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Family Ministry:: 2012

Every January I enjoy previewing the upcoming year in Family Ministry. Through a variety of means, FM will periodically update  the Apex body about our efforts to minister to children, students and their families. In the coming weeks we will present information about things like Apologia, Summer Camps, Dad-Daughter Dances, House Church Resources, Family Mission Trips, Parent-Child Dedications, Operation Christmas Child, Mission Clubs, PJ Purity Party, Revolve Tour, Service Projects, Underground Church, VBS and a host of other things.

All of those things are designed to present the Gospel to our families, our neighbors and our world. We believe that these efforts are valuable in that they encourage, educate and motivate our families to share the Gospel to those God has placed in their households and life path.

Ultimately, it is the duty of Parents and Guardians to share the Gospel to the children or students in their care. It will always be on my mind and in my heart, to provide support to those seeking to share the Gospel with the Kids and Teens they care about the most.

2012 will present a unique cultural backdrop to which families will live out their lives.  In a year where so many messages will permeate our homes and the minds of those we love most, we must not cease presenting the “Gospel”  to our families. If we are not vigilant, our households will hang on the words of those who are cross, instead of the words of the one who hung on “the” cross. We must teach our children to trust and  have confidence in God, not mankind.

Developing a Child’s Confidence in God

Psalm 27:1-3 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Through a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise up against me, in this will I be confident.

The Bible is an inexhaustable source of strength and advice, Psalm 27:1-3, is just one of many scriptures that directs us to trust in God and not to be afraid. A family that will memorize and meditate upon this verse will have a solid biblical point of reference when life seems threatening.

A Simple Daily Plan

The book of Proverbs contains many principles that clearly speak to questions and scenarios that face all family members. I would humbly suggest that many of the questions that will be posed in 2012, are answered in these 31 chapters. Read one chapter a day, chapter 1 on the 1st, chapter 2 on the 2nd and so forth. Repeating this every month will provide opportunity to focus on a different verse or two within each chapter. Let me offer this last bit of advice . . .

If there is an “ant” mentioned in a verse – READ THAT VERSE TWICE!

This blog post was written by Kevin Bowman, Team Lead for Family Ministry.

Growing:: Marriage Conference – Single?

Weekend Recap – Jan. 14/15, 2012

This past weekend was our 10 year anniversary as a church…well, technically speaking, January 6th would be our 10 year anniversary, but we chose to celebrate it this past weekend.

God has been incredibly faithful to this community and we wanted our gatherings to reflect that well.  We did NOT want it to be a “look how cool Apex is” kind of day. We wanted it to be a “Wow, God is really REALLY faithful!” kind of day.

We started out the gatherings talking about the story of “Ebenezer” from I Samuel 7.  It’s a strong reminder to us all that we are only here by God’s grace.  All odds pointed to this “Apex-thing” flopping in a major way.  But God moved…and protected…and provided…and loved…and sustained…and so on and so on. That is the story in I Samual 7 and that is our story too.
After discussing Ebenezer, we introduced our new announcement video called The Lowdown. This video will be updated each week and will help you know what is coming up in the life of Apex.
This was a fun weekend as far as songs go. We did a couple that we were doing our very first year as a church as well as some newer ones.  Here’s our setlist…

Kettering:

1. My Glorious – by Delirious
2. Alive – by Sovereign Grace Music
3. The Greatness of Our God – by One Sonic Society
4. You Said – by Hillsong
5. You’ve Stayed – by the Apex Band

Xenia:

1. My Glorious – by Delirious
2. One Thing Remains – by Jesus Culture
3. God of Wonders – by City on a Hill
4. Before the Throne of God Above – by Sovereign Grace Music
5. You’ve Stayed – by the Apex Band

Throughout the gathering, we heard from various Apexers via video about how they saw God’s faithfulness to Apex since they’d joined the community. It was great to hear stories of our very first day, family members saved, relationships built, and the church being deepened throughout these past 10 years.

