“THE SEED SPROUTS & GROWS” Mark 4:27
NOW Start Network Zoom Calls:
The next NOW Start All Network Zoom Call is May 18, 2024, 11 AM (PDT).
We want to help you get your bearings and set a renewed course for starting new in 2024. On these network calls we’ll interview active church planters, we’ll hear new insights about starting ministries from the ground up, we’ll pull in resources from across the LCMS, and we’ll converse about it all in real time.
How? Click below to register and a link will be e-mailed to you. Simply link in or call in to watch and listen, or participate in the conversation. How you participate is up to you; even BYO cinnamon roll and coffee if you’d like.
Who? Any leader, professional or lay, who has a heart for bringing Jesus’ love to new people.
SOLA Spokane — Starting Out New
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 3-16-2024
Pastor Bill Hartley and his wife Karen are starting a new church planting initiative in Spokane, SOLA Spokane. As our guest on this Zoom call Bill talks about the need for church planting initiatives in the LCMS challenging all of us to take the treasure of our theology and richness of liturgy repackaging it and presenting it with zeal and fervor for a new generation of believers. Bill discusses the timeline and plan for the church plant in Spokane as well as the challenges that still lie before the SOLA core group as they get started this April, 2024 with weekly gatherings hoping for a soft launch with 25 core families in September of 2024. The last LCMS church start in the Spokane metro area was over 40 years ago. Can new mission starts like SOLA help rejuvenate even existing LCMS congregations by engaging the long-standing congregations in this new mission effort? That’s what Bill and Karen are praying for; will you pray too?
Thirty Years of Starting New in Alaska Mission for Christ
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 1-20-2024
The continuing mission effort of Alaska Mission for Christ (AMC) is to proclaim and practice the love of Jesus on the last frontier of our country. AMC continues to found new ministry activities in remote settings. They train and send out teams of both lay leaders and church workers to carry the Gospel through word and service, to actively plant worshipping communities, and to seed Christ-centered care ministries in villages all over Alaska. Founded by NOW District LCMS congregations thirty years ago, AMC now involves people from across the LCMS in mission. AMC’s current vision includes establishing ministry centers in Juneau, Fairbanks, and Bethel to bring the Gospel in word and deed to each of these three distinct regions of AK.
The Messiah’s Mission Among Sudanese People
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 11-18-2023
The Lord said that in the day of the Messiah his house would be a place of prayer for all peoples, all ethnicities, all nations (Isaiah 56:7). Bringing the gospel to the nations at one time meant traveling across the world. Now God has brought all nations, all ethnicities, of people right here. What’s more, he’s calling people of those ethnicities to be the ministry leaders of the future brining the gospel to their own people and to us as well. This NOW Start conversation is with Pastor Albino Kong who came to our country as a refugee twenty years ago and has since followed the Lord’s call into ministry. He started Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology (EIIT) studies through Concordia Seminary St. Louis in 2013 and was ordained in 2020. For the last ten plus years he has led an evangelistic mission to the Sudanese community in Anchorage, while remaining engaged in mission outreach back in his home country, and with the school district of Anchorage as a para-educator too. Take a few minutes to let the Spirit of Christ inspire you trough Albino’s ministry; you’ll find God has a mission for all of us.
The Gospel in a Barber’s Chair
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 9-16-2023
What if a barber’s chair became a place of authentic civil, social, and spiritual discourse? What if it became a place where a man could be transformed to be a new person for his family and community? What if the news of Jesus found its way into the barbershop? All these things are beginning to take shape at Homestead Barber Shop. DCE Jeremiah Drelleshak, who presented at our Germinate Event last April, shared his story with the whole NOW Start Network on this online call. The Lord turned Jeremiah’s heart toward the men of our day and age considering how we can reach them with the message of Christ. Two millennia ago Jesus called men from a seashore saying, “Follow me!” Today that call is coming to them from a barber’s chair in Boring, OR.
