New Around the Mission

On Sunday, August 1, Christ Church Plano launched a weekly radio show on WRR 101.1 (classical station) from 7:30 to 8 a.m. on Sunday mornings. It will be broadcast to a radio audience of potentially 250,000 people in the Dallas, TX metroplex and streamed on WRR’s website, for many more listeners all over the country. It will be a recorded (usually one week delay) blend of sermon and musical worship designed to extend the reach of the Sunday morning worship.

In a letter to his congregation in early August, Bishop Philip Jones announced he will be stepping down as Rector of St. Andrews, Little Rock, Arkansas, in order to plant a congregation in the heart of Dallas, Texas.

Philip and Claudia Jones

A core group who lives in the Park Cities area, many of whom have attended Christ Church Plano (CCP), has long dreamed of beginning a new work in the Dallas city limits. Bishop Jones describes these individuals as having the “same heart and passion as the group that started St. Andrew's Church 14 years ago.” The group issued a unanimous call to Bishop Jones which he accepted with great anticipation.

“They have asked for our help to lead them,” says Bishop Jones. “It is clear God is calling me to be their founding senior pastor. Having grown up in Dallas, I never believed I would be moving back for any reason, much less to plant a church. Claudia [a native Texan] and I have never planted a church, but the call is upon us. We must obey that call.”

CCP Rector Canon David Roseberry and Canon Ron McCrary have provided guidance and assistance in making this dream a reality. In its 25 year history, CCP has sent church planters into the mission field to begin new congregations in Allen, Frisco and Addison, and Canon Roseberry envisions the birth of even more new congregations and communities of faith. He has expressed enthusiasm for this “exciting call” for Bishop Jones, describing it as a “natural” for this “great bishop of the Anglican Church.”

Bishop Jones has served as Rector at St. Andrew's since 2005, and he will continue to provide oversight to the congregation as their Bishop. He asks that you pray for St. Andrew’s and the emerging church in Dallas.

Dear Friends,


Rt. Rev. Murphy, III

From its inception, the Anglican Mission has been covered in prayer. As you know, prayer is one of the core values of the Mission. Scripture tells us to pray with the expectation that God hears and responds when we cry out to Him. Expectant prayer forms the foundation and supports all we do in the life of the Anglican Mission. Archbishop Kolini has expressed a desire to have the upcoming election of the new Archbishop of Rwanda covered in intentional prayer. I commend to you the Anglican Mission Prayer Leadership Team’s call to fast and pray below.

In His Service,

The Rt. Rev. Charles H. Murphy, III

Prayer Points

On September 17, 2010, there will be the election of the next Archbishop of Rwanda. Our bishops function as missionary bishops of the Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda and they serve under the authority of the Archbishop and the House of Bishops of Rwanda. Therefore, let us as a body humbly join together with our brothers and sisters in Rwanda to seek the face of God for the man who is to be the next Archbishop.

Throughout Holy Scripture and church history the people of God have come together to pray as one, in times of great decisions, in times of change, and in times of challenge to the people of God. We find ourselves in such a time as this. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is threatened on many levels in the world and tragically even in the church. We now call Anglican Mission in the Americas, as a body of followers of Jesus Christ, to a focused time of devoted prayer and fasting during the weeks before, as well as on the day of this election.

We ask that the prayers for this election be offered up each Sunday during the Prayers of the People or wherever the individual church decides is the best for them. We also ask that individuals and groups be encouraged to add this to their regular prayer times and that fasting be encouraged. The following is a prayer point suggestion that may be used during individual prayer times. There also is a prayer that may be added to the Prayers of the People on Sundays. We ask that the Holy Spirit would guide each church in responding to this call.

1. Praise and Thanksgiving: for all that the Lord has done in the past through Archbishop Kolini and Freda and for what the Lord will do through the new Archbishop and his wife.
2. Confession of Sin: for personal sin and for the times when the church has fallen short of the will of God; things done and things left undone.
3. The Wonder of God: for His calling Anglican Mission into existence and His faithfulness in leading and directing us this past 10 and more years.
4. Faith: for our trusting the Lord to direct our future together.
5. Petition: for the man of God's choosing to be raised up, elected, and anointed by God for the office of Archbishop of Rwanda.
6. Thanksgiving: that the Lord hears the cries of His people and moves on their behalf for his purposes.

