This morning, I received this note from Brian King, pastor of Changepoint Church in Cabot, Arkansas. 

“Hey Steve, I wanted to give you an update about our launch this weekend for Changepoint Church in Cabot, AR. We had 135 people and 9 commitments to Christ. In that number we had about 15 friends and family visiting so about 120 from the community. The service was awesome from start to finish and the buzz has now begun in our community. I’ll be posting some pic’s on my FaceBook profile later on today. Thanks for your vision for church planting! We could not have done this without the Matching Funds from AG Trust and the Church Multiplication Network.” 

Congratulations Brian and the launch team of Changepoint Church! I wish I could have been there. It is awesome to be in partnership with you! Keep us updated on your progress!

By Steve Pike, National Director, Church Multiplication Network

As you can read from the “Tweets,” Cherri and I, along with Dave McNaughton joined Ricky and Amy Van Pay along with about 250 other folks for the first day of  The Well Church, a new community of faith in Claremore, Oklahoma. The Well is a “matching fund” church and CMN is proud to be partnered with the Oklahoma District and Ricky and Amy Van Pay to help make this new church a reality.

The Well was birthed out of a period of reflection in Ricky’s life when he came to the realization he was a “professional” minister who had lost touch with the mission field in his own back yard. Ricky and Amy stepped away from their traditional pastoral roles and started praying about what it would look like for them to simply become disciple makers. They began to do just that…one at a time helping people around them become followers of Christ. Today, the community of disciples they helped bring to life held their first public service.

It was great. I personally talked with a number of attendees who were back in church for the first time in years. The manager of the theater who is not a believer, told me how thrilled she was that the church is using her theater. She gave away free popcorn to help celebrate the launch! A self described atheist cried her way through the service and told Ricky she’d be back. Ricky invited people who desired to make commitments to follow Christ to send him an email indicating their decision. He, Amy and their launch team plan to follow up with each new follower of Christ and help them continue on their journey of discipleship.

As soon as possible we will be posting some video from the first day of The Well Church. It was a good one! 

Update: I got a note from Ricky this morning sharing the great news that 5 people decided to follow Jesus yesterday at the launch of The Well Church! 

By Steve Pike, National Director, Church Multiplication Network

Every weekend, five new Assemblies of God churches have their “Grand Opening” service. The goal of the Church Multiplication Network is to facilitate an organizational culture that will enable at least 10 new AG churches to open every week.

“The Well Church” in Claremore, Oklahoma is a Church Multiplication Network “Matching Fund” church. Pastor Ricky Van Pay and his wife Amy have been working for over a year to lay the foundation for the launch of this new fellowship. They have pursued a strategy of building authentic relationships as a foundation for effective discipleship. Now, a community of disciples is emerging in Claremore.

Today (Sunday, February 22nd, 2009), I’ll be “Twittering” live from their Grand Opening service which begins at 10 am Central Time. You can follow by clicking here.