Hope Community Church, PCA

2010-06-15T06:01:00.000-07:00

The following is a column written by Tullian Tchividjian, the new pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Tullian is the grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham. This column was published at www.christianpost.com.

Our Worship Is To Be God-Centered

In the opening verses of Isaiah 6, what the prophet encounters first in the house of God is the glory of God: “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple” (v.1). It doesn’t first say he encountered well-dressed people or hot coffee or influential power brokers or a booming sound system or a great organ. What he caught sight of first was God’s glory.

There’s a growing trend in some churches to offer door prizes to any returning visitor. One church visited recently by a friend of mine promised him a ten-dollar Starbucks gift card if he came back the following week.

Isaiah shows us the door prize that awaited him when he walked into the house of God-the uncomfortable, wrecking presence of God’s glory: “Woe is me!” (v.5).

In the Bible, the glory of God refers to God’s “heaviness,” his powerful presence. It’s God’s prevailing excellence on display. The glory of God is the “augustness” of God-an old term conveying his awe-inspiring majesty. In fact, one reason why Christians in the Roman Empire were persecuted is that they refused to use the word august for the emperor-such a description belonged to God alone, they said. They understood that there is a transcendent majesty unique to God. This high and lifted up greatness of God is what Isaiah encountered-a God who is majestically and brilliantly in command.

All this means we ought to come to worship expecting first and foremost to see God. We come to encounter his glory, to be awe struck by his majesty. A worship service isn’t the place to showcase human talent but the place for God to showcase his divine treasure. We gather not to be impressed by one another-how we sound, what we wear, who we are-but to be impressed by God and his mighty acts of salvation. We come to sing of who he is and what he’s done. We come to hear his voice resounding in and through his Word. We come to feel the grief of our sin so that we can taste the glory of his salvation. We gather to be magnificently defeated, flattened, and shrunk by the power and might of the living God.

This is in stark contrast to the world’s insistence that the bigger we get and the better we feel about ourselves, the freer we become. That’s why many worship services have been reduced to little more than motivational, self-help seminars filled with “you can do it” songs and sermons. But what we find in the gospel is just the opposite. The gospel is good news for losers, not winners. It’s for those who long to be freed from the slavery of believing that all of their significance, meaning, purpose, and security depend on their ability to “become a better you.” The gospel tells us that weakness precedes usefulness-that, in fact, the smaller you get, the freer you will be. As G.K. Chesterton wrote, “How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it.” Nothing makes you more aware of your smallness and life’s potential bigness than encountering the glory of God in worship. Corporate worship services in the church today desperately need to recover a sense of God’s size!

Not long ago I was in desperate need for God to liberate me from the slavish pressure to perform by reminding me of my smallness and his bigness. And since God has used the preaching of the late Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones throughout my Christian life to bring great perspective and reorientation to my troubled soul, I went back to one of his 1959 sermons on revival. With great unction, Lloyd-Jones delivered the reminder I craved:

"Our supreme need, our only need, is to know God, the living God, and the power of his might. We need nothing else. It is just that, the power of the living God, to know that the living God is among us and that nothing else matters…I say, forget everything else. Forget everything else. We need to realize the presence of the living God amongst us. Let everything else be silent. This is no time for minor differences. We all need to know the touch of the power of the living God."

“The touch of the power of the living God”-that’s what Isaiah experienced. He was freed by realizing that God is big and he was small-that God was God and he was not. And this is what God intends for us to experience when he gathers us in worship. Isaiah didn’t leave the temple thinking, “What a great angelic choir” or “What a great temple.” He left thinking, “What a great God.”

As pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, I’ll be the first to admit that we are blessed with great music and a world-class facility. But, as I often remind our church, if people don’t leave our church thinking first, “What a great God” than our music and facilities mean nothing. Whatever else we may see in worship, we must see God first and best.

Do you ever wonder if anyone is listening?

2010-02-23T12:13:00.001-08:00

I know it's been some time since my last post. Hopefully this will mark the beginning of more frequent posts on the blog - but only time will tell. There are times when I think about taking the blog down, especially since the church now has its own website. At other times I think about taking the blog down because I often don't think I have much to say that anyone would want to read.

One of the odd things about the world of blogs is that much is written, often without any response. I don't read as many blogs as I once did, but it was very rare for me to respond. This was true whether I agreed, disagreed, or was indifferent to what I read. Because of that, I'm sure that most of my visits to the blogs were completely unknown. The person never heard from me and had no way of knowing that I had even read the words he had written.

