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This is a more personal update to a small email list — emails that are not posted on Facebook. You are getting this email because you are a close personal friend of ours and we want you to both know all the details and pray for all the details of what is going on!
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Sliding at you like:
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In our last email, we told you that we are talking to two churches in the Denver area as possible partners/home bases/mother churches from which we would plant. Many of you have reached out to us and told us that you have been praying for us and would love to know more! We want to let you know more of the details of what our conversations are looking like at this time.
Since mid-April or so, we have been talking pretty in depth with a Presbyterian Church (EPC denomination) and an Anglican Church (ACNA denomination). Both are very similar opportunities and present their own challenges.
The EPC Church
The Neighborhood Church (TNC) is about a 10 year old congregation based out of Littleton, CO. The current pastor is a good friend, Brandon Addison, whom I have know for the past 5 years. Our paths have crossed at various times and it's been cool to see what God has done in each of our lives. Brandon was a part of my Church Planting Assessment back in September. He has connected me with various pastors and networks throughout Denver and been a real source of encouragement through this time.
He and I have talked about the possibility of me coming on as a Church Planting Resident for a period of 12-18 months. He has been talking to his Session for the past few months and they are interested in the opportunity to be involved in a church plant, while they have some pastoral needs locally. For the first 12 months or so, my role at the church would be one of part-time Assistant Pastor. I would oversee some community group details, more integration of the staff, Sunday Morning details and preaching regularly. The other portion of my time would be spent getting to know the neighborhoods/areas of Denver and start gathering for planting. The last six months would be spent transitioning to full-time planting. Throughout all this time, TNC would support me part-time and I would need to fundraise the rest of my salary and ministry expenses.
We see this as a great opportunity. It would provide a lot of flexibility and freedom. We would be a part of a church that is highly relational and missionally motivated. I would only need to transfer to a new Presbytery within the EPC. Challenges would be raising support immediately, split focus between the local church and planting, and the question of where we would live during our initial time there.
But we are continuing our conversation with them — I have an interview with lay leaders Wednesday night (the 16th) at 8:30 Central. Please pray for discernment and peace. Pray that we would be able to continue to get to know one another.
The Anglican Church
The Wellspring Network is a network of three churches whom are a part of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA): Wellspring Englewood, Wellspring Littleton and RiSo. Billy Waters, Tim Soots and Brent Christian are the respective pastors (priests) at each.
I met Billy back in September through my mentor Eugene Scott. We talked church planting opportunities in Denver, but didn't really go much further in our conversation. Curiously, I investigated the Anglican Church. I talked to an Anglican Priest in Atlanta, spoke to a friend of mine in Chicago who now attends an Anglican Church and a few other people. I've read a number of books also. The history and formation of the ACNA is rather young, but it is connected to the worldwide Anglican Communion which goes back centuries to the Reformation in England.
Billy and I met again in Denver at the beginning of March. He told me more about their church planting residency program as a part of the network and their hopes to continue to plant churches throughout the Denver area and beyond. We've had several phone calls since then, filled out a few forms and submitted my information.
We spoke on the phone again last week and the Network is considering me for the Resident position. The Wellspring Residency would last about 12-18 months also. They are flying Stacey and me to Denver June 22-25 to continue to get to know one another. They also want to bring us out a few more times before the end of summer.
We are excited for this opportunity as well. During the residency, we will be a part of a highly relational network of churches. These are vibrant churches with a history of planting. The Residency is a full-time paid position with all my focus directed toward planting. We would begin fundraising for the planting years while in Residency. The challenge is the timeline! We would love for things to move a little quicker, but we also need to have an area/neighborhood selected before we would begin the residency by late Summer. I would also have to go through the ordination process anew with the Anglican church, but this could happen concurrently to the Residency.
In the meantime, please pray for the Wellspring Network and mutual discernment. Please pray that God would continue to build quick relationships between us all.
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So what about us personally?
Overall, we are doing well. As I said, we are anxious to get to Denver and to start the work of planting. As I sit here typing, I'm thinking how it has been 10 years since I graduated Seminary with a heart for church planting. In September, we were recommended for church planting and it will probably be September before we are on the ground in Denver starting to till the soil. If I had it my way, I would be there already! Making connections, throwing parties, settling in, exploring the city.
But if I had it my way, I wouldn't be able to tell of all the great things God has done in my life. I was recently reflecting on what God saved me from. My conclusion, quite simply, was myself. If it weren't for God's hand in my life from a young age, I would be given to any sort of thing that I would think would give me pleasure. But instead, God said "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Eph. 2:8-10) It is passages like this one that give me comfort in spite of the timeline. It is passages like this one that remind me of why I desire to plant a church — so that others can come to know who God has created them to be in Jesus.
So we strive to remain patient in Tulsa, which has been great. Weird, but great. My running joke is at least my parents don't have a basement that we're living in. Weirder has been randomly running into people that I haven't seen in 18 years, or that Michael's preschool classmates' parents were my classmates in high school. However, it has been great to reconnect with friends here, to be with family, to rest, to spend countless hours playing Legos with Michael.
In fact, things are so weird that we bought a minivan.
Please continue to pray for us and our time in Tulsa — that we would be able to use this time to spend with family and friends; to enjoy our summer; to be healthy physically; to be healthy spiritually. We are so grateful when you all reach out to us and ask how we are doing. It is a great encouragement to our hearts.
May God's peace through Jesus reign in your hearts and lives,
Mark, Stacey, Michael and Evelyn Grapengater
(and Hailey too!)
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