Suggested prayer to be used every Sunday until the election of the new Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda:

Sovereign God, by the power of your Holy Spirit, we ask that you guide and direct those who will choose the next Archbishop of Rwanda; an archbishop who will continue to have your heart, listen to your voice and guide us in the fulfillment of your kingdom purposes.

Summer Breeze lead singer Chris Sieggen arranged a festival tribute to “yacht rock”, the smooth sound made popular by artists like Kenny Loggins, Hall & Oats and the Doobie Brothers in the 70s and 80s. Chris also serves as worship leader at Cambridge.

For fifteen years, a band of Cambridge Church faithful hurried through the halls of their borrowed space, arranging chairs into neat rows, laying wires, adjusting microphones and hauling tubs of Sunday School materials into classrooms. With the purchase of 16 acres two years ago, everyone’s hopes ran sky high for building a permanent space to call their church home.

Then the US recession hit; effectively plowing under their field of dreams.

The Cambridge congregation had raised 1.7 million dollars toward construction on permanent space on the acreage adjacent to Blue Valley Middle School. When the economic downturn hit, however, the bank changed their mind about loaning the remainder of the required funds.

“We were crushed and disappointed,” admits the Rev. Jay Fowler. “Our initial thinking was: ‘All we have is property with no building. It doesn’t seem like enough to do anything with.’”
Instead of waiting around, Cambridge leaders decided to transform the acreage into a park to serve the community. The new venture launched in June with a festival called Summer Breeze, featuring a band by the same name.

Alex Bonham-Carter/Sun Photo: Cambridge Church members Mike Kroeger, left, and Lee Saugstad prepare concrete to install disc golf baskets on church property at 163rd Terrace and Roe Avenue.

The new park includes a nine-hole disc golf course, soccer and football practice fields, a playground area, and a prayer garden. Determined to use the land God gave them to bless the community, Pastor Jay hammered some of the disc golf goals into the dry land himself.

Nearly 400 people enjoyed inflatables, concessions, face painting, juggling and free Frisbees at the festival.

“Our church is more about people than a building,” said Mark Kroeger, Cambridge Church member, “it is about the community that you build.”

Read this story in Sun Publications.

The African boy trotted onto the soccer field holding his precious bundle of plastic grocery bags bound with a fistful of rubber bands. His pace quickened when he spotted the American visitor holding up an authentic USA soccer ball. Robert Crow, Relationship Director for Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Company (LOTH) offered a trade. Within minutes of the exchange, a mass of shoeless, dusty children encircled him. They all wanted to broker the same deal… Robert didn’t bring enough balls for everyone.

Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Company has a rich relationship with the community of Bukonya that goes far beyond a cup of dark roast coffee. “We are building a bridge from our partner churches in the US to villages like Bukonya based on blessing their work and not charity,” explains Robert.

Last month, LOTH hosted their first official mission trip to the region. Employees and coffee ambassadors captured firsthand the spiritual and economic changes that growing coffee makes in the local people. The team picked “cherries” alongside coffee growers in the fields, helped to sort beans at the wash station and kicked the traditional first ball out onto the newly completed soccer field.

When people buy Rwandan coffee, whether a cup of joe served at their store in Roswell, Georgia, or in a church hallway, it is not just about profitability. Proceeds help provide a fair, sustainable wage for the African coffee growers and an opportunity for reconciliation and forgiveness.

Local banana farmers profit a few cents per pound, but coffee growers earn more for their specialty-grade Rwandan cherries. When farmers choose to grow coffee, life vastly improves, their children can attend school, families can afford insurance. Practical needs like clothing and food are no longer a struggle.

In the fields, lives are also radically changed. “Growing coffee is an incredible catalyst for this transformation,” explains Robert. “Communities in Rwanda are reconciling [as] genocide perpetrators work alongside family members of those they killed…forgiveness is taking place.” He also reports that the farmers are uplifted to know their own stories of reconciliation are making a difference as they are shared in America.

“It is simple to just write a check, but when you brew LOTH coffee, you are actually funding sustainability.”

Watch a video from the LOTH ambassador trip to Rwanda.

For more about Land of a Thousand Hills’ mission, future ambassador trips or your church partnering to brew Rwandan coffee contact Robert.