“Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” – James 2:15-16

On our many travels abroad, my good friend Josh Sanders and I were faced with the prevailing problem of access to clean and safe water.  After some personal experiences where we were directly impacted and seeing communities living under the burden of un-safe and dangerous water supplies, we felt a strong compulsion to address this global epidemic in some way. Research into the problem revealed a Global Water Crisis with staggering statistics.  Disease and even deaths by the thousands resulting from poor sanitation and a lack of clean drinking water plagues poor people around the world every single day. With a desire to make some kind of difference and a willingness to get directly  involved Josh and I began laying the foundation for what would become Trashwater.

“Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words”
- commonly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.

Trashwater is committed to providing clean water and sanitation solutions. Typically, we utilize UV Filtration because of it effectively eliminates 99% of bacteria and pathogens and is easy and cost effective to maintain. Other clean water solutions may include rain water catchments, desalination, wells, or water treatment facilities depending on the needs of the community we’re serving. Trashwater begins every project by partnering with existing organizations in developing communities like clinics, orphanages, schools, and feeding programs. Trashwater also partners with other organization to bring much needed services such as medical, job training, and art education organizations. Trashwater also utilizes these local partners for the purpose of promoting awareness through events, education, and social media. Trashwater is committed to long term relationships with the communities it serves for the purpose of ongoing education and training, program development, connecting other organizations, and project evaluation.

“Diversity: the art of thinking independently together”
- Malcolm Forbes

Trashwater has been blessed to have so much impact so fast and to be surrounded by such a diverse community of people who love and support our efforts. Trashwater has been a major catalyst for showing me how to engage and love people while also accepting love from others who are as different from me as I am from them. Though Trashwater is a strictly humanitarian organization, Gods love abounds and there is no missing his hand in, around, and through our efforts.

Colin M. Denlea
Trashwater.org

Jesus begins his ministry with an announcement, “The time has come the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15, NIV)! In essence he was saying the King has come. Everything has changed. What God began in Genesis, he completes in Jesus. This announcement is good news because in Jesus, God announces that we are redeemed, we are being renewed, and he is restoring all things through us.

We Are Redeemed
The gospel is an announcement of good news that in Christ we have been redeemed. Paul understood this when he wrote, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering” (Romans 1:1 & 3, NIV).

The announcement is that God sent Jesus in his perfection to take the wrath of our sin and punishment upon himself. The time had come in that in one moment in history Jesus took all of our past, present, and future sins upon himself; absorbing their wrath and setting us free.

The good news is that “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-46, NIV). In this parable grace cuts both ways. Grace is God’s abundant love given to us freely without price or cost. We don’t deserve it. We can’t earn it. It is beyond our reach. The only possible way to receive it is to have it gifted to us by someone beyond our reach. In this parable God is the Great Merchant who is looking for something of great value. When he finds it he sells all that he has in order to purchase it. He redeems the pearl by selling all. He holds nothing back. In Christ, God holds nothing back. He purchases us with his very blood and life. He redeems us.

It cuts both ways in that this becomes our motivation, life. I no longer have to prove anything. I no longer have to gain man’s approval. I no longer have to live up to any particular standard. I have been redeemed. I know what we think. Doesn’t this lead to carelessness? Not at all, because God in Christ has redeemed me, my motivation for life is his love. I am now fully approved, accepted, and complete, resulting in a life of humble gratitude and devotion. When I realize the nature of this good news, I find myself selling all to follow him.

We Are Being Renewed
What I just described is the idea that we are saved by grace. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV). For most of my Christian life I have understood this aspect of good news. However, I must confess there was a time when I was young that I struggled with God’s sovereignty and found myself shackled by doubts. These days are long behind me. However, what I didn’t realize, that not only are we saved by grace, we are renewed by grace. I lived as if my salvation was free, but if I was to grow as a Christian it could only be accomplish by my aspiring to some moralistic code or level of performance.