When I write thoughts on this blog, I often wonder whether or not anyone reads them. This is not a plea for your response to this, even though that would be encouraging. I say this because this might sometimes be our posture in prayer. We may pour out our hearts to God in some time of deep need or in our normal prayer time. When the answers are not quickly forthcoming we may wonder if God is listening at all. Sometimes we may sincerely and fervently ask for something - for months or even years - without an obvious answer to those prayers.

But apparent silence should not be equated with neglect on God's part. He most often works on a timetable very different from our own. I was reminded of this over the past weekend. There was a man for whom prayers had been offered for years. I had known him for about nine years and had prayed for his salvation through those years, as had my wife and many others. His wife and family had prayed for his salvation for many years longer than that. This past weekend, in the midst of an illness which took his life early this morning, the Lord saw fit to answer those prayers. His wife was the human instrument through whom the Gospel was once again presented to him. This time, the Lord granted him repentance and faith unto salvation. He is now among those who soul has been made perfectly holy as he has passed into glory.

Do you ever wonder if anyone is listening when you pray? Rest assured that He does.

Another Jacksonville News Article on Hope Community Church

2009-09-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

The Jacksonville News ran an article this week featuring three Jacksonville churches. Hope Community Church was one of the three churches. If you would like to read this article, please follow this link:

Repairs and renovations being made at local churches

Hearing God's Voice

2009-09-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago I was taken back a bit by the words of John Piper in one of his "Taste and See" articles. The article was entitled "The Morning I Heard the Voice of God." Those were words that I would have never expected to hear from a pastor like John Piper. He explains what just what he meant by the provocative title through the course of the article. It is a tremendous article and I want to recommend it to you for reading. You can check it out by the link here.

Who Builds the Church? - Life Action Revival Ministries

2009-08-12T14:01:00.001-07:00

Who Builds the Church? - Life Action Revival Ministries

Shared via AddThis

New Website Is Now Operational

2009-07-16T13:26:00.001-07:00

Our new website is up and going. I am sure that we will make some changes to it in the future. You can visit it by clicking on the link below:

www.hopecommunitypca.com

Column on Baptism by R.C. Sproul

2009-07-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

What is the significance of baptism?

Just as an aside, the word significance has as its root the word sign. A sign is something that points to something beyond itself. We all recognize that whatever baptism signifies, Jesus obviously thought it was very important because he gives a command to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Whatever else it is, baptism is the sign of the new covenant that God makes with his people. We do have the clear mandate in the New Testament that Christians are to be baptized.

I personally do not believe that baptism is essential for salvation. If I believed that, I would think that the thief on the cross who was promised paradise with Jesus would have been disqualified because he obviously didn’t have an opportunity to get baptized. But I do believe that baptism is essential for obedience because Christ commands it. It’s just the same thing as when people say, “Do you have to go to church to go to heaven?” I would say, “Obviously not.” But do you have to go to church to obey Christ? Yes, you do. And if you are not inclined to obey Christ and have no inclination to follow his mandates, that may be a sign that you are not headed for heaven. So church involvement becomes a very serious matter of obedience.

I would say the same about the sacrament of baptism. It’s a sign of the new covenant. It’s a sign of our participation in Jesus, of being partakers in his death and resurrection, which are at the heart of the gospel. It’s also a sign of our cleansing from sin and guilt by the work of Jesus and the washing of regeneration. What we do outwardly with water, the Spirit does inwardly with his grace. So it’s a sign of our cleansing. It’s also a sign of our sanctification. It’s a sign of our baptism of the Holy Spirit. It’s a sign of our being set apart from the world and given the holy task to fulfill the commission that Christ gives to his church.

So there are several things that baptism signifies. I think one of our tendencies is to reduce those to one—making it merely a cleansing rite or merely a sign of empowering by the Holy Spirit—when in fact it is a sacrament that is rich and complex with meaning and significance.

Updated Sign in Place

2009-07-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

We received our updated sign last week and installed it on Saturday. Above is a picture of it with the current message on display. We have just a little "cleaning up" to do for the sign to be completed. When the temperature cools off a bit some new flowers will be planted in the flower bed at the base of the sign.

Pray that the Lord will continue to use this sign to highlight the church plant to residents of Jacksonville.

