January 10th, 2010  -  author: Dave Hileman, Executive Director

How do you react when you hear about another church plant hitting the mega-church 2,000 in attendance mark? What about a record breaking number of baptisms at the church down the road? Do you rejoice or does a piece of your heart feel a twinge of jealousy?

Aaron Saufley is a minister and church planter who struggles with our current definition of a "successful" church. In his article, Hey Jealousy, he wraps up by concluding:

"Nickels and noses aren’t everything.  What truly counts is whether or not people are allowing Jesus to live His life through them.  What really matters is whether the Holy Spirit is leading people through the tough changes that come with repentance and holiness.  Place more emphasis on whether people are loving God, loving people, and living on mission with Jesus rather than how many people show up for your Sunday extravaganza.

"Remember, this is Jesus’ kingdom and not ours.  When we see the greatness of his power throughout the kingdom in churches big and small, our jealousy will melt away and be replaced by simple gratitude for letting us play a part.  May we play our parts well for the glory of Jesus."

To read the entire article, click here!

author: Chip Prior,
Lead Pastor at Varsity Christian Church
Chapel Hill, NC

This past Sunday, Varsity Church was birthed. All I can say is WOW! For close to a year we have lived in the area to get to this day. It has been so neat to watch God work in our lives and work here.

Launch Day Recap
Of course, everyone wants an update on our day. Simple, it was a great day! I tell everyone that if we can replicate this past Sunday every week, I would be VERY happy. Our set up is simple and easy, our coffee was great, our Junior Varsity program rocks (Kara has done an AMAZING job with the material and the look), the music was incredible and I felt good about the message. As Ice-T likes to say, “Today was a good day.”

Read More! Click here!

December 16th, 2010 - posted by Dave Hileman, VEF Executive Director

A message from Ron Kablunde, church planter of Restore Community Church in Sterling, VA:

October 22, 2010    -    author: Rachel Price

In Chapel Hill, North Carolina there is a movement growing.

Chapel Hill is one of the wealthiest cities in North Carolina, and perhaps most well known as being home to a major university, the University of North Carolina. However, only about 8% of the population attends church on a Sunday morning, and Chad Simpkins is determined to do something about that.

There are many obstacles, no doubt about it. But that’s not stopping Chad from doing everything he can to share the Gospel with his new community. He moved with his wife and three young children to Chapel Hill this past year and has been focused on developing relationships with his neighbors and in his surrounding community ever since.
On October 10, 2010 (10/10/10) at 10am, Varsity Christian Church held its first preview service at the Timberlyne 6 Theatre in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This was the first of several preview services in the coming months.

Preview services are designed to let the community see what the church is going to look like once it is fully launched this coming January 2011. This way, the lead pastor can spend the majority of his time developing relationships instead of on planning upcoming services. This “soft launch” is more community focused and especially in unchurched areas helps insure that the full launch will be a success.

Varsity Christian Church’s next preview service will be November 7th, 2010 at 10am (Get Directions). If you are in the area, please support the VEF’s newest church plant by attending.

In Chapel Hill, North Carolina there is a movement growing. And we want to be a part of it.

VarsityChurch.com

October 6th, 2010          author: Rachel Price

This week we are honoring Common Ground Christian Church for seven years of ministry in Fredericksburg, VA! With Christ's help, they are truly changing lives and impacting their community.

Watch Common Ground's 7 year anniversary video here: http://vimeo.com/15536219

Also, they were recently featured on Fredricksburg.com - you can read that article by clicking here.

Visit their new website! CommonGroundVA.com

Thanks for your passion and your hard work! CG Rocks!

author: Rachel Price, Director of Media Communications

On June 6th, 2010, Common Ground Christian Church joined forces with First Christian Church of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Common Ground will meet from now on at 4pm on Sunday evenings in First Christian’s facilities, and follow every service with a community dinner, pot luck style.

Gregg Jennings, lead pastor, says that he is most excited about the change because it is full of theological significance. He points back to the earliest days of the church in Acts 2, where it says, “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Read More...

http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2010/08/psyched-1-vault.html