From the Podcast page at www.necpcoalition.com/media/podcasting/: Welcome to our April “Focus on Boston” with Steve Brown, church planter in Stoneham, MA, and Joe Souza, Lead Church Planting Catalyst with the North American Mission Board. Tune in as we talk about church planting, pastoring, partnerships and the Boston Marathon tragedy.

The NECPCoalition is podcasting monthly on  iTunes and on this Web site, bringing you the latest on God’s church planting movement in Boston, New York and Toronto. This is The Northeast Church Planting Monthly with Mike Sowers, a show geared for church planters, future planters, strategists and partners interested in this the most strategic and influential region on the planet.

[ iPhone click here ]

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The Northeast Church Planting Monthly with Mike Sowers Podcast is available on  iTunes here, and on the NECP Coalition at www.necpcoalition.com/media/podcasting/.  | Contact Boe Ellis

Thank you for your prayers, and your partnership for the Gospel in Boston. Please find below just a few of the stories from our Pastors in the area:

• NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (Video): Stephen McAlpin Interview with Brian Willams
• North American Mission Board: NAMB Church Planter Intern Caught in Boston Crossfire
• Gospel Coalition: The Boston Bombers were Outside Their House
• Tanner Turley, Redemption Hill Church: When Words Fail: A Pastoral Reflection on the Boston Marathon Tragedy
• Josh Wyatt, Charles River Church: A Tough Day for Boston
• Jan Vezikov, Mosaic Church: I will fear no evil, for you are with me
• Tom Cabral, Redemption Fellowship of Fall River: Justice, Judgment and Jesus 

From the Podcast page at www.necpcoalition.com/media/podcasting/: Welcome to March 2013: “Focus on New York” with Carlos Soca, church planter in North Jersey, and George Russ, Director of Mission with the Metro-New York Baptist Association.

The NECPCoalition is podcasting monthly on  iTunes and on this Web site, bringing you the latest on God’s church planting movement in Boston, New York and Toronto. This is The Northeast Church Planting Monthly with Mike Sowers, a show geared for church planters, future planters, strategists and partners interested in this the most strategic and influential region on the planet.

[ iPhone click here ]

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The Northeast Church Planting Monthly with Mike Sowers Podcast is available on  iTunes here, and on the NECP Coalition at www.necpcoalition.com/media/podcasting/.  | Contact Boe Ellis

What do folks in Toronto have to say about church?

You’d probably be surprised.

NAMB looks inside one of North America’s greatest city

It is one of the most influential and one of the most lost cities in North America. Change Toronto and you can change Canada. In this video, see the surprising things people in Toronto believe about church, and see how Southern Baptist church planters are trying to change that.

NAMB Video: Brett Porter and Yiping Luo share a story of redemption

She was left here, 6,000 miles from home, and she was alone. Then she met church planter Brett Porter and the people of The Sanctuary Mississauga. Toronto needs churches because there are people like Yiping Luo.

Connection Church planting roots, engaging community 

by Melissa Lilley
BSC Communications 

NEW YORK – Larry Mayberry and members of Connection Church met Nancy as she frantically tried using five-gallon buckets to remove water in her flooded basement. After Hurricane Sandy, Nancy’s home in the Rockaways area of Queens needed much repair and her car was destroyed.

Mayberry was there when Nancy got word that FEMA denied her car claim. A few minutes later, after just a few phone calls, Mayberry told Nancy that God had provided a car for her from a friend in Texas. One week later, Mayberry’s father drove the car from Texas to Nashville, and Mayberry drove it the rest of the way.

When Nancy asked how the church was so powerful that it could provide her a car, Mayberry told her it had nothing to do with him.

“I got to share the gospel and tell her that the power comes from God,” Mayberry said.

Mayberry, community pastor of Connection Church in Astoria, Queens, is serving alongside church members as they reach out to Hurricane Sandy victims in the Rockaways. Connection Church adopted a block in the Rockaways, which is about 15 miles from Astoria.

They have provided hot meals, gutted homes, cleaned up debris and are working to help re-open a daycare so that mothers can return to work. Most homes on this block are still without power.

Although only three or four Christians live on this block of about 75 homes, Connection Church is using every opportunity to share the gospel.

“People on this block are recognizing that where the government was powerless to help them, God is overwhelmingly providing exactly what they need,” Mayberry said.

Adopting a block in the Rockaways was the natural thing to do for Connection Church, as the church is focused on engaging the community, building relationships and sharing the gospel. From cleaning up parks and talking with people on the subway, to offering coffee and free coupons to local restaurants, Connection Church wants their community to know they care.

Unlike the stereotype that most New Yorkers resent the church, most people Mayberry meets just don’t know much about church and the gospel, or they don’t care about it. Connection Church seeks to help move people from apathy or ignorance to curiosity.

“Jesus tells us to love our neighbor. If we don’t have love for our neighbor, we don’t have love for Him,” Mayberry said. “Our focus is to engage lost people. We don’t just invite them to our church – we go to them. Christ should transform our communities through us.”

When Mayberry and his family moved to Astoria last November from Houston, Texas, they thought engaging lost people would be their biggest challenge. That hasn’t been so at all.

“People are lonely here; really lonely. If you engage them, they will tell you their life story,” Mayberry said. “We are trying to dig our roots deep. We want this to be our home.”

Mayberry came to Astoria with a prayer to reach the nations. National Geographic’s “Genographic Project” identified Astoria as one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the world. At least 10 nations are represented on the block that Connection Church adopted in the Rockaways.

As people from all throughout the world hear the gospel in Astoria, Connection Church prays they will take the hope of Jesus Christ back home and the gospel will spread.

Although the church plant is less than a year old, Connection Church is already thinking long-term, with a goal to plant a church every three years and to see those new churches also plant a church in three years. Mayberry and the Connection team envision that someday a church will be within walking distance of every New York City resident.

“We want to raise up leaders in the church and send them out,” Mayberry said. “We could plant 20,000 churches in New York and we wouldn’t be stepping on each other’s toes.”

Mayberry is praying that people in Astoria, and all throughout Queens and New York City, will come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, and will live their lives for His glory.

“People want to make it big in New York City,” he said. “What if they came to New York and found out God was actually seeking them? What if we could tell people that they are here because God wanted them to meet Jesus through us?” 

Through the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s Office of Great Commission Partnerships, North Carolina Baptist churches across the state are forming partnerships with churches and church planters in the metro New York area. To learn how your church can get involved visitwww.ncbaptist.org/gcp or contact Michael Sowers at (800) 395-5102 ext. 5654 or msowers@ncbaptist.org.

North American Mission Board talks with Matt Hess in Pickering

What happens when a congregation sends out some of its best and brightest to plant another church somewhere else? At Collierville First Baptist Church, pastor Chuck Herring and church planter Matt Hess have just discovered the answer.{divider /] ]]> http://www.necpcoalition.com/namb-video-matt-hess-tennessee-to-toronto/feed/ 0 http://www.necpcoalition.com/ap-story-on-sbc-church-planting-in-the-northeast-features-fall-river-planter-bcne-exec/ http://www.necpcoalition.com/ap-story-on-sbc-church-planting-in-the-northeast-features-fall-river-planter-bcne-exec/#comments Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:59:11 +0000 admin http://www.necpcoalition.com/?p=1147

Boston Church Planting’s Planter / Pastor Tom Cabral of Fall River, MA, along with the BCNE’s Jim Wideman were featured today in an AP wire story about Southern Baptist Church Planting in the Northeast.

Praise God for the AP writer Jay Lindsay, and for how the name of Jesus Christ is glorified faithfully through the witness of Cabral, Wideman, and of Lyandon Warren in Vermont, and  Shaun Pillay in Connecticut.

The story has already been picked up by Fox News, Boston.com and more.  Read the entire story as it appears on Sunherald.com here.

Check out the photo spread here.

From the Podcast page at www.necpcoalition.com/media/podcasting/: Welcome to February 2013: “Focus on Toronto” featuring Jason McGibbon, church planter in Hamilton, ON, and NAMB Lead Church Planting Catalyst, Andrew Lamme.

The NECPCoalition is podcasting monthly on  iTunes and on this Web site, bringing you the latest on God’s church planting movement in Boston, New York and Toronto. This is The Northeast Church Planting Monthly with Mike Sowers, a show geared for church planters, future planters, strategists and partners interested in this the most strategic and influential region on the planet.

[ iPhone click here ]

—————————————–

The Northeast Church Planting Monthly with Mike Sowers Podcast is available on  iTunes here, and on the NECP Coalition at www.necpcoalition.com/media/podcasting/.  | Contact Boe Ellis