In Appreciation for Lakecrest Presbyterian Church and the Children of VBS 2009

2009-06-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

We have been blessed by the children of Lakecrest Presbyterian Church in Hoover, Alabama. Lakecrest had its annual Vacation Bible School earlier in June. Each year the children bring a missions offering for a designated mission work during VBS. The children's ministry of Hope Community Church was chosen as the beneficiary of this year's VBS missions offering.

My family and I were blessed to be invited to attend the Family Night celebration on Friday, June 12th. We enjoyed the children's festival and the fellowship with the members of Lakecrest. During the Family Night program, pastor Thomas Joseph presented us with a check for $874.36. This was certainly a tremendous boost for our children's ministry and a great blessing for our church family. We want to express our apprecation to pastor Thomas Joseph and to the church family at Lakecrest for this great gift and investment in the work in Jacksonville.

Church Growth

2009-06-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

As I was studying this afternoon and preparing for the first worship services for Hope, I was looking through some messages I had preached before. One particular message concerned the growth of the church. I ran across a quote which is attributed to Edward Abbey (an environmentalist from the last century - the quotation of whom is not an endorsement of his views by the way). Abbey wrote, "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." Cancer is basically runaway cell growth which displaces other cells and, when unchecked, eventually results in death.

As a church planter and pastor, it almost goes without saying that church growth is vital to the life and existence of the church plant. We must reach out to our community and hopefully bring new people into the church. We want and desire to see the church grow spiritually, numerically, and in many other ways. Our purpose as a church is to know Christ and make Him known for the glory of God. We will labor for the sake of the Gospel in our community so that Christ may be known and worshiped and that the fame of our God may be spread. That is the reason why we desire growth - not growth for the sake of growth or for our own fame.

This is why we will rely on the grace and power of God through the ordinary means of grace: the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, the observance of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and prayer. We will not utilize gimmicks or fads in an attempt to draw a crowd as if we need somehow to give God a hand. We desire growth, but we will trust in God to produce a church that honors and glorifies Him. This is not growth for the sake of growth, but growth for the glory of God.

Piper on Preaching

2009-05-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

My attention was called to these words by Ligon Duncan, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS. The words are an explanation of expository preaching and are given by John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN. I don't know if a better explanation of expository preaching is available. None that I have seen express the urgency of preaching as Piper's does. The following is Piper's quote from a sermon on May 10 at his church:

"Many people are new to Bethlehem. Some simply stop by to see what’s going on. Some have little or no experience with what we mean by preaching. I think it will help you listen to this message (and others) if I say a word about preaching.

What we mean by preaching is expository exultation.

Preaching As Expository Exultation

Expository means that preaching aims to exposit, or explain and apply, the meaning of the Bible. Every sermon explains and applies the Bible. The reason for this is that the Bible is God’s word, inspired, infallible, profitable—all sixty-six books of it. The preacher’s job is to minimize his own opinions and deliver the truth of God. Therefore, it is mainly Bible exposition—explanation and application.

And the preacher’s job is to do that in a way that enables us to see that the points he is making actually come from the Bible. If they come from the Bible and you can’t see that they come from the Bible, your faith will rest on man and not God.

The aim of this exposition is to help you eat and digest some biblical truth that will make your spiritual bones more like steel, and double the capacity of your spiritual lungs, and make the eyes of your heart dazzled with God’s greatness, and awaken the capability of your soul for kinds of spiritual enjoyment you didn’t even know existed.

Preaching is also exultation—expository exultation. This means that the preacher does not just explain what’s in the Bible, and the people do not simply understand what he explains, but the preacher and the people exult over what is in the Bible as it is being explained and applied.

Preaching As Worship

Preaching does not come after worship in the order of the service. Preaching is worship. My job is not done if I only see truth and show it to you. The devil could do that—for his own devious reasons. My job is to see the glory of the truth and to savor it and exult over it as I explain it to you and apply it for you. That’s one of the differences between a lecture and a sermon.

Preaching is not the totality of the church. And if all you have is preaching, you don’t have the church. A church is a body of people who minister to each other. Part of what preaching does is equip us for that. God has created the church, so that she flourishes through preaching. That’s why Paul gave young pastor Timothy one of the most serious, exalted charges in all the Bible in 2 Timothy 4:1-2: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word.”

If you are used to a twenty-minute, immediately practical, relaxed talk, the understanding of preaching that I just described doesn’t lead there. I won’t preach twenty minutes but twice that long; I do not aim to be immediately practical but eternally helpful; and the condition of my soul is not relaxed but standing vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people any of whom this week could go over the edge."

