Core Community Church of Omaha

This past Sunday we announced a historic change and transition for our church: on September 25, 2011, our church will be merging with Coram Deo Church Community.  After months of prayer and years of God’s providence, our elder team affirms that this is God’s work and we give praise to God for this.

So what happens next?  Here is a brief calendar look at the next month as we prepare for this historic marriage of two churches becoming one.

• Sunday, August 28: We publicly shared the announcement.  Beginning this week, those committed to Core and Coram Deo can log on to The City, learn more about Missional Communities, and begin exploring Coram Deo’s social networking tool.  Furthermore, Core HCs will be spending time together this week and the coming few weeks to thank God for all he has done and prepare to make the transition into Coram Deo Missional Communities.
• Sunday, September 4: Pastor Ethan will teach out of Nehemiah, giving further direction and preparation for being a part of the movement of the gospel in our city with Coram Deo.  During the week, keep pursuing a Missional Community!
• Sunday, September 11: Core turns 11 years old!  This is the perfect time to praise God for all He has done.  We will gather as a church to sing, give thanks, tell stories, and glorify God for his faithfulness.  During the week, keep pursuing a Missional Community!
• Sunday, September 18: Pastor Ethan will be preaching at Coram Deo’s morning gatherings, while Pastor Bob Thune will be preaching at Core’s morning gathering.  Make sure you DO NOT go to Coram Deo’s gathering; come to the Playhouse and listen as Bob Thune shares with us before the official merging.  Oh, and keep pursuing a Missional Community!
• Sunday, September 25: We worship Jesus together, 2 churches becoming 1! There will be 2 gathering times: 9 and 11am.  And we will be meeting at Westside Middle School.  Come, bring your friends, and be a part of this historic time.  Just make sure you are radically pursuing getting in a Missional Community!

Throughout this year, our church has sought to give regular reports of Core’s giving and spending.  The elders of Core are committed to above-reproach, clear communication on these issues.  We believe it is a reflection of God’s faithfulness and care for us, his children.  Below is a snapshot of June’s financial dealings, along with year-to-date figures.

It is important to note that giving drastically dropped in June.  We had consistently been giving over $36,000 before this.  At the same time that giving dropped, expenses went up.  This is due to a new sermon series launch and other purchases that came due.  In response to June, your elders challenge you to give generously.  Let’s not let this level of giving become a pattern!  Instead, let’s ask God to refuel us and take our giving back to well past $36,000.  As your elders, we remain committed to controlling spending over the course of the year and carefully stewarding all that God provides.

Grateful,

Doug Stevens, Admin Pastor
Ethan Burmeister, Lead Pastor
Matthew Smith, Formation Pastor

It is more blessed to give than to receive.  -Jesus, in Acts 20:35.

These odd words of Jesus still surprise me each time I set out to give.  Really, Jesus?  Are you sure about that?  As I wrestle with the truth of Jesus’ words, I have begun to realize why he might have said this.  Here are a few possible reasons:

1. Giving happens naturally when the love of our Father overwhelms us. And there is no greater blessing than experiencing the love of our gracious Father, shown to us in the sacrifice of Jesus!
2. Giving sets us free from little trinkets that seek to enslave us. It’s like they speak to me in the store or online banner ads: “Buy me, and you will be strong or significant or happy or cool.”  But as we give our money away those pretty little trinkets are shut up before they grow into addictions.
3. Giving speaks truth to our souls in a culture soaked with lies about money. Millions of dollars are spent every year in focus groups and market research to get you to believe that what you have isn’t enough.  In contrast, giving says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I have all I need” (Psalm 23:1).
4. Giving leads to lives changed and churches planted and staff growing. For this, we are deeply grateful for your giving to Core.

Here is a snapshot of what this means for us.

