Archive for February, 2011

Restore Church is blessed by Evident Church

Posted: February 14, 2011 by cletebontrager in Detroit Info, Friends, Uncategorized
0

The Evident Crew

What a blessing to have partners in the work of the ministry.  God has been so gracious to bring people our way that want to help an under resourced area and show love to Restore and the neighborhood.

Evident Church came down to the 48206 and helped us clean out the 11529 Rosa Parks building.  With a crew of six from Evident, and also 5 from Restore we started cleaning up the building at 10:30 am.  With a 40 yard dumpster empty we knew we had a lot of work ahead of us.

By noon we were getting hungry so, thanks to Evident we had some yummy all beef hot dogs.  We invited some of the neighbors to join us and had 3 stop by and grab some chow.   By 2:00  pm we had cleaned the building out.  Hard work and many hands make the load light and that is what the Evident crew did.

I do want to thank everyone for their hard work and love for us.  It was a great day talking about Jesus, kidding around (you know me ;-}), and cleaning.

Here is a little bit of info on the building:

God was gracious to let me purchase the building for $5,000 through the Wayne County tax auction.

11529 Rosa Parks

The building has no electrical going into it and most of the wiring is gone on the inside.  Plumbing also is almost non existent, because the cooper piping has been ripped out of it.

The building was full of clothing from people who have lived in the building, feces from the dogs who lived in it, and a lot of other debri that comes with a building that has been vacant for at least 6 years.

There are also 4 vehicles which I’m still trying to figure out what to do with, because I can’t take them to the scrap yard without having the titles.

Here are some pics.

Front office before cleaning

Upstairs Bathroom in Apt

Vision Gatherings!

Posted: February 11, 2011 by mikehanafee in Detroit Info, Family, Friends, Uncategorized, Vision
2

It has been a really exciting (& busy) last few days. We met a couple down the street that has been praying for a church like Restore to start in our neighborhood. A man released 5 months ago after doing 29 years for armed robbery & rape shared his story in our living room. Clete & I travelled to Buffalo to meet with Ryan Kozey & 14 others connected to the Renovation Network (plus we ate at one of the original Buffalo Wings joints). People are hearing about & coming to our Story-formed Way (which included music last time, loosely defined) & Gospel in Life gatherings. We had a great Superbowl party as we watched a great game (won by a team the Lions beat 7-3 December 12) that included a great advertisement (more about Detroit than a car). Paradox Church in Fort Worth, TX (lead by former pro baseball player & Detroiter Jim Essian) partnered with Restore to help us show & tell Jesus in the 48202. At a parents’ meeting at our kids’ school where the realities of inner city public schools were discussed (& sometimes displayed) Susan & I found some great opportunities to serve. Saturday a work team from Evident Church in Macomb will help us clean out an old warehouse & chop shop that Clete purchased for his business & as potentially an initial corporate worship space for Restore. Monday Clete & I head to Cincinnati for a few days of Gospel Coach training with Scott Thomas of Acts 29. Oh yeah, did I mention water seeped into the basement of our rental soaking several unpacked boxes? With the exception of the latter lots of encouraging things are happening!

But one of the most exciting things on the agenda is that we are starting our vision casting gatherings tomorrow night. Our first round of these gathering will consist of 4 sequential meetings that will answer the question, “What is Restore about?”

  • Friday February 11 – The Gospel Message. We will look at the gospel both vertically & horizontally as we discuss why the Biblical gospel is our complete foundation.
  • Friday February 25 – The Gospel Motivation. We will look at who we are in the gospel & how that informs, motivates, & empowers how we live.
  • Friday March 11 – The Gospel Methods. We will examine 6 rhythms of life prevalent in every culture & see how they are natural opportunities for us to show & tell Jesus in the stuff of everyday life.
  • Friday March 25 – Missional Communities. Having laid the gospel foundation we will describe the “organizing structure” of Restore Church – gospel formed communities that live out the mission of God together in a specific area & to a particular people group by demonstrating the gospel in tangible forms & declaring the gospel to others.

In short we are going to talk about how we will seek to fulfill the mission of showing & telling Jesus multiple times in multiple expressions to every man, woman, & child in the 48202 by making disciple-making disciples who saturate the city with the presence of Christ. Yeah, that’s a big mission. But it’s nothing less than the great commission. And we serve a really big God who is the Ultimate Missionary.

We’ll get started each night at 7PM. Because eating is one of the universal rhythms of life feel free to bring a snack &/or drinks;) And friends too! For details on how to get to our house contact me at 971.246-4165 or mikehanafee@resdetroit.org

Apostle Paul- The Ultimate Supermodel?

Posted: February 4, 2011 by cletebontrager in Gospel Identities, Uncategorized
0

When you think about the life of Paul, usually the thought of him being a supermodel doesn’t find its way into your mind.

But, examine his life.  He was the ultimate model of Christ Jesus or you could say he reached SUPERMODEL status.  Of course the ULTIMATE MODEL for us is Jesus Christ.