Newspaper Article in Jacksonville News

2009-05-26T08:44:00.001-07:00

Our local weekly newspaper, the Jacksonville News, recently published an article about the church plant and the help we received in April when painting the church. You can check out the article by clicking on the link below:

Jacksonville News Article

New Phone Number

2009-05-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

The phone for Hope Community Church was connected on Thursday of last week. The number is: 256-435-5005. My typical office hours are 7:30 to 4:30 on weekdays.

Painting - Saturday, April 25th

2009-05-06T18:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of days after the repairs made by the men from Briarwood, we had another work day at the church - this time to paint both the exterior of the church and the sanctuary's interior. We are grateful again to Briarwood Presbyterian Church for a group of about 20 men and women who came to provide help. We are also grateful to Faith Presbyterian Church in Anniston for about ten men and women who helped with painting and serving lunch.

Below are some pictures from the 25th:

Repairs Made to Buildings - Thursday, April 23rd

2009-05-06T17:59:00.000-07:00

We are so grateful to the men from Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham for the repairs that they made to our buildings a couple of weeks ago. Repairs were made to some walls and floors. New outlets were added to the office area. Some larger doors were installed in our fellowship hall to make them more easily accessible for people in wheelchairs.

Some pictures are included below (please forgive the mismatched sizes):

Some Dates to Mark on your Calendars

2009-03-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in our Bible Study time on Sunday night, below are some upcoming dates related to the church plant.

April 4 - Work Day at the church. We will be cleaning in the Fellowship Hall and making preparations for the painting of the exterior of the church.

April 12 - Easter Sunday. We will not be having Bible Study at our facilities on this date. We have been invited to join in worship with Grace Fellowship Community Church on this night. I have been invited to preach. This will also give us an opportunity to thank Grace Fellowship for the gift of the buildings to us and for their financial support of the church.

April 19 - Faith Presbyterian Church, Anniston. I will be preaching in the morning service.

April 25 - Work Day at the church. We have invited other individuals and churches to join us in painting the church. May 2 is set as an alternate date in case of bad weather on the the 25th.

May 3 - Knollwood Presbyterian Church, Sylacauga. I have been invited by Pastor Harris Bond to preach and introduce our church plant to the church in Sylacauga in their evening worship service.

May 17 - Faith Presbyterian Church, Anniston. I will be preaching in the morning service.

A Glimpse of What Hope Community Church Has to Offer

2009-03-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

In one of the churches I served as pastor, I had the privilege of leading the church through the construction of a new sanctuary. Before the new carpet was placed in the sanctuary, we invited the members of the church to bring permanent markers to write some of their favorite Bible verses on the floor. Many of the members took advantage of this opportunity and wrote numerous verses throughout the sanctuary. We did this at the suggestion of a friend who indicated that when we gathered for worship we would be "standing on the promises."

I chose to write several verses in different locations. I cannot remember most of the verses I wrote or where I wrote them. But I do remember one verse in particular. I wrote this verse on the floor underneath the spot where I would be standing when I was preaching. The verse is 1 Corinthians 2:2: For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified (ESV). I thought of this verse often as I stood preaching.

As we prepare and plan for the planting of Hope Community Church, we must also determine what our worship services will be like. The verse above is a tremendous reminder of what we are to be about as a church and what our focus should be in worship. We are to be a Christ centered, Gospel focused church. The good news of the Son of God who was crucified, dead, and raised from the dead is to be the message of the church as we worship and glorify our Lord.

I listened last month to a pastor speak about the philosophy of ministry for the church. He told about a conversation he had experienced with a lady who called to ask what his church had to offer her and her family. His answer was very clear and to the point. He replied that he would preach the Gospel, administer the sacraments, and offer the discipline of the church to her and her family.

As we plant the church in Jacksonville, this will be our focus. We will not seek to build the church around programs, a particular style of music, the latest fad of the church growth movement, or any gimmicks which promise to draw a crowd. Our focus will be to teach and preach and sing and declare the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is in keeping with our purpose statement:

The purpose of the Hope Community Church is
to know Christ and make Him known
through the planting of a PCA church in Jacksonville, Alabama.

