear, rocks!  Thanks for doing all you can to make this happen.  Thanks to our web designers (you'll see their work next week), our data base people and many more who are working so hard to launch Connexus.

• There are still places to serve on both campuses.  Come Sunday and you can sign up.

• We finally are ready for people to give. We're so grateful.  Our goal of $600,000 in over and above giving before March 28th 2008 was exceeded a week ago, when a total of $688,000 had been committed.  Wow!  Thank you, and thank God! While that was good news, we realized that most families have not had a chance to participate (only 130 families gave that amount), so we set a secondary goal of an additional  $200,000 in over and above giving before March 28th.  That gives everyone a chance to participate, and it will almost eliminate our debt in the first year of operations and put us in a strong position as we approach the opening of our third campus in Muskoka in the fall of 2008.  So if you haven't had a chance to be part of this yet, please pick up a pledge form and give.

• On the giving front, I can promise you that my wife Toni and I have never given at this level in a six month window -- not even close.  We were fully (trust me, fully) trusting God to provide as we gave.  Let me just tell you that when you release the money God entrusted to you for His purpose, you give Him a window to provide.  Toni and I have seen God  provide in fresh and amazing ways after we gave our gift.  Can't wait to tell the story one day....all I can say now is that I don't want to deprive you of the opportunity to be part of what God is doing.

• Finally, please pray for your friends and invite them out for our opening Sundays on December 2nd and 9th.  God is moving, and your personal invitation to them will mean more than anything we could print, buy or distribute. 

I am also keenly aware of how many of you are praying daily for this.  Hey...it's all about creating environments where people can move into a growing relationship with Jesus.  And we can invite, but only God can draw people to Him.  So grateful for all of you and the wider Christian community that writes in every day on email and on our blogs...it's amazing.

See you Sunday!

Carey Nieuwhof
Lead Pastor
carey.nieuwhof@connexuscommunity.com

We've got video mail! (Part 1)

Hey friends . . . there is church in Dothan, Alabama called Wiregrass Church that has been cheering for us from a far (have your ears been ringing?).  Their lead pastor, Troy Fountain, sent us this little video mail today to encourage us as we go into soft launch week!  Thanks for the encouragement Troy!

Click To Play

That's kinda fun!

Rich Birch
rich.birch@connexuscommunity.com
Executive Director of Operations
Connexus Community Church