Upcoming Church Wide Business Meeting & "Forward-Motion"

This coming Sunday (December 14), we will have our very first church wide business meeting immediately following the Sunday night gathering. This meeting is a crucial step toward our development as a church.

Also, a few weeks ago we discussed our sixth and final Core Value: Forward-Motion: We believe that we were meant to live with an awareness of a culture that is constantly shifting and changing. We will always be mindful of these trends and changes and adjust accordingly.

If you are interested in learning more about this, here are some great books:

1) A New Kind Of Christian
(Brian McLaren)

2) The Church On The Other Side
(Brian McLaren)

3) Velvet Elvis
(Rob Bell)

4) Simply Christian
(N.T. Wright)

5) A Peculiar People
(Rodney Clapp)

Thanks for checking in. Have a great week!

-Rob

Week 05: "Celebration"

Here are some important events to be watching for:

1) Echo Bible Church Business Meeting (December 14)
Immediately following the Sunday evening Gathering on December 14, we will be holding our first ever church-wide business meeting. While this may not sound very exciting, this is an incredibly important step toward establishing ourselves as a church and shaping the future of Echo.

2) Home Groups Begin in January
As we talked about two weeks ago at the Sunday Gathering, we are
committed to being a people who are deeply connected to one another
and involved in each other's lives. Because of this, we are planning
to launch our home groups this January. This not simply a program of
various small groups for various types of people. We want these groups
to be mini-churches in which people discover deep and meaningful
community. If you are interested in being a part of this, please email
me and let me know (echobiblechurch@gmail.com).


This past weekend at the Gathering, we explored the fifth of our core values, Celebration:We were meant to celebrate the divine in the daily and to be a voice of hope in our world.

If you are interested in reading more about this, here are some great books:

1) For All God's Worth
(N.T. Wright)

2) Chasing Daylight
(Erwin McManus)

3) Through Painted Deserts
(Donald Miller)

4) Heaven Is A Place On Earth
(Michael Witmer)

As always, thanks for checking in, and don't forget that the weekend Gathering happens at 5:30pm at the home of Jason and Angie Kimbrell every Sunday. See you there!

-Rob

Week 04: "Serving"

At the Sunday Gathering, we are continuing in our series "What We Believe." Through this six-part series, we are exploring the six core values that define us as a church. This past Sunday, we discussed our fourth core value: Serving: We were meant to offer ourselves in service to God and to others. We are never more like Jesus than when we are serving for the benefit of other people.

We talked about the idea that we have been saved, not simply to congratulate ourselves for being saved, but so that we could be empowered to do good in the world and thereby showing the world what God is truly like.

If you are interested in studying more about this, here are some good books:

1) Good News About Injustice
(Gary Haugen)

2) The Irresistible Revolution
(Shane Claiborne)

3) The Shaping Of Things To Come
(Frost and Hirsch)

4) Rich Christians In An Age Of Hunger
(Ronald Sider)

5) The Revolution
(ed. Heather Zydek)

This weekend, we will be continuing in this series with our fifth core value: Celebration.

As always, we meet at the home of Jason and Angie Kimbrell at 107 Montreal in Hurst (see link to the right for a map). The Gathering begins at 5:30pm, and childcare is provided.

Have a great week!

-Rob

Christmas Boxes and Week 03: "Community"

We are participating with several churches in a mission project. There are hundreds of children living in rural Mexico who are in desperate situations. The holiday season can be especially difficult for a child who feels that he or she has been forgotten. We want to join with others who are providing Christmas gifts for children who would otherwise receive nothing. If you are interested in helping us with this, please email me (echobiblechurch@gmail.com). If you like, you can specify the gender and age range of the child who will receive your gift. Just let me know what you would like. Dennis Swanzy is distributing the empty boxes to be filled with gifts. If you will notify me of your desire to participate, I will send your information to Dennis, and he will bring a box for you to the gathering this Sunday.

This past Sunday, we continued our current teaching series, "What We Believe" with the third of our core values: Community:We believe that we were meant to live a life that is deeply connected with others. We will always seek to be a church that honors community.

If you are interested in reading more about this, here are some books...

1) Life Together
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

2) Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them
(John Ortberg)

3) Waking the Dead
(John Eldredge)

Does reading this blog feel a little like watching Reading Rainbow?

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great week. See you Sunday!