Preaching Station to New Congregation
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 7-15-2023
When Mike Musegades was flying helicopters for the U.S. Navy he never imagined that after a 24 year career the Lord would lead him into seminary and then into the ministry as a Pastor. Yet God was shaping him not only for ministry but for church planting as well. Mike still doesn’t consider himself a church planter but recognizes that by following the lead of what God was doing by his Spirit in the hearts of people in his congregation at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran in Salmon, ID as well as among a group of faithful lay leaders sixty miles away in Challis, ID, that is just what God is using him to do. This little Challis preaching station that began two years ago is now a worshipping community of twenty, with more young families than the parent congregation in Salmon, and they will become Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church, a new LCMS congregation in August 2023. The joy on Mike’s face is real joy in the Lord and it has enlivened not only his ministry but the people of his congregation in Salmon too.
Led by Jesus Into the Waters of Latino Ministry
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 3-18-2023
With a lifelong career in music teaching and a minimal background in Spanish who would have expected the Lord might guide Pam into ministry leadership and new ministry coordination through Lutheran Latino Ministries. Yet twenty years later that is just what Jesus is doing through her. Pam Bridgehouse, our guest for this NOW Start All Network Online Call serves as the president of Lutheran Latino Ministries. She coordinates ministry & new ministry starts, administrates the business of, and leads the fundraising for Latino Ministries in the LCMS taking place in a variety of settings in both Oregon and Washington. If you have ever doubted whether God could use you to start something new, this is a call to listen to. Pam’s story will not only inspire your support for ministry among Hispanic communities across the Northwest but it will convince you that what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:5 still rings true, “not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves but competence comes from God.”
Shepherding a New Flock in Sharps Chapel, TN
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 11-19-2022
The little eastern Tennessee community of Sharps Chapel sat an hour away from the closest Lutheran Church. Paul Kritsch and his his wife Dorothy moved to Sharps Chapel after he retired from full-time ministry as an LCMS Pastor at Redeemer Lutheran in Westfield, NJ. He and Dorothy always lived by the motto of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Christ leads the way; stay close to him.” Soon Paul and Dorothy saw Christ leading the way to a new Bible Study with the folks in their neighborhood at the neighborhood community clubhouse. Without strategy or plan, except staying close to Jesus, they followed. From that meager start in 2015 Chapel of the Good Shepherd grew. The group continued to meet, even online, and grow through the pandemic so that when it was over they were able to build their own space for worship. Chapel of the Good Shepherd is unashamedly Lutheran, liturgical, a cappella, and engaged in their community in a variety of ways. Listen in and learn more about the faithfulness of Christ to this new church start in the Mid-South District LCMS.
Caring for Communities in Puyallup, WA
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 9-16-2022
Amy Schweim from Immanuel Lutheran Church (ILC) in Puyallup, WA (one of our NOW Start Cultivators) joined our call to talk about caring for and providing resources to the community outside the walls of the church. Amy just completed her Masters Degree in Community and Family Services at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, through which she gained a wealth of resources for connecting with and caring for families and kids. The first way she is now seeking to bring those services to the Puyallup community is through parenting classes for the families of the eighty children in Immanuel’s preschool and the thirty more who engaged in their summer camps. Yet, Amy’s vision goes beyond the parent classes, preschool, kids camp, and coffee shop that Immanuel already offers to the community. Her vision is to create a one stop community resource center for families. Immanuel is a small church but their impact for the Gospel is mighty. Listen in and learn from Amy how your church too can start ministries that bring Jesus to the community.