Both Rob Turner & Jason Wing preached on Psalm 36 which, again, just brings us back to the extreme faithfulness of God. The sermons reminded us to keep our attention on what God has done, be humble about where He has brought us, and never forget our great need for Him.

To close, we had elders & key leaders from Apex’s history come and pray over the church in each gathering. We thanked God for 10 great years and prayed for His wisdom as we approach the next 10.

So, Apex is 10 years old. My hope is that 10 years is only a drop in the bucket compared to the plans God has for our future.  No matter what, when the name “Apex” fades away, the name of Jesus will still be standing strong and that is why we worship HIM!

Growing:: New Year Post

As we enter 2012, we are thankful to the Lord for the opportunities that will be available in the Growing Ministry at Apex Church. New classes for Christ believers, as well as those searching for answers about Christ will be offered in the new year. The counseling and discipleship ministry will also offer a variety of equipping gatherings on topics such as: marriage, parenting, finances and men’s and women’s conferences. The Apex counseling team will continue their monthly training in order to better serve the body of Christ here at Apex.

Paul Tripp Conference
We are excited that Apex is hosting the ‘Redeeming the Realities Marriage Conference’ with Paul Tripp March 23 and 24.

Whether you are a teen, student, single, dating, engaged, married, divorced or widowed this marriage conference will be beneficial for you. Why are we encouraging everyone to come? Often, we believe that marriage is for fulfilling our own needs, wants, and desires. We pray that this conference will give Apex a bigger picture of marriage, and that is to give Him glory. You still might be wondering why would we want everyone to come? Singles, there may come a day when you are sitting across from someone wondering if this is the person you will marry. We desire for you to view marriage as God views it this side of the aisle. Also, you probably have married friends. If a friend comes to you struggling in their marriage, we want you to be able to guide them with His love, truth, and grace.
Apex, we plead with you to join us in the following:

1. Pray that God will get glory through this conference.
2. Register for this conference and tell your friends!

Cost for registration is $15 per person. See the table in the lobby or the missions’ cafe for more details. Registration will be open to Apex ONLY until Feb 4. After Feb 4, anyone can register. Seating is limited! Visit the table in the lobby or the missions’ cafe to pick-up your registration envelope. Information about childcare registration is available at the tables. If you have questions contact Melanie Begg at melanie.begg@apexcommunity.org

Shep Prep
At Apex, we live out discipleship within the context of small groups of Christians known as house churches. Apex house churches are facilitated by house church shepherds. We encourage every current and future house church shepherd to receive the equipping they need for ministry within a house church through Shep Prep. There are two steps to Shep Prep.

The first step is The Bible Class. The Bible Class is a 13-Week equipping seminar where participants learn who the Biblical God is, what God is doing in the World, how to interpret scripture, and what it means to be the community of God on mission for Christ. Registration for the Bible Class closed January 1, but look forward to future opportunities soon.

The second step is House Church Shepherd Development – aka Shep Prep. The Shepherd-in-Training will meet with another shepherd and walk through topics such as the spiritual disciplines and formation, house church ministry, Christian servant-leadership, and missions through the house church among other topics. Shepherds-in-training will receive coaching as they go into house church ministry so they can receive wisdom and advice as they serve the church and raise up the next generation of disciples themselves. Training for Shep Prep will take place within the first quarter of 2012.

The Gospel Class
Do you have questions about God? Who is He? What is he like? Who is Jesus? Why did he die on the cross? Did he really raise from the dead? Does any of this really matter to me? Maybe you want to know more about Jesus and His life. Every month Apex offers the Gospel Class for people with questions like these. We will learn about the new life that Jesus gives as he saves us from our sin and death. Jesus saves us from death and into life with God in a new family – the Church. The next class is January 8, 15, and 22 from 11:30-12:45 in the upstairs conference room. Classes last three weeks and all the materials are provided. If you are interested in The Gospel Class, please contact Jason Zastrow at growing@apexcommunity.org.