-Rob

Halloween Cookout & Week 02: "Wholeness"

This Friday (Halloween), we are having a cookout in the front yard of Jason and Angie Kimbrell (107 Montreal. Click here for a map). We will start grilling at around sunset (approximately 6pm). Come hang out and greet trick-or-treater families and help us get to know the neighbors. Everyone is welcome.

This past Sunday at the Gathering, we continued in our series on "What We Believe" with the second of our core values: Wholeness: We believe that Jesus wants to save every part of us and to restore us from the inside out. We will always seek to be put back together in a holistic way.

If you want to read more on this value or to understand why we have listed this as one of our non-negotiable top six, here are some books to check out:

1) The Ragamuffin Gospel
(Brennan Manning)

2) Abba's Child

(Brennan Manning)

3)  The Emotionally Healthy Church
(Peter Scazzero)

4) Let Your Life Speak
(Parker Palmer)

5) The Inner Voice of Love
(Henri Nouwen)

This weekend, the core value that we will be discussing is Community.

Don't forget that our weekly gathering happens at 5:30pm at the home of Jason and Angie Kimbrell. See you there!

-Rob

Week 01: "The Grand Narrative"

Our first Sunday Gathering was this past weekend. We began a six-part series called "What We Believe." This series will be focused on looking at our six core values and how they will shape the DNA of our church as we move forward. 

The first core is The Grand Narrative: We believe in and affirm everything that the Bible affirms. We believe that the Bible is inspired and that it is instructive for those who seek to live out the way of Jesus.

We discussed the idea that we are living in the midst of a story that God is telling and that we are invited to play a part. If you are interested in reading more about this concept and why we have named it as our first core value, here are some great resources:

1) How Can the Bible Be Authoritative? (article by N.T. Wright)
This article is perhaps the single best treatment on the exploration of Scripture that I have ever read. This is where the analogy of the Five-Act Play was first introduced (at least to me). If you are at all interested in Narrative Theology, you simply must read this article.

2) The Last Word 

(N.T. Wright)

3) The Drama of Scripture 

(Bartholomew & Goheen)

4) Engaging God's World
(Cornelius Plantinga)

5) Truth Is Stranger Than It Used To Be
(Middleton & Walsh)

This weekend, we'll be talking through the second core value: Wholeness.

Don't forget, we meet at 5:30pm at the home of Jason and Angie Kimbrell. See you there!

Rob

First Gathering This Sunday!

Our very first public gathering (a.k.a. "service") will be this Sunday night at 5:30pm at the home of Jason and Angie Kimbrell (107 Montreal in Hurst. See link to the right for a map). Childcare will be provided (it's free, of course). You're invited.

Yes, you.

See you there!

-Rob

10 Days to Go!

Hey everybody! Here's what's going on with Echo...

1) We have our final planning meeting TONIGHT at Caroline's and my apartment at 6:30pm. If you are planning on attending and have not yet told me, please email me as soon as possible. We want to be sure to get enough food.

2) Our Home Groups, which were originally scheduled to be started by the first week of November, will now begin in January. We want to give everyone a chance to get prepared and make it through the holiday season. So, if you or someone that you know is interested in joining a Home Group, let me know and plan for January!

3) We now have a mailing address. If you want to send mail to Echo Bible Church, you may send it to PO Box 54713, Hurst, TX 76054. However, if you send a check, please make it out to Fellowship of the Parks and write in the memo line: "Echo Bible Church".

4) Our first weekend Gathering (aka, "service") is NEXT WEEK (October 19, 5:30pm). I can't believe that it's already so close, but it is. There are so many things that are coming together in anticipation for this event, and it is very exciting. The music will be done by the great Robbie Buie, and our childcare will be provided by First Baptist Church of Hurst. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join us for the Gathering. Click on the picture below for a map to the Gathering space (the home of Jason and Angie Kimbrell, 107 Montreal, Hurst, TX).



Thanks for checking in. Have a great week!

-Rob

ZeroChurch and the Sunday Night Shuffle

This Saturday night (5pm) is the second ZeroChurch preview service. ZeroChurch is one of our main sponsor churches. If you can make it to the preview service, it would be great for all of us to be there in support of what they are doing. The meeting place is Bear Valley Community Church (7900 Precinct Line Road). I hope to see you there!

Also, after a lot of prayer and discussion, we have decided that our weekend gatherings (which begin on October 19) will take place on Sunday nights (time TBA). Our goal in making this change is that we would shift the perception of church from being something that people feel that they have to get up and get ready for in the morning (like work or school). Instead, we want to create an atmosphere of relaxed intimacy. So, we're going to give Sunday night a try.

