Allison Park Church Updates

Sharpsburg Story P3

There is one major detail that I need to include about the launch of Sharpsburg Family Worship Center.  So often we think that God's work begins and ends with us.  The reality is that God is at work long before us, and in ways far beyond our understanding. 

I got involved in the Sharpsburg launch in 1999.  God was involved long before that.

Back in 1985, when I was still in Bible College, God was moving on the heart of the then pastor of St. Johns United Church Of Christ (the church from which we bought the building).  His name was Pastor Oberkirker. 

Pastor Oberkirker was hungry for a move of God in his city, but his church was not responding to his leadership.  To fill that void in his heart, Pastor Oberkirker would travel out to APC for the Sunday night services during the mid-eighties.  Pastor Ron Bailey was then the Senior Pastor of APC.  It was during those Sunday night services that Oberkirker was filled with the Holy Spirit, and I am pretty sure was also baptized in water.

He went back to his church in Sharpsburg and prayed passionately, walking up and down the aisles of that church building, believing for a revival.  But it was a revival that he would never see with his own eyes.

By the early nineties, Pastor Oberkirker had retired.  The St. Johns Church was still in gradual decline.  But God was not deaf to this man's prayers! 

When we stepped in to purchase the facility from the St. Johns Church, at such a miraculous price, we were walking on the prayers of a godly leader from a decade past.  When Pastor Russ stepped into the pulpit and began to explain the message of Christ, he was walking on the faithfulness of a pastor who had sown good seed for many years in the soil of that city.

Now we reap the harvest.  But we don't forget that prior to our reaping, there was a man that sowed in tears.  And God has now brought forth the increase!  One plants.  Another waters.  But God gives the increase in his time.

Sharpsburg Story P2

Since Russ Horne had been my Associate Pastor, and since so many Sharpsburg Residents attended APC, the launch process for Sharpsburg Family Worship Center had immediate momentum.

1. We formed a launch team to work with Russ to plan the launch.
2. Volunteers worked on the building.  Since St. Johns was an older congregation, they did not have a place for active children's ministry.  So we built a nursery and some classrooms downstairs.
3. Teams were put in place to lead the worship, staff the nursery, and lead the children's service.
4. The first two Sundays of November, we held some 'practice' services to get everything right.

On the third Sunday in November 1999--SFWC held its first public service:

• There were 318 people there on Sunday #1!
• Many of those were APCers who traveled down for launch day.  But many were residents of Sharpsburg who were first time guests.
• The APCers arrived early and were seated in the pews.  But then it got too crowded.  We were in a standing room only situation.  So the APCers got out of their seats and offered them to the guests.  When the worship began, the APCers began their natural habit of lifting their hands as they worshiped.  So here was the picture:  APCers standing all around the perimeter of the room with hands raised in worship--surrounding the Sharpsburg Residents who stood in the seating area in the center.
• The Worship Leader remarked, 'it was like a wall of worship surrounding the people of Sharpsburg.  What a great picture!' The church, which represents the Body of Christ, had moved into town and was making a statement.  We are here to surround you in prayer!

This initial launch was so strong that in weeks to come, SFWC maintained an attendance well over 200.  They were able to attend Greg and Francie Krowitz as an Associate Pastor.  They were able to be fully independent in terms of governance and finances within 3 months.

My policy in mothering a church has always been to release anyone who feels a burden to go with the new church.  When we planted Sharpsburg, we sent between 70-100 APC members and regular attenders to go with Russ to plant SFWC.  What a great push.  APC felt the impact for a time in terms of attendance.  But somehow, even with losing all those people, our income as a church went up!  As the old saying goes, 'you can't out-give God!"

Today, SFWC has a huge presence in the city.  Every year they do an Easter Egg Hunt in the center of town that draws up to 2000 people.  They host an After-School program for kids who need a place to go, and have offered a Summer Day-Camp Program to meet that same need.

There is so much more to the SFWC story.  I will do one more post on this later today...

Church Plant #3: Sharpsburg P1

In 1999, APC launched its third church.  How did it happen?

After our first two plants, the people of our church became very excited to see what God would do next.  One of our target communities was Sharpsburg, which was about 15 minutes south of Allison Park and right along the Allegheny River.  APC had many families that were driving to Allison Park from Sharpsburg for church every week.  Sharpsburg was also a place where we had several successful summer Sidewalk Sunday School outreaches. 

Manny DeLaTorre, one of our members, made me aware of a church building in the community that was going up for sale.  It was the facility owned by St. John's United Church Of Christ.  The membership there had grown older and smaller in number.  They were deciding to close the church.

So I went down to look at the facility.  Russ Horne, who was my Associate Pastor, went with me.  Actually, he just happened to be in the car and I made as stop to see the building on the way to someplace else.