Planting Gospel Seeds Through Theater in Tacoma, WA
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 7-16-2022
Gerod Bass joined us from Our Savior Lutheran in Tacoma, WA to tell us about the start of Mustard Seed Theater Company. Literally stepping off stage in the middle of a rehearsal to join us — the theater group was in their final week before the debut of “Hello Dolly!”— Gerod told us of the great things God has done through this theater program. Serving as the Director of Worship Arts for Our Savior is Gerod’s official call, which didn’t include theater in the job description, yet he was certain God called him to do this as well to connect people with the love of Jesus. The conversation is full of hope in God who continues to provide resources and remove our excuses so that His work, His show, can go on. Gerod even took us into the rehearsal for a sneak preview. So pull up a chair to front row center and watch this video about using theater to share the love of Christ. Want to learn more? Check out the information linked through the button on the right.
Church Planting through Restoration in Hollister, MO
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 5-21-2022
Barry Kolb, an LCMS Pastor and Church Planter in South Central Missouri, near Branson, talks about his most recent church planting effort, Restore. Interviewed by NOW Start Cultivator Garrett Knudson, Barry talks about his experience through the years equipping and empowering laity to follow the vision God has given to them for caring for others in the local community. Restore is a church intent on bringing the restoration of God in Christ to a community challenged with broken families and poverty. The conversation with Barry touches on prison ministry, coffee shop Bible studies, and food banks. It is a conversation full of ideas and encouragement.
Gospel Mission Starts in Latino Communities
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 3-19-2022
Ruberto Ek Yah tells the story of his immigration to the Unites States from the Yucatan in Mexico. He has been welcomed into ministry leadership by Lutheran Latino Ministries and Trinity Lutheran Church, Portland, who have supported his study through the Center for Hispanic Studies (CHS) of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. His ordination was just a week after this call, yet he has already played an active role in mission starts in Yakima, WA and Hermiston, OR as well as started missions in the digital space through Zoom Bible studies among his family and friends back in the Yucatan. Ruberto is doing all this while working a full-time job outside of ministry to support his family. His passion for the mission of the Gospel is inspiring and he shares great insights for anyone interested in beginning ministry to Latino communities.
“Withness In Witness:” New Starts for Diverse Communities
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 1-15-2022
The Rev. Dr. John Arthur Nunes joined cultivators Todd Roeske and Mike Von Behren to give insights and encouragement for those eager to start new holistic ministries that care for the needs of people and keep that care in “proximity to proclamation,” the spoken conversation about Jesus. John reminds us that it all starts with some simple questions we learned to sing as kids: “Who are the people in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood” and “Please won’t you be my neighbor.” You may have missed the call but you can still catch the recording, to the right, or even deeper insights from Rev. Dr. John Nunes through the links to a few of his books just under that video.
SoulFull Foods: Ministry Leadership and Launching
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 11-20-2021
Often the pathways to new ministry starts are paved by the experience of lay leaders whose faith, vision, and vocational expertise are precisely what is needed to reach out in a new way with the Gospel of Jesus. In this NOW Start All Network Zoom cultivator Jeremy Lucke interviews lay leader Dennis Anderson and his pastor Eric Bohlmann from Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Corvallis, OR about the development and launch of a new ministry that touches both body and soul with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Starting New To Engage A New Community
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 9-18-2021
To connect the community to the gospel we often need to change our mindset about who our ministry serves. Do we exist to serve the people who worship with us or is our ministry for those who live in the community surrounding us? Engaging in ministry from a new mindset often necessitates starting new: a new ministry, a new outreach, a new worshipping community. In this call Cultivator Todd Roeske (Pastor of Peace Lutheran in Monroe, WA) interviewed Kyle Blake (Church Planting Pastor of The Gathering, in Long Beach, CA) for ideas and encouragement on how to connect with our communities.
Two Congregations Make A New Start
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 7-17-2021
The LORD said through Isaiah regarding the coming of the Messiah, “Remember not the former things nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” On the call we spoke with NOW District Pastor Jon Mau about two congregations who are letting go of the old to embrace a new start for the sake of the Gospel. We also offered a brief highlight of NOW District grants to introduce you to funding available for your new start idea.
