We Have a Home
Christ City recently signed a lease with Minglewood Hall.  We are excited about this partnership with the premiere concert venue in our area. Minglewood has a similar heart for being a force for creative renewal in the center of Memphis, and is a well known gathering place for a lot of the people we feel called to reach. The management there has been very encouraging to us. The space is a fit for us in so many ways and has enough room for us to grow over the next year.

1st Preview Service
Sunday June 13th, we hosted our first summer preview service. Many of you were actively praying for this first public worship gathering and for that we are grateful. We got a sense that something unusual was happening when at 10:25 we had to start setting out more chairs. Our final count was 90 adults and 22 children – many more than we had hoped, prayed, or planned for. More importantly, there was a distinct sense of the Spirit’s presence as believers and unbelievers alike came together to sing and listen to words proclaiming the power found only in the sacrificial death of Jesus.

New Staff & Residents
We are in the process of bringing our first staff and pastoral residents on board. The first to join us are Caleb & Casey Sigler.  Caleb leads the church in worship and arts and Casey is working for us part-time in an administrative capacity. Their ministry and friendship along with the rest of our stellar team have been a giant blessing to us. Keep your eyes on http://www.christcitymemphis.org as we add more staff and residents this summer.

How to Pray For Us
This summer, there are several opportunities to pray for us:

• June 26th – 30th: I Art Memphis – multiple interactive art “mini-camps” that we are hosting in Midtown-area parks for families & kids. This is an effort to get know and serve our neighbors while simultaneously getting the word out about our new church.

• July 11th: Our 2nd preview service. I’m preaching on the idea that our final hope for the renewal of all things is what gives us energy and power to work for the renewal of our city here and now.

• August 15th: Our 3rd and final preview service before launch. The theme, that a response to God’s initiating love demands that we fight for loving community in the middle of diversity, will be used to launch our City Groups, home-based communities designed to help people live on mission together.

Also continue to pray for wisdom and discernment as we make crucial decisions and plans for the future, protection from the enemy for our families, that God would be gracious in granting a harvest of new converts, and that the leaders and families of our church would have a single-focused zeal to know and pursue Christ.

Financial Support
If you have or are currently financially supporting Christ City Church, your gifts are not in vain. We are so unbelievably grateful for your sacrifice – and you need to know that you are helping plant the gospel deep in center city Memphis. Thank you!

As we prepare for launch, we will to need more resources for new administrative staff, weekly facility rental, promotion and purchases for worship, Christ City Kids, and signage.

Will you consider Christ City Church for your budget? If you’re already a financial partner – will you consider recommending us to a friend or another church looking for a new work to get behind? If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thank you again for your help, prayers, support, and encouragement. We could not do what we’re doing without the aid and support we feel from Christians literally around the world.

-Jonathan for the Christ City Team

Have You Seen?

• Our new address:
  673 N. Auburndale St.
  Memphis, TN 38107

• Our website and vision video.

• New Church will Bring Grace, Renewal and Love to Memphis - an interview with Jonathan in Memphis Connect.

• Roll Over, Elvis. Meet Indie Memphis. – an article from The New York Times on our neighborhood.

• Friend us at our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter.

Jonathan, Ashley, Cora, and Nola

As you know, the McIntosh family is planting a new church in Midtown Memphis in 2010: Christ City Church.

If you would like to make a year end gift to help start this new church – there are a few options to make this happen:
1. You can write a check, made out to Christ City Church.
Our temporary address is 889 Mt. Vernon Rd. Tupelo, MS 38804.
2. You can wire money to the Christ City checking account. Email me for details on how to do this.
3. You can donate now via PayPal using a credit or debit card or PayPal account.

(PAYPAL*CHRIST CITY will appear on your credit card or bank statement.)

This money goes towards salaries, administrative costs, staffing strategic leaders, promotional needs, and facility rental once we launch.
If you’d like to see a copy of our first year budget or the vision packet, don’t hesitate to email me.

Take a look at my kids in the picture above. Do it for the children.

Seriously, do it because you believe that planting new churches is the best way to spread the gospel in city centers.
Do it because you resonate with the vision of a gospel-centered, missional church.
Do it because you strongly desire to see a community formed that proclaims grace and works for city renewal.
Do it for the glory of God and the good of the city of Memphis.