Finally, there is a planning meeting next Wednesday (October 8) at Caroline's and my apartment. If you would like to come, please email for directions to our home (echobiblechurch@gmail.com). If you already know how to get here, email me anyway so we'll know how much food we need to have.

I hope everyone is having a great week. I hope to see you Saturday!

-Rob

October. In a Nutshell.

Hey everybody. Here's this week's update. Let me take you on a tour through the month of October...

WEDENSDAY, OCTOBER 8: Echo Planning Meeting #2.
This meeting will take place at Caroline's and my apartment at 6:30pm. Please let me know if you are interested in coming so that we can be sure to have food for you and so that I can send you directions if you need them. If you did not attend the last meeting (September 10), that's not a problem. Any and all are welcome.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19: Our first Sunday Morning Gathering!
We are rapidly approaching the date of our first Gathering. If you are planning on attending, I hope you will be thinking about who else might be looking for something like this. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about this. We will post a map to the Kimbrell home (which is where we will be gathering on Sundays) within a week of the launch date.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31: Neighborhood Halloween Party
One of our primary objectives is to be a church that exists as an essential part of whatever neighborhood or community that we happen to exist within. Because of this, we will be hosting a Halloween Party in the Kimbrells' neighborhood. The purpose of this is to get to know the people in the neighborhood and help them to get to know us. Jason Kimbrell is coordinating the details of this event, and I'll post more information about it as the date approaches. If you are interested in helping with anything, please let me know.

Also, coming in November: HOME GROUPS.

Thanks for checking in. Feel free to email me (echobiblechurch@gmail.com) for questions are clarification on anything. Thanks again for your interest!

-Rob

Financial Info and Book Recommendation

We are now almost a month away from our first gathering (October 19). There have not been many new developments since the last update, but there are some things that you may be interested in...

-One of the concepts that we're committed to is what we call the 25/75 split. This is the idea that 25% of what we receive in tithes and offerings will be given to outside organizations that are committed to bringing relief and support to the marginalized and oppressed citizens in our world. Half of the 25% will be sent overseas while the other half will remain in the metroplex (the other 75% will be used for the day-to-day operations of the church such as equipment, printing, administrative costs, etc.). We are still exploring and praying about which organizations with which to partner in this, but we hope to be able to announce this by the beginning of October.

-Just as a reminder, if you are interested in contributing financially to our work and mission (which you are under absolutely no obligation to do), you may do so by mailing a check to Fellowship of the Parks (our sponsor church: 9900 North Beach, Keller, TX 76248). They have requested that the checks be made out to "FOTP" with "Echo Bible Church" in the memo line. For those of you who have already given, thank you again for your generosity. You are deeply appreciated.

A good book that I would like to recommend is called They Like Jesus But Not the Church, by Dan Kimball. This another excellent book that will help us to understand the perspective of mainstream culture in relation to how they view Jesus and the people who claim to follow him. Like Jim and Casper, this is not a book that is required for anyone; it's simply a helpful guide through the paradigm of Mainstream America.

Have a great week!

-Rob

Mission, Vision, and Values

We had a great planning meeting last night. Thanks to all of you who attended. We are well on our way.

Our top priority has been to construct and define the DNA of Echo. After weeks of praying, editing, thinking, and re-editing, we have crafted our official Mission Statement. It is in the column directly to your right.

Also, we have four primary vision statements. These are our barometers for success and failure. This is what we see when we look at the future of this church:

A church that equips her people to live as Jesus calls us to live.
Our weekend gatherings are not merely services meant to attract or entertain. The purpose of the weekend gathering is to open our eyes to the way that we were created to live and to challenge us to respond to that call.

A church of Missional communities.
These are not simply small groups. These are small communities that exist in homes that seek to offer hope, renewal, and celebration not only to those who attend, but also to any who may cross our paths.

A church that serves and offers herself to the communities in which she exists.
We want our friends and neighbors to be glad that we are here and long for us to stay. We believe that when Jesus moves into the neighborhood, things should get better.

A church that offers hope and healing to the most marginalized and oppressed people around the world.

Also, we have defined our six core values:

The Grand Narrative
We believe in and affirm everything that the Bible affirms. We believe that the Bible is inspired and that it is instructive for those who seek to live out the way of Jesus.