weekend recap – January 7/8, 2012

In Kettering, our gatherings were formed around John 10:22-30.  Rob Turner preached from that text and our band aimed our songs at that text as well.
Our songs were:

1. Your Love Never Fails – based on the arrangement by Jesus Culture
2. Hosanna – by Brooke Fraser
3. To Know Your Name – by Matt Crocker
4. Everlasting God – by Glenn Packiam
5. Be Thou My Vision – based on the arrangement by Ascend the Hill

In Xenia, our gatherings were formed around John 10:1-10. Jason Wing preached on that text and our band did an acoustic set with songs that fit that passage as well.
Our songs were:

1. Your Love Never Fails – based on the arrangement by Jesus Culture
2. It’s So Sweet to Trust in Jesus – based on the Apex Band’s arrangement from the new “AGES” cd.
3. Rock of Ages – also based on the Apex Band’s arrangement from the new “AGES” cd.
4. None but Jesus – by Brooke Fraser
5. Your Great Name – based on the arrangement by Natalie Grant

Year in Review :: Jesse Bowers

The first tendency that you have when writing year end reflections is to immediately start looking at all that we have accomplished. This is not inherently wrong, but I believe that when looking back, you should do so with a very sober mind. Were it not for the grace of God, our church wouldn’t exist, our mission, wouldn’t exist, and all our efforts would be in vain. So as I start to reflect on 2011, I first give praise to God for all things we accomplished that glorified God, and I look back with sorrow on all of the opportunities that were wasted on ourselves.

Now that playing field has been leveled, I think that we can rightly look upon the accomplishments of Apex working out God’s mission. Through various Apexers, we were able to reach the following locations: Monterrey & Cancun Mexico, Malawi, India, Pikeville KY, Jamaica, Haiti, Honduras, South Dakota, New York, Zambia, and all of the countries touched by the World Race. This list is not exhaustive, but gives a sampling of how God has mobilized our body to over a dozen places outside of the Miami Valley.

Apart from sending people, we have also sent our money to many places around the world. The missions elders have a heart for the unreached people groups of the world. While many churches choose to send much money and people to places where the gospel has been heard, God has burdened the hearts of the elders to support initiatives that raise up indigenous Christians to take the gospel to their own, many times under oppressive governments. Much of our effort is spent with the organization called TENT that raises of groups throughout India to take the gospel to unreached places. They also focus on creating wealth among the world’s poorest people through reproducible and sustainable microenterprise efforts. Apex Going funds also support many gospel efforts within the 10/40 window, covering areas of North Africa, the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia. Many of the places that supported are sensitive areas that cannot be reported on, because Christian persecution is so rampant.

Apart from going, we have also seen many people couple. We had the opportunity to see Dr. Vijayam and his wife com from TENT as well as Sunil Daniel who works closely with us, helping to create foundations among some of our ministries, where the mindset among the people for microcredit and microenterprise does not yet exist. Through his efforts, people have been supported in both Honduras and Zambia.

Consistency has defined much of the missions efforts of our church body. One great pillar of world initiatives is our missions cafe. Through Apexers support of the cafe, programs in Mexico for orphans as well as missionaries have been supported. Rita Haworth, who takes on the bulk of the responsibilities of the cafe has been able to travel back and forth to Mexico, establishing relationships and sharing love with orphans who have seen know more of abandonment than of affection. As the new gathering has launched in Xenia, another missions cafe has opened up in that facility to also support missions efforts, with a primary focus on local mission.

This year we were graced with the opportunity to send some of our own into the far reaches of the world. Kaleb and Stacey Elderidge recently departed from America to live amongst the hurting and the poor of Honduras. They are in the process of identifying which village the should choose to become a part of. They are partnering with Heart for Honduras in their efforts. We also had the joy of sending off Kristen Paulick to Cambodia. Kristen traveled on the World race and found her heart burdened for the sex trafficking industry there. Kristen left to live among these hurting girls, sharing the gospel with them and working on ways to teach them to support themselves so that the cycle of slavery can end.