With much love and gratitude,
-JMac

Yesterday in talking to two different pastors in Memphis, the topic of public schools came up two different times.

One said to me in the context of his church’s and his family’s missional engagement with the city, “We decided to do the opposite of what most have done. People left the city and we decided to move in. People have pulled their kids out of public schools and we decided to put our kids in city schools.” I resonated with his passion.

Another conversation, this pastor, too, with a heart to send people on mission back into the city, but with a different approach to schools.  “The main way that I’m going to be on mission is not going to be through my 10 year old. I don’t expect him to be prepared for that. That’s not a risk I’m willing to take.” I was certainly sympathetic.

So the question is this: in a city like Memphis, or St. Louis – whose school system lost their accreditation in 2007 – what posture should a missional leader personally take toward the public schools?  Does a pastor or member of a church seeking city renewal have a responsibility to enroll their kids in the public school system? Why or why not? Is putting your kids in city schools an effective strategy for mission – or is there a better way for families to be on mission together?

Why Memphis?
The short answer is that we love it. For seven years, Ashley & I lived just outside of Memphis, and a lot of the earliest memories of our life together were formed there: Ashley said yes to me as I knelt at the Memphis Botanic Garden. We listened to a lot of jazz & shared romantic dinners at Cielo (now Mollie Fontaine).  And whether it was hanging out at Overton Park or movies at Studio on the Square, we found ourselves drawn back to Memphis over the years, specifically an area called Midtown.

Memphis is connected in some surprising ways to St. Louis, our home for the last five years of our lives.  The economies of both cities have been shaped through time by their dependence on the Mississippi River, and understanding each includes understanding the racial and socioeconomic lines that divide both cities. Memphis is also the home of the Redbirds, the minor league affiliate of the Cardinals, which means we still get to root for the Cards!

It makes sense, after five years away, that we would come to Memphis to plant.

Midtown Memphis
Our sights are set on Midtown Memphis – known for its diversity, the best restaurants in the city, its music and arts scene, and a growing theater district.

Midtown is home to many of Memphis’ creative class. The urban progressives who call Midtown their home love their city (a popular bumper sticker claims “Midtown is Memphis”) and disdain the “suburbanization of Memphis.” Thus, one key to reaching the Memphis Metro area is reaching Midtown and letting all of the implications of the gospel for the public square take root and grow there.  The pathway is open for churches that proclaim Christ and love their city to be planted in this area.

What You Can Do
The number one obvious answer is prayer. Absolutely, more than you or I understand, we need many, many people to pray for us.

From my experience, church planters endure much spiritual warfare – so please pray for us. Pray for our family, for our marriage, pray for Memphis and specifically Midtown. Pray that key relationships will be made that will open up doors for the gospel. Pray.

And, without a doubt, we need money. Given our country’s current economic climate, it might appear foolish to head out and plant a church at this time. I know, however, that our God has accomplished much more with much less. With Him, all things are possible.

If you’re a leader of a church-planting church, and you are in step with the gospel-centered missional emphasis you’ve seen through Rethink Mission, strongly consider putting this new work in your 2010 budget.  We need many financial partners to give monthly toward this work.

The Glorious Ruin
Let me say this as well: you, too, should consider moving to Memphis. No city reminds me more of Francis Schaeffer’s term for humanity: “The Glorious Ruin.” As you look at the city’s people, its architecture, the rich cultural and musical history – Memphis is a glory indeed. At the same time, many would acknowledge with one glance at the schools, past (and current) race relations, and the conditions of many living in the city center that something in Memphis is profoundly broken.

Do you have hopes of living for something greater than yourself? Are you a dreamer, a builder, a risk-taker? Pray. Pray about moving to Memphis, getting a job, starting a business, or raising money and being an integral part of this new work.

If you are interested in joining our launch team in 2010 or are interested in becoming a financial partner, email me to request a vision packet.

Watch this site for more details in the month to come.

1. Pray for us.
2. Partner with us financially.
3. Consider joining us.

For the gospel. For the city.

-JMac