• Your giving led to men, women, and children meeting Jesus and becoming his disciples.
• Your giving enabled us to meet on Sundays as a church of nearly 250 people.
• Your giving was tied to developing leaders and more than 150 people in Home Communities.
• Your giving allowed us to develop Redemption Groups, where dozens of hurts were healed, sin was repented from, and the love of the Father was poured out.
• Your giving made it possible for us to bring in, develop, and get ready to send out a team to plant Sacred City Church in Davenport, IA.
• Your giving allowed us to continue supporting church plants in Omaha and Lincoln, NE, and Cape Town, South Africa.

And the list could go on and on.

As we look back on 2010 with gratitude, we also look forward into 2011 with hope. This next year is a year of mission and renewal through communities of the gospel.  It is a year that will require all hands on deck.  We are excited to welcome Rich Zakrajsek on staff as a key developer of Home Communities.  We are excited to send Justin Dean with some others to plant Sacred City Church in Davenport, IA.  We are thrilled to see Home Communities grow and multiply and renew our city with communities of the gospel.  But, as you may expect, all of this requires money.

We are expanding our monthly budget from $30,000 to $36,000. The last quarter of last year proved we can do it.  We can do it well.  But make no mistake: it requires all hands on deck. It requires hearts that are deeply loved and transformed by our heavenly Father through Jesus.  It requires men and women who are eager to be free from little trinkets and large addictions.  It requires children who want to know the truth about money instead of what our culture is telling them.

We invite you to join us.  All hands on deck.  All hearts discovering that it is truly more blessed and more joyful to give than it is to receive.

Any time a church talks about money, they run a risk of being misunderstood.  The church can be seen as a place that simply forces people to give, squeezing one last dollar out of your wallet.  But, nevertheless, the leaders of Core are talking about money.  Why?  Let me suggest at least 5 reasons:

1. 25% of Jesus’ words in the gospel account relate to our resources and how we steward them.  Or in other words, Jesus talked about money…a bunch.  In fact, Jesus talked about money and finances more than any other topic.
2. The Bible contains more than 2,350 references to money – dealing with a wide variety of financial topics, including planning, budgeting, saving, investing, eliminating debt, tithing, and giving.
3. 7 out of 10 families in America live paycheck to paycheck.  The #1 cause for divorce is money fights.  The potential harmful effects of how we deal with money aren’t child’s play.
4. Money is one of the greatest idols in our world, especially in the American culture.  Jesus comes right out and says that we can’t serve both God and money.  They are mutually exclusive masters.  So in a culture that is soaked with the love of money, how could we ever destroy our personal idols of money without talking about it.
5. Money is necessary for our church to accomplish its mission, grow, and renew Omaha with the Gospel.  OPPD doesn’t give us a free pass.  Nor does Cox or MUD or any other bill we have to pay.  Just like any person or family, family is just one of those things you have to deal with.

The last year has been the best year of our church life yet in every way.  More conversions and baptisms than ever before.  Attendance is up.  Home Communities are up.  Membership is up.  More repentance, heart change, life change than I have ever seen before.

This last year is better in every way, except in one way: giving.

Everything else has spiked and grown.  Everything else has blossomed and deepened.  But giving is dropping.  What we are seeing is not only a flat giving curve but a negative giving curve.  We are not bringing in the money we need to pay the bills.  Over the last year we have made budget one month – the month was when I spoke on giving.

Consider last month alone.  We ran $8,000 short.  That is really off.  But that’s not all.  We have been running $3,000 short every month this calendar year.  We have racked up a current deficit of $25,000, having to pull out of a savings account we don’t want to use.  By December that will be $40,000-$50,000.

Just to catch up we need God to give $40,000-$50,000 beyond budget these last few months.  And the way God provides is through you.  But that is just to catch up.  That is just to break even.  That is not something I have to fix.  It is something we have to fix.

