Mark Riggins

It's not about San Angelo Church - pt 2

We believe "it's not about San Angelo Church. It's about San Angelo." We want to continue investing in other local churches because we know we are better together. We recently had the privilege of having Ryan & Michele Dalgliesh at one of our large group gatherings. Ryan recently began the process of starting a new church here in San Angelo called The 456. 

I love Ryan's passion and believe God has and will continue to use him. So we wanted to partner with him in a tangible way. We had the chance to hear from Ryan, pray for him, and then invest $500 into their ministry.

This isn't the first time we've gotten to invest into a local ministry (click here to read about that) and it won't be the last. 

Pretty exciting to be part of a new generation of people who have a HUGE heart for our reaching our city!

It's not about San Angelo Church

It's not about San Angelo Church - it's about San Angelo. That's been our mantra from day 1. We recognize that the majority of people in San Angelo (at least 70K weekly) have decided that church isn't helpful or relevant so they don't bother attending. 

That is why we are focused on creating a church that unchurched people love to attend. 

I have a friend who recently started a church in San Angelo. He pastors Celebration Church and they began in September, 2009. He and I are both focused on creating relevant churches that share helpful Scripture. As our friendship has grown, I have been reminded again that it's not about San Angelo Church - it's about San Angelo. 

This past Sunday I asked Brandon to come and share his vision at our church service. As a church we prayed for Brandon and Celebration Church. Then our church gave a financial gift of $500 to Celebration Church to invest in their ministry. We are so honored to be a part of "the church in the theater" led by my friend Brandon. 

4 Distinctives of San Angelo Church (part 4 of 4) - Outsider-Focused Services

This is the last part of the 4-part series entitled "4 Distinctives of San Angelo Church". You can catch up and check out distinctive 1, 2, or 3. 

EVERYTHING we do on Sunday is with the unchurched person in mind. We want our Sunday service to be a safe place for people to hear the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. 

For us that means constantly working to remove religious barriers in the environments that we create, in the way we communicate, and the assumptions that we make about our guests. 

Jesus said the cross is offensive but He was intentional to remove every other religious barrier. (Hanging out with outsiders, breaking the rules of the law, focusing on grace, using parables to make theology more "approachable", etc.).

So at each service we want to partner with other believers in reaching their unchurched friends and family. One of the best way we partner with believers is creating an outsider-focused service every Sunday. 

4 Distinctives of San Angelo Church (part 3 of 4) - Closed Small Groups leading to Community

Jesus gives every church its mission: the Great Commission. At SAC, we have chosen to word our mission - "leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ" . . . the Great Commission. 

How a church accomplishes this mission is what makes each church unique. At SAC, I believe there are 4 distinctives we are pursuing to best accomplish Christ's commission. I want to continue to unpack these in a series of four blog entries. 

This is part 3 of this 4-part series. (You can click here to view the 1st and 2nd distinctives.)

Distinctive: Closed Small Groups Leading to Community

As we set out to start SAC, we knew we would be pretty unproductive if all we did was give people another option on Sundays. Honestly, there are plenty of places to "go to church" in San Angelo. But simply "going to church" rarely produces sustained life change. Don't get me wrong. I think church is  important. I, along with several other families, are committed to starting one. :)  But I don't think the Sunday church experience is enough. 

Everyone desires genuine and meaningful relationships. That is why so much of our life is spent within the context of small groups of people (work, family, sporting teams, social networks, special interest clubs, etc.). 

Spiritual growth is also best accomplished in this format. In fact, we believe sustained life change happens best in the context of small groups (4 or 5 other couples or 8-10 singles).

Now, many churches offer small groups with varying levels of "success". Some of the frustrations with traditional small groups are: they become too big preventing genuine relationship development and/or people do not really commit to attend regularly.

One of our distinctives is how we do small groups. We call our small groups "closed groups". 

