JCG Gathering in Dallas, TX

JCG Gathering in Dallas, TX
Spend time with Joel Comiskey, Mario Vega, and JCG team
Will you attend? Let us know or sign up now.

We are dedicating Saturday, February 26, 2011 (Spanish) for both pastors and leaders. Type in  the discount code MEMBER when registering, and you will only pay $79.00.  This gathering is more than a seminar. You will receive coaching, interaction with the JCG team, and pertinent information that will take you to the next level in your cell journey (more information here).The event will be held at the Dallas MCM Elegante Hotel with a special rate of $70.00 per night. The hotel is near  the DFW airport and Love Field (Southwest) and the $70.00 price includes free shuttle, breakfast, etc..

If you any questions, please email Jeff Tunnell at  jeffryatunnell@verizon.net or call him at  909.856.6260 (you may also call the JCG number at 888.344.2355).

Conferencia de JCG en Dallas, TX
Pasa tiempo con Joel Comiskey, Mario Vega, y equipo
Vas a asistir? Dejenos saber o Reg­strase ahora.

Vamos a dedicar el  Sábado, el 26 de Febrero de 2011 para los pastores y lderes que hablan en Español. Mario Vega, Joel Comiskey, y el equipo de JCG van a estar presentes en Dallas, Texas para dictar un seminario, consultar, dar material gratuito, etc. No pierdes este evento! Escribe el código MEMBER cuando estás registrando y va a costar solo  $79.00. Este evento es más que un seminario. Pasa tiempo personal con Joel Comiskey y Mario Vega. Vas a recibir enseñanza sobre la visión celular y asesoramiento para tomar con éxito el próximo paso en tu jornada.Vamos a realizar este evento en Dallas MCM Elegante Hotel con el discuento especial de solo  $70.00 por noche.Este hotel está cerca de DFW aeropuerto y Love Field (Southwest) y el precio de $70.00 incluye shuttle, desayuno, internet, etc..

Si hay preguntas, puedes mandar un email a Jeff Tunnell,  jeffryatunnell@verizon.net, o Celyce Comiskey, celycecomiskey@msn.com (habla perfectamente en español) . O puedes llamar   909.856.6260 (Jeff Tunnell) o  888.344.2355 (JCG teléfono).

PLANNING to Evangelism through Cell Ministry


ken by Ken Brown

[I, Joel Comiskey, have been coaching Ken Brown for about 1.5 years. Ken is the lead pastor of a cell church in Dover, Delaware, and as you can see below, Ken has a fervent passion to evangelize through cell ministry. I asked Ken to share his excitement about holding a cell planning meeting to better complete the great commission]

A passion for winning people to Christ is the single most important factor for growth and multiplication of cell groups. Methods, strategies, and techniques all pale in comparison to members with a God-given and God-directed passion for evangelism. After all, it was this passion that drove the ministry of Jesus from Cana to Calvary. It is the ultimate expression of Calvary love poured through the heart and life of a cell member. It comes from the Holy Spirit who is called the Spirit of Christ in Roman 8, and I believe this God-granted passion resides in every Spirit filled believer.

I, like you, long to see the cells become a hotbed of evangelistic activity that will infuse our cell system with zealous new believers, growing and developing until they take their place in ministry for the Kingdom. So, after finishing Joel’s book, “Passion and Persistence” I asked myself, ” What can I do to create an atmosphere in my cell where this Spirit-born drive can be expressed by all of the members?”

As I reviewed what I had read, I realized that Elim’s requirement of a second cell meeting per week was a great way to prioritize evangelism in the busy lives of my cell members. So, in our next Sunday evening cell meeting I asked those who were willing to meet with me briefly on Thursday evening to plan the next cell meeting. We divided the four parts of the cell among those present, encouraged each other to complete the training track, and most importantly, decided who we were going to invite to the cell from among our unsaved friends and family. The scheduling of this meeting of my core became a filter that allowed those really interested in winning others to express it by attending.

Will it work? Will this be the key that unlocks the potential in my cell members? There are no guarantees, but coupled with my determination to never let another meeting pass without giving the gospel in some form, I have high hopes. And the following cell meeting was attended by two who had not met Jesus and who, although they did not respond, at least heard the good news. Does this idea intrigue you as it did me?

Ken Brown

[This will be the last blog on JCG until January 10, 2011. Merry Christmas and happy new year!]

Christmas as a Harvest Event

STVE
by Steve Cordle

Holidays like Christmas present excellent evangelism opportunities.

At Christmas, Americans are more open to an invitation to worship than at any other time of the year. So in the weeks preceding Christmas we encourage our groups to take some time in their meetings to name and pray for those they want to invite to worship on Christmas Eve. We provide invitation cards they can leave with their friends, and plan the service to make sense to preChristians.

Then group members can follow up with their friends who attended Christmas Eve, and invite them to group. In January we will have an emphasis on getting into a group for the new year, and I will preach on the value of being in a group.

In this way we can leverage the holiday time to reach out both in celebration and cell.

Comments?

Steve

Love Your Community First

By Michael Sove & Lead Pastor, William Warren

We have had an amazing two months and God continues to bless our church as we love our community first.  A few months back our Lead Pastor, Bill Warren, received from a church consultant some directives to help us break the 500 barrier.  One of the directives was as follows:

You are going to have to focus more on the needs of the community than the needs of the church…love your community more.  How heartbroken are you over the condition of your community?