Upcoming Bible Study Opportunity

2009-01-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

Our next Bible study will be beginning soon. This Sunday, January 11th, we will have a covered dish supper in our new fellowship hall. This will be a great opportunity for those who are interested in attending our next Bible study to be introduced to those who are already participating - not to mention some great food and fellowship. The covered dish supper will begin at 5:00 p.m.

The Bible study itself will begin the following Sunday night, January 18th, at 5:00 p.m. The adults will be meeting in the sanctuary of our new facilities. We will be studying the Life of Joseph as we see how God worked in Joseph's life through the difficulties and even persecutions which Joseph suffered.

The children will be also be meeting at the same time in our Sunday School rooms. Children will be learning the catechisms as they are introduced to the great truths of Scripture and the Reformed faith which will build a foundation for their spiritual growth. We are also offering a class for teenage girls which will focus on the book of Esther.

Our facilities are located at 101 Lockette Drive, which is located just off of Highway 21 south of the Jacksonville city limits. The sign at the highway still reads "Grace Fellowship Community Church." You can see a map of our location through the following link to a Google map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=101+Lockette+Drive,+Jacksonville,+AL++36265&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=38.092988,67.851563&ie=UTF8&ll=33.774581,-85.768976&spn=0.039097,0.066261&z=14

One of Steve's Sermons Available On-line

2009-01-07T17:15:00.000-08:00

Steve was recently given the opportunity to fill in for Rev. Rick Searle at Faith Presbyterian Church in Anniston, Alabama - the mother church for our plant. The sermon comes from Psalm 130 and is entitled, "Forgiven That We May Fear." How does God's forgiveness of our sins lead us to a deeper fear and reverence of Him? You can listen to Steve's sermon on-line at the following link:

http://www.fpchome.org/Audio/12-28-2008.wma

Our Future Worship Site!

2008-12-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

The Hope Community Church plant has been greatly blessed with facilities by a generous gift from a sister church. The Grace Fellowship Community Church, which had been meeting in a facility just south of Jacksonville, has moved to a new facility on the old Fort McClellan between Anniston and Jacksonville. As Grace Fellowship had been blessed of the Lord to receive the property, our church plant has been blessed to receive the property from them.

This morning, December 7th, the Faith Presbyterian Church voted unanimously in a congregational meeting to receive the property from Grace Fellowship. We give thanks to the Lord for His gracious provision for us through the generosity of our brothers and sisters in Christ. The property is located at 101 Lockette Drive, just off of Hwy 21 south of Jacksonville. Some pictures of the property are posted above.

OUR VISION AND GOALS

2008-11-30T13:02:00.000-08:00

Our vision for Hope Community Church is to see a city and university transformed by the power of the Gospel through worship, missions, serving our community, and campus ministry.

What our worship will look like:

· Clear and faithful preaching of the Word of God

· Worship which is Christ-centered and Gospel-focused

· An unashamed and unwavering commitment to the confessional standards of the Reformed faith

· Kingdom-focused prayer

What our worshipping community will look like:

· A commitment to discipleship for the equipping of a strong, healthy church

· A strong focus on families and fellowship

· Mutual accountability of the membership

What our commitment to missions will look like:

· Working to start a Reformed University Fellowship at Jacksonville State University

· Reaching out to our community through evangelism and acts of mercy

· Working with the Alabama Church Planting Network to start other PCA churches in surrounding areas and throughout Alabama

· Supporting PCA missionaries in the United States and overseas

Our Partners in this Venture

2008-11-20T18:17:00.000-08:00

The Hope Community Church plant will be a congregation within the boundaries of the Evangel Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America, a national denomination holding to the historic truths of Christianity. Steve and Ann have been assessed and approved for church planting by the PCA Mission to North America Church Planting Assessment Center.

The project is closely affiliated with two organizations. The first is the Alabama Church Planting Network. The Network seeks to promote, start and support Gospel-centered churches throughout Alabama by creating a missional, regional network that supports, trains and empowers church planters. The Network is led by Rev. Corbett Heimburger, Assistant Pastor at Altadena Valley Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

The second is Faith Presbyterian Church in Anniston, Alabama and pastor Rev. Rick Searle. Faith’s Session will provide direct oversight and resources for this new work. Faith is currently working to plant a Hispanic church in Anniston. Rev. Searle is also very actively involved in the Alabama Church Planting Network. Steve serves on the staff at Faith as Assistant Pastor for Church Planting.