If I did five uninterrupted quiet times in a row I felt good about myself and would declare that I was a growing Christian. If I controlled my temper, abstained from alcohol, and avoided angry people who indulged a bit I was a good Christian. On the other hand, when I fail on either count I was a bad Christian or I stopped growing.

While I depended on the gospel to save me, I depended on my ability to live up to all certain standards and expectations to grow me. I found myself running faster and faster in religious circles in need of rest. My life simply didn’t line up with the teachings of Jesus, who invites us into his rest, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Once again this was good news breaking into my tired soul.

The announcement of good news is that God in Christ doesn’t only save us by grace, but he grows us by grace. We see this best in Jesus’ parable of the growing seed. He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29, NIV). The seed in this parable is the gospel and soil is our hearts. When we receive the seed into the good soil of our heart something happens. We can’t explain it, but it does. Jesus says, “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.” This is an amazing truth that changes everything; gospel in, gospel out.

Paul understood this when he said, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approved what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2, NIV). In this text Paul demonstrates that our devotion is based on our understanding of the gospel. We are to offer our bodies, but only as a result of being in full view of his mercy. We don’t present our bodies to get God’s mercy we present our bodies because of God’s mercy. The order has been reversed. I don’t do in order to earn God’s favor, but I do because I have God’s favor. He goes on and addresses the idea of transformation. We are transformed by the renewal of our minds. Once again we see gospel in, gospel out.

When I come to understand that I am fully loved, then and only then can I offer love. When I come to understand God’s forgiveness of me, I become more forgiving and understanding of others. As I come to understand God’s provision for me, only then can I truly become more generous. As I come to apprehend the gospel there is a reformatting and aligning of my values that take place. I am transformed.

This understanding of the renewal aspect of the gospel has the potential to change everything. As a preacher, I once thought I had something to say. I thought it was my job to give people good tips on how to live the good life. Much of my preaching and teaching was about me. As a result we saw many people come and many people go. However, we saw very little spiritual transformation. We preached a kind of moralistic therapeutic deism. We referred to scripture. We even taught passages of scripture, but we had very little gospel in what we preach and taught often seeing the scriptures simply as a guidebook of what to do and not to do in order to experience the good life.

When you understand gospel in, gospel out it changes everything. It produces an urgency concerning, proclaiming a healthy gospel-centered hermeneutic. Our goal in teaching and preaching isn’t to be cool, clever, or even relevant. Our goal is to preach the gospel in every text. Some who read this are thinking I do that, but in essence you don’t. Tagging a gospel presentation at the end of a moralistic theoretic message is not the same as preaching the gospel. We must seek to preach the whole gospel, which includes the redemptive, renewing, and restorative nature of the gospel.

The gospel is not a tag we put at the end of a good blog for those who are searching. The gospel is God’s story of redemption, renewal, and ultimate restoration. It is the entire story. It is the truth that makes its way through out every book in the Bible. Together it tells the story of Creation, rebellion, rescue, redemption, renewal, and restoration. It is the announcement that everything has changed.

He Is Restoring All Things (through us)
This is a profound truth. What God begins, God concludes. He makes all things new! In Genesis we see God’s creative purpose in full bloom. There is relational harmony among all creation and we are at rest. Sin disrupts and destroys. Relational brokenness enters the world. God’s creation looses its way. We are lost.

In Christ we are redeemed, renewed, and ultimately all things are restored. Once again Jesus uses the power of a simple parable to convey this pregnant truth. “He told them another parable: ‘the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches’” (Matthew 13:31-32, NIV). In this parable we see the impact of the gospel to restore all things. A mustard seed grows, becomes the larges of garden plants, even becomes a tree, and the birds of creation come and find rest in them. What God began he completes in Jesus.

If you flip over and read the last chapters of Revelation you see this playing out. John “saw a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (Revelations 21:2, NIV). In this picture we aren’t going up, but heaven is coming down in keeping with Jesus’ message of the kingdom of heaven is here or at hand. God is doing a work in his world. He isn’t done. He is restoring all things. What he began in one garden he concludes in another garden.