He journeyed to the Mayor’s office with this question: “What geographical area of Salisbury needs salt and light?”  Without blinking an eye, the Mayor’s representative said, “Princeton Avenue.”  We planned an evangelistic block party for that area.  City officials were delighted with our plans and offered great assistance.

On Saturday, October 16, we went door-to-door in that area distributing flyers in English and Spanish that invited the residents to the block party. We also gave every home a Chick-fil-A coupon as a sign of God’s love for them.  Firefighters accompanied some of our teams and offered to check the smoke detectors in the homes of the residents, giving smoke detectors to those who had none and new batteries for those who needed them.

On Saturday, October 23, we threw our evangelistic block party from noon to 4:00 p.m.  Approximately 500 people attended.  We passed out countless quantities of hot dogs, snow cones, soft drinks, and popcorn.  The kids enjoyed a wide variety of games.  Everyone enjoyed the musical talents of our worship team.  We distributed many copies of the New Testament, evangelistic tracts, copies of the “Jesus” film, and invitations to our special worship service (Double Day) on October 31.  We also shared our faith in Christ; three persons prayed to receive Christ.  A few weeks later we called the people who registered for the door prizes and asked if we could bring Thanksgiving dinner to them.  Forty-one families agreed to receive the food.

On Sunday, October 31st, we invited the community to our celebration services.  Internally we called this “Double Day.” Pastor Bill characterized Double Day as “Friend Day on steroids.”  The goal of D-2 is to double the number of first-time guests.  All year we averaged 5.5 first time guests each week so on this day we were hoping for 11.  This doesn’t sound like much of a goal but it is harder than you think.  We did three things as we prepared for this day.  We selected a four part message series designed for our guests called “Peace of Mind at Last,” distributed well designed invitation cards and advertised with television, radio, billboards and yard signs.

The results were awesome. On October 31, our first-time guests totaled…51! The total number of registered guests (those we received info on for the first time) was 83.  Our attendance was up 100 over our average.  Two persons asked Christ to be the Forgiver of their sins and the Leader of their life!  Our celebration attendance has not backed off and now we are distributing Christmas gifts to over 200 individuals from the original effort to love our community.

Next year we plan to hold two “Double Days” but we will precede those efforts with continued penetration into the community as we learn to “Love our Community First.”

Please keep me in prayer during January as I take two teams to India.  I will return to blogging in February.  I truly enjoy sharing my experiences with you.  God bless you and may He advance His kingdom through you in 2011.

Comments?

Michael

Cell Ministry and the Ministry of the Evangelist

MARIO
by Mario Vega

As I wrote on a previous occasion, it is important to connect the work of the cells with the celebration. Cells are an excellent environment for the presentation of the Gospel to the guests, but a good part of those guests will end up believing during the celebration. For this reason, our celebrations on Sundays are essentially evangelistic. Sunday is considered the day to reap the fruit of what has been sown for weeks in the cells.

Both cell work and the celebrations are connected for the salvation of the lost in a consistent way. This is not an effort made occasionally, but cotinually. A cycle is established between cells and celebration that is repeated week after week.

This does not mean that we don’t appreciate the work of the evangelist. Evangelists have the gift of attracting large numbers of people to the faith. It is sometimes thought that the evangelizing potential of a cell church is so great that the evangelist is no longer needed.

We at Elim believe the opposite. We view cell work and the ministry of the evangelist as complementary. The church is never better prepared to retain the results of the ministry of an evangelist than when it is a cell church. The cell model allows the church to do follow up and give assistance to dozens or hundreds of people who believe in the Lord.

So, even though the evangelizing cycle is repeated every week, we do not despise but rather appreciate and take advantage of the visit of true evangelists for the benefit of those who still do not know the Savior

Comments?

Mario

Translation into Spanish:

Las células y el ministerio del evangelista.

Como lo escrib en una ocasión anterior, es importante conectar el trabajo de las células con la celebración. Las células son el ambiente propicio para presentar el evangelio a los invitados; pero, una buena parte de esos invitados terminarán creyendo en la celebración. Por ese motivo, nuestras celebraciones de los das domingos son eminentemente evangelizadoras. El domingo se considera que es el da para recoger el fruto de lo que por semanas se ha sembrado en las células.

Tanto el trabajo celular como las celebraciones, se conectan as para la salvación de los perdidos de manera periódica. Este no es un esfuerzo que se haga ocasionalmente sino el trabajo de todas las semanas. Se establece as un ciclo entre células y celebración que se repite semana tras semana.

Esto, no significa que se desprecien las oportunidades para recoger la cosecha que se presentan eventualmente. Por ejemplo, apreciamos mucho el ministerio de los evangelistas. Éstos tienen el don de atraer grandes cantidades de personas a la fe. A veces se ha pensado que el potencial evangelizador de una iglesia celular es tan grande que puede volver innecesario al evangelista.

Por nuestra parte, creemos todo lo contrario. Vemos que el trabajo celular y el ministerio del evangelista son complementarios. Nunca está mejor preparada una iglesia para retener los resultados del ministerio de un evangelista que cuando es una iglesia celular. El modelo permite que la iglesia pueda dar seguimiento y atención a docenas o centenares de personas que crean en el Señor.

As, aunque el ciclo evangelizador se repite cada semana, no despreciamos sino mas bien apreciamos y aprovechamos la visita de los verdaderos evangelistas para beneficio de aquellos que aun no conocen al salvador.