Wholeness
We believe that Jesus wants to save every part of us and to restore us from the inside out. We will always seek to be put back together in a holistic way.

Community
We believe that we were meant to live a life that is deeply connected with others. We will always seek to be a church that honors community.

Serving
We were meant to offer ourselves in service to God and to others. We are never more like Jesus than when we are serving for the benefit of other people.

Celebration
We were meant to celebrate the divine in the daily and to be a voice of hope in our world.

Forward-Motion
We believe that we were meant to live with an awareness of a culture that is constantly shifting and changing. We will always be mindful of these trends and changes and adjust accordingly.


The first six weeks of our Sunday gathering will be a series that unpacks these values and helps us to see what it would look like to be a church that embodies them.

Thanks for checking in. Have a great weekend!

-Rob

Meeting Tomorrow!

-We are having our first big planning meeting TOMORROW NIGHT (September 10) at 6:30pm at our apartment. If you haven't contacted me yet, please let me know if you are planning on attending this meeting so that I can send you directions to our apartment and so that we can have enough pizza for you. You can email me at echobiblechurch@gmail.com. We'll be starting fairly promptly and we have a lot of ground to cover, so please try to be on time if you are planning to attend. I know that it is a school/work night, so we will not keep you here very late.

-Our Mission and Vision Statements are complete. We will be unveiling them at the meeting tomorrow night, and they'll probably go up on the blog either Thursday or Friday.

-We are having a contest! We are wanting to hear your best ideas for names for our small groups. The idea behind the groups is that they would be the true location where people would have their connections and church experience. We've considered such ideas as House Churches, Life Groups, Community groups, etc. but we want to know if there are other ideas out there. What do you think? Sadly, there is no official prize for the winner. However, there is the fulfilling emotional satisfaction of having performed a job well done. And shouldn't that be enough? Feel free to email your ideas to echobiblechurch@gmail.com.

-Finally, for those of you who have been praying, than you so much for your prayers. They are deeply appreciated. Also, thank you to those of you who have given financially to help our work and mission. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for your faith, encouragement, and belief in what we are doing.

Don't forget that the launch is October 19!

-Rob

Sponsor Church Weekend

This is a big weekend for one of our sponsor churches. ZeroChurch is launching its first preview service this Saturday at 5pm at Bear Valley Community Church (7900 Precinct Line Road). Let's show our support by attending this service.

Also, some of us will be attending the Sunday morning service of our other sponsor church, Fellowship of the Parks at 11am (click here for directions). If you want to ride together, feel free to email me (echobiblechurch@gmail.com).

I hope everyone is having a great week. Thanks for checking in!

-Rob

Sponsor Churches and Planning Meetings

Here's an update on what's happening with Echo Bible Church:

1) On Saturday September 6, our sponsor, ZeroChurch will be holding its first public preview service. It will take place at 5pm at Bear Valley Community Church (7900 Precinct Line Road in Colleyville). If you are wanting to be a part of EBC, please help us support our sponsor by attending this service.

2) It is now possible to contribute financially to Echo Bible Church. The easiest way to do so is to write a check to Fellowship of the Parks (one of our sponsor churches), write "Echo Bible Church" in the memo line, and either turn in the check in person to Julie Zuefeldt (our financial wizard) or myself OR mail the check directly to Fellowship of the Parks (9900 North Beach, Keller, TX 76248).

3) We will be having an Echo Bible Church planning meeting on Wednesday September 10 at 6:30pm at our home. If you are interested in being a part of this meeting, please email for directions at echobiblechurch@gmail.com. Anyone who wants to be a part of EBC may attend.

4) If you do want to be a part of the planning meetings, we will spend some time discussing the book Jim and Casper Go to Church by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper. This is a series of church visits and dialogues between a Christian and an Atheist that will help us to understand the world in which we are starting this new church.

Thanks so much for your interest in Echo!

-Rob

Echo Bible Church

If you're looking for the official bulletin board of Echo Bible Church, you have found it. There is not much news to report yet, but here's what we've got so far:

Our first gathering will take place at 11am on October 19 at the home of Jason and Angie Kimbrell in Hurst (I will post their address as the date gets closer). At this gathering, we will lay out our plans, vision, strategy, and tentative structure for EBC. This will be the first step in a long journey to begin something new. I have found that there are a lot of churches around here, but none like what we are envisioning.

Stay posted for news and updates in this exciting new endeavor.

-Rob