'New Beginnings' to launch in Grand Prairie area

BY DR. JOAN G. LABARR
Editor

Ask Rev. Perry Crenshaw where to find the office for his new church start, and expect a surprise answer. Since June of 2008, when Rev. Crenshaw was appointed to start a new congregation in Grand Prairie, he has set up shop at a supermarket Starbucks.

Armed with a laptop and  his outgoing personality, Rev. Crenshaw has been making connections with scores of people from all walks of life. Now that his church, now christened “New Beginnings Christian Fellowship,” is scheduled to launch on May 31, he has more details to share, like the first worship space. Plans are being finalized for the fledgling congregation to worship at Homestead Funeral Home, located at 295 South Beltline Road.

“Right now my primary focus is to build up the people…to get them in the seats. Once we have a congregation, we will evaluate our needs. We may have several temporary locations before we build,” Rev. Crenshaw explains. With the launch date in sight, excitement is building. “I really sense excitement on the part of our team, for some of them, especially those in my family, we have not had a specific church home for months, we have been Christian ‘vagabonds,’ visiting from church to church.”

This has also provided benefits – for Rev. Crenshaw who is able to observe various church styles and structures, and for family members who have enjoyed a sense of freedom in selecting where they will worship from week to week. Nevertheless, the group is committed to staying connected and enjoys meeting regularly to share and analyze what they have learned in their church visits. “We really enjoy processing, and once we get our act together, we believe this will give us insights to help us take off. It will be a balance between taking our time and moving forward as we work the bugs out,” he indicates.

“Our challenge is to act our age and our size as we build a center for ministry,” he says, noting that at this point the big emphasis is on the praise and worship team and hospitality ministries, such as ushers, greeters and parking lot volunteers, as well as having a well-run nursery for infants and toddlers. Rev. Crenshaw is also intent that sound financial practices and structures be put in place from the beginning.

Given the space situation, Rev. Crenshaw sees a big emphasis on neighborhood-based small groups, a focus grounded in ministry, as well as practicality. He explains: “What I like about small groups for fellowship and accountability is that they are a superb discipleship mechanism – as John Wesley demonstrated – and in this day and age, the convenience is also a key piece…Am I more likely to meet in a house five blocks from my home, or travel 15 miles to a church building?”

Rev. Crenshaw has built a launch team of 25 to 30, some of them family members. Some are long-time acquaintances, and others are those he has encountered in the Grand Prairie mission field where he has been a visible presence since last summer.

He feels that one area where he has been able to excel is connecting with the influencers in the community. After making a very intentional effort to meet city and civic leaders and other key persons, he says, “They know me and I know them.” These key contacts are helpful in his goal of helping people, “buy into the vision before the vision becomes a reality.”

He sees reaching the ordinary residents of the community as a more difficult and somewhat slower process, which is one of the reasons for his Starbucks “office.” He also believes that once the congregation is established in a definite location, and people can invite friends, family and acquaintances to worship at a specific place, the word will get out faster.

The funeral home location is in the heart of the church’s target area, near South Grand Prairie High School, with elementary schools, businesses, apartments and homes within a three-mile radius.

Rev. Crenshaw says that all of the training and support he has received has been of great value, not only in helping him with the difficult tasks involved with launching a church, but also in enabling him to be a better pastor overall. His coach is Christian Washington, from St. John UMC in Houston, and he calls the whole process “a wonderful learning experience.”

Director of part-time office administrative assistant. Persons interested may call Rev. Terry Ann Moore, 972-262-1456. Church Development and Transformation Rev. Jim Ozier explains that all of the coaches for NTC new church pastors have been trained by Jim Griffith Associates and that Washington, who led the strategic planning process at St. John’s, one of the fastest-growing churches in the Texas Conference, is also coach for Rev. Derek Jacobs, who starting a St. Luke “Community” satellite campus in southern Dallas County.

Training has been a swirl involving boot camp, the New Church Planters Institute, as well as the assessment process to ascertain whether he would be a good candidate as a church start pastor. He has also read numerous books, and he says that ultimately, a key help has been to talk with successful new church pastors, who have done what he is trying to accomplish.

He is also well aware of the diversity of skills required to be a start-up pastor in what was once termed a “parachute drop” situation in which a pastor is placed in a community and charged with starting a church. Now, with more support and training, the pastors are termed “entrepreneur pastors.” They must put a high priority on networking, with civic groups, government, business community, and the religious community, plus they need to be know something about architecture, contracts, insurance, and like all successful business owners, be adept at marketing to the constituency they hope to reach.

One of his key initial insights was just how big the Grand Prairie area is. “We are on the border of Dallas and Tarrant Counties, and include six school districts that serve Grand Prairie, Irving, Midlothian, Arlington, Cedar Hill and Mansfield, “Rev. Crenshaw says. He has been focused on activities that are both missional and visible, such as participating in a parent/teacher conference health fair that drew 3,500 people, passing out water bottles with the church’s logo and getting involved with Grand Prairie Independent School District helping the Houston School District Hurricane Ike survivors.

Rev. Crenshaw involved other NTC congregations in the hurricane response. When he preached at First UMC, Coppell, and New World UMC, Garland, he explained how New Beginnings was working to be part of the relief effort. He added that he would present a check for the money raised at the school board meeting. He then alerted the media, which was present, when he presented a $2,500 check.

A key marketing effort is the launch of the New Beginnings Christian Fellowship website, www.nbcf-gp.org and introduction of a unique logo by professional designer Jack Akana, a colleague of the pastor’s wife. “We believe the logo communicates a sense of newness and freshness, and also stability,” Rev. Crenshaw says.