That means once you find a group of people you are comfortable with, you and the rest of the group commit to doing life together for a period of time (1 yr - 18 months). During this time, no one else can join your group. We have found that focusing on a set of relationships over a period of time builds trust resulting in greater transparency. This is the place where you experience accountability, belonging, and care. 

We emphasize these groups because we believe your spiritual growth depends upon them. Since we believe sustained life-change happens best in the context of closed small groups, we do not offer all of the other traditional programs and ministries that would "compete" with small groups. This focus allows for increased participation. (This also reflects our 2nd distinctive.)

Weekend Review

BUSY weekend!

- Some good times with kids riding bikes

- 1 flat tire, 2 tire repairs, and 2 oil changes on both cars 

- lots of final details completed in preparation for the San Angelo Church service

- preached Sunday morning for my Dad at his church

- Great service at SAC on Sunday night

+ I am amazed by the level of excellence our volunteers are achieving at each service

+ Great worship led by Ornan's Floor

+ Extremely practical message by Andy Stanley on gratitude (everyone received an IOU card)

+ A number of young families joined us as evidenced by the 29 children

- God continues to join people with His vision for San Angelo Church: creating a church unchurched people love to attend. 

- More and more people are becoming a "fan" of San Angelo Church Facebook page. Come and join us!

Weekend Review

- The Cowboys, Longhorns, and Mavericks all won = GREAT weekend! 

- LOVED taking my kids "trick or treating" last Saturday night. Reagen = princess, Kennedy = indian, Lincoln = dinosaur, Madison = madison. So fun enjoying the experience through their eyes! Plus, I love sorting through their candy making sure it's all "safe"! My least favorite candy = Dum-dum suckers. :)

- Really enjoyed participating in 2 of the community groups on Sunday. Our community group has 2 new families and I'm looking forward to getting to know these families better. Nothing like doing life together in group! 

- This Wednesday I am meeting with 4 small group leaders and 2 future small group leaders. These men are incredible leaders who are passionate about genuine community. So excited to take this journey with men like these!

- Finishing up the book "The Traveler's Gift" by Andy Andrews. Encouraging/challenging book! Great reminder today out of reading: "Forgiveness is not a reward that is earned but a gift that is given." 

Weekend Review

I am so grateful that God has called me to start a church. There have been a lot of encouraging reminders this week and this weekend that I am getting to be part of something eternally significant. 

Tonight our launch team got a chance to met as a large group (versus individual small groups). It was so much fun to get everyone together and laugh, eat burgers, have an important discussion, utilize a pipe cleaner, toothbrush, hair curler, battery, gum, candle . . . well, you had to be there! :) It was FUN!

At the end we circled up, surrounding the room holding hands, and offered a unified prayer. It was then that I realized something significant: Though we're working toward the goal of starting San Angelo Church, these are the nights that we'll look back on with a huge smile. The destination is on our mind but it's okay to enjoy the journey. 

Starting a church is hard work but I'm learning to enjoy the journey! :) 

4 Distinctives of San Angelo Church (part 2 of 4) - Simple Church

Jesus gives every church its mission: the Great Commission. At SAC, we have chosen to word our mission - "leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ" . . . Great Commission. 

How a church accomplishes this mission is what makes each church unique. At SAC, I believe there are 4 key distinctives we are pursuing to best accomplish Christ's mission. I want to unpack each of these distinctives in a series of four blog entries. 

This is part 2 of this 4-part series of blog entries. (You can click here to see the 1st distinctive.)

Distinctive: Simple Church

Our mantra is "steps not programs". Every organization (especially churches) naturally drift toward complexity. As a church it is so tempting to always add something until we eventually offer a menu of programs and similar interest ministries. However, we believe that more programs/ministries are often the enemy of spiritual growth. "Living at the church" restricts relationships with unchurched people and often creates an "insider-focused" culture.