Now God is working through his church to restore all things. As Paul declares, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his very appeal through us” (I Corinthians 5: 20, NIV). Jesus tells us we “are the salt of the earth and light of the world” (Matthew 5:13 &14, NIV). Salt and light has their greatest impact from within.” As restorers we enter into God’s redemptive, renewal, and restorative work. As restorers we enter into the lives of those who are in the most need of redemption, renewal, and restoration. We become God’s ambassadors. The gospel restores us that we might be restorers.

This changes everything. I no longer see people as a means to an end. I see people as the end. God has our interest at heart in all things. It’s no longer about planting and growing a big church. It’s no longer about my sermons. It’s no longer about feeding my own narcissism. It is about the restorative work of the gospel. I see all things through that lens.

And all this is to the glory of God! May our redeemer, renewer, and restorer of life and all creation receive all praise, honor, and glory.

A church planter came in to meet with me after attending the hottest new plant in our city.  He was intoxicated with vision.  He couldn’t say enough good stuff about the way this new church operated.  It was running over 600 people while just a little over six months old.  After the planter talked about signage, parking, greeting, hosting, childcare, worship, preaching, and so on he paused to catch his breath.  I asked him a simple question, “What about Jesus?”  “Pardon me?” he replied with a puzzled look.  I repeated myself, “What about Jesus?  Where was Jesus in all this?”  He pause and went introspective.  In a few moments he returned.  This time there were tears in his eyes as he replied, “There was no Jesus!”

Jesus paints a vivid picture of this when he addresses the Church of Laodicea, “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelations 3:20).   Where is Jesus in this picture? What is he doing outside his church?  How did we come this far?

Planting the Gospel is a movement about rescue.  Our mission is to rediscover the simplicity and beauty of Jesus and his ways resulting in dozens of movement making churches, hundreds of church plants, thousands of disciples, and millions of gospel seeds sown.

Our prayer is that God will rescue us from ourselves.  It’s our desire that Jesus and Jesus alone will be enough.  We need nothing else.  We confess that we have made church planting more about…

• Building our little kingdoms instead of advancing his glorious Kingdom.
• Reaching “more of those” instead of the “least of these”.
• Puffing our own Narcissism instead of His glory and honor.
• Advancing our own personal mission instead of embracing his mission.
• Producing weekend services instead of reproducing the “Body of Christ”.
• Being relevant instead of proclaiming his liberating revelation.

God save us from ourselves!  We repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!  We embrace your way as the only way. We commit to plant the Gospel as reflected by…

• Being devoted to a Gospel of rescue, renewal, and re-creation.
• Accepting our mission of making disciples that live like Jesus, love like Jesus, and leave what Jesus left behind (those that live like him and love like him).
• Embracing the Kingdom of Heaven as our true citizenship.
• Reproducing disciples, leaders, groups, ministries, churches, and movements.
• Acting with humility, justice, and mercy toward the “least of these”.
• Depending solely on the power of the Holy Spirit to work within and through us.

If you would like to learn more please take a moment and fill out this brief form and we would be glad to contact you.

I have fallen victim to this disease.

Do we really love our buildings that much? 40 hours for 1 hour a week. I guess we’d be meeting in fields if we decided to test our motives. 40 hours a week inside the community? Imagine the eliminated overhead fees, budget constraints, and word made flesh. To compress the administrative work that haunts us and actually be the hands and feet of God. Questions like: “How many people attended last night?” or “How can we get more people here?” would probably fade away because we’d have better things to worry about. It might be the road less traveled.

It just might be worth trying.

It seems every time a sermon that is centered upon community the passage of Acts 2:42-47 is spoken of. Our remedy for this type of community has become a one-night a week small group. Our shared bread has been forsaken. Word made flesh is actually Biblical obesity. If we’re really honest – can we really compare our communities with the one found in Acts 2?

