Several years ago, DSC cast a vision to be a church that plants churches. Some of us are sending, and some of us going, but we’re all excited about DSC’s first church plant, Redemption Church, Rio Rancho.

Today, Redemption’s lead planter, Carlos Griego, published an update on progress toward a new launch date of February 19. Read Carlos’ update here, and take note of Redemption’s specific needs for prayer:

How can you pray for Redemption?

Pray that our leaders and those going to Redemption will continually fix our eyes on Jesus and follow Him. That we would not worry or grow anxious in this, but trust him fully and completely.

Pray that our permits will go smoothly and quickly through the city of Rio Rancho. The only thing that would delay this launch more would be if the city would require more work to be done something we won’t know until we start on the renovations.

Pray that people even in this delay would meet Jesus and be transformed. We are praying for 4 baptisms on our 1st Sunday! We are excited about a new location, not because we want a comfortable space, but because we are excited about the opportunities for more people to meet Jesus, that’s why we exist.

For more information about DSC’s church planting strategy or how to set up your online giving, visit DSC’s Church Planting pages.

If you’ve been around DSC for a while, you should know that we are laboring to be a church that plants churches that plant churches. In fact, just this past Monday, Carlos Griego signed the lease on a meeting place for Redemption Rio Rancho, DSC’s first local church plant.

With 2012 just around the corner, now is a good time for a refresher on why and how we’re going about church planting. Clint is DSC’s Missions Director, and he was happy (as you would imagine!) to answer several questions for us on the subject:

Can you explain to us again why we want to be a church planting church? 

For the long answer, visit our Church Planting Page, especially the FAQ section, and read Pastor Ryan’s Ten Reasons to Plant Churches Now. The bottom line is this: God sent His Son into the world to save sinners. Once Jesus accomplished this work on the cross, he came back to life and sent his followers out to proclaim the good news. Then Jesus instructed his followers to disciple believers in the context of the local church. We believe that the most Biblical and effective way to reach people and people groups is to plant churches that multiply. In light of this, we want to send folks out to North Africa and across our region to plant churches. We also pray that God will use this spirit of multiplication to awaken DSC to reaching our friends, family, and neighbors with the gospel.

Church planting is obviously a major undertaking  and at a number of levels. What are the costs involved for us as a body?

Comfort and coin. It’s going to cost us relationally as well as financially. Folks we love and find deep friendship and fellowship with may uproot from DSC and go with the first church plant (Redemption Rio Rancho), a future local church plant, or even sell all they have to move to North Africa to plant churches. And as a body, we must prayerfully serve them as they count the costs and step out in faith. It is also going to be an expensive endeavor. We hope to send out multiple church planters both locally and globally. Local church planters need temporary financial support from DSC, where as global church planters will likely need perpetual support from DSC. Either way, we are calling all of DSC to prayerfully consider starting by giving $1 per day for a year to church planting above their normal offerings. Then, as each year comes to an end, ask God in faith to provide through you to give another $1 per day to church planting. Our hope is that families and individuals will continue to increase from $1 per day, to $2 per day, to $3 per day, and more. The question shouldn’t be when can we stop, but rather, how much farther will God take us!

Giving is obviously, then, a big part of this. How can I get started or increase my giving?

The absolute best way is to set up both your regular giving and your church planting giving online here. If you’d prefer, you can use a missions envelope to designate your gift to “Church Planting.” Then, once you’ve made the commitment to give to church planting on a regular basis beyond your normal giving, you can send an email to missions@desertspringschurch.org in order to receive bimonthly updates on our church planting efforts via email.

For more information about DSC’s church planting strategy or how to set up your online giving, visit DSC’s Church Planting pages.

Last week we published a post in follow up to our recent Elders Q&A. Below are links to audio for specific sections from the Q&A, along with relevant links around DSC’s website and additional recommended resources. 

Church Planting 

• Q&A Audio
• DSC’s Church Planting Page
• Frequently Asked Questions about Church Planting
• Messages on Church Planting
• Church Planter: The Man, The Message, The Mission, Darrin Patrick

DSC Finances

• Q&A Audio
• DSC’s Budget Process, recently posted by Ron Giese
• DSC’s Financial Accountability

DSC’s Affiliations and Accountability

• Q&A Audio
• The Gospel Coalition

Shepherding

• Q&A Audio
• DSC’s Leadership Page
• DSC’s Community Group Page
• The Trellis and The Vine, Colin Marshall and Tony Payne

Church Membership 

• Q&A Audio
• DSC’s Membership Class Page
• Messages on Church Membership
• 9Marks Video on Church Membership
• Excerpts from Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck’s, Why We Love The Church
• Ligon Duncan’s articles on Church Membership, (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Community Groups

• Q&A Audio, Part 1
• Q&A Audio, Part 2
• DSC’s Community Groups Page
• Message: So What Do We Mean by Community?

Adoption Ministry

• Q&A Audio
• DSC’s Adoption Ministry Page
• Messages on Adoption
• Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches, Russell Moore

Schooling Approaches

• Q&A Audio

Global Church Planting

• Q&A Audio
• DSC’s Global Missions Page
• DSC’s Church Planting Page
• Messages on Church Planting
• Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper

Click here to listen to previous Elders Q&A’s.

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.

This Sunday’s message, “God Speaks in the Book of Third John,” coordinated both with the near conclusion of our 90 Days Through the New Testament listening plan, and Missions Emphasis Week. In 3 John, John writes to Gaius, a friend and church leader, concerning the support of traveling missionaries:

Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. (5-8)

3rd John, as we said, is a letter from the trenches of the first century church planting movement. Jesus sent his disciples out to make disciples and establish churches, and this is a letter between the Apostle John and a local church leader working that vision out in the years immediately following the ascension of Jesus.

At the Missions ministry page you can learn more about our global and local great commission strategies, including church planting. Also, if you have questions about DSC’s local and global church planting strategy in general, we’ve recently posted a page with answers to Frequently Asked Questions, and audio is available fro two messages given at this time last year giving the Biblical rationale and strategic vision for DSC’s planting strategy.

• “The Calling and Cost of Global Church Planting,” Clint Moore
• “Spreading God’s Glory Broader and Deeper…via Church Planting,” Ryan Kelly

Between Sunday’s service and last night’s Lord’s Supper service, we showed a two part interview in which Ryan Kelly interviews church planter, Carlos Griego, about the way forward for the Redemption Rio Rancho church plant:

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