Church Planting Proposal

Here is the proposal for the church plant in Anna.

INTRODUCTION

About two years ago, God began to birth in my wife and me a desire to be involved in serving Him in a way that would give us the greatest opportunity to point people to Him. After praying intensely about this, we began to sense that God was calling us to plant a church. After much more prayer and research, we sensed God calling us to plant in the Anna area of North Texas. Anna is the northernmost city in Collin County on US 75/Central Expressway. Collin County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the nation over the past ten years, and the phenomenal growth wave that the county has been experiencing is now beginning to hit Anna.

The growth coming to this area is different than any it has experienced in the past. The people are primarily commuters who work in cities to the south like McKinney, Plano, Richardson, and Dallas. They are not indigenous to the northern Collin County areas, and a new kind of church is needed to reach these people. Fellowship at the Crossroads will be that kind of church.

MISSION STATEMENT

Seeking God, loving people, reaching the world.

There are two components to the mission of the church, a vertical component and a horizontal component. Jesus was once asked what was the most important commandment in all of Scripture. He answered, “‘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’” (Mt. 22:37-39). The most important things in all of life relate to loving God and loving people. The heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ is to love and seek God, the vertical component, and to love people, the horizontal component. Therefore, as a church, these two elements are at the heart of who we are as a church.

Seeking God is the vertical component. We exist to seek God, to passionately pursue God in all that we do and all that we are. Seeking God, pursuing Him, loving Him, worshiping Him, surrendering our lives to Him, growing in relationship with Him, living lives that bring honor to Him are all aspects of this vertical component. The ultimate purpose of our lives is to glorify God. As a church, we will always give consideration in everything we do to how our actions, attitudes, services, and teachings align with this vertical component. We will continually point people to God as the ultimate source of meaning for life.

There are two parts to the horizontal component of our mission. The first part is loving people. The evidence of the fact that we are loving God and seeking Him is in our love for other people. We believe that as a church, we exist not for ourselves but for other people. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”(Jn. 13:35). Loving others encompasses creating authentic relationships, serving the community, accepting people as they are and encouraging them to live transformed lives.

The second part of the horizontal component is reaching the world. Before He left His disciples, Jesus gave them the following instructions: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The final aspect of who we are as a church is a passion for seeing people’s lives changed through the message of life in Jesus Christ. We will continually seek to live as on mission Christians, understanding ourselves as missionaries in our world wherever we are and whatever we do. That begins in our individual lives. We seek to make the most of every opportunity to build relationships with people, loving them, and ultimately sharing our faith with them. As a church, we will always seek creative and fun ways to communicate the gospel to our culture. We will continually seek ways to encourage one another to be involved in sharing the gospel in our local context. We will become experts of the culture of the community around us and seek to share the gospel in a way that is understandable within the culture.

We will also be actively involved in planting churches in our region and throughout the world. We have a passion for planting, desiring to see new churches reaching new peoples. From the first year of the plant, we will participate together with a church planting network to receive support and encouragement but also to encourage and support other planters in other areas. In our second year, we will plant the first church out of Fellowship at the Crossroads. In our third year, we will plant two churches and will do so in each subsequent year.

We also have a passion for connecting people with God’s global mission. We desire to see every member of Fellowship at the Crossroads involved in global missions. We see a day when there is always a member of Fellowship at the Crossroads somewhere in the world involved in an international missions endeavor. We believe it is the responsibility of the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world.

These two components of the mission of Fellowship at the Crossroads, the vertical and the horizontal, are the defining characteristics of who we are. The name “Fellowship at the Crossroads” is a reflection of this. The church will be geographically located at a crossroads of the North Texas area, but that is not the primary crossroads we are at as a church. The primary crossroads is the intersection of these vertical and horizontal components. As a church, we seek to position ourselves directly at the intersection of what is happening in people’s lives and what God is doing in the world. That intersection is the crossroads, the place where people on life’s journey can encounter God’s purpose for their lives. We position ourselves at that crossroads by seeking God in the vertical and loving people and reaching the world in the horizontal component.

