“Pastor, I’m a pagan,” were the words of Mary our neighbor this past week. Surprised by our neighbor’s openness, I told her that we would love to have her around for dinner and tell her more about Jesus. She replied, “I don’t even have a Bible.” To which I said, “We can help you with that.”

Mary is one of thousands in Naperville who have yet to come under the kind lordship of Jesus Christ. We are planting Cross of Christ Fellowship with the hope that individuals like her will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus and that God would be glorified through their salvation.

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter and for supporting Cross of Christ Fellowship! Below you will read about some of the highlights of the past month (Picnic, Labor Day Outreach, Catch the Vision Tour, Discipleship) and how you can pray for us in the future.
 

Picnic Success

Last month we had our first ever event as a core team in Naperville! It turned out to be a great time of fellowship, sharing the vision of our church with others, and praying together. We even had a few individuals show up who heard about the event on facebook, whom none of us had met before. Overall, we are happy about the event and hope to have many more picnics in Naperville in the future.

 

Labor Day Outreach

This coming Labor Day weekend (8/29-9/1), Cross of Christ Fellowship is participating in a city wide event called ‘Last Fling’ (a four day local festival with live music and opportunities for local organizations to meet others in the community). Our hope is to give away hundreds of Bibles, free water bottles and baked goods, and information about our church plant. We pray that God would provide us with many opportunities to share the gospel through this event. Already, God has graciously provided all of the funding we need for this event through individuals, churches, and Baptist organizations! Here's a link to our facebook page promoting the event.


 

Catch the Vision Tour

One of the wonderful benefits of being part of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is experiencing partnership with other SBC churches. This month I had the privilege of taking part in an event called ‘Catch the Vision Tour’—an event where pastors from other churches from around the country come to the Chicago area and meet with church planters to discuss the possibility of partnering with them. I had privilege of meeting members of First Baptist Wentzville (Missouri) and Immanuel Baptist Church (Kentucky). Along with discussing partnership options, they also shared some invaluable wisdom and insights into church planting which I hope to implement right away. Please pray that God provides funds and people through these and other like-minded churches.


 

Discipleship and Leadership Training

During this early season of building a core team, we are working on leadership development and discipleship. Lord-willing, we hope that our core team will be strong and ready to lead others, as the Lord adds to our numbers. So to encourage growth in godliness and leadership, I’ve begun meeting one-on-one with certain individuals from our core team.

In particular, John and I have begun meeting to discuss how he can grow as a worship leader; as we meet, we’ve been going through Bob Kaulfin’s book ‘Worship Matters’ and Wayne Grudem’s ‘Systematic Theology.’ In addition to this, John has been getting more experience by leading our core team fellowships in worship.
 
Another discipleship relationship is with Kevin; we are going through a book on parenting (since Kevin is a new parent and soon I will be too, Lord-willing!) and also praying about the possibilities of starting a new community group in the Wheaton area, with Kevin leading. He’s also been getting some practical experience through leading our community group on some weeks.  

I’m thrilled to see these men, and everyone else on our core team, grow in godliness, wisdom, and leadership. Pray we would be faithful in this time as our core team is smaller and faithful as God grows the church plant.

 

New Pics

This past month our friend Ben Schmanke did a photo shoot of downtown Naperville with us. The pics turned out amazing and we’re using them on our website and facebook page. You can see more of Ben’s work here. THANK YOU BEN!!!



THANK YOU for taking the time for read through our newsletter. Feel free to pass this onto others who may be interested. If you are able to help us with our fundraising goals (raising $6,000 per month), you can financially partner with us (all gifts are tax deductible) by giving online: http://www.msc.kintera.org/tomschmidt (you can even sign up for reoccurring gifts!). You can also give by making out a check to Redeemer Fellowship and send it to the following address: Redeemer Fellowship, 1125 Oak St., St. Charles, IL. 60174 (with a note indicating that you wish for the funds to go toward Cross of Christ Fellowship).