When Russ walked in the doors of the building, he was hit with a burden and a vision.  I turned around to see him almost weeping.  I asked him, 'Russ--do you want to plant this church?'  His response was, 'I think that maybe I do?'  We had never talked about him planting prior to that.  It was one of those 'God-moments.'  Russ had grown up about 5 minutes away from there.  He had a hidden dream in his heart to one day pastor a church in the community where he was raised.  This was the moment that dream was re-surfaced.

So we made contact with the board of St. Johns.  They invited me to speak on a Sunday to their church and I did so to cast the vision.  They agreed that they wanted to sell to us.

Now, the building was on the market for $200,000.  It is an old cathedral-like facility, red brick, in good condition.  It seats 250, has a full-equipped kitchen, full basement, piano, pews, and some really great stained-glass windows.

The board of St, Johns asked for us to make them an offer, regardless of how low.  In our negotiations with them, we explained our position: We don't have a lot of money--we are committed to planing one church every year for five years.  So we asked them, tell us what you would expect.

But they insisted that we make an offer.  So we offered them $25,000 for the entire package--building, pews, pianos and all.

And after several Church Business Meetings--they decided to accept our offer!!!!  So we wrote them a check and Sharpsburg Family Worship Center began with a building that was debt-free.  We owe a great debt of gratitude to St. Johns and to God for his favor.

More on the Sharpsburg launch tomorrow.

Church Plant #2: ACC

After planting Crossway Church in 1996, and working to get it strong and established in 1997--we were now ready to take the next step.  The goal we had set was to plant one church per year for five years.

People have asked, 'how did you decide where and when to plant the churches?'

We really used the Henry Blackaby principle that he outlines in his book Experiencing God:  Identify where God is already working and choose to join Him in it.

Several signs that God was at work:  1) obvious ministry activity in a community; 2) a pastor who a burden for a particular community rose to the surface; 3) a facility became available to us.

With the second plant it was the first two of those marks for which we were looking.

First of all, there was obvious ministry momentum.  Pastor Cal had been doing Sidewalk Sunday School outreaches in the community of Ambridge for several summers.  These outreaches would draw as many as 200 people.  It wasn't too hard to conceive of how many might show up if we actually started a church.

Second, I received one of those 'divine appointment' calls.  Denny Ugoletti, who was raised very near Ambridge, and had just completed his Bible College training, called with interest in planting a church in that community.

Since Ambridge was already on our radar, and we had been praying about that as a potential site for a new church--it seemed as if God was putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

Denny and Cindy Ugoletti moved back to Pittsburgh, bought a house in Ambridge, and joined the APC staff for six months.  During that time he built relationships with people at APC who became his launch team.  We identified a facility to rent and eventually purchase.  And we did the work to get things ready for the services of this church to begin.

Ambridge Christian Center was launched and gained immediate momentum.  Within a year, they were totally self-sufficient.  For quite some time the church was averaging well over 100 people per week.

Now ACC is nine years old.  It has gone through some moments of transition.  Denny Ugoletti now serves as a Chaplain in the Beaver County Jail. Mike and Jessica Santistevan are now serving as the new pastors of ACC (selected in June 2006).  Mike is doing an amazing job and we are in the process of partnering again with this church to give a fresh push and a re-launch there in the city of Ambridge.

Mike grew up at APC.  He did an internship with me before going off to Bible College.  Actually, he and  his brother David went with their family to be a part of the ACC Launch Team.  Mike and David were the original worship leaders at the church.  Now he is back serving as their pastor.

During last year's CityReach we saw many people make decisions for Christ.  The VBS that Cal did had over 100 kids every night.  On a Sunday following that week of outreach, ACC baptized 13 people in water.  Great things are in store for this church.

The Crossway Miracle

In 1999, Crossway Church made the move into Mars High School Auditorium.  God spoke to Pastor Pat Summers about the RT 228 corridor being the primary target for this church's reach.

The week after obeying God making this move, property became available for sale right down the road from the High School and right off 228.  The decision to take the risk and follow God's leading to a different location, was the moment that the Crossway Church leadership got out of the boat and began to walk in faith.  And God miraculously responded.

So Pat discussed with the Crossway board about making an offer. This seemed to be a bit ridiculous because at the time, Crossway had only $750 in their building fund. 

Now the only people who knew that Pat was going to make an offer on this property was the board and one Realtor from the church.  The land for sale was 17 acres.  So Pat drove by the land and prayed that morning, 'God would you give us this land.  And oh, by the way  God, you will have to provide the money for it because you know we don't have it.'

The property was listed for $140,000.  But due to the church's financial situation, Pat said, 'it might as well have been 1.4 million--it was that far out of our reach.'

So after driving by the property and praying, Pat went to his office.  He opened the mail.  In the mail was a letter from a woman who had attended Crossway Church only once.  She had become aware that the church had moved to Mars.