PURPOSE STATEMENT

Fellowship at the Crossroads exists to celebrate Gods’ presence, to connect God’s family, to grow God’s people, to show God’s love, and to share God’s message.

Celebrate God’s Presence – The first purpose of the church is worship. Ultimate meaning in life comes by understanding that we were made by God and for God and that the purpose of our lives is to bring glory to God, not ourselves. We exist to point people to our awesome and amazing God, to cause them to be in wonder of who He is and what He is doing and to discover that worship is the key to understanding life.

Connect God’s Family – Life was not meant to be lived alone. Fellowship is the second purpose of Fellowship at the Crossroads. We need each other, and it is only through genuine, caring relationships that we can experience the life God intends for us, become the people God wants us to be, and live out the mission God has given in life. As a church, we want people to get connected in relationships where they can be authentic with each other, encourage each other, support each other, pray for each other, and spur each other on to live out God’s mission for their lives.

Grow God’s People – We want people to grow to become more and more like Jesus Christ through Fellowship at the Crossroads. We will facilitate that growth through a life development process, challenging them to commit to habits necessary for spiritual growth, connecting people in small groups, helping people understand God’s instructions for life in the Bible, giving a clear picture of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, and expecting people to put into practice the reality of their faith in their daily lives. We will also encourage growth by leading people to covenant together with God to grow in each of the purposes.

Show God’s Love – We will give our lives away for other people. By serving others, we are serving Jesus Himself, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt. 25:40), and we are imitating Jesus, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk. 25:40). We desire to change the world, to bring about transformation in the community around us. We exist not to serve ourselves but to serve other people.

Share God’s Message – We exist to carry the message of Jesus Christ to every part of the earth. We will equip people to share their faith and provide opportunities for them to do so. We will make sharing our faith a normal part of our lifestyle and a high priority for each of our members. We will give priority to evangelism in the context of relationship with others, valuing people, respecting them and loving them as we share our faith with them. We will also use servanthood evangelism, seeing service as an opportunity to open people’s hearts and minds to the message of Jesus Christ. We will continually seek to take the gospel to those parts of the world where there is no Christian witness, encouraging our members to go on mission trips throughout the world.

The mission of Fellowship at the Crossroads will be fulfilled by living out God’s five purposes for the church.

CORE VALUES

Celebrating Changed Lives – We are addicted to seeing people’s lives transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. This value affects every decision we make and everything we do. We continually are thinking about what we can do to effectively share the message of Jesus Christ in such a way to give people every opportunity to come to know Jesus. We believe beyond reason in the power of God to change people’s lives. Marriages can be brought back from the brink of disaster. Addictions can be overcome. Despair can be turned to joy. Families that were in a state of all out warfare can find love for each other again. People whose lives were focused on self can be transformed into lives lived for the glory of God. We believe there is absolutely nothing that God cannot overcome in a person’s life. We come to God with the ashes of broken lives and find that He gives beautiful lives in return. We continually celebrate with outrageous joy the way God changes people’s lives.

Relevance In Everything – Irrelevance is irreverence. The message of Jesus Christ is radically relevant, impacting the whole of human life. One of the most important verses in the Bible is James 1:22: “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” The goal of everything we do is to outfit people for the journey of life. We continually will provide people with real solutions for the struggles of real life. Relevance means we must creatively communicate the message. Expect the unexpected. We will effectively use the creative talents of people to share the message.

Obstacles can be Opportunities – We believe that God is so much bigger than we could ever imagine, and often the greatest opportunities appear as obstacles at first. We value faith in God to do things that are way bigger than we can accomplish alone. We believe that playing it safe is risky. Faith is embracing risk. God never asks anyone to do something that doesn’t involve taking a risk for Him. He calls us to do things that are bigger than ourselves and to give ourselves completely to serving Him. We will not back away from anything that God calls us to do, no matter how big. We will constantly seek to slay giants. We believe that it is never too late to be who you might have been. We will make a difference. We will change the world.