They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.

Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.

They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved. (Acts 2:42-47, The Message)

Recognize the gospel is enough.  It really is.  I believe the gospel is all we need.  Matter of fact, I think some of the things we rely on really get in the way and are harmful to a gospel movement.  Jesus taught us that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, that though it is the smallest of all seeds it grows to become a large tree.  He also said that the faith of a mustard seed has the capacity for moving a mountain, or in this case redeeming, renewing, and restoring a city.  The gospel like that mustard seed when planted grows, grows, and grows.  Along with that growth it multiplies, multiplies, and multiplies.

Now when I say the gospel is enough, I’m not talking about the gospel we use like a tag in our moralistic therapeutic teachings, but a robust hardy Bible-centered gospel.  A gospel that spells out God’s incredible meta-narrative in the context of creation, rebellion, redemption, renewal, and restoration.  It’s the story of Jesus from Genesis to Revelations.  It’s the story of God’s unconditional redeeming love, his ongoing renewal of his people, and his ultimate restoration of his creation.  God wants to redeem, renew, and restore our city.  This is the essence of a gospel movement in our city.  The gospel is all we need.  Dependency on anything else is idolatry and will ultimately hinder.

Recognize we can best do this together.  The gospel is enough, but the gospel always brings us together.  I am encouraged at how we have a way of finding each other.  Over the past couple of years I have notice when I focus on being the church, opposed to doing church, church is always breaking out or perhaps breaking in.  The very essence of the gospel draws us together.  Unfortunately, our churches often operate as separate business in competition with one another.  We are all guilty.  I know I am.  I believe Satan knows something incredible happens when God’s people come together for a common purpose.  If I was the enemy I can’t think of a better strategy then to keep us apart.

Years ago I heard Leonard Sweet suggest that the movement of God is like a tornado oppose to a hurricane.  A hurricane moves inland with its mighty power devastating everything in its path, while a tornado’s power is much more random touching down here and over there.  He went on to suggest we see God touching down here and there, in random patterns.  He offered this conclusion, that if we ever learned how to connect the dots we would see the power of God in incredible ways.  For some reason this really hit me.  Perhaps it is why I do what I do today.  I remember praying, “Father, I want to spend the rest of my life connecting dots.”  There’s an incredible advantage and power when we come together.  I would even go as far as to say it is sin when we don’t.

You are a part of the solution, not the total solution.  God always brings together a people to do his work.  Israel was made up of twelve tribes.  Jesus chose twelve men to be his apostles.   John wrote letters to the seven churches in Asia. These seven churches were a collection of movements in their city, join together by the gospel.  Paul never acted along, but was sent out by the church at Antioch, with Barnabas.  Not only do Christians find each other, they need each other.  We are the body of Christ.  As the body of Christ we are complete when we are join together.  As the body of Christ we need each other to demonstrate Christ love to the world.

Recognize the gospel is already growing in your city Look around you.  What do you see?  If we look beyond the natural eye, we see the gospel and it’s growing.  There’s a gospel movement in your neighborhood.  It may be small, but it’s growing in humility and impact.  It may not look like a movement, but it is.  This gospel movement may be found in a new upstart church or an old traditional one that’s been around for many years.  This gospel movement may be found within a small group who find themselves bringing renewal to the lives of kids that need a foster parent for whatever the reason.  This gospel movement may be found in a widow, who even though she has very little shares it with everyone along her street ensuring that they all have a good meal and a warm place to lay their head.  This gospel movement may be found in the heart of a businessman while experiencing incredible success, gives generously to other gospel causes.

God is at work and he invites us to join him.  When we recognize the gospel is growing in our city that is our invitation to join him and join them.

Recognize that the gospel must begin with me.  I was in a meeting with two pastors from the Midwest.  They had experience amazing growth and impact.  They told me their story.  It was a story of God’s power and presence at every point.  It became obvious that the gospel was at work within and through them.  When they finished I longed for what they had.  I told them our story.  I talked about how hard we had worked and the sacrifices we had made.  When I finished they affirmed me and us for our faithfulness.  I reply, “You don’t understand, I want what you have.  I want a gospel movement in my city.”

