REACH PEOPLE, REACH THE WORLD

REACH PEOPLE, REACH THE WORLD

CONTENTS 2 Opening Letter 3 Who We Are 4 Our Mission 5 Our Code 6 Why Orlando? 7 5 Reasons Why Church Planting Is A Must! 8 Launch Timeline 9 Next Steps

Imagine a church whose goal is to train every man, woman, and child to share Jesus through word and deed. Imagine that same church mobilizing to share Jesus in every school, workplace, and neighborhood in our city. I m talking about a church that populates the city with passionate followers of Jesus in such a way, that the spoken and visible love of Jesus can t be ignored. That s the type of church we desire to plant! In 1999 I was convinced of atheism by an atheist college professor who challenged me on the omnipotence and omnibenevolence of God. I simply couldn t understand why an all loving and all powerful God would allow suffering and evil to exist. So I denied the existence of God, challenged Christians in their faith, and lived a life that was far from God. But in 2001 God saved me through my wife Andrea. She invited me to church and while sitting in church God opened my heart to the gospel. My entire atheist worldview had been shattered. For years Christians had been sharing the gospel with me, but their labor was not in vain. I was now a Christian. Immediately I started to study the Bible and other religions because I wanted to know the truth and uniqueness of the gospel not just personally, but intellectually. As I studied Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, Islam, and Jehovah s Witnesses, I found myself becoming more convinced that the Bible and the Christian gospel is not only unique, it can also be intellectually trusted! Since then I have devoted my life to sharing the gospel and in 2016 we re going to plant a church that will do the same. That church is called City Awakening! Everybody knows Central Florida for its great restaurants, beaches, and theme parks. But there s another side to the story. In Central Florida 86% of the people aren t connected to a church, which breaks down to roughly 3.5 million un-reached people. I was one of those people. Yet as a former atheist I know the gospel has the power to draw those 3.5 million people near to God, and so we will unashamedly proclaim the gospel. In addition, Central Florida is also an area that s rich in diversity. It consists of 56% Anglos, 44% Non-Anglos, and the University of Central Florida represents 120 different nations, which means we have the chance to reach the nations in Florida. There s no doubt that Orlando is an amazing place to live with endless things to do, but we re more interested in proclaiming not Mickey and His Magic Kingdom, but Jesus and His Eternal Kingdom. We re interested in reaching people who are far from God in a city that s far from God. If there s one thing that being saved from atheism has taught me, it s that nobody is too far from God s grasp. So join the team in reaching those who are far from God, and let s create a City Awakening! Louis Tamburro III Lead Pastor 2

WHO WE ARE LO U I S TAM B U R RO Lead Pastor Louis was an atheist in college, but in 2001 he became a Christian. It s his passion for preaching and sharing the gospel that led him to pursue pastoral ministry. So he became a youth pastor in 2005, and then he extended his education by receiving a Masters In Divinity and a Masters In Pastoral Counseling. In 2007 he became the pastor of a revitalization church, and God used the leadership of Louis to bring the church back to vitality. Since then he has gained some experience in church planting, and he has a tremendous desire to multiply God s church for the sake of reaching those who are far from God. His atheist background has uniquely gifted him to reach un-churched people while still growing the faith of those within the church. He and his wife Andrea have three children: Noah (6), Caleb (4), and Tenley (3). 3

OUR MISSION REACH PEOPLE, REACH THE WORLD Our mission is to reach people with the gospel, and then send them out to reach our city and the world with the gospel. We see this playing out in three ways: Gospel saturated worship, community, and multiplication. Gospel Saturated Worship (Colossians 1:17) We exist to worship. Everybody worships someone or something. At City Awakening, we worship the God of the Bible and we want others to know the prominence of God and His great love for them. We want everything at City Awakening to be a reflection of who Jesus is and what he has done for us. So we will live our lives as an act of worship to Jesus, and we will have the gospel at the center of our prayers, preaching, teaching, music, and worship gatherings. Our worship gatherings will be unashamedly saturated in the gospel for the glorification of God, edification of Christians, and salvation of non-christians. Gospel Saturated Community (Acts 2:42-47) Everybody wants to be in a community with others, because we weren t meant to be alone. The Bible teaches us that community is so much more than a group of people. It s a gathering of people who are willing to get messy as we allow the gospel to invade the deepest parts of our lives. These groups will include prayer, study, missions, and times to just chill as friends. They will meet in workplaces, coffee shops, schools, neighborhoods, and homes outside of the weekly worship gatherings. They will also serve in tangible ways that will impact the societal needs of our city, including issues like homelessness, abortion, and human trafficking. At City Awakening these groups are about doing life together, as we live on mission together. Gospel Saturated Multiplication (Matthew 28:19-20) God has given us the gift of a restored and everlasting relationship with Him through the gospel. We believe that s a gift worth sharing! So we are continually learning the joys, necessity, and desperation of sharing that undeserved gift with others, which is why we are highly committed to developing disciples who will make disciples, leaders who will develop leaders, and planting churches that will plant churches. It s because we long to see the gospel capture the hearts of as many people and cities as possible. So we gather together for gospel saturated worship and community, but we will also scatter our church for gospel saturated multiplication. 4

OUR CODE Our code is what makes us who we are as a church, and it consists of 7 core values that run deeply within City Awakening. (Acts 1-2) 1 PRAYER IS O U R FIRST RESPONSE, NOT OUR SECOND We Value: Prayer 4 THE GOSPEL IS O U R COMMON GROUND We Value: Cultural Diversity, Gospel Unity 2 WE WILL READ THE BIBLE AND LET THE BIBLE READ US We Value: Biblical Authority 5 LIVING CONTENTLY, GIVING GENEROUSLY, TO REACH MORE MISSIONALLY. We Value: Generosity 3 THE GOSPEL IS MORE THAN A WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE, THE GOSPEL IS OUR LIFE 6 LOVE A FEW, SO WE CAN LOVE THE MANY We Value: Missional Community We Value: Gospel Saturation 7 MULTIPLICATION IS NOT AN OPTION, IT IS A MUST! We Value: Multiplication 5