For further information on the Hope Community Church project, please feel free to contact:

Rev. Corbett Heimburger
Alabama Church Planting Network
C/O Altadena Valley Presbyterian Church
4660 Caldwell Mill Road
Birmingham, Alabama 35243
205-967-0680

Rev. Rick Searle
Faith Presbyterian Church
4100 Ronnaki Road
Anniston, Alabama 36207
256-238-8721

Information Updates

2008-11-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

We have established a mailing address for the church plant. Our address is:

Hope Community Church, PCA
Post Office Box 448
Jacksonville, Alabama 36265

We will have some exciting news to share about the church plant in the next couple of weeks. We want to encourage you to continue praying for us as we move forward. The pace will pick up considerably after Christmas. A new Bible study will begin and we will begin working toward our first public worship service.

Profile of Our Church Planting Team

2008-11-15T19:48:00.000-08:00

Steve and Ann Mayes are natives of Mississippi. Steve is from the small town of Lake and Ann is from the neighboring town of Newton. They were married in June 1989 in Newton. At that time Steve worked as a bridge inspector and Ann served as an elementary school teacher.

Just one year after their wedding, Steve accepted God’s call into ministry. After doing pulpit supply for several months, Steve was called as interim pastor and eventually as pastor of a Baptist church near Union, Mississippi (1991-1993). While serving there, their first child Beth was born in 1992 in Jackson, Mississippi. Steve earned his college degree in Biblical Studies at William Carey College in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in May 1993.

In the summer of 1993, the Mayes family moved to Birmingham, Alabama for Steve to begin seminary work at Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. In July 1994 Steve was called as pastor of a Baptist church in Jacksonville, Alabama and served there until the fall of 1998. While in Jacksonville their second child Ben was born Birmingham, Alabama in 1996. Steve received his Master of Divinity degree in May 1997.

In October 1998, the family moved back to Mississippi in anticipation of Steve’s pursuit of a doctoral degree. Steve was accepted into the doctoral program at Baylor University. Plans for further education changed in May 1999 when Ben was diagnosed with a brain tumor which affected his optic nerve and caused him to be blind. As a patient at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Ben underwent chemotherapy. Ben’s fight against cancer ended in July 2005 as he went home to be with his Lord.

Steve was called as the pastor of a Baptist church in central Mississippi in 2001. In June 2005, Steve and Ann welcomed their third child, Timothy, who was born in Jackson, Mississippi. After serving six and a half years at this church, Steve resigned in October 2007 in order to move to Jacksonville, Alabama to pursue a PCA church plant there. Steve began working for Kraft Foods International as a Senior Sales Representative in November 2007. In May 2008, an opportunity opened for Steve to work as a full time hospice chaplain for Alacare.

In February 2008, Steve was licensed to ministry in the Presbyterian Church in America in Evangel Presbytery. Steve and Ann attended and successfully completed the Church Planting Assessment Center of the PCA in June 2008 and were recommended as church planters. In November 2008, Steve's ordination was transferred into the PCA and he was called as the Assistant Pastor for Church Planting by the Faith Presbyterian Church in Anniston, Alabama. Hope Community Church was also recognized as a mission church by Evangel Presbytery in November 2008.

The PCA is Coming to Jacksonville, Alabama!

2008-11-15T13:55:00.000-08:00

A new church is coming soon to Jacksonville, Alabama. On November 11, 2008, Evangel Presbytery gave its approval for the planting of a new church in the Presbyterian Church in America. Hope Community Church was granted mission church status. This action was another step in the process of starting a new PCA church which began over a year ago.

In November 2007, Steve and Ann Mayes and their two children, Beth and Timothy, moved to Jacksonville to begin working toward this church plant. Steve had resigned as a pastor in a Southern Baptist church in Mississippi in order to return to the familiar surroundings of Jacksonville where he had once served as a Baptist pastor during and after seminary. Steve completed the requirements of Evangel Presbytery to transfer his ordination into the PCA and has been called to serve as the Assistant Pastor of Church Planting for Faith Presbyterian Church in Anniston, Alabama which will serve as the "mother church" for this new work. In June 2008, Steve and Ann successfully completed the PCA's Assessment Center for Church Planters and were recommended for church planting.

This blog will host future posts which will go into further detail about Steve and Ann's background, the reasons for planting a PCA church, and will track the progress for the ongoing work in Jacksonville. Your questions and comments are welcome, but we would especially ask for your prayers for this exciting new work which will be known as Hope Community Church.