Many ministries have happened this year, too many to mention them all. Our ministry to the world does not overshadow our ministry to our own neighborhoods. Ministries like the Shoes4theShoeless, Target Dayton, Dayton Gospel Mission, Brief Blessings, Family Violence Prevention Centers, ESL Training, Elderly Care, and a host of other efforts have been seen this year, many coming from house churches trying to love on their community.

So Apex, much has been by our church to take the life giving and freeing gospel of our savior to those who are dying and lost. I praise God for His blessing on our church and I pray that He would continue to bless has we abide obediently in Him. We must never be satisfied that we have done enough. Our efforts should grow as our church body matures. We did much in 2011, but we can serve our God more in 2012. Philippians 3 must be our foundation as we look to a new year. What has been done in the past year is done, but we are on a constant ascent to true obedience in Christ. As we serve our Lord, we must remember to invite others who are not yet rapture by God’s heart for the lost and show them the joy that they are missing, if they do not obediently serve. God has blessed Apex and may He continue to bless Apex, and to Him be the glory for all things!

Year in Review :: Rob Turner

Hi Everyone,

The Preaching and Teaching ministry of Apex has experienced significant changes within this past year. As I get older it seems like the scope of year goes by faster and faster and I do not realize all that has taken place until I do an activity like this blog entry to force me to observe what God has done. At the risk of sounding trite, I can only think time and again of God’s faithfulness so I type the following words with a heart that has been warmed and enlarged over God’s goodness to His children.

As many of you know, 2011 began our journey within our gatherings to preach through the Gospel of John in its entirety. This is not the first time that we have preached through a whole book of the Bible, but nothing to this magnitude. It is December 9th as I write this and we are going to finish John 9 at this weekend’s gatherings. That means it has taken us a whole year to preach through less than half of the Gospel of John! I will not speak to anybody’s heart except my own, but I have greatly needed this sermon series to anchor me deeper into the joy of the deity of Jesus. By His grace, I look forward to the next year and a half of walking through this important Gospel.

In 2011, we also saw the beginnings of what will be known in 2012 as the Apex Preaching Collective (APC). Over a period of a few months I met weekly with eight men who were exploring at varying levels the ministry of preaching. These were wonderful, challenging times as we explored together the character and competence of proclaiming God’s Word. The outflow of that experience contributed to the first “official” round of the APC, which begins in mid-January. Please be in prayer for the thirteen men who have been selected for this five-month weekly endeavor.

More personally, this past year has altered my personal preaching ministry to Apex Community. In October, Apex launched another venue of worship gatherings in Xenia, OH. As of this writing I can safely say that this launch has been highly encouraging and challenging at the same time. The participation in these two new gatherings has been numerous, which creates leadership challenges that we are entrusting to the Lord for wisdom, dependence, and perseverance. Practically this new venue has contoured my Apex preaching schedule that is now divided between Apex Xenia and Apex Kettering. Within that rotation is a veteran Apexer in Jason Wing. The preaching gifting in this brother has been growing exponentially within the last three years and I am enjoying how God is using him as he preaches at both Apex sites. It is a good thing if you are reading this to pause and pray for Jason and his precious wife, Rachel, as they experience the weight that can accompany a preaching responsibility.

One of the convictions of the Apex elders has been the continual emphasis on leadership development throughout the Apex network of house churches. To aid that end, Jason Zastrow was brought on staff this past Fall to help with network solidarity and to teach head (knowledge), heart (affections), and hand (practical) principles to our wonderful house church leaders in order that they may lead more effectively. I have known Jason for three years and am confident that God will use him to infuse further health into the house church network. He has a daunting task but God is faithful and I again exhort you to pray for Jason Zastrow.

I want to conclude by saying that our family has been lavished with grace to be a part of the Apex Community. There are countless moments, seasons, and years where the Lord used this body to draw me time and time again to the well of Christ. It is always an honor and grace to serve you, and my family is reaping the benefit of your collective pursuit of our precious Christ. Merry Christmas and let us pray that this year would be the year where we can see our Jesus face to face!

