Lots of Legal Issues, So Far

I actually never suspected the legal part of this position would be so prominent. So far, I've dabbled with immigration law (for an Indian church planter in New York), tax law, employment law, and corporate law as part of my role. All of those areas have one thing in common: they are not the areas in which I previously practiced! It is as if I am the podiatrist learning on the fly about cardiology -- well, perhaps not quite that dramatic.

Going West En Route to the Northeast

Spending part of this week in Las Vegas visiting old friends in order to share about our new venture and specifically asking them to partner with us. On the one hand, it will be strange asking friends for financial support. On the other hand, I am so compelled by this mission, both because of where it is and because of what it is, that I am excited to share it with people I have journeyed with and asking them to go with us on another leg of the journey together.

Please pray about all of the many conversations I'll be having in Vegas this week.

Vital Mission, Help Needed

We are passionate about New York City and the Northeast in general. We met in New Jersey in 1994 while Greg was part of the team of a new church plant and Rebekah was a nanny. We spent time on Long Island, New York after that with a local church and helping prepare for church plants in New York City. Tori was born there. Recent visits to the region (Greg to Long Island last spring, the whole family to the Jersey shore last summer) confirmed to us that our hearts had never left that region.

If we want to see the culture of North America transformed from a Kingdom perspective, we must begin in centers of influence (cultural, economic, arts, education, government, industry). New York City is the epicenter for such influence in North American (and arguably for the entire globe). As for the Northeast in general (Boston-NYC-Philadelphia-Baltimore-DC), over 60 million people live and work there. Percentages of church participaton are much lower than in other parts of the country.

We are also passionate about church planting in its various forms, including simple churches, regional impact churches, & non-English-speaking churches. See the post below, quoting Tim Keller (perhaps the most knowledgeable person regarding church planting in NYC) about that.

Orchard Group's mission is to plant growing and reproducing churches in New York City and the Northeast. This is a key time of potential expansion for Orchard Group. Greg's role with OG is a culmination of past church planting and legal practice experiences.

We're excited. But we also face a huge challenge right now in raising a significant percentage of funds for our support. We really need ongoing monthly partners who will give gifts as we head into 2011. Please prayerfully consider this -- not just to help us -- but to be part of a mission that is integral to bringing Kingdom transormation to North America and beyond.

You can give online at through the Orchard Group website (select e-giving and follow the links to make a General Fund gift, under the Sub Fund "Greg Hubbard"). You can also send checks to Orchard Group, Inc. (write "Greg Hubbard" in the memo line), 51 Middlesex Street, Unit 101, North Chelmsford, MA 01863. All gifts are tax deductible.

Why Plant Churches in Cities?

"The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for the numerical growth of the Body of Christ in any city, the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city, and the reaching of new generations, new residents, new people groups & the unchurched.

Nothing else‐‐not crusades, outreach programs, parachurch ministries, growing mega‐churches, congregational consulting, nor church renewal processes‐‐will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting. This is an eyebrow raising statement. But to those who have done any study at all, it is not even controversial.

Why is church planting so crucially important?
Because new churches bring new ideas to the whole Body, new churches are one of the best ways to surface creative, strong leaders for the whole Body, new churches challenge other churches to self‐examination, new churches may be an ‘evangelistic feeder’ for a whole community.

Jesus’ essential call was to plant churches. The Apostle Paul’s whole strategy was to plant URBAN churches. New church planting is the only way that we can be sure we are going to increase the number of believers in a city and one of the best ways to renew the whole Body of Christ. The evidence for this statement is strong ‐Biblically, sociologically, and
historically. In the end, a lack of kingdom‐mindedness may simply blind us to all this evidence. We must beware of that."

- by Dr. Timothy Keller, Redeemer Church Planting Center, New York City

Central Phoenix Project

Phone conference today with Brian Kruckenberg, the planter for a new church project in urban Phoenix. He, like me, is an attorney, so it was an interesting conversation. Read more about "day twelve" church here.

It All Begins in Buffalo . . . Again!

On the first day of December I will begin my church planting venture with Orchard Group by meeting with our church planting team in urban Buffalo, New York.

It is somewhat ironic that my new mission will begin with a day in Buffalo because my first ever ministry experience in the Northeast was in . . . Buffalo.

During the summer of 1991 I was the summer intern for a church in the suburbs just east of Buffalo. I was supposed to intern at a church in southeastern Indiana, but a last-minute change of plans landed me in Buffalo instead. It was more than a coincedence as my experience that summer planted within me the seeds that would grow into a passion for the Northeast.

Also somewhat ironic is this: During my summer in suburban Buffalo I lived with a family who had small children. One of the kids was a boy named Sean, who must have been less than five-years old at the time. I recently found out that Sean, who is now in his twenties, is serving on the urban church planting staff team for the new church in Buffalo - the same one I will be meeting with on my first real day of working with Orchard Group! It should be a very interesting, meaningful, and "full-circle" kind of day on December 1.

Before the Mission Begins, the Challenging Part . . .

This week we are sending out letters to many of our friends and family all over the country announcing our new venture and asking for financial support. If you are reading this, there is a good chance you will get one of the letters!

We hope you will prayerfully consider not only a year-end gift to help us get started (Greg begins full-time in about three weeks!) but also seriously consider partnering with us for monthly support. It is always a sensitive thing to ask for financial support from friends and family. I admit that I am sometimes tempted to run the other way when I see such a request coming my way.

But we really believe in this mission we are going on, and we really would like our friends and family to be involved with us in many different ways, financial support included. This mission is too important for us to think any other way about it. We are prayerful that the letters will be received with the same enthusiasm and genuine concern with which they are being sent!

We will be making ourselves available to meet with anyone who would like to hear more about this and ask questions, no matter where in the country that may be.