Sending Capacity

Several years ago I heard David Platt say that we need to measure our churches by our SENDING capacity and not our SEATING capacity. I remember thinking – AMEN, I love that! Yet, as a church planter who over the last few months has sent out 10 people from a core group of 25 – I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t confess that it doesn’t sound as good to me as it once did.

I remember meeting with one of our guys who was soon moving away. As he left the room for a moment, Brandon, who I am training to be a disciple maker, looked at me and said these words…

”Man, Buff, we are sending more than we are keeping. How are we going to plant a church if everyone is leaving?”

This was a sobering question, but I praise the Holy Spirit for granting me wisdom and words for just the answer to a young disciple and leader in our Grace Falls Church. I said that we better get used to it if we are going to be on mission with God and be the Church that God is calling us to be. His question led us to an incredible hour-long conversation and teaching that I am still seeing fruit from today.

I love the text message I received just the other day from Brandon as he says:

“We’ve had a great week on mission! Had Ian over for dinner, took Adam out to dinner and got to speak the Gospel into his life, had our 5th grade neighbor over to hang…love what God is doing!”

A couple days later…

“Happy Resurrection Day! I am praying this morning. We recognized an area of unbelief in my mom and spoke the Gospel into her life this morning. The Spirit is moving!”

God encouraged me in these words and the lives of those we have here on this journey.

As a church, we have been excited to send out Ashley, Joseph, Jim, Donna, Chris, Gen, Robyn, Raafat, Hoda, and Shelby out to be His missionaries. They are going to places like St. Pete, Tampa, Holiday, Riverview, and Africa. They are going with an understanding that they are sent by God to be His missionary servants to the people God puts them with.

There hasn’t been a week that goes by that someone of our Grace Falls family doesn’t hear from one of them and the ways that God is using them in the lives of others. This is what the CHURCH is all about and why I am excited to be on this journey. Brandon and Andrea living on mission are an example for the rest of the church who are trying to BE GOOD NEWS here in New Jersey.

We had an Easter Egg Hunt on Palm Sunday and we encouraged all of our people to pray and asked who they saw God working in through their relationships and invite those people to come and be apart. We had 47 adults, with more than 20 kids, attend because one of our people had been investing in them.

I also challenged our folks to host and connect them with others in our family and to watch what God does. You see, we believe that HOSPITALITY and FRIENDSHIP are often the quickest paths to where believers and non-believers can experience God together.

We are going through a key study that will help lay a foundation of who we are as a church over the next several weeks. Please pray for us as we do this. Pray that God will speak clearly, our people will obey instantly, and God will be glorified in all we do.

Bartlett's Commissioning Service

I am so excited about this weekend and the opportunity to meet some new people and also cultivate the relationships we already have with people that God has put in our lives. I want to encourage you to really pray for this weekend and plan on being here to be a part of what I hope is a great day with family. You don't want to miss this opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with Chris, Gen, Isaiah, Maria, Shiloh and Eden, starting at 8:45 am. There is no agenda for that time other than giving you an opportunity to drop-in and see how they are doing, pray with them and wish them well. The Bartlett's are excited to see us again:

We are really looking forward to spending some time together on Sunday Morning. We are excited to see all of you and catch up.

We just finished our training last Wednesday, and we will be visiting with family and travelling for the rest of this week.

We want to thank you for your prayers during training the last 9 weeks. We praise God to report to you that the kids did great during the training and Gen and I learned a whole lot about our new role as missionaries to Niger.

This will be our time to say goodbye as we send them out to spread the gospel to the Dendi people of West Africa. Join in with the Bartlett's ministry by praying for them daily and through your financial support.

Calvary Baptist Church in Egg Harbor has agreed to receive tax deductible donations on their behalf. Calvary has agreed to give 100% of the donations to their ministry. To receive a tax receipt, all charitable donations must be sent to Calvary Baptist Church. Please mail your check made payable to:

Calvary Baptist Church 850 Railroad Dr. Little Egg Harbor, NJ 08087

On the memo line, please write: Chris Bartlett – Africa.

Missional Community in Motion

Blog post by Ashley

What is a missionary? If you had asked me that question 2 years ago I would have said, “someone sent by God on a mission of HIS choice.” I also would have told you that I am a missionary. Two years before moving to Atlantic County I was happily and proudly working for an international mission, Pura Vida Missions, out of San Ramón, Costa Rica.

What started as a week long mission trip to Costa Rica with my church turned into summer intern opportunities for a few years and then to a full time position heading up a sponsorship program there. I was living on the mission property, running the program, discipling families and being the liaison between sponsors and sponsees. I loved my job.

I loved my time there. I grew tremendously as a believer, follower and servant of our Lord so much that when asked to pray about church planting with my brother, Buff and sister, Cissy I kind of shrugged it off with a, “sure…I’ll PRAY about it”. Little did I know that the Lord had different plans for me that didn’t include the plush rain forests of Costa Rica, no, snow was in my future. I believed that I was a missionary, an international missionary and not a church planter. Boy, was I blind or let’s just say my perspective needed to be widened.

A year after praying about joining a church plant the Lord, much to my surprise, moved this international missionary to Atlantic County to become part of the church planting team. And yet again I have found myself continually being transformed here.

One of the major things that the Lord has shown me is that as a believer and follower in the Lord, Jesus Christ, we are ALL missionaries sent by God to serve the community in which we live in. That means it is in the everyday life. I am to be an image bearer and witness of His good news when I go to the store, when I serve tables, when I go to the gym, when I drop off my nephews at school…all day every day. He doesn’t call us to only be it thousands of miles away, we are to do now and right where we are.

This was a mind blowing and humbling revelation. I’m not elevated because of this great calling that God has on my life. This same calling is on all believers and follower’s lives. We are only elevated because He has been lifted up. That’s it.

So what does that mean for Joseph and I as we embark on this new adventure together to Florida? God has sent us and we are to be His missionary servants that bear His image and be good news for people in Florida, God will give us opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the people in our community.

Joseph and I are being sent and planted into a community and we will live out life with this community. We will grow with them, share with them and be transparent with them. We know that God is leading us and sending us, Grace Falls members, to this location.

It’s scary and it’s new. We don’t know how it will all play out. But, we will be available. We will continue to turn to Him for guidance and support and we trust that He will provide each step as we move forward. We are missionaries, just like you are, sent to a location to serve a community of people and be His good news and we do it willingly and in faith!