The launch of DSC’s first church plant is fast approaching. With less than three months to launch on January 22, Redemption Church Rio Rancho is hosting a preview service on the first Sunday of each month for three months ahead of their launch. The second preview service will be held this Sunday night at DSC at 6:00 PM. Everyone is welcome and childcare is provided for children 6 years and younger.

Ahead of this Sunday’s service, I asked Carlos a few questions about the planting process and how we can be praying for this new church:

1) We’ve heard that Redemption Church is hosting a few preview services. What is a preview service?

A preview service is a real service. We will worship Jesus through song, preaching, and fellowship, just as we would on a Sunday morning. Because we are not at our own place and haven’t officially launched, this service is a preview to what can be expected on a Sunday morning come January. We have these types of services to allow people to come and celebrate what God is doing in the planting of Redemption, and to give people a good look at what this church gathering will be like. We have two preview services scheduled right now, both at DSC, this Sunday, November 6, at 6:00 PM, and Sunday, December 4, at 6:00 PM.

We would love for as many people to come as possible. I would encourage others to get the word out and invite friends and family who live on the westside or in the Rio Rancho area.

2) As we get closer to the launch date of January 22, we know that finding a space is a top priority. How’s that going? 

We have, by God’s grace, found a space on the corner of 528 and Southern Boulevard. This is a great location that we have managed to lease at a great rate. It is at the busiest intersection in Rio Rancho and needs only a little work for us to move in. We will have some work days for our people to come and paint, pull up carpet, and get the place ready for our first service.

3) How can we pray for Redemption Church between now and the launch? 

Pray for our core group. Pray that we would be constantly in awe of Jesus, and for Him to be our motivation in all we do. Pray that we see ourselves as missionaries going to plant the gospel and for our church to gather around that gospel. Pray that we would be united and passionate about people meeting Jesus.

With this in mind, we are praying for at least four people to be saved in the next few months and then baptized on January 22. Our hope is to start our first gathering with a baptism service, to celebrate our new church by celebrating new lives in Christ. We have a big vision for Rio Rancho and New Mexico, and we are so grateful we have a big God who goes before us in the work. Pray that we would stay faithful to His Word and His Call, not ours.

Carlos has preached at DSC’s Sunday morning service on a number of occasions, and his sermons are available at the Messages page. For more information about Redemption Church, visit Redemption’s new website and check out their blog. For more information about DSC’s church planting strategy, visit our Church Planting pages.

Today is October 31, the anniversary of the day when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Door and, thus, began what is known as the Protestant Reformation. So, today is Halloween, but it is also Reformation Day.

Around DSC we have a number of posters with the word “sola” in them, which is Latin for “alone.” These “solas” reflect the heart of the Reformation, and, indeed, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Salvation is:

• Revealed in Scriptures Alone (Sola Scriptura)
• In Christ Alone (Solus Christus)
• By Grace Alone (Sola Gratia)
• Through Faith Alone (Sola Fide)
• To the Glory of God Alone (Soli Deo Gloria)

With that in mind, here are a few resources to help you learn and share about what happened now almost 500 years ago:

• Justin Taylor’s interview with Carl Trueman about the 95 Theses.
• Carl Trueman’s five talks on the subject of the Reformation given during his visit to DSC for Clarus ’05.
• The 2003 movie, Luther, which is a helpfully accurate portrayal of the story and the times.
• Douglas Linder and Chris Castaldo have written helpful accounts of Luther’s trial at the Diet of Worms, the trial where Martin Luther refused to recant of his belief in the saving gospel revealed in Scripture. A 27 minute clip from this portion of the movie, Luther, is available here.
• Max McClean’s audio overview of Luther’s trial, available on YouTube (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).

Although it’s a little late to order a book or two for Reformation Day, it’s never too late to learn more about the Reformation. Stephen Nichols’ Martin Luther: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought, is a helpful introduction to Martin Luther. And for kids, there are two books worth picking up: Paul Maier’s Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed the World, and R.C. Sproul’s The Barber Who Wanted to Pray.

HT: JT

The audio is now available for Wednesday night’s Q&A with DSC’s elders. If you weren’t there, give it a listen, and stop by DSC’s Leadership Page to get the faces and stories of the men who serve us as elders.

Next week we will post a blog with audio to specific questions and links to related resources. For now, here is a list of the major categories of questions addressed by the elders, with links to related pages around DSC’s website.

• Church Planting (Church Planting Page)
• DSC Finances (Finances Page)
• DSC’s Affiliations and Accountability (The Gospel Coalition)
• Shepherding
• Church Membership
• Community Groups (Community Groups Page)
• Adoption Ministry (Adoption Ministry Page)
• Schooling Approaches
• Global Church Planting (Global Missions Page, Church Planting Page)

We hope the Q&A and these follow-up posts serve to unite our body in the “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1).

Many of you have iPhones. Many of you who don’t have an iPhone will get an iPhone. Many of you who don’t have an iPhone and don’t plan to get an iPhone probably have some roughly equivalent device to help you with life, play, communication, and work. Some of you will be offended that I said, “rough equivalent.” And, of course, some of you don’t care. All of us, though, leverage multiple technologies in a given day to do whatever we do.

Ten years ago our cell phones allowed us to talk. Then they allowed us to text. Now, if you can think it up, there’s probably an app for that. As Christians, we want to think christianly about all of life, including the tools we use to go about doing life.

Mike Cosper, Pastor of Worship and Arts at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY, has written a nice reflection on the meaning of technology over at The Gospel Coalition Blog in his article, “The iPhone as Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe.” Cosper’s closing paragraph sums up his reflection well:

Sometimes, Christians with a sympathetic view of culture (like myself) have a tendency to treat it all—including technology—as though it were neutral, but this isn’t the case. Like all of creation, the technological world bears witness to God’s glory and goodness with its undoubted helpfulness, its moments of beauty, and its occasional ability to inspire awe. But also like all of creation, it bears the stain and destructive power of sin, introducing us to whole new ways to destroy relationships, disrupt our lives, and distract from the glory we were created to behold.

Mike does a good job of helping us consider how the Christian worldview intersects with a part of life whose positive and negative effects are difficulty to discern or taken for granted.

Read the rest of Cosper’s article here.

Last week, we wrote about our upcoming Elders Q&A, taking place this coming Wednesday night, October 26, at 6:30 PM.

If you have any questions for DSC’s elders, this is a great time to submit them. If you don’t have any questions for our elders, this is a great time to think one or a few up. During this service, our elders will answer questions concerning a range of subjects: our operations, ministries, vision, church planting, and whatever else you come up with.

You can submit questions through the Communication Card on Sunday morning and drop them in an Offering Box, or email your questions to info@desertspringschurch.org.

Also, you may wonder why we collect questions in advanced instead of going with an open-mic approach. The elders collect questions in advanced to ensure coverage of issues in proportion to the church’s interest. This helps us make the most of our time. Often, there are recurring themes, and we want to make sure those are addressed thoughtfully and clearly. Any questions that are not addressed at the Q&A will be answered through the DSC Blog or email.

By way of reminder, the Elders Q&A is taking place on the evening when we would normally have our Lord’s Supper. Plan to come early, as DSC’s youth will still be serving our regular church-wide dinner at 5:30 PM. October’s Lord’s Supper will take place in both Sunday services on October 30.