Here's what the letter said:  Dear Pastor, So excited about your move to Mars.  Please use the enclosed check to help purchase property on RT 228.  Inside the envelope was a check for $15,000.

That afternoon Pat had already scheduled an appointment with the property owner.  So he was able to negotiate a price and hand the man a down payment on the land that is now the Crossway campus.

Pat says, "I am not much of a dancer, but on that day when I opened the check, I did quite a jig all throughout the office complex.'

Planting Crossway Church

In previous posts I have been sharing our journey of planting churches.  Pat Summers became the first pastor that we launched to start a new church.  We launched him in 1996 and the goal was to start a church in the community of Cranberry, which is about 20 minutes north of APC.  Cranberry is the fastest growing area in all of Pittsburgh, so it seemed a great spot to start a church.

Last week, Mark Batterson came to speak at APC.   He stated one of his core values: Everything is an experiment.  The idea is try new things.  Be creative.  If it works, stick with it.  If it doesn't, then adjust.

Well we lived this core value in the planting process.  Here's what didn't work:

• Midi-Worship - the first few months the worship was led by computerized music.  It sounded ok during the song, but the transitions between songs were like coming to a crashing halt.  It was not a pleasant experience.  Kinda funny to look back on it now.
• Planting in a community that was over-saturated with church plants.  Everyone was going to Cranberry at the time.  I think we were one of 30 churches being planted at the time.  So within a few years, God directed us to Mars, PA.  Mars is just about 5 miles east of Cranberry.  The move to Mars was a key factor in obtaining property and generating momentum.
• Recruiting only through small groups.  We started with somewhat of a purist mentality about being a church of small groups (not a church with small groups).  So the primary invite strategy was into the groups, not into the main service.  Eventually, we realized that the Sunday celebration service was a key to growth.

What did work?

• We realized that the quality of worship was really limiting growth.  So we decided to hire a staff member for this young church.  That was a risk at the time, because the church was only about 50 people.  They couldn't afford two staff.  But APC made the investment, and we hired Jeff Stockford as the music pastor--and from that hire, the church grew.
• The church met in Schools until it could find property.  While this was not always the easiest thing to do with set-up and tear down, it did provide a cost effective launching place.
• Moving to a community that reflected who we are.  John Maxwell says, 'you tend to attract who you are not who you would like to be.'   The people attending Crossway were more blue collar.  The people of Cranberry were more upper white collar.  Mars fit the personality of the people of the church.  It has been a great match.  When the church made the move to Mars High School, it saw significant growth.

Today, Crossway Church has its own property.  I will share that amazing story in another post.  They have a multi-million dollar building (which they have built themselves--Pat is a great construction guy).  They average over 200 people per weekend.  They are a strong community with great relationships.

I am very proud of Pat and Crossway Church.

You Want To Do What?

Let me set the stage for you.  It was November of 1996.  I had been the pastor of APC for just a little over five years.  At that moment, I was 32 years old.  Sometimes it is an advantage to be young and inexperienced because you are too naive to know what you can't do.

After God had spoken to me about his problem and how he wanted me to own it, I now knew the next step was to involve my leadership team in the decision making process.  At a board meeting, I shared my experience in prayer.  Then I shared the goal that God had affirmed in my heart:  to plant one church a year for five years.

Actually, it wasn't until the words left my mouth that I realized how crazy that sounded?  And as I said it, I was having my own little conversation in my mind.  One part of me was excited and passionate about the vision God had given me.  The other part of me was screaming, 'you want to do what?  Did you just say that out loud?  What if it doesn't happen?  Your credibility is on the line here.'

So I laid the vision out to my board...one church a year for five years...the words just seemed to hang there in the air for a while.  The guys on the board looked at one another for a moment, pondered the possibility, and to their credit--agreed to go for it. 

Now, we had never mothered a church before.  We had no successful model in mind to follow.  In fact, many of the church plants that I had seen had been somewhat small and struggling.  Nothing about those examples had inspired me.  But we began to discuss the strategy.  Where?  Who?  When?

Actually, I had already had a conversation with Pat Summers who had been my youth pastor for five years.  I knew that our denomination wanted to plant a church in Cranberry (about 20 minutes north of APC).  One morning before we started the day, Pat and I happened to meet for a cup of coffee in the conference room.

And I just mentioned the idea to him: 'Ever thought of planting a church?  What do you think about Cranberry?'  Almost immediately, Pat's eyes began to burn with vision:  I have thought about planting one day.  Yeah, I would love to consider that.'

So I mentioned to my board that Pat might be our first planter.  They agreed to release us to take some steps and make a plan.

Looking back I see that one of the prerequisites for us to move ahead was unity and leadership strength.  The boards that I have enjoyed over the past decade have been amazing men of God, who have been willing to take risks in faith to pursue God birthed dreams.