Seeking God with Passion and Surrender – Pursuing God should be the hunger of our hearts. The psalmist writes “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God” (Ps. 42:1). We want to be desperate for God, seeking Him in prayer, surrendering to Him in worship, celebrating His presence with joy and passion. Worship is refocusing our lives off of ourselves and onto God. It is through worship that we gain perspective on our world and our place in the world so that we can make a difference. Worship is not just about what happens on Sunday morning. Worship is a lifestyle, looking for the hand of God in everything and every place.

Sensitivity to the Culture Around Us – We believe in being a missional church. We will constantly seek to understand the values, beliefs, philosophy, lifestyle, and needs of the culture we are trying to reach, whether that is in North Texas or around the globe. We must constantly evaluate our methods in light of our understanding of the culture. We must communicate the unchanging message to changing cultures. The task of understanding our culture is never ending. We will never assume that we fully know our culture, and we will be relentless in our efforts to be a church that meets the needs of the culture around us.

Relationships Are Foundational – Relationships form the foundation of everything we do. We were not meant to go through life on our own. Our relationships with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers become the context for sharing our faith. Our relationships with each other in the church provide the context for spiritual growth, openness and honesty, support and encouragement, and for us to carry out our life mission together. We believe in the importance of sharing life together with each other in small groups.

Opportunities for Service – We will constantly look for opportunities to give ourselves away in service to other people. We believe that being a Christ-follower means living your life for others. We believe every member is a minister. We value going the extra mile. We believe every believer should be involved in service both within the church and in the community outside. We believe service to others opens them to hearing the message of Jesus Christ. We believe the church should make a difference in the community. We should be known as people who actively are involved in making the community a better place.

Authentic and Accepting – Being a Christ-follower means not wearing a mask. We believe in the importance of being open and honest with each other. We believe that sharing our struggles with each other is the path to true freedom and to helping others face the struggles in their lives. We believe that we are all imperfect people, so we must accept everyone. No perfect people allowed. We accept everyone, no matter who they are, where they’ve been, or what they’ve done. Everyone is welcome at Fellowship at the Crossroads. Acceptance, however, does not mean approval. People come to our church with all kinds of hurts, hang-ups, sins, failures, and struggles. We accept them but also expect God to change them.

Do Everything with Joy – We value fun. We believe being a follower of Jesus Christ should bring outrageous, contagious joy into your life. We believe that we should laugh. We believe attending church should be a joy. We value humor, excitement, energy, parties, hugs, loud music, getting outside the box, and just having a good time.

Scripture is the Authority – We value the instruction of the Bible as the final authority for everything we do. We believe the Bible is the all-sufficient guide for our beliefs, our teachings, and our practices. We will always seek God’s instructions for every aspect of the life of the church.

DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

Over the past ten years, Collin County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the nation. Cities in the southern part of the county like Plano, Frisco, Allen, and McKinney have grown from small communities to large metropolitan areas as a result of the northward growth of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Many young families, seeking affordable housing, good school systems, and an escape from the hustle of urban life continue to move to smaller towns on the northern edge of the metropolitan area, particularly along the 75-Central Expressway Corridor.

The city of Anna is the northernmost community in Collin County. It is a city that has seen incredible growth in just the last five years. A windshield survey revealed thousands of new homes in numerous brand new housing developments. Thiss growth is expected to continue into the future.

The Anna is centrally located in terms of growth in the communities of northern Collin and southern Grayson Counties. The cities of Howe, Tom Bean, Van Alstyne, Westminster, Gunter, Weston, and Melissa are located within a ten-mile radius of Anna. Some of these are currently experiencing high growth rates, and projections are that many of the other communities will experience the same growth. A fifteen-mile radius of the area includes the cities of Trenton and Sherman, as well as high growth cities like Celina, Prosper, and McKinney.