WHY ORLANDO TH E N EED Roughly 86% of Central Florida isn t connected to a church, which breaks down to roughly 3.5 million un-reached people in Central Florida. This lack of gospel influence has led to Orlando being ranked the #1 worse mid-size metropolitan city for homelessness, one of the worse cities for abortions aborting 30 babies a day, and one of the worse cities for human trafficking. Orlando has become a city that s far from God, but it s not a city that s beyond the grasp of God. TH E I N FLU E N CE There is a huge strategic need to plant in East Orlando, because of the University of Central Florida (UCF). UCF is one of the fastest growing and 2nd largest campuses in America. The UCF student population represents 50 states and over 120 different nations, which makes this location a global platform for the gospel. So we re not seeing this as just an Orlando thing, but as a global thing. We are going to reach people with the gospel, and then send them to reach other cities and nations with the gospel. TH E P EO P LE Orlando is diverse generationally and ethnically consisting of 40% millennials, 56% Anglos and 44% Non-Anglos. It s a diverse city that s far from God which means we need a diverse church that will proclaim the very gospel that can draw them near to God. The dominant world-views in Orlando are relativism and hedonism, meaning it s a city that has the mindset Believe whatever you want to believe, and do whatever makes you feel good. These relative and hedonistic beliefs have allowed people to be open to the gospel, so long as you approach them with love and are willing to listen to their beliefs. In fact 84% of East Orlando actually believes that God exists, and 61% believe that God cares enough to intervene in the affairs of humanity. The people s hearts are ready to receive the gospel. We need people who are willing to show and share the gospel. 6

5 REASONS WHY CHURCH PLANTING IS A MUST The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for 1) the numerical growth of the Body of Christ in any city, and 2) the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city. Nothing else not crusades, outreach programs, para-church ministries, growing mega-churches, congregational consulting, nor church renewal processes will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting. This is an eyebrow raising statement. But to those who have done any study at all, it is not even controversial. Tim Keller NEW CHURCHES: 1 REACH NEW PEOPLE Studies after studies have shown that new churches reach new people. Church plants gain 60% 80% of its members from 4 KEEP US FOCUSED ON BUILDING JESUS' KINDGOM NOT OUR OWN Over time churches can become un-churched people, while churches older institutionalized as they focus on church than 10 years gain 80% 90% of their maintenance, rather than kingdom expansion. members by church transfer. When we plant churches it keeps us focused on reaching those both within the church and outside the church. 2 REACH DE-CHURCHED PEOPLE De-churched people are those who once attended church, but they are no longer 5 FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION Jesus commanded us to make disciples of all nations. When we plant churches we interested in church. Because new churches are fulfilling that commandment because it often bring new approaches and meet in requires us to teach existing disciples, and non-traditional places like movie theaters and send them to reach the un-churched schools, the pre-existing barriers for and de-churched. de-churched people are often reduced. 3 HELP BRING RENEWAL TO OTHER CHURCHES New churches value creativity and innovation, which draws pioneers to the church. These pioneers can help to bring new ideas that will help us to reach our city and renew existing churches in the area. (Summarized from Tim Keller, Why Plant Churches? at redeemer.com) 7

LAUNCH TIMELINE PREPARING FOR THE CITY (Current April 2016) This is the preparation stage we are in now as we prepare to launch in the city. During this phase we will host info meetings, raise financial support, recruit people, assess people, put together a launch team, and start helping people to find jobs and places to live in Orlando. LIVING IN THE CITY (April May) This is the moving stage where we will help move our staff and people to Orlando so they can live in the city. We will connect you with some of our team members who are job recruiters and realtors to help you find jobs in Orlando, sell your home, and even find a new home in Orlando. We will also set up hospitality teams that will help welcome people to Orlando by helping them unpack, provide meals, and offer them assistance in any way so that our teams can get settled right away. GATHERING AND GOING IN THE CITY (June Launch) This is the stage where we will prepare for launch by implementing our launch plan. We will begin developing missional community group leaders and hosting missional community group gatherings. In addition, we will begin to engage our city by intentionally loving and serving a few people in our circles of influence in such a way, that they can t ignore the love of Jesus. These circles of influence will include our workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods. As we begin showing them the gospel, we will start to share the gospel. Then as our groups begin to develop a missional DNA, we will start assigning responsibilities for preview services and an official launch. LAUNCH! (Fall 2016) 8

NEXT STEPS Visit cityawakening.org to request more info about the below actions steps. JOIN THE TEAM Contact the above email to learn more and to connect with one of our team members. PRAY FOR THE TEAM Pray for our pastoral family, our church plant, and our city. SPREAD THE WORD Help us to recruit by connecting us with people in your social networks that might be interested in becoming potential team members and financial supporters. Have them contact the above email. BECOME A MINISTRY PARTNER Give a one-time gift or start giving monthly to the church plant. For online giving go to: cityawakening.org/give For other giving options, please contact us at cityawakening.org 1 ST YEAR PROJECTION PREPARE - LIVE - GATHER - GO 8 partners $600 per month $57,600 annually 20 partners $400 per month $96,000 annually 20 partners $200 per month $48,000 annually 25 partners $100 per month $30,000 annually 100% of what you give goes to City Awakening 9