Coffee Roasting in Service to the Gospel
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 5-15-2021
A fine cup of joe in the rich aromatic atmosphere of a coffee shop offers a gathering space, a well, where conversations about Jesus can take place (as in John 4). Nick Larson of Living Water in Clark Fork, Idaho was interviewed by NOW Start Network Cultivator Dan Hues of Zion Lutheran in Portland, OR. This conversation is sure to stir any thoughts you have brewing about a new ministry start!
Click the video above for the interview with Nick Larson of Living Water Lutheran Church and Scotchman’s Coffee in Clark Fork, ID.
Click here for more about
King’s Hill Rosters
Seeding School Ministry Starts
Watch our Recorded All Network Zoom from 3-20-2021
We spoke with Jonathan Dinger, Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Pocatello, ID about the 2016 launch of their new High School, Grace Lutheran High School. Grace celebrated its first graduating class last spring as COVID-19 was disrupting high schools across the country. Listen in to this story of “Grace” in action. Learn more at: www.gracepocatello.org
Small Group Model Church Planting
Watch Our Recorded All Network Zoom From 1-16-2021
We met with Northwest District church planting pastor Tom Hausch and supporting pastor Matt Henry to talk about Friendship Celebration Lutheran Church’s new church plant in Kuna, ID just launched in 2019 that has now become Kuna Lutheran Church, LCMS. Learn more at www.flmkuna.org.
Networking, Leadership, and Resourcing for New Starts
Watch Our Recorded All Network Zoom From 11-22-2020
We met with LCMS church planter Matt Peeples and learned about all the resources The Kairos Network and Life of a Church Planter has to offer us as we seek to start new with Jesus in the great Northwest. All these resources are offered for free, but if you find their resources helpful consider donating to The Kairos Network by clicking here.
Crisis Becomes Opportunity for Mission
Watch & listen to a recorded session of our Online Event from May 9, 2020, where we interviewed LCMS church planter Nate Schaus from Arizona about mission opportunities during the COVID-19 Crisis.
Check out this video recording from a recent NOW Leading Podcast to learn more about NOW Start and jumpstart your next mission endeavor.
The NOW Start Network is a groundswell of leaders from across the Northwest District of the LCMS eager to see five new starts in each of the five regions of the Northwest District in the next five years. Join the movement!
Jeremiah
Homestead Barbershop Ministry
Portland, OR
Beniam
Ethnic Urban Church Plant
Seattle, WA
Art
Ten Talent Refugee Housing
Spokane, WA
Matthew
Discipleship Model Church Plant
Kuna, ID
The NOW Start Network is committed to encouraging LCMS leaders across the Northwest District to be identifying potential new start opportunities for bringing the good news of Jesus Christ into the lives of new people. Whether traditional or non-traditional ministry plants, revitalizations or resurrections, all new starts benefit from the prayerful collaboration of God’s people.
We seek to encourage trusting relationships among LCMS churches and church leaders, which lead to effective partnerships in mission effort. Jesus promises that when the seed of his Word is planted, “the seed sprouts and grows” (Mark 4:27). With more than one full third of our congregations in the Northwest District experiencing steep decline, it’s time we together seed the next new starts in our District.
Only the Lord receives credit and glory from a new start as Paul said, “neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6-7). So NOW Start is not a starting agency in itself but a network to connect leaders with leaders, leaders with resources, and to foster conversations that lead to new mission efforts. NOW Start operates sheerly through volunteers. It is not an institution but a movement. It has no structure or organization of its own but relies on the structure and support of sponsoring LCMS congregations.
Get involved in the NOW Start Network by coming to one of our events, stay informed by checking in here regularly, and join our efforts by helping to network leaders and churches in your corner of the Northwest District of the LCMS to seed a new start.
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth”
Press
Merch
Bistro style mug with green NOW Start logo and the verse “the seed sprouts and grows” Mark 4:27. Merchandise only available for pick up at NOW Start Events (No Shipping).