From 2000 to 2006, the five mile radius of Anna experienced a population increase of 4,117 or 56.8%. Based on percentage growth over the last four years, Anna was the fastest growing city in the North Central Texas region. Population growth is expected to continue at about the same pace for the next several years, adding some 400-500 residential units per year. Projections from 2006 to 2011 are for an increase of 4,649 or 40.9%. For the larger area (fifteen mile radius) growth projections are for an increase of 30.9% for a total population in excess of one hundred thousand. Projections for the next fifty years are that the population of Grayson County will increase to a quarter of a million while Collin County will be in excess of two million.


Need for a New Church

The increasing populations of this area necessitate new churches to reach the people who are coming to these areas. There are not currently enough churches in the area to reach the people who live there. As the population increases, the need for new churches to be able to reach those people will only increase.

In addition, the new peoples who are moving to this area are not indigenous to the area. New kinds of churches are necessary to effectively continue to reach them. There is an incredible need for a contemporary, purpose-driven, small group-based, evangelistic church in this area to reach these new people.

Fellowship at the Crossroads will be a unique church in this area in that it will be built on the foundation of relationships developed in small groups. There will also be fully contemporary music and preaching that emphasizes life change according to God’s Word. There will be strong emphasis on being a missional congregation, seeking every opportunity to reach out in new and exciting ways.

Target Group

The Anna area is rapidly becoming an exurban area for the DFW Metroplex. Exurbs are among the most rapidly growing population centers in America. Young families, unable to afford the higher cost of living and real estate in metropolitan areas move to the fringes of urban growth to find affordable housing, lower crime rates, less crowding, and smaller schools for their children.

The new growth in the Anna area is this type of exurban growth. The new residents of the area are primarily young couples with children moving from the Dallas-Fort Worth urban centers as well as empty-nesters. The largest population segments in this area are those from ages twenty-five to fifty-five. Median household income for the area is approximately $56,500.00 and the largest number of households fall in the $50-75,000.00 range. Home values within the target population fall between $120,000 and $300,000. Those people within the target population are seeking a higher standard of living for themselves and their families, so, as a result, they are often overstretched financially. The target population segment are college graduates or have some level of college education. They are commuters who travel to Dallas for work, although some travel to Sherman to work at Texas Instruments or Tyson Foods.

There are a number of new developments currently in place in the Anna area. See http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=105942449441122210325.0004408c4b28ba5b2f3df&om=1&ll=33.389313,-96.536865&spn=0.118963,0.291824&z=12 for a map of these communities.

Racially, the residents of the area are predominantly white (86.7%), but the Hispanic population is increasing. The households in the area are mostly families (78.6%) and they are equally divided between people who are married with children and married without children. Educationally, 27% percent of the target population graduated from college, while 22.7% have some level of college education.

The majority of the residents of the area are classified as “Midland Crowd.” The Midland Crowd is made up primarily of married couples living in rural areas, predominantly in the south, but they tend to be in housing developments rather than on farms. They tend to be conservative politically. They are do-it-yourselfers who take pride in their homes, lawns, and vehicles.

STRATEGY

Fellowship at the Crossroads will be a purpose-driven church, evaluating everything through God’s five biblical purposes for the church: celebrate, connect, grow, show, and share.

During the pre-launch phase, launch phase, and throughout the life of Fellowship at the Crossroads, four elements will be essential to successfully reaching the people of Anna and Northern Collin County:

1. Service to the community – We will continually seek ways to be involved in practical service that makes a difference in the community and that is visible to seekers. Service ministry and servanthood evangelism will make people more receptive to the gospel and will allow people to see the genuineness of the faith we profess. We will begin our pre-launch activities by getting our launch team involved in service projects in Anna, by making ourselves available to community and school leaders and to service personnel, and by seeking practical expressions of the love of Christ. These will be particularly important in the pre-launch phase to demonstrate to people our commitment to the community.