Needing Him, Rob

Year in Review :: Kevin Bowman

“Who we Serve”

Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.

This verse is found in a section of scripture where the Apostle Paul provides guidance to husbands, wives, children and those who find themselves in the of service of another. This advice applied, and still applies to men or women, young or old and free or bond. For the believer, it is an approach to life that encourages us to focus on bringing glory to God rather than ourselves. Additionally, we know that our investment in God ordained relationships and the fulfillment of our earthly responsibilities, is intended please our heavenly Father above all others.

In looking back at 2011, it is humbling to consider the number of ways God blessed the Apex body. To frame those blessings only in terms of Big Events, Community Service, and 7200 shoe boxes would obscure our purpose of sharing the Gospel and redirect glory due only to God. If indeed God was pleased with something this past year, it had to be those people who purposed to “work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”

I am daily thankful for so many staffers and volunteers who provide balanced support and sincere encouragement. They continually remind everyone that the ministry we participate in belongs to God, not us. I take great comfort in the fact that I am surrounded by believers that know the difference between “what we do” and “Who we Serve.”

In the event that any of us lose sight of the reason for what we do and why we serve, I will offer the words of one of our Kid Life children. When asked why they were raising money at the “Lemonade Stand” for Japanese Tsunami victims, a well taught and very perceptive Kid Lifer replied, “it’s like doing something for Jesus!” That child knows whom they are serving . . .

Kevin Bowman
Family Ministry Team Lead

Year in Review :: Jason Zastrow

Really? Is 2011 almost over? Oh, where did you go? An aspect of a year coming to a close that brings us excitement is the simple act of reflection. Growing provides shared teaching, accountability, community through house churches, opportunities for discipleship and encouragement as we go out as workers into the harvest.

We are excited to report that 39 individuals participated in Shep Prep throughout the network this past year. Each region took their own group through a training in the Gospel, Spiritual Formation, Doctrine, House Church Ministry, and Biblical study. From these 39 individuals who participated, eleven new house churches were multiplied! Four additional house churches were planted in Region Two with the launch of the gathering in Xenia. There are now approximately 80 house churches across the Apex network.

Apex Growing looks forward to new offerings in the new year for your development and growth as disciples and house churches. If you desire to shepherd a house church, prayerfully consider taking The Bible Class starting January 15, 2011. The Bible Class forms the biblical foundation you need to guide and shepherd God’s people in the truth of His word and ways. Applications and information can be found at the table next to the women’s restroom outside of the main auditorium. If you are interested in The Bible Class or have any questions please e-mail growing@apexcommunity.org.

This past year was a tremendous one for the Apex Biblical Counseling & Discipleship Ministry. Below are some additional highlights for 2011:

• Approximately 35-40 people were seen for counseling/discipleship reasons per week in 2011

•20 Apexers committed to join the Counseling/Alongsider Team to help hurting people

•Monthly training sessions for the counseling team, house church leaders and other Apexers were completed

•Quarterly large group training events were held on topics such as: Discipleship, Financial Peace and Knowing God

•Additional finance classes were added due to increased interest from the large group training events

•We hosted both a women’s and a men’s conference at Apex

As we reflect on the Apex Counseling Ministry, we are encouraged. Many individuals and couples were healed from life struggles as they sought God’s restoration and direction in their lives. Often we think and pray, “Lord, we do not know what to do here – Please, give us wisdom. Guide us to see more of You.” And people made decisions to rededicate their lives to Christ and some decisions were made to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

When people in the midst of chaos see the ‘Light of God’ shining, even if it is just a scant ray of hope, it is a joy for us. It is a joy to see people grow in knowing the Lord. We have seen people repent of adultery, persevere in darkness, fight for joy when all is hopeless, forgive when the world says they should not. To get a glimpse into the work that He is doing in people’s hearts in their darkest moments is amazing, humbling and convicting. However, that is not all.