Paul wants us to come alongside him on Christ’s mission, just as we should call people to come alongside us, if we are living on mission for Jesus.  Paul says in few place to follow his example.

I Corinthians 11:1  “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ”

I Corinthians 4:16  “Therefore I urge you to imitate me.”

Philippians 3:17  “Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.”

I could continue, but you should get the point.

Paul is not saying to follow or get behind him as a man, but says that we need to accompany him or you could say walk alongside him as he follows Jesus.  Are you walking along side Jesus on mission and if so who do you have walking alongside you?  This can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel of Jesus.

He makes it very clear it is Jesus we are to GO AFTER with everything in us.  Jesus makes the point also in Matthew’s Gospel.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?  For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.”

How can we be supermodels for Jesus?  We at Restore will do this through our Missional Community Groups.   That is where life happens with Christians and not-yet Christians.  It is not enough to have community groups… a community group must have a mission.

Tim Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York states the following as how we are to live where we are.  Of course we live in Detroit, but this fits wherever you live.

Basic methods/ministries

* WORD (Ezra). Ezra recovered the Word for the people. Preaching, disciplining, teaching. evangelizing in a way contextualized to the concerns and capacities of the people of the city.

* DEED (Nehemiah). Nehemiah made the city safe and functional. Mercy and Justice! Holistic ministry. Safe streets, good jobs, decent housing, good schools.

* WORK (Esther). Esther rose high in a pagan society but then used her position at great risk to work for justice in society and for her people. A key part of city ministry is to equip Christians to work distinctively as Christians in their vocation.

* COMMUNITY (Jeremiah). Jeremiah’s letter (chapter 29) told the exiles to neither assimilate nor separate but live out their lives as a community ‘seeking the peace of the city’. So we are not only to be ‘witnesses’ by our individual lives, but by the beauty of our communal life. a) Generosity with money and simplicity of life, b) races and classes loving together over barriers, c) sexual purity and respect shown by men/women to one another in relationships.

Inward focus is not what Paul wanted for his life or for ours.  He wanted our focus on Christ and Christ calls us to make disciples, which is not an inward activity.

~ Clete

God has been so gracious to us!

Posted: February 1, 2011 by mikehanafee in Detroit Info, Family, Friends
3

God has been so gracious to us! It has been a crazy busy but also a crazy good last few weeks. Last Tuesday we began the process of moving into a great rental house (at a great price!) just around the corner from the Bontragers, right in the heart of our ministry area. This old house has 3 bedrooms & a study on the 2nd floor (& a huge semi-circular window Susan really likes), a 3rd floor bedroom & bath (the boys room, enter at your own risk), a fairly wide open first floor (great for our gatherings!), and a large finished basement with an old school wide screen TV left behind (the password for ladies to enter this man-cave is, “I have food & drink”).  With the help of several friends & neighbors we cleaned the place last week & moved in over the weekend. A man from a supporting church who owns a “2 Men & a Truck” franchise also sent, well, 2 men & a truck – never have I seen 2 guys work so hard.  God has been so gracious to us!

Our Tuesday night Gospel in Life & Sunday afternoon Story-formed Way gatherings are going great – interest is spreading & attendance is increasing in these embryonic phase studies. Way most of all we are seeing through these studies the supremacy & sufficiency of Jesus for all of life. God has been so gracious to us!

We have also been encouraged by a growing web of friendships – from a neighbor who helped with some electrical issues at our rental house, to a young man from our community who loves Jesus & wants to make Him known, to a man released just 5 months ago from prison after serving 29 years who shared his story with me yesterday, to another couple considering moving into the 48202 to be part of Restore, to a local pastor who is encouraging me, to a couple down the street who visited when we were moving in & shared that they had been praying for a church like ours to get started in this neighborhood. God has been so gracious to us!

Last Sunday we were part of the rebirth celebration of Gospel Life Church in church in Madison Heights – it was a great testimony to the ongoing power of the gospel! We are also thankful for the care these brothers & sisters have extended to us since moving to Detroit. Next week Clete & I are traveling to Buffalo to met with Ryan Kozey (sharp dude!) of Infinity Alliance and some others to learn & talk about church planting in contexts like ours. The following week we will be attending Scott Thomas’ (president of Acts 29) Gospel Coach Training near Cincinnati. God has been so gracious to us!

This coming Sunday, following our Story-formed Way gathering, we are hosting a Super Bowl Party. You are invited provided you root for the Packers and, when they win, repeatedly (& with passion) remind everyone that the Lions beat the Packers this season (you knew that didn’t you?). Okay, we’ll go soft on that requirement – just bring some food &/or drink.

Oh yeah, last Sunday night we had a little  party for Clete’s 39th Birthday. In addition to busting on Clete just a bit (material was really hard to find;) we rent around the room & shared what we were thankful for about him.  It was a sweet time as we celebrated his authenticity, his love & sacrifice for others, his desire to make a difference, & how the gospel has changed & is changing him.

God has been so gracious to us!