2. Purposeful relationships – We believe that evangelism happens best in the context of caring relationships with people. We will continually seek to build friendships with the goal of sharing our faith with people and connecting them to the life found in Jesus Christ and the community of Fellowship at the Crossroads. We will continually encourage one another as a church to build relationships with others, and we will constantly provide opportunities for people to connect with each other in community. We will value people. We will offer no-strings-attached friendships, so that even if they never make a decision for Christ, we will continue to love them and be their friends. Throughout the pre-launch and launch phases, we will always be seeking to make new friends and share with them.

3. Small group community – We will connect people in community with each other through small groups that allow them to be honest and authentic with each other, to encourage each other and pray for each other, and that allow spiritual seekers to explore the Christian faith in a safe and non-threatening environment. We believe that one of the most effective witnesses of the Christian life is allowing non-believers to experience believers existing together in authentic community. Small groups will be the avenue for people to do this. In addition, people in suburban/exurban communities are often disconnected from each other. Community is a major need of the human heart, and small group communities meet that need. Part of the pre-launch phase will be building a network of small groups in the target communities. Once we launch, these small groups will become the foundation for connecting people at Fellowship at the Crossroads and assimilating them into the life of the church.

4. Community evangelistic outreach – We will periodically throughout the year offer events that allow us to connect with the community on a large scale and develop relationships with people who might not come to church. We will do this through block parties, community picnics, sporting events, backyard bible clubs and vacation bible schools. These events will be a key part of the pre-launch and launch activities, using them to connect people and get them familiar with Fellowship at the Crossroads. We will also use these as opportunities to invite them to our preview services and Kick-off Sunday. After we launch, we will continue to use these kinds of events to maintain our presence in the community and to reach out to the community.

TIMELINE

Dream Stage: August-December 2007

1. Personal Preparation: Devotion to personal prayer and Bible Study. Church-planting assessment. Continue studying church planting materials. Coaching with Sam Douglass.
2. Family Preparation: Prayer time together as couple. Discovering the vision together as a couple. Prepare personal finances for planting. Communicate calling and vision with extended family. Share calling with children.
3. Strategic Preparation: Develop clear vision for Fellowship at the Crossroads. Define target group and do demographic analysis. Write prospectus for Fellowship at the Crossroads.
4. Partner Preparation: Begin sharing calling and vision with individuals as directed by the Holy Spirit. Share calling with Director of Missions of Grayson Baptist Association. Talk with leadership at Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. Establish partnership with Team Church Planting Network. Establish prayer partners. Begin praying for sponsor church and individual financial supporters.
5. Demographic Preparation: Gather demographic information from civic sources and Center for Missional Research. Do windshield surveys in target communities. Begin door to door surveys.
6. Launch Team Preparation: Begin building launch team. Begin meeting weekly with launch team for prayer and to develop launch team.

Design Stage: January-April 2008

1. Worship Strategy: Recruit worship leader. Begin fine-tuning worship style. Continue developing communication style and begin building file of message topics that address needs of target community.
2. Meeting Location: Finalize meeting location for preview services and Kick-off Sunday. Gather furnishings, supplies, materials necessary to personalize meeting location.
3. Launch Team: Continue recruiting new members for launch team and continue meeting weekly with launch team. Continue to emphasize the vision.
4. Small group development: Begin recruiting small group leaders and find host homes in target communities. Develop materials for use in home groups. Begin meeting in March.
5. Service to the community: Begin seeking out service opportunities within target communities. Have a very visible presence in community through strategic service such as handing out water bottles at sporting events, picking up trash on roadsides, landscaping projects in civic areas, appreciation for civic leaders, etc.
6. Develop financial support: Continue securing support from individuals. Finalize sponsor church relationships. Develop support through SBTC and NAMB.
7. Develop marketing strategy for preview services and Kick-off Sunday.



