7 Questions - Knoxville

7 Questions - Knoxville Andy and Grant 

Knoxville Andy and Grant

Andy began an 8 month research project on the city. The
church was better to research because the business community only has
businesses. The developed the Salt & Light guidebook which was a study of Knoxville

April of 2000 26 churches showed up to meet about reaching
the city. Churches weren’t talking to each other. Churches didn’t understand
their community. Churches had no formal structure in place to make impact in
the community. This group grew up in response to that gap.
The Dawn Model: A common understanding of the current reality of your city will mobilize the church to impact the city.

Research:

They began monthly meetings in April 2000. They now have 80-200 each month. A strategy evolved: start with research (macro, micro) as a tool to build passion that will mobilize. The people do their own research to connect them to their communities. Pastors often are overwhelmed when they see the research. So they started to build capacity: how to mentor low income families, how to handle domestic violence, etc. They identified pain, understood it and communicated. They wrote the stories of prostitutes so that people in the church could identify with the needs of the community.

The Church began a book learning community with many pastors
from different churches. The pastors enjoyed it and they forged relationships
that were unprecedented among the churches of Knoxville. They studied Ministries of Mercy by Keller and Restorers of Hope by Amy L. Sherman.

Equip:

You should train for everything because even those who do something simple like deliver furniture get burned out or do foolish things because they don’t know how to handle circumstances that arise. Don’t assume anyone knows anything.

Connect:

You must connect; link arms with local churches to make an impact. 52 churches have linked benevolence arms to bless the community. 38 Churches have been trained. Every church should have a trained community outreach team. If that happened the city would be different. Juvenile delinquents needed meaningful activity to avoid jails. Multiple churches oversee troubled youth who volunteer to bless the community. They connect churches to third grade students to help them.

Every church (Nicene Christianity) in the city has received Salt & Light which is the research of the needs of the community. This has leveled the playing field by providing a common language about common needs.

Christian Businessmen are the pivot people. Christian Businessmen funded the first one. They saw the value of it and printed the second one. It cost about 60,000. They were sold to the churches for $5. They wanted a study that the Mayor would want on his desk. 6 mega churches signed up because they saw the value and significance of the research. Christian Businessmen are now recruiting non-Christian business men to buy in to blessing their communities as a part of good business.

They did the first study of international churches in their city. Some pastors will preach out of the Salt & Light book because it allows clear vision for the hurting areas of the city. 98% of the research was going out and doing focus groups with the people who know. They hired a gang ministry to do 400 surveys in public housing about what they wanted from the church. Focus groups are the bridge to the community.

There are 400,000 in the county in and around Knoxville.

What is not working?
They are not valuing networking and relationships enough. People just want to meet each other. They don’t articulate vision and mission enough. They created the divide of the “needy” and the “not needy”. Not they are focused on transformation and community blessing. They are learning. They are reading Robert Lithicomb.

There needs to be broader representation with the care giving community in the city. They are not a prayer ministry first. Many become so busy that they stop praying.

Andy mobilizes business people. Pastors are good at blessing things, but they can’t organize squat.

They are seeing evangelism happen with Christians who have been trained to deliver furniture etc. They get in places that Christians are not usually allowed to go.

Blessing the city glorifies God and creates raving fans of the church.