We desire to see everyone get involved in a community group because this is where we believe sustained life-change happens. So everything we do will be to create a clear, simple step toward a community group. Instead of offering "competing" ministries that are good, we want to put all of our resources into the ministry that we believe is essential. 

Our model (foyer, living room, kitchen) reveals our strategy. Click here to see a 10 minute video explaining our model. 

So here are our steps: 1) Attend the Sunday service (foyer), 2) Then join one service team (living room), and 3) Then attend a community group (kitchen). Simple . . . "steps not programs". 

Weekend Review

I am soooo encouraged by the volunteers at SAC! We had our 2nd Preview Service last night. Ornan's Floor does such an amazing job leading in worship! I'm really growing to love those guys. 

It is so much fun to have services knowing that there are people in the audience who are "trying church" for the 1st time in several years. I could fall in love with that kind of ministry! 

Waumba Land launched last night with 18 preschool age children. That's a lot of little kids! We have 8 adults who teach, lead small groups, and do Bible story time with this ministry. 

One of the reasons I'm so excited about this ministry is two of those 18 children are mine! I mentioned last week that I was disappointed when I discovered Lincoln's (my 4 year old son) view of Scripture. :) However, we've had some good conversations this week thanks in part to the "take home" materials that Waumba Land provides the parent. Last night, after Ginger and I put the kids to bed, we stayed up to talk for a little bit. While talking we could hear Lincoln in his bed singing, "He's a big God . . . " Nothing better! 

This morning I asked Lincoln if he could say his memory verse and he quickly and quietly said, "I can do all things through Christ . . . Philippians 4:13" Awesome!! I asked him, "Lincoln, who does God love?" "Me", he said. "Lincoln, what can God help you do?" "Anything", he said. "Lincoln, who loves you?" "God", he said. BTW, these were on the "take home" card I was given last night from Waumba Land. There are also some suggested conversations and activities to further talk with my child. 

Ginger and I love being the primary spiritual influencers in our children's life. Even in my line of work I find it hard to find the time to create meaningful "conversations" with my child on a regular basis. I'm grateful to the Waumba Land Team for giving me the simple tools to unpack these eternal truths with my child.

Today me and some of our team fly out to Atlanta for a couple of days to attend the n*rich Conference at Buckhead Church. Can't wait to share and learn.  

Later this week, we'll continue the series detailing some of the distinctives of San Angelo Church.

Weekend Review

This has been a GREAT weekend. 

On Saturday we celebrated my mother-in-law's b-day. Love time with my family and Maxine is a GREAT mother-in-law. Enjoyed going to the ASU vs. ACU game Saturday night! (Just not the outcome of the game.)

This morning we had a couple of families over for a brunch. I love hanging out with friends with their kids (there were 8 kids ages 8 & under). There's something encouraging about spending time with other families. Plus we ate some great food and watched a incredible Cowboys OVERTIME win! 

Tonight ended the weekend with a HIGH. We had our 1st "practice run" at Waumba Land. Waumba Land is our preschool ministry at SAC. The environments are completely amazing. They are kid friendly and yet communicate loads of truth for both parents and kids. 

My 4 year-old son, Lincoln, was one of the kids who participated tonight. On the way home, I asked Lincoln the 2 questions that every parent asks their kid after church: 1) Did you have fun? (He said 'YES') and 2) What did you learn? Lincoln quickly said, "David was watching his sheep when a lion then a bear tried to attack and David got them away." Wow! That was a lot of information recalled quickly. I was so proud. Lincoln paused then said, "but it's not true - it's just a Bible story." Hmmm . . . I've got some work to do. 

Then I was given a "Take Home Card" that allows me to unpack the truth (God can help us do ANYTHING) with some questions, a Bible story, activities, memory verse, suggested conversation, etc. 

As a father that excites me so much. I look forward to this ministry launching next Sunday, Oct. 18th. I am so grateful that we are partnering with families so THEY can lead their children into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Good weekend!