So here are the steps so far in the church planting journey:  1) Hear from God; 2) Identify God's problem; 3) gain agreement with the leadership team; 4) identify a planter and a place.

More on the journey tomorrow.

What's God's Problem?

This was the question I felt God impress on my heart as we started our church planting journey back in 1996.  During my prayer time, I was telling God all about the problems and challenges we were facing as a church.  God whispered in my spirit, 'have you considered that I have problems too?'

To be honest, I had never truly considered that God had problems before.  Now, let me clarify.  I am not saying that God has emotional issues, or dysfunctions that he needs to work out.  What I am saying is that He has concerns in the world that burden his heart. 

What are those concerns?  What are God's problems?  This was my immediate question after God spoke to me.  What problems? 

As I searched my heart, again I felt an inward impression on my spirit--'my problem is that you live in a region with communities all around you that need someone to communicate and live out the love and the hope of Jesus Christ.'

As I did some research, I discovered that the northern part of Greater Pittsburgh (where APC is located) has about 350,000 people as residents.   As I looked closely at specific communities and townships, I discovered that many of these areas were lacking a strong gospel presence. 

Again--God spoke to me: 'If I solve your problem (which at the time was a need for my parking/seating space so APC could grow) that will not necessarily solve my problem.'

And I had to admit that this was true.  One church could never reach nor contain the harvest for a region of 350,000 people.  Even beyond that cities like Sharpsburg, Ambridge, Lawrenceville, West View, and Mars (all within driving distance from us) needed more than just a once in while outreach into their area.  To really be a part of the transformation of lives and families, they needed a strong local church.

As my soul-searching on these issues continued, I felt God impress on me one final question:  'Would you put my problem ahead of your problem?'  What a question.  God was saying, 'Prioritize what is on my heart.  Make it your top concern.  Work with me to solve my problem...and I will work with you to solve yours.'

Matthew 6:33 puts it like this:  Seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you as well.

At that moment, one of the ways (not the only way) we put God first was by deciding to aggressively plant other churches in our region.  We set a goal to plant one church a year for five years.  And the journey began.

It all started with the questions:  What's God's problem?  Will you put God's problem first?

These are good questions for every Christ follower to ask.  Let me challenge you to ask them.  What's God's problem where I live, where I work, where I go to school, where I go to church, in the nations of the world?  And then, how can I put God's problem first?

More on the church planting journey tomorrow.

What's The Story?

Without a doubt the most amazing journey of faith I have ever been part--has been the process of church planting.  And as our 6th church plant (Pittsburgh City Outreach) celebrates its one year anniversary (March 31), I am remembering so much about what God has done.

This will be the first in a series of entries recounting the church planting journey.

It began in 1996.  I had been the pastor of APC for five years.  The church was in a new season of growth numerically and spiritually.  And we had a problem!

There was not enough space; not enough parking spaces; not enough seating spaces.  And I was a bit frustrated that God had not come through in answer to my prayers by providing opportunity and property.  At the time, we were located on about 5 acres of property--in an auditorium that could seat about 400 max.  We were in multiple services.  No neighboring property owners were willing to even discuss the possibility of a sale.  So we were stuck.

As I prayed, I consistently told God all about the problem and the need for his provision.  And as I prayed, I sensed God whispering in my spirit, 'I hear you.  I understand you have a problem!  You need more space and more property.  But have you considered that I have a problem too?'

Honestly, I had never considered that God had problems.  So what's God's problem?  More on that tomorrow.

Vision: Build A Movement

Recently someone asked me--what is the vision of Allison Park Church?  The easiest and most memorable phrase that I use to describe the vision is this:  BUILD A MOVEMENT.  Below I have listed the full vision statement that has guided us over the past ten or so years...

APC exists to build a MOVEMENT of people and churches to reach the 350,000 of the North Hills (Jerusalem), the Greater Pittsburgh Region (Judea), strategic cities across the USA (Samaria), and the nations (specifically our four nations of focus) of the world with the love and the hope of Jesus Christ.

The order of this vision might seem familiar because it is based on some of the final words of vision and strategy that Jesus gave his disciples in Acts 1:8.

How does the vision become reality?  What are the components of the movement?

• We mobilize the individual believer through small groups.
• We mobilize into cities and communities around our N.H. Region by planting churches.
• We mobilize into cities around the nation and into the nations of the world through strategic partnerships with leaders and churches who have a common DNA and desire to reach their world for Christ.

This week the 6th church that we have planted is celebrating their one-year anniversary. Pittsburgh City Outreach began its Friday Night Outreach Services on March 31, 2006.

To commemorate that, I am going to do another 'walk down memory lane' this week with a series of entries remembering the miracles God did in the planting of churches.