New Ministry Announcement :: OBC | South Campus

Posted by Erik in Irish Calvinist on Jan 15th, 2008 | 14 responses

This past Sunday morning at Omaha Bible Church our Senior Pastor Pat Abendroth announced that the elders’ are moving forward with plans to plant a church in Sarpy County Nebraska. This is an extremely exciting time for us as a church as many have been praying for the establishment of an expository ministry in Sarpy County for some time.

This area borders Omaha on the south and is the fasted growing county in the state. It is home to Offutt Air Force Base and its surrounding communities of Bellevue, Papillion, and La Vista account for nearly 200,000 people. As you can imagine the burden for a God-centered, cross-magnifying ministry in this type of area is great.

Of particular excitement on my end is the elders’ appointment of me to be the lead pastor of this new ministry. Over the last year God has been increasingly applying the burden for me to be actively involved in church planting. This burden along with the developments over the summer to move ahead with this ministry has coincided in good providence together.

The ministry will begin as a multi-site approach with the new work being the South Campus of OBC. We will be led by the same elders and do ministry in step together. Our goal is to begin Sunday morning services in July.

I am extremely excited for the opportunity to preach on a weekly basis; God has been turning up the desire to do this over the past year or two, a reality for which I am most thankful. Furthermore I am excited and prayerfully optimistic about the power and effect of the gospel on a community. To consider yourself as one who is living sent, as a missionary to bring the gospel to a particular people is quite exciting. There is something frighteningly delightful about such a ministry and our team is very much eager. It is frightening because you realize that you are weak on your best day and spiritual battles are in fact real. But at the same time you realize that God is sovereign and I do believe that he has his elect in this city (or region) and he will draw them out through the proclamation of his word. Therefore, I am once again brought to the familiar place of having to discard self-reliance and cling to the sovereign grace of God that he might make his own name great and in this that he would also make our joy abound.

Please pray for me and my family, it is so awesome to have a wife and best friend like Christie who understands and loves God-centered, gospel-dripping ministry; she is such a blessing. Pray for our team. And please, please, pray for the progress of the gospel in this region.

You may check out the website for the South Campus here. And if you have friends in military that are coming to Omaha or if you have friends in Bellevue, Papillion or the Sarpy County, Nebraska area that are looking for expository preaching then send them our way that they might get involved in a God-centered cross-boasting ministry alongside of us.

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14 Responses to “New Ministry Announcement :: OBC | South Campus”

Van Edwards says:

January 15, 2008 at 12:38 pm

Erik,
God be with you in this endeavor.
ReformationUnderway » Church Planting says:

January 15, 2008 at 5:52 pm

[...] I count him as a friend, and he’s got big news. Erik Raymond, the Patriots fan behind the blog Irish Calvinist, and an Associate Pastor at Omaha Bible Church, has been given a new charge by the elders of OBC. He will be the lead pastor of their new OBC | South Campus. You can read Erik’s thoughts on the new work here. [...]
The Reformed Pastor says:

January 15, 2008 at 6:36 pm

Congratulations of this appointment. May God bless your efforts to preach His gospel and further His Kingdom.

“It is frightening because you realize that you are weak on your best day and spiritual battles are in fact real.”

Those who see thier own inadequacies and the complete sufficiency of their Savior are the most powerful tools in God’s hand.
erik says:

January 15, 2008 at 6:50 pm

Van and RP, thanks for your kind words and well wishes. This is a pretty exciting time for us…
cavman says:

January 15, 2008 at 8:14 pm

Congratulations on this opportunity. That is very exciting, and will surely be filled with new challenges. May the kingdom prosper!
Mike Hulinsky says:

January 16, 2008 at 7:32 am

Congrats, Erik. We heard about the new venture, and are praying for you and for all those involved in the church plant down there.

Your comments reminded me of this quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones on receiving his first call to a church:

“Of course, I realise fully the seriousness of the comission which I am taking up, but it is a high adventure and a crusade of hope. Whatever may happen, our cause must triumph, and if we fail (which God forbid!) what we stand for will go on and will in the end prove supreme. That is the spirit in which I am taking up the task, realising that human endeavor at its highest is only feeble and that our only hope is that we shall be given of the Holy Spirit freely.”

God’s richest blessings to you!
Mike Hulinsky says:

January 16, 2008 at 7:34 am

Erik, congrats! We are praying for you and the rest of your team and your people as you begin your ministry in that part of the town.

Your comments reminded me of this quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones when he took his first church:

“Of course, I realise fully the seriousness of the comission which I am taking up, but it is a high adventure and a crusade of hope. Whatever may happen, our cause must triumph, and if we fail (which God forbid!) what we stand for will go on and will in the end prove supreme. That is the spirit in which I am taking up the task, realising that human endeavor at its highest is only feeble and that our only hope is that we shall be given of the Holy Spirit freely.”

God’s richest blessings to you!
pastorsteve says:

January 16, 2008 at 12:10 pm

Wow! I am so surprised about this announcement, I had no idea that you were going to be the Pastor of OBCS, thanks for posting about it This is an exciting and great endeavor for you. My first thought was that you have an advantage of being in a military area with having been a military guy. It might give you some insight into folks that are stationed at SAC. By the way, I probably have a name for you that you could invite to church. Give me a hollar about it later.
Jon Wymer says:

January 16