To experience a gospel movement we must begin with the gospel in our own hearts.  No more cheap substitutes.  I’ve come to understand when the gospel is sown in good soil, in your heart; it produces a good harvest of 30, 60, and 100 fold.  At least that’s what Jesus said.  I often ask, “When will the gospel be enough?”  Jesus paints a picture in Revelations 3:20.  He is standing outside a door knocking seeking to enter.  This provocative image forces us to ask the question, “Where is Jesus in this picture? Is he outside our hearts?  Is he outside our churches?  Could it be both?”

God helps us to open our hearts to the gospel on a moment by moment base where we can begin to experience a gospel movement in our own hearts that would grow like leaven in the flour.

I planted my first church coming out of seminary in 1988.  At that time, I was aware of one book on church planting, Planting New Churches by Jack Redford.  For me, it was the Holy Grail of church planting simply because it was the only book on planting I was exposed to.  In addition to this book, Peter Wagner did a set of audiotapes on How to Plant a Church and Bob Logan created a self-bound version of Church Planter’s Toolkit called Church Planter’s Checklist.  That was it.  Since then, there has been a proliferation of church planting resources with similar nominal results.  Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird suggest in Viral Church, the average church plant after four years runs 87 people in weekend attendance.

I think it is fair to say that doing the same old thing, the same old way, produces the same old results.  However, today things are changing.  I recently did a study of the major church planting networks in the US.  Most networks employ a relational approach to developing church planters.  They often offer some kind of residency, apprenticeship, or internship.  These networks have seen phenomenal results.  The average network church plant after five years runs approximately 300 people in weekend attendance.  This is nearly four times the result of the non-networked church mentioned earlier.

Why?  I believe the key is relationships.  In order for leadership transformation to take place, training has to run congruent with intentional relationships.  That’s why we don’t talk about training church planters or simply running church planters through a curriculum.  It is our core conviction that planters must be discipled in the context of a healthy church planting environment.  Our formula is simple; relationship plus training in the context of an effective church or church plant equals the discipling of church planters.

This is why every church planter should speed up their effectiveness in planting by slowing down and spending a year in the right residency.  That’s why we don’t train church planters, we disciple them.

• Discover a Gospel-centered church planting theology.
• Explore a healthy missiology for planting churches in the US and beyond.
• Learn practical strategies and methodology for planting churches.
• Discover a clear pathway from conversion…to planting…to movement.
• Meet a growing network of planters and pastor’s committed to planting the Gospel together.

When: September 13, 2011        9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Where: Lifesong Church           Greenville/Spartanburg Area
Cost: $25 per person

Our Team:
David Putman – serves as the Catalyst of Planting the Gospel and has a vision for seeing 10,000 churches planted in his lifetime.  He is author of Breaking the Discipleship Code,Detox for the Overly Religious, and co-author of Breaking the Missional Code with Ed Stetzer.  His life mission is to help others discover the centrality, simplicity, and beauty of Jesus and his ways.

Jeff Hickman – serves, as pastor of Lifesong Church in Lyman, SC, which he planted in 2007.  Since it’s conception Lifesong’s has been a church planting church.  Lifesong also serves as a Gospel Hub for Planting the Gospel. Jeff shares a passion for developing disciples who are missionaries at live, work, and play.

George Wright – serves as pastor of Cedarcrest Church in Acworth, GA. His passion in life is to love his family, lead Cedarcrest Church, and expose people to the undeniable love of Jesus Christ.  Cedarcreast serves as a Gospel Hub for Planting the Gospel, where they shares a vision for raising up leaders out of the local church and planting churches in the US and around the world.

Address and Directions to Lifesong Church:
12481 Greenville Hwy, Lyman, SC 29365

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