On Sunday, May 3, our SouthPark congregation gathered for lunch together in the Courtyard and the opportunity to celebrate the upcoming groundbreaking for Phase 2 of our Here, Near, & Far projects.

Pastor Chris Payne began the service by reminding the congregation that in the Book of Acts, the Church started with just a handful of people in Jerusalem who wanted to share the story of what they had experienced with Jesus. “He tells them in Acts 1:8 that ‘you’re going to receive power’—and remember, the word power there in the Scripture is ‘dynamis’; it’s aGreek word that is where we get our English word ‘dynamite’—‘you’re going to receive a dynamite type of power, a dynamism to go and be storytellers, to tell the story in your own city—in Jerusalem—in Judea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.’ To use our words, ‘here, near, and far.’”

The Groundbreaking Celebration gave our congregation a time to remember our foundation in that Church 2,000 years ago, and to look at the founding of the church we worship in each week: a church founded fifty-three years ago by people who wanted a Bible-teaching church.

We were honored to have some of the earliest families of the church represented by Dave and Lynn Jordan, Nancy Little, and Steve and Robin Weaver.The service also offered the SouthPark congregation the chance to look forward as students from our NextGen ministry read scripture and prayed. We celebrateGod’s faithfulness in Here, Near, & Far already, and looking to what is to come—and the ways we are making space for more people to find and follow Jesus.

“O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.

“O Lord our God, even this material we have gathered to build a Temple to honor your holy name comes from you! It all belongs to you! I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. You know I have done all this with good motives, and I have watched your people offer their gifts willingly and joyously.”
1 Chronicles 29:13–17

Starting this month, demolition for buildings 2 & 3 (the old NextGen building and the Gym) will begin, making space to build a new Worship Center, which will abut the current building. For this next season, all of New City SouthPark—from babies all the way through adults—will meet in building 1!

To help manage the complexities of this season, on May 17, we will begin running shuttles from satellite parking at Carmel Middle School, and on July 30, we launch an Early Weekend Service on Thursday evenings, and move to services at9:00 and 11:00 am on Sundays at SouthPark.

Thank you for your generosity and for your participation in this vision to help people find and follow Jesus here, near, and far.

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