What brings us even greater joy is when people who are growing in Christ join Gospel-centered community – even in hard times. When people are in a community that desires to see them flourish in Him, often, they continue to run the race. It is not always easy. The body of Christ is messy. We do not have it all together. That’s why we need Him! It is messy and hard at times, but it’s beautiful when Jesus is at the center. It is beautiful when we are spurring one another on, bearing with one another and sharing His name with others. May we continue to love one another as He has loved us while we are on His mission!

As you reflect along with us, we encourage you to take the time to think upon and thank the Lord for how He has made Himself known through your life and your house church. Please send us any stories you would like to share with the network.

We are excited to see where the Lord takes Apex in 2012! May King Jesus reign in our hearts and our house churches.

The Apex Growing Team
growing@apexcommunity.org

Year in Review :: Phil Wing

When I think about this past year, I can’t help but thank God for his faithfulness to Apex.

God has brought us to and through a lot in 2011. Even just in the Gathering “G” we experienced quite a bit. (Go here if you don’t know what the G’s are).

Here are some of the highlights of Gathering:

•We saw many people come to know Jesus! This is such an honor. It’s a front row seat to the best show on earth…God saving people!

•We celebrated with around 40 people who were baptized in our gatherings and countless others who were baptized in their house churches.

•We moved from primarily using a single preacher to starting a preaching team. This fit our overall Apex vision much better as it utilized shared leadership, not relying too heavily on one personality, raising up others to do the work of the church, etc.

•Our elders and preaching team decided to change from a topical type of preaching (themed sermon series’) to an expository type (going verse by verse through books of the Bible). We dove into the Gospel of John in January 2011 and it has been awesome! We will likely still be in the Gospel of John for most of 2012 as well.

•Our bands hosted two great Nights of Worship where the Apex body came together to sing, pray, and just respond to God.

•Our bands wrote more songs than we ever have before in order to give our church family an opportunity to sing songs that come from our family and speak on behalf of our family.

•Our bands also committed to a renewed emphasis on re-arranging older hymns for use in our gatherings. See this video for more explanation.

•Following our passion to write new songs and to rearrange older hymns, we recorded the music from our September Night of Worship and were able to make the Apex Band’s 3rd album, “AGES”, which released in December.

•Almost every ministry area of Apex was able to take some time in our gatherings this year and cast vision for why they do what they do. Many ministries did this multiple times. We call this “Big Picture” because it helps keep the vision in front of us at all times.

•We were able to pray over and “send out” many missionaries and short-term mission teams. We call this “Dispatch Prayer” because it is simply Apex dispatching it’s missionaries to other parts of the city, country, and world.

•For the 2nd year in a row, we took part in Orphan Weekend. All of our gatherings that weekend were aimed at helping the church see God’s heart for the lonely, broken, and needy. It was not meant to increase pity, but to equip us for “religion that is pure and undefiled”. Go here for more info on why and how to get involved in caring for orphans.

•One of the biggest undertakings of this past year was launching a brand new gathering in Xenia! This was a HUGE venture for Apex but God has been working in big ways. Having gatherings in 2 parts of the Dayton area (Kettering and Xenia) increases our ability to carry forth our mission of really reaching people with the Gospel, right where they are.

•Between Kettering and Xenia, we have seen a lot of new leaders rise to the surface. From new band members & band leaders, to new setup & tear down crews, new Frontline team members (parking, greeting, help desk, safety, etc), new Family Ministry leaders, and many others. Seeing people jump in and serve or lead is one of the most energizing things to see!

There are many other things worth mentioning…like our Easter gatherings, or having the Target Dayton Choir join us for a couple weekends, or our collection weekend for Operation Christmas Child (which I’m assuming will be talked about in another blog post), or…or…or…you get the idea. There are a lot of highlights. More than I can even mention here.

Plain and simple, God has been so faithful to us this past year! Thinking back on it makes me extremely excited for what God may have in store for 2012.

“oh for grace to trust Him more!”