The thing is…this is about Jesus.  We don’t want to just catch up.  We’d like the gospel to be fruitful and advance.  We’d like to launch a new church in Davenport over the next year.  God has brought a gifted and qualified church planter and is growing a team.  I don’t want to be short $25,000.  I want to equip, multiply, benefit, and send $25,000 with them.

We need a facility in the next couple of years.  We have spent $200,000 on rent in our church’s history.  I think God would not have us just be a renter, but an owner in a neighborhood of our city.  To occupy, to own, to build, to set down stakes.  Ownership communicates commitment, purpose, and ownership of our vision and mission in the city we want to reach.

Let me make this specific:

1. If you are not giving, begin to give. Invite Jesus into the decision.  Don’t just set up a payment plan and go on autopilot.  Ask Him month by month what you should do.
2. If you are giving, don’t coast through. Ask God about this:  How can I up my giving by $500-$1,000 between now and the end of the year?  If there are 100 families that make up the core nucleus of our giving, that would do it.
3. Pray about extravagant, creative ways to give: bonuses, honorariums, rebates, tax credits, refunds.  Give them.  Over and above.  To the mark and beyond.

We have new ministries that need to launch.  We have staff that we need to add.  We have a new church that is getting ready to go.  We will have monthly updates October, November, December.  Let’s see what God does by December.  I think this will be the most prosperous year that we have ever had…in every way.

We continue to be encouraged by the number of people taking seriously the call to life-on-life, heart-to-heart Christian community.  We are very well aware that we have not arrived at healthy, genuine gospel-centered community.  But we remain grateful for each step along the way.  We wanted to share with each of you – primarily for your prayers – a brief flyover of Home Communities in Core.  Here you go:

• We have 14 Home Communities.  5 of these are just starting now.  The rest have been sharing life together for anywhere from a few months to a full year.
• We have 156 adults connected into Home Communities, plus 67 children.  This represents a total of 223 persons in Home Communities.  (By comparison our average Sunday morning attendance thus far in 2010 is 226.)
• 88% of our covenant members are in a Home Community, which would make most churches quite envious.  Our desire is for 100% of our covenant members to be in a Home Community.
• Each Home Community leader is coached by a pastor/elder of Core, and many Home Community leaders informally coach one another through friendships, conversations, and prayer.

We have two types of Home Communties:

• Vintage Home Communities, which regularly meet every single week as a whole community.  Some Vintage HCs have developed a unique schedule of meetings, according to how God leads them.  There are 7 Vintage HCs.
• Family Home Communities, which usually follow a rotation for meeting to help alleviate childcare concerns.  These rotations vary from community to community, according to how God leads them.  There are 7 Family HCs.
• These types of Home Communities are certainly not rigid.  There are unmarrieds in some Family HCs, and there are families in some Vintage HCs.

In addition to the 14 Home Communities, there are 3 healthy prayer groups.  These groups meet specifically to pray together and most of those who attend these groups are also part of an HC.  Furthermore there is a Bible study class specifically for ladies and Core’s Membership Class (which currently has 26 persons attending).

Why do we talk about Home Communities so much?  Great question.  You can listen or sign up to learn more.

Finally, here is a snapshot of where are Home Communities, Prayer Groups, and Classes regularly meet.  Of course, times and locations are subject to change.
View Core HCs 2010 in a larger map

The video below was created for the covenant members of Core, with whom we are in covenant.  The video is a report (technically), an expression of gratitude, and a celebration of what God is doing in Core.  We are making it available on our blog, but it is created with our covenant members in mind.  Our heart as church pastors and deacons is to be transparent in all of our financial dealings, so if you have any questions after watching the video, please let us know.

If you have questions about membership with Core, we would encourage you to sign up for the upcoming Membership Class.  The class begins Sunday evening, January 31, 6:30-8:00pm.  The class lasts 8 weeks long and allows us to discuss Core’s theology, mission, values, and government.  Anyone is welcome to attend.  You do not have to become a member if you attend the class, but you must attend the class if you want to become a member.  Thanks!