{"id":1419,"date":"2011-02-07T10:41:04","date_gmt":"2011-02-07T16:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/?p=1419"},"modified":"2011-02-14T11:27:10","modified_gmt":"2011-02-14T17:27:10","slug":"state-of-the-communion-2011-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/state-of-the-communion-2011-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"State of the Communion: 2011, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update:<\/strong> Click here for Part 1<\/a>, Part 3<\/a>, and here for the 2010 Highlight Video<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

This post is the second in a series of three posts highlighting some of what God did at Desert Springs Church in 2010. The full report is also available for\u00c2\u00a0download<\/a> in case you’d rather print it off and read it in one sitting.<\/p>\n

What follows is a report about the Redemption Church, Rio Rancho<\/a> church plant, a financial update, and a review of this year’s Christmas Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Redemption Church, Rio Rancho<\/a>, Carlos Griego<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

This past year Desert Springs Church became a church that plants churches.\u00c2\u00a0The\u00c2\u00a0first\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0these churches to be planted will be in Rio Rancho, NM. This young church plant has in some ways already formed an identity\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0its own, if not at least a name, Redemption Church.\u00c2\u00a0The\u00c2\u00a0vision\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0Redemption is to be a church that brings\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0message\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0redemption through Jesus Christ to\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0people of\u00c2\u00a0Rio Rancho, as well as to seek to display\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0work\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0redemption in all parts\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0life, such as work, marriage, and parenting, to name a few. Redemption is also in\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0candidate phase\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0being part\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0Acts 29 church-planting network. This network includes like minded pastors who seek to see lives transformed by Jesus and continue to plant churches. Redemption will be led by the\u00c2\u00a0lead pastor, Carlos Griego, who has been on staff at DSC for 3 1\/2 years serving as\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0minister over\u00c2\u00a0The\u00c2\u00a0Well,\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0young adult ministry, as well as\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0Men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ministry. Over\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0next year we are praying for 40 adults to become part\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0Redemption\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s core group ready to establish this new church early in 2012.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Financial, Ron Giese<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we ended\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0month\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0January, we closed out\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0first third (4 months)\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0our fiscal year with a deep sense\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0gratitude. You may have noticed from\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0bulletin that in late fall we were, at times, as much as $20K in\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0red in anticipated giving (which is what our budget is based on). December ended up, thankfully, being a very good, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153catch-up\u00e2\u20ac\u009d month. This allowed us to start January at an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153even\u00e2\u20ac\u009d status.<\/p>\n

Running a church financially is not fundamentally different than running a home or apartment. When we take in less through giving, we cut back on spending. But we do not cut back in areas like missions. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also had a lot\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0help in\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0past six months from people donating time, talents, equipment, and even monies in designated giving above and beyond their regular giving.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Christmas Store<\/a>, Carolyn Rush<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your generosity and love for those in need showed Christ\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s love to many through our many annual Christmas stores.\u00c2\u00a0 Over 3,000 items were collected this year for the six\u00c2\u00a0Christmas\u00c2\u00a0stores that were set up here in Albuquerque and the Navajo reservation.\u00c2\u00a0 Over 200 of you served by coming by the church to sort gifts, or by attending a\u00c2\u00a0Christmas Store.\u00c2\u00a0The\u00c2\u00a0Christmas\u00c2\u00a0store\u00c2\u00a0has so many purposes, it provides gifts for parents to get the joy of giving at\u00c2\u00a0Christmas\u00c2\u00a0to their children, and it allows us to share the love of Christ through giving because of His great grace and giving to us.\u00c2\u00a0 When asked by one woman that was going through the\u00c2\u00a0store, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why do you do this for us? I would not have had anything to give to my children if it were not for your generosity,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I was able to say because of God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great love for us, He gave us the gift of His son to bear the wrath for ours sins, we in turn are to show love to others. The\u00c2\u00a0Christmas\u00c2\u00a0Store\u00c2\u00a0serves as a launching pad to be on mission throughout the year in our community and beyond. Each of these stores has allowed us the opportunity to continue to serve throughout the year in some capacity.<\/p>\n

Several years ago after attending a\u00c2\u00a0Christmas\u00c2\u00a0Store\u00c2\u00a0at Steamboat on the Navajo Reservation, Astraea and Leonard Duran of DCS approached the church and asked if they could help start a VBS out at Steamboat by offering to bring supplies, resources, and people to train the people their at Bethel Baptist to do VBS.\u00c2\u00a0We have now gone to assist and equip them and in the next few years we believe we can move on to start a VBS at Lukachukai and equip them in starting a VBS.\u00c2\u00a0The church in Steamboat is now seeing new families coming to church that would not have stepped into the church in the past.\u00c2\u00a0Being on mission to share the good news of the gospel must be done daily with our own neighbors and co-workers and unsaved families, as well as further into our community and beyond. The\u00c2\u00a0Christmas\u00c2\u00a0Store\u00c2\u00a0allows us the joy to partner with other believers in sharing the love of Christ.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click here<\/a> for Part 1 in this year’s State of the Communion blog series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: Click here for Part 1, Part 3, and here for the 2010 Highlight Video. This post is… Continue Reading ›<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1419"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1441,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419\/revisions\/1441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}