I’m so proud of our Renaissance Church folks for how they gave, served, and ministered to over 100 folks over Thanksgiving.

We delivered all the groceries for a complete Thanksgiving feast to the homes of families who needed a helping hand for the holidays.  We also delivered a lot of warm smiles, and shared a lot of hugs.  We were able to pray with almost everyone we served. Our volunteers did a great job ministering to our new friends.

Renaissance Church kids hand-decorated gift bags to distribute to the children of the families we served.  There were all kinds of cool things inside the bags, but I think the best part was the love that was conveyed on the outside.

Thank you to everyone who took part!

Some wonderful volunteers

"Some real Renaissance men"

What great time we had at Church@theLake!  The weather was beautiful, and everyone had a blast relaxing, swimming, and canoeing.

We shared a nice meal together, and then listened to the Word of God, along with some great worship led by Marla and Anitra.  Perhaps the highlight for me was getting to baptize two more precious folks.

To see a lot more pictures, visit our Renaissance Church group on Facebook.  (And if you haven’t joined our group, why not do it now?)

We were about 80 people, and such a beautifully diverse group (including people who hail from 5 of the 6 inhabited continents!)

Did you attend Church@theLake?  Leave a comment below and tell us what you thought.

Listening to the Word of God after lunch

I hope you had a wonderful Independence Day weekend.  Our family had a wonderful time.  We sat on a blanket in a park and listened to the Charlotte Symphony, and watched the fireworks that followed.

Being with our three kids reminded me how thankful I am that we were born in this wonderful country with such a godly Christian heritage.  But there is still much work to be done for the Kingdom of God.  So many of our friends and neighbors still need to know Jesus Christ!

Last week I attended the Multiplying Churches Globally seminar hosted by missions agency Reach Global.   I enjoyed meeting a bunch of people who are deeply devoted to Jesus and committed to making Him known in every corner of the world.  Since I’m not a foreign missionary, I got asked “Why are you here?” a few times.  Answer:  To become more effective in making Jesus known in my little corner of the world:  Charlotte, NC.

It’s been wonderful to see our young church growing recently.  Yes, we have been growing in numbers, but the kind of growth I’m most excited about is the way we are growing in community. Life Groups are a great way to experience this aspect of church life that Jesus spoke of frequently to his disciples.

People from different backgrounds are discovering that special sense of unity that comes when we worship together, share life together, and serve one another in the name of Christ.  It’s beautiful.  I love it.  I’m thankful that I get to be a part of it.

A Christ-centered spiritual community is not exclusive, like a club, but rather open.  We not only welcome newcomers, we seek them out! We want others to experience the blessings of a life-giving community, and especially the joy we are finding in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

At Renaissance Church, sharing the message of God’s love is something we love to do, especially with those who are going through hard times.  That’s why I loved our recent Thanksgiving outreach.

Volunteers delivered turkey and groceries to 16  families for Thanksgiving.  That’s over 90 smiles that were a little brighter because of the love of God demonstrated in a practical way.

We love the personal touch we can offer through this form of service:

1.  All the families we served were connected to us through relationships of people associated with Renaissance Church.    We get to know people on a personal level, because we hear their stories of hardship.  And there is the possibility of further relationship.

2.  Delivering the food to the home offers dignity, love, and a personal touch to those receiving.

3.  Opportunities for ministry abounded.  We prayed with almost every family.  Many Bibles were distributed.  Kids from church even included hand-made cards in the basket of goodies.

4.  It’s true: ‘Tis the greater blessing to give than receive.  Those who served and gave were deeply impacted by the experience.  I know I was.

Renaissance Church is a new church plant in Charlotte, NC.

We are looking for teammates – like-minded people who are ready for an adventure of eternal significance.

God is doing something so exciting – changing hearts and transforming lives of people who have been far from God.

But we need teammates to help us.  We especially need Christians (families or singles) who want to roll up your sleeves and help us in this work.  Looking for an outlet to serve and make a real difference?  Please keep reading.

