It’s all about IMPACT (Part 2)
Last week I wrote Part 1 of a blog called, “It’s all about IMPACT.” In that blog I tried to share a little bit of the history and vision for our IMPACT Ministries here at Mount Pleasant. As a reminder, we have 3 current IMPACT Ministries. There’s our IMPACT Center on our Greenwood campus that serves 450-500 people in 4 services every IMPACT Thursday (morning – afternoon – evening) and IMPACT Saturday (morning). Because of the growing number of people coming to us each week we are planning on adding an additional service on Friday morning (IMPACT Friday). This new service will not be open to new guests and will only provide food.
There’s IMPACT Old Southside located just south of downtown. As I mentioned last week, we are currently involved in remodeling a building we purchased (1429 S Meridian, Indianapolis, IN 46225). We’ll use this building to serve the community and house a new church that will be a Mount Pleasant satellite. Then there’s IMPACT Fairfax. On July 1, Mount Pleasant took ownership of the Fairfax Christian Church (602 N. Berwick Ave., Indianapolis 46222). IMPACT Fairfax has become a Mount Pleasant satellite. We have been involved in a “soft launch” at IMPACT Fairfax by sending some of our staff and volunteers each week to preach and lead worship. An official restart will be planned now that we have hired a new IMPACT Fairfax Pastor. Andrew Fillmore, his wife, Aylssa, and their three children arrived in Greenwood this week. I’ll be introducing him in our weekend services soon.
I can imagine that there might be some people, even after reading Part 1 of this blog, that are asking, “Why?” I want to use this blog to provide a more comprehensive answer to that question. First, this is a great way to live out our vision and mission. Our vision statement is: “To be a church that is locally focused and globally engaged with an undeniable IMPACT for Christ.” Our mission statement is: “To change the world (for Christ) one life, one family, one opportunity at a time.” We’re doing both of these things through our IMPACT Ministries. We’re making an undeniable IMPACT for Christ in communities that no one seems to care about. And we’re changing lives in a variety of different ways.
Second, our IMPACT Ministries serve Jesus by serving “the least of these.” In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus shares “The Parable of the Sheep and Goats.” In that parable he says that when we meet the needs of the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, those needing clothes, the sick and prisoners (people can be enslaved in all kinds of ways), we minister to him because, …whatever you do for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (Matthew 25:40). The communities that we are focused on for our IMPACT Ministries are filled with all of these needs. Third, it’s our responsibility. Jesus shares an important principle in the Parable of the Shrewd Manager in Luke 12:48 he says, When someone has been given much, much will be required in return. (NLT) God has given us “much” at Mount Pleasant (generous people and great resources). We need to embrace our responsibility to use what we’ve been given to make an IMPACT on people in need.
Fourth, our IMPACT Ministries provide us with great opportunities to live out the great commission to make disciples. Every Thursday and Saturday we have hundreds of lost people come to our IMPACT Center for help. The Old Southside community is filled with lost people. The Fairfax community is filled with lost people. Do I really need to say any more? Fifth, I love the local church. The fact that our IMPACT Ministries give us the opportunity to plant new churches and restart churches that are in decline energizes me. It was a local church that changed my family’s future when some men from that church visited my grandmother in the hospital after a serious car accident. I wonder how many of you reading this blog would say that it was a local church that changed your family or your life? I don’t want to see communities without churches and I don’t want to see existing churches close their doors. God works through local churches.
I hope that you will embrace this vision for IMPACT because we can’t do this apart from your support. I mentioned in Part 1 of this blog that we needed the continued generosity of our Mount Pleasant family to underwrite these ministries. But that’s not all we need. We need people with missionary hearts who will make a commitment to helping plant new churches and restart declining churches. You’ll be hearing and reading more about that in the days to come. But I’m going to ask all of you to commit to this prayer: “Lord, what role do you want me to play in Mount Pleasant’s IMPACT Ministries." I really believe that what we’re doing today is just the beginning. So, I’m asking for your help to do something that has eternal value.
Jesus cares,
Pastor Chris
There’s IMPACT Old Southside located just south of downtown. As I mentioned last week, we are currently involved in remodeling a building we purchased (1429 S Meridian, Indianapolis, IN 46225). We’ll use this building to serve the community and house a new church that will be a Mount Pleasant satellite. Then there’s IMPACT Fairfax. On July 1, Mount Pleasant took ownership of the Fairfax Christian Church (602 N. Berwick Ave., Indianapolis 46222). IMPACT Fairfax has become a Mount Pleasant satellite. We have been involved in a “soft launch” at IMPACT Fairfax by sending some of our staff and volunteers each week to preach and lead worship. An official restart will be planned now that we have hired a new IMPACT Fairfax Pastor. Andrew Fillmore, his wife, Aylssa, and their three children arrived in Greenwood this week. I’ll be introducing him in our weekend services soon.
I can imagine that there might be some people, even after reading Part 1 of this blog, that are asking, “Why?” I want to use this blog to provide a more comprehensive answer to that question. First, this is a great way to live out our vision and mission. Our vision statement is: “To be a church that is locally focused and globally engaged with an undeniable IMPACT for Christ.” Our mission statement is: “To change the world (for Christ) one life, one family, one opportunity at a time.” We’re doing both of these things through our IMPACT Ministries. We’re making an undeniable IMPACT for Christ in communities that no one seems to care about. And we’re changing lives in a variety of different ways.
Second, our IMPACT Ministries serve Jesus by serving “the least of these.” In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus shares “The Parable of the Sheep and Goats.” In that parable he says that when we meet the needs of the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, those needing clothes, the sick and prisoners (people can be enslaved in all kinds of ways), we minister to him because, …whatever you do for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (Matthew 25:40). The communities that we are focused on for our IMPACT Ministries are filled with all of these needs. Third, it’s our responsibility. Jesus shares an important principle in the Parable of the Shrewd Manager in Luke 12:48 he says, When someone has been given much, much will be required in return. (NLT) God has given us “much” at Mount Pleasant (generous people and great resources). We need to embrace our responsibility to use what we’ve been given to make an IMPACT on people in need.
Fourth, our IMPACT Ministries provide us with great opportunities to live out the great commission to make disciples. Every Thursday and Saturday we have hundreds of lost people come to our IMPACT Center for help. The Old Southside community is filled with lost people. The Fairfax community is filled with lost people. Do I really need to say any more? Fifth, I love the local church. The fact that our IMPACT Ministries give us the opportunity to plant new churches and restart churches that are in decline energizes me. It was a local church that changed my family’s future when some men from that church visited my grandmother in the hospital after a serious car accident. I wonder how many of you reading this blog would say that it was a local church that changed your family or your life? I don’t want to see communities without churches and I don’t want to see existing churches close their doors. God works through local churches.
I hope that you will embrace this vision for IMPACT because we can’t do this apart from your support. I mentioned in Part 1 of this blog that we needed the continued generosity of our Mount Pleasant family to underwrite these ministries. But that’s not all we need. We need people with missionary hearts who will make a commitment to helping plant new churches and restart declining churches. You’ll be hearing and reading more about that in the days to come. But I’m going to ask all of you to commit to this prayer: “Lord, what role do you want me to play in Mount Pleasant’s IMPACT Ministries." I really believe that what we’re doing today is just the beginning. So, I’m asking for your help to do something that has eternal value.
Jesus cares,
Pastor Chris
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