Helping people find and follow God. Launching in February 2018 Gahanna, OH
Some of the best church planting advice we ve ever received was, Don t plant a church unless God won t let you do anything else. That has been the case for our family. God has undeniably called us to do this! We first felt the nudge to plant a church in October of 2014. We were in Branson, Missouri working at Kanakuk Kamps and we weren t looking to leave, but God made it abundantly clear through his Word, the counsel of wise friends, and the Spirit s leading in our lives that a new season of ministry is next. This Residency Program at Movement and Encounter Church is perfect for us. We have been able to learn, grow, and be a part of healthy churches. When we were officially asked us to come and join their team, there is no word to describe how we felt better than peace. Since we ve been here in Columbus, we have felt home - and we know we re in the center of God s will. God has called us, confirmed the calling over and over, and we re confident about our journey into church ministry. Local church ministry is the front lines of the battle, and we want to give our lives to be on the front lines. Joel and Morgan Trainer
SUPPORT FOR THREE CREEKS CHURCH Are there any churches supporting Three Creeks Church? Yes! Movement Church (Hilliard, OH) and Encounter Church (Dublin, OH) are two FGBC churches who are partnering to send Joel, Morgan and Three Creeks Church to Gahanna. Joel is currently about two-thirds of the way through a one-year Residency with these two churches. Will Three Creeks Church be an FGBC church? Yes. Movement Church and Encounter Church will give oversight to Three Creeks Church for two years beyond the Launch in early 2018. Not only will both churches be contributing financially, but they will be coaching and overseeing Joel through this first few years of this new church. What steps has Joel taken to show he is ready to lead a church? Joel has 9 years of ministry experience in camp ministry. He is currently twothirds of the way through a Residency with Movement Church and Encounter Church. Joel has his MBA in Christian Leadership through John Brown University. He has been assessed by Ron Boehm (FGBC Pastor and Assessor) and received a very positive report. Joel recently was licensed as a Grace Brethren Pastor and is pursuing ordination. I've heard it said that churches plant churches. I've also heard it said that leaders plant churches. As the leader of a church that wants to plant churches we knew it was of the utmost of importance for us to find the right couple to lead our first church plant team we are sending. Simply put Movement Church believes in Joel and Morgan Trainer. We've seen their success and leadership in multiple ministry contexts and their gifting lends itself to this pioneering work. Joel and Morgan have been great about casting a vision, building a team, aligning around a strategy and calling people to invest. We fully support their call to plant Three Creeks Church in Gahanna and are excited to make their impact our impact. - Mark Artrip, Lead Pastor, Movement Church Church planting is not for the faint of heart. With national statistics stating three out of five church plants fail; sending churches ought to have great confidence in the couples they commission. I have that confidence in Joel and Morgan Trainer. From communicating skills and biblical knowledge to building a launch team and casting a clear vision, I've seen them work together as an effective team. Their marriage is Christ-centered, they have been trained and vetted and have the accountability and support of two sending churches. I look forward to hearing and celebrating the great things God has done through this couple and the Launch Team of Three Creeks Church! - Sean Spoelstra, Lead Pastor, Encounter Church
GAHANNA, OH If you look at a map of the greater Columbus area and drop a pin on every Grace Brethren church, there seems to be a hole on the east side of Columbus, in Gahanna. Three Creeks Church wants to fill that hole. From the research we have done, there appears to be a great need for a lifegiving church in Gahanna, especially one that will appeal to young families. There are some older, more established churches in Gahanna that appeal to an older demographic, but there are 120,000 people within 5 miles of downtown Gahanna that don t have a church home. There is a great need in Gahanna! God provided this home in Gahanna for the Trainers in December 2016. There were 12 offers on this home on the FIRST DAY it was listed, and there was one offer for $10,000 MORE than the Trainers offer. When the family heard a church planting couple was interested in buying the home, they chose the Trainers as the buyers.
THE LAUNCH TEAM On October 1, 2016, staff and leaders from Movement and Encounter gather to pray in Gahanna, asking God to confirm one last time His leading to this city. On November 3, 2016, a group of interested people meet at Graeter s to hear more of the vision of Three Creeks Church. On March 5, 2017, Three Creeks Church holds their first official Info Meeting at the Hilliard YMCA. At this point, 40 people have officially committed to join the Launch Team.
On March 17, 2017, James and Abbey Truslow officially joined the team. James will be the Creative Arts Director at Three Creeks Church. On May 4, 2017, Three Creeks Church holds a Vision Night for the team, in the facility where Launch Team Meetings will be held this fall. The Launch Team has grown to 65 people. We have a great team and we have so much momentum. Our team is full of leaders and prayer warriors and kingdom-minded people. How did this happen? Movement Church and Encounter Church have embedded church planting in their DNA. It is no secret that these churches want to plant churches. When people join our Launch Team, the churches celebrate! These churches have defined multiplication as their goal, and if Three Creeks Church fails, they ve failed. Because of this, church planting is already in the DNA at Three Creeks Church, and all three churches have begun collaborating and praying about the next church plant.
TIMELINE LEADERS Cody McManaway (far left): Business Director Morgan Trainer (center, green scarf): Small Groups Director Erica Jones (second from right): Three Creeks Kids Director More positions are currently being filled.
BUDGET First Year Income Income, Years 1-3 Year 1 Projected Expenses *Note: The percentage figures for Church Planting, Outreach, and Generosity are based off of our church s total giving, not the entire budget amount. The percentages are actually 10% for Outreach, 5% for Church Planting, and 5% for Generosity.
Three Creeks Church exists to help people find and follow God. Why church planting? The church was God s idea about how to get the word out about what Jesus did for us. We ve come up with a million other ways to do it, and many of them are good and valuable, but nothing can rival the importance of the church. Why is church planting important? Planting churches is the best way to reach people who don t know Jesus Christ. The best way to grow the Church is to plant more churches. We want to be a church that plants churches... that plants churches. The more churches God leads us to plant, the more people who don t know Christ will hear about Him! Why do you have a heart for church planting? We have a heart for lost people. Therefore, we have a heart for church planting. Our country is heading in the wrong direction, and in our lifetime, it s going to get harder and harder to be a Christ-follower. We have a heart to be a light in an ever-darkening world. We want to stand out and not fit in. Nothing will shine brighter than a passionate local church on a mission to stand for truth, love people, and reach the lost. People plant things and water things, but only God makes things grow. We re well aware of that. We entirely dependent on Him. We have a team of 65 people who are literally moving across town to Gahanna to plant this church with us. Will you pray with us that will not grow weary and that God will open up doors for us to love people into a relationship with Him? God is on the move, and we consider it the greatest joy of our lives to get to be used by Him.