The next few months

Hello! Thanks for taking the time to read our blog. We are so excited about what God is doing here.

Prayer Update
A few months ago (2 to be exact) we shared that we were praying about the location of our Bible studies. We have one study at our home in Northeast Portland and one study in Lake Oswego - about 15-20 minutes from us and from downtown Portland. We asked that you would pray and ask God to reveal what area we should be in. We weren't sure if Lake Oswego was where we should be and if we should move to that area or if we should stay in NE Portland where we originally felt called to and truly have a heart for.

Since beginning to pray, we have seen our Tuesday night study grow. Through prayer and discussion with our leaders and Bible study groups, we feel NE Portland is where we should be. We came to that decision and realization almost exactly 2 months from the date we originally asked for prayer which is the timeline we were hoping to have a decision by. God is so good!

The Game Plan
Our plan is to continue building the Bible studies we have currently - at our house and in Lake O - and from those studies, start 2-3 new studies by January. We also plan to begin meeting once per month in January as a whole group - everyone from each Bible study together- and possibly do a meal together. With this in mind, we have a lot to do in the next few months! Please pray God would continue to develop leaders within our group and open up doors that we could never open on our own. We will need a location to meet for our Sunday meetings and leaders and locations for new studies.
Feel free to take a look at our full vision which is the post prior to this one.

What's Happening Now
Currently, we meet with our Tuesday night group and have dinner with them before Bible study. We also have Sunday dinners at one of the family's homes in our Bible study. Meals definitely bring us all together and it has been such a blessing to begin to build relationships with the people in our studies. We have great friends up here and are so thankful for the community and fellowship with them.

Prayer Requests
Please continue to pray for God to work and provide a place for us to meet and for leaders to be raised up and developed. Pray God would open us more doors for us to meet people and that we would love the people in our neighborhood. We love Portland so much and are excited for what God is doing.

Our New Girl!
Lastly, we welcomed our dear baby girl, Ali Michelle, into the world on October 15. She is so perfect and we couldn't be more excited to be parents. The support we have received from our friends up here has been a huge blessing.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Below is our vision for Nexus Portland. For more information about how to support the ministry here, please contact Trevor at trevor@nexusportland.org. 

Nexus Portland

Glorifying Jesus, Loving People, Making Disciples

We are living in a remarkable time in history. Our nation and specifically Portland is in need of the gospel in an incredibly deep way. We all have yet to fully see our deep need for Jesus and His gospel and we are passionate about seeing Jesus’ Kingdom come in Portland. We believe the biblical way for this to happen is through Jesus’ church. Church is not a building- it’s the people of God. The Church is a people whose identity is found in Jesus and are sent out to glorify Him by loving people and making disciples. Jesus is alive! He has invited us to be a part of the greatest redemption story of all time!

Our vision for Portland is to keep planting a church that lives to see lives changed by preaching through the scriptures, authentic gospel-centered community, serving our city well, and having a balanced view of the Holy Spirit/gifts. For this to happen we believe that God is calling us over the next year to take exhilaratingly fearful leaps of faith to see the vision become a reality. It is an incredible time to be a Christian! The need is vast, but our God is greater.

I. What is the vision?

1. Launch a one time per month Sunday night gathering by January 2014 with 20-35 people: We believe that beginning to gather collectively on weekends will help establish our identity as a church, create more opportunities to reach people, and gain momentum.

2. Multiply community groups: We want our neighborhoods throughout Portland being saturated with gospel witnesses: Christians living on mission and intentionally serving people with the prayer that Jesus would save more. Our desire is to see an additional 2-3 community groups [CG’s] started by January.

3. Expand to gathering two times per month by June 2014: By God’s grace as we continue to grow in our influence, the next step is gathering more frequently with the hope of solidifying ourselves as a people and a church for our city.

4. Officially launch Nexus Portland by September of 2014: Jesus is moving, the need and opportunities are great and God has called us to be a church deeply imbedded into our community. Our desire is to be a fully sustainable church by a people committed to God’s mission.

5. Plant another church out of Nexus Portland by 2016:  We’re passionate about seeing the gospel multiplied in our city; therefore, we’re committed to training, sending, and supporting new churches all throughout Portland.

II. What we are asking God for:

1. Raise up and develop disciple-leaders: For the church to thrive, we will invest in developing disciple-leaders to take responsibility of the church and ministry.

2. Raise up 2 community group leaders and host homes by January 2014

3. Provide a meeting space for our Sunday night gatherings

4. Expand our influence within the community by “seeing the need and being the remedy”: We are passionate about reaching: single moms, sex trafficking victims, and orphans.

5. Establish ministries and leaders within the church to help love and serve the body by March 2014: We believe in order to care for more people effectively we need leaders and ministries such as women’s, men’s, children’s, counseling, worship, administration, and community outreach.