PastorCam Episode 1: Intro to Pastor Cam and LPC

This video is the first in a series Pastor Lane is beginning to chronicle LifePoint Church’s (Ozark, MO) relocation to their new property. It is narrated to give some history and perspective for those not familiar with LifePoint.

Impact Europe ’09: Reflections, Part 1

In late May, Micah Osborne and Chuck and Tiffany Replogle joined me for a 10-day vision trip to Rome, Italy, and Marseille, France, to consider new international impact work for LifePoint. The purpose of this trip was defined by three goals. One, identify potential partners to expand the international impact work of LifePoint Church in participating in God’s kingdom work around the globe. Two, engage dialogue to discern the best point for initial and ongoing partnership. Three, begin to create a strategy to engage the people of LifePoint in personal, international gospel impact work. We traveled with Upstream Collective, a collection of missionaries targeting newer churches to help and equip them to engage in global mission. Find out more about them at www.theupstreamcollective.org. The guys at Upstream Collective were excellent hosts for the trip. As well, Ed Stetzer helped lead the trip and offered some teaching. We joined several others from around the country to form our team for the week.

Arriving in Rome a day earlier than the rest of the team allowed us to get acclimated to the city. This was a great idea as it gave us time to spend together and discuss some of the specific goals that we wanted to accomplish, as representatives of LifePoint Church in Ozark, MO. Micah has considerable experience with short-term mission projects, and Chuck had only recently been on his first mission trip within the last year. Tiffany was our respective newbie. As I introduced them to the things I wanted us to accomplish for the week, a great sense of expectation rose among us. There is something about spending time with people in this setting that really encourages bonding: long layovers in airports, long flights, lots of walking together, unknown territory, etc. It’s always interesting to see how people react in different situations. Well, to an extent it’s interesting. At other times it’s just painful to endure. Thankfully, my traveling partners made this trip a blast. All three of these people are people I have met in the last five years in planting LifePoint Church.

Our first task after landing and getting our luggage was to find a map of the city and get transportation to our hotel. There was no shortage of those wanting to transport us. We just needed to make sure we would actually end up at our desired destination. Rome is a very tourist friendly city, so navigating the city was almost natural. This time was excellent for us as we saw a few sights, which is not difficult to do in Rome, ate at a local restaurant, enjoyed our introduction to gelato on the first day and immediately began conversing with a Romanian immigrant who left his family, including his 14-year-old daughter, to come to Rome for work because he could not find work in Romania. In our research prior to the trip, we learned that a great number of immigrants come to Southern Europe, especially Italy, every year in hope of work. Because of this we were not surprised when he told us. What really shook us was his response when Tiffany asked him, “Do you enjoy living in Italy?” “Enjoy?”, he responded. “Life is not to enjoy. I live to survive. I work so I can send money back to my family. I miss my family.” It was an abrupt welcome to this city for us, and one we thought and discussed all week. I look forward to sharing my thoughts about this trip and the future work of LifePoint church in Europe over the next several journal entries.

Senkbile Scoop: June 2009

Urban 40

This month, JD was invited by the PJ Smyth, the lead pastor of God First Church in Johannesburg, to speak at the Urban 40 pastors’ conference. The conference was 40 hours focused on church planting in urban contexts, and JD was asked to speak, specifically on the topic of understanding culture and the art of contextualizing the gospel. JD was not only excited to share but also thankful for the opportunity to network with pastors all over South Africa.

Second Quarterly

The day after returning to Cape Town, JD hosted the second Acts 29 Quarterly luncheon. This month’s topic was “Preaching to the Heart,” and we were thankful to have Al Barth from Redeemer Church Planting Center in New York sharing with our local pastors. As with the first quarterly meeting, this proved to be a good time of fellowship with local pastors and a chance to network with and encourage each other in the work of church planting.

Upcoming Travel

The next few months JD will be traveling a fair bit. At the end of June, he leaves for a 10-day trip back to the States. He will be attending the A29 pastors’ retreat in Colorado and will be speaking at two A29 churches in Omaha. June 21 he will be at Core Community Church, and June 28 he will be back at our church Coram Deo.

Two weeks after returning from America, he will leave again for Uganda and will be joined by Jonathan Dodson (A29 pastor) and four others, visiting some local, rural villages and joining Gerald, a fellow A29 pastor, in his ministry in Kampala.

Welcome, Lacy!

This week, we had the privilege of welcoming our summer intern Lacy Barker. Lacy will be living with us until mid-August and will be getting a taste of ministry in South Africa, as well as traveling with JD to Uganda in July. Pray for us, that our family will be a blessing to Lacy, who has given up her summer vacation to expand her vision for church planting.

At Home

Our little Cohen continues to be an explosion of new words every day. Some of our favorites: jucks = ducks, chakchurs = tractors, bishees = fishies, and hairmo = remote. He is a true delight, and we never lack for evening entertainment when he is around.

Sloane is almost four months old and is a girgling, happy, smiling baby who can’t get enough of her dad. She is easy-going, soft, chubby, and just so precious. We just can’t imagine what life was like before she came along, and the poor girl is so smothered with hugs and kisses–especially from her brother. (Side note: Some of you won’t even recognize JD when you see him at the end of this month. He is a total softy these days; it’s ridiculous!)

Much love to each of you and thank you for your support of us…
The Senkbiles

Our Intimate Relationship with Christ

In 2 Peter 1:5-7, the Apostle Peter begins the passage with a to-do list, which seems to contradict the first four verses of the chapter, but four words put this list into perspective: for this very reason. Out of our intimate relationship with Christ comes these actions. Listen to “Our Intimate Relationship with Christ” now…

The Sufficiency and Power of God

This week, Pastor Dennis takes the reins and delves into 2 Peter, a short New Testament book written by the Apostle Peter near the end of his life. His audience is the Church, who at that time is enduring intense persecution from the Roman government. Listen to “The Sufficiency and Power of God” now…