Launch Stage: May-September 2008

1. Outreach Events – Begin monthly outreach events to develop interest in Fellowship at the Crossroads (Block parties, cookouts, picnics, Vacation Bible School).
2. Preview Services – Offer preview services once a month to select target communities. Evaluate services, set-up, breakdown, connection with guests, seek new people to add to launch team.
3. Comeback Events – Opportunities to reconnect with people who come to preview services two weeks after preview service. Comeback events include cookout, picnic, family fun day.
4. Launch Team Meetings – Meet with launch team before preview services to prepare and make necessary assignments. Meet with team after preview services to evaluate what went well and what needs work. Continue adding new members and building launch team.
5. Marketing – Promote preview services and Kick-off Sunday through direct mail, invitation cards, banners, and personal invitations.
6. Kick-off Sunday – September 9, 2008. Begin offering weekly services.

BELIEFS

1. About God

God is the most amazing being in the universe and the Creator of everything that exists. There is nothing that He can’t handle, nothing that He doesn’t know, and nowhere that He can’t be found. He is one God who has eternally existed in three personalities: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Genesis 1:1, 26, 27, 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14

2. About God the Father

God the Father is the Creator and ruler of the universe. He works all things according to His purpose and plan, and all of history is moving forward according to that purpose and plan. He is the father of all who come to faith in Jesus Christ.
Genesis 1:1, 26, 27, 3:22; Ephesians 1:9-12; Galatians 4:4-7

3. About Jesus

Jesus is God’s Son. He is co-equal with God and has existed from all eternity. He came to earth, became a human being, and lived a perfect life. Then He died on a cross, was buried, and rose from the dead to purchase for us forgiveness from our past lives, purpose for our present lives, and the promise of eternal life. He then ascended to heaven, and he will return again someday to reign forever as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Matthew 1:22, 23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-5; 14:10-30; Hebrews 4:14-15; 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; Romans 1:3,4; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Timothy 6:14-15; Titus 2:13

4. About the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is God’s presence, working in our lives to bring us to faith in Jesus so we can experience this incredible life. The Holy Spirit dwells in the life of every believer from the moment of salvation, convicting us of sin, convincing us of God’s will for our lives, and empowering us to carry out God’s purposes.
2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13, 14:16,17; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:16; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:18

5. About the Bible

The Bible is God’s Word to us. It was written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the all-sufficient authority for Christian beliefs and living. Because it is inspired by God, it is the truth without any mixture of error.
2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105,160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5

6. About Human Beings

God created human beings as the height of His creative activity. People are made in the image of God, and as a result have incredible potential to create and transform the world and to love and relate to one another. God made human beings to have a relationship with Him, but we have all rebelled against God, choosing to live life our way, by our own rules. The Bible calls this rebellion “sin”, and it has destructive consequences in our lives physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.
Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:6a; Romans 3:23; Isaiah 59:1, 2

7. About Salvation

Salvation is the free gift of God’s grace in which God gives to us forgiveness for the guilt of our sin and healing for the destructive consequences of our sin. He does not give it to us because we earn it or deserve it. It is a gift, and we receive that gift by making Jesus the leader of our lives and trusting in His death, burial, and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins. God’s salvation is for all eternity, and the true believer in Jesus Christ will continue to remain faithful and obedient to Him.
Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8,9; John 14:6, 1:12; Titus 3:5; Galatians 3:26; Romans 5:1; John 10:29; 2 Timothy 1:12; Philippians 1:6

8. About Eternity

We were made to last forever. Heaven and hell are real places. We will either live forever with God in heaven or forever separated from God in hell. Our decision whether or not to follow Jesus Christ will determine where we spend eternity.
John 3:16; John 14:1-7; Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:15; 1 Corinthians 2:7-9

9. About the Church

The church is God’s family here on earth. It is by being connected to God’s family that we grow and discover who God wants us to be and how He can use us together with other members of the family to change the world. Every believer needs to be a part of a local church family.Matthew 16:18; John 13:35; Romans 12:4-8; 1 Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 10:24-25