[ Note: if you are happily serving in another church, please stay right where you are.  But if you are between churches, or desiring something different, please keep reading and prayerfully consider joining us in this God-ordained mission. ]

Here are a few things that make us unique:
(lots more info on our website)

We are a cell church.  We value meeting in both large Sunday celebrations and weekly home-based small group meetings.

We are multi-ethnic and multi-cultural.

We are outward focused.

We are Spirit-filled and Spirit-led.

We are Biblically grounded.

We greatly value worship and prayer.

We believe in training and empowering leaders.

(more on Who We Are and our Core Values)

We are located in south Charlotte.  The areas we are reaching include the South Blvd. and I-77 corridor, Pineville, Ballantyne, etc.

Interested?   Call me (Pastor Kurt) at (704) 341-4688 with any questions.  I’d love to hear from you.

We are currently meeting on Sunday mornings at 11:00 am for training and as a “pilot” cell group.

Renaissance Church is very excited to welcome some international guests next week -  some young men and women from the youth group Mission72 of Eglise le Chemin in Hull, Quebec, Canada.  They are spending their spring break by going on mission.  Their mission?  To bless the city of Charlotte and assist Renaissance Church in reaching every person with the love of Jesus Christ.

(Off topic: “Spring break” in Quebec is the first week of March?!?  They’ve gotta still have 5 feet of snow up there, don’t they?)

After receiving some training, the youth will be busy throughout the week serving our community in practical ways and sharing the love of God.  The culmination of the week will be a Community Celebration on Saturday March 6th.  This free event will offer children in nearby apartment communities an afternoon of fun:  inflatables, food, and activities.

If you’d like to meet the youth or participate in the outreaches, please contact us.  There are plenty of opportunities to serve – especially for the Celebration on March 6th.

It’s coming!  Our first Life Group in Spanish!       En español

Starting soon, and lasting for 6 weeks, this will be an awesome opportunity for our Spanish-speaking friends of Renaissance Church to begin to develop Christian community in a Life Group.  For more on Life Groups, look here.

After Pastor Marla leads us in worship (in Spanish, of course), we will watch Rick Warren’s DVD teachings for 40 Days of Love (dubbed in Spanish).  Then we will discuss the topic, and how we can apply it to our own lives.

For more info (en español).

Eventually, we plan to have several Spanish Life Groups that meet every week.  ¡Viva la Iglesia Renacimiento!

After we have a good number of Life Groups meeting and multiplying, we will begin Sunday Celebration services, in addition to weekly Life Groups.

Renaissance will start Life Groups in every language we can, in order to reach people who need a relationship with Jesus Christ.   Got an idea for what language needs to be next?  Offer it in the comments below.

Hope you had a great one.  We had one of our best in years.

The highlights:

– Took family ice skating and skiing in the surprisingly nice mountains of North Carolina.  (Where else but Charlotte can you drive 2 hours to go skiing or 2 hours to go to the beach?  OK, California.  But we don’t have to worry about earthquakes, wild fires, smog, or traffic.  So there!)

–  Had a wonderful Christmas with Marla and the boys back home.  Good times, abounding in thankfulness for our Savior.

–  Marla’s parents dropped by for a very nice visit.

–  We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends here in Charlotte.  Many of you came to our International Christmas Party.  What a blast that was!  The dream of a loving multi-ethnic group of passionate followers of Christ is becoming a reality.

–  But perhaps the highlight of the Christmas season was seeing 5 precious people make decisions for Christ at the Christmas Service of our dear friends at the Vietnamese Christian Assembly of God.  Pastor Timothy, Pastor Stephan, and the church are doing a wonderful job sharing the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  It was a real honor to be invited to be a part of it.  I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Christmas than to share the message of Christ’s birth: it truly is “good news of great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10)

What a beautiful time we shared on Saturday at our International Christmas Party!

By our counts, there were about 75 people from 13 nations celebrating with us!

It was just a foretaste of what heaven will be like, where we will worship our Savior with people from every nation, tribe, and people.  (However, I expect heaven will feel less crowded than our bursting-at-the-seams house.  On the other hand, the international cuisine we shared might rival what we’ll partake of in heaven!)

Here’s a link to some pictures on our Renaissance Church facebook page.  Have you joined yet?