Heather Hodges

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything we’ve had a lot going on, but I’m really excited to tell you what the Lord has been doing in our lives lately.  For the past 12 years, Wade and I have been ministering to two different churches, one in Bellingham, Washington, and more recently at the Garnett Church of Christ in Tulsa.  While we have loved these church families dearly, the pull of planting a new church has been tugging on our hearts for some time.

Wade first felt the call to plant a new church nearly 10 years ago, but I was always hesitant, and to tell you the truth I was scared.  But the Lord has a funny way of working on our fears and increasing our faith.  So last Fall when presented with the opportunity to plant a church we both felt there was no other option for our family, but to answer the call.  So off to Nineva we go, or more accurately to Austin.

I’ve been asked many times, “What is a church plant?” To put it simply it’s a process by which new communities of Christians (churches) are formed.  Every church across the globe started when a group of people came together to follow Jesus, care for each other, and serve the community.  This is exactly what we hope to do.

We will move to Austin in June and begin gathering people in small house churches.  There are several groups of people we would like to reach: (1) Christians who have been burned by church in the past (2) People interested and attracted to Jesus, but who have no interest in being part of a church like they have known it, and (3) Skeptical people who have no interest in Christianity.

We hope to have two to three strong, vibrant house churches of 30-40 people each (including children) by the time we launch our Sunday morning assembly in January or February of 2010.  It is our desire to invest our time and resources in people and ministry instead of paying a mortgage on a building, so we will be renting a venue to hold our worship assemblies.  This means we will be transporting all of our equipment and supplies for the worship, hospitality, nursery, children’s ministry etc. to and from the facility every week.

Since our primary goal is to multiply the kingdom, we will immediately begin tithing as a church for our daughter church.  We will set aside 10% of our offerings beginning in June to help fund a new church plant that will be several years down the road. Our goal in going to Austin is not to plant just one church, but to be part of a larger church planting network that will multiply itself over and over again spreading the Good News all over central Texas and to the ends of the earth.

One of the other questions I hear often is, “What kind of church are you planting?”  Wade and I want to plant a church that gathers people around Jesus so that we can help God put His broken world back together one life, one family, one neighborhood, one city at a time. We want to be radically pragmatic when it comes to “how” we accomplish this.  However, there are several things that we know ahead of time: (1) we will not compromise or water-down the message of the gospel (2) we want to be relevant and creative in our worship, and (3) we want all seekers and believers alike to use their individual gifts to glorify the Lord regardless of their gender, history, or the length of time they have been following Jesus.

We are working under the leadership of the Golf Course Road Church of Christ in Midland, Texas who has generously donated a portion of the necessary funds to get the project off the ground. As our “mother church” they will also be responsible for the financial oversight of the project for three years. Wade and I will be coached and mentored by the Nexus church planting organization (www.nexus.us) who has planted 7 churches in Texas in the last 30 months.  This coaching relationship will also last for three years. We feel very blessed to have these experienced people beside us during the infancy of the new church.

As one of the leaders of this project my responsibilities at first will be very broad including administration/organization and more specifically community care and outreach.  I also anticipate using my professional counseling skills as well as doing some teaching.

This new ministry will not be possible without people who can give generously of their prayers, talents, and finances to support it.  There are several ways to help:

First, Wade and I need your prayers, and lots of it.   You can help by joining our prayer team. If you want to be a part of this team, please send me an email at heather@heatherhodges.com.

Second, we need money.  You can help by joining our funding team. I have been charged with raising my own support as co-church planter. I need to raise $1,500 per month for three years for my salary until the church is self-supporting. You can also help by giving a special gift directly to the church plant or visiting our Amazon.com wish list of items we will need for the church (go to www.amazon.com and look for “The Austin Project” under “Gifts & Wish Lists”). If you’d like to be part of our funding team, please email me at heather@heatherhoges.com or email Wade at wadehodges@gmail.com.

I’m excited but also humbled that we get to partner with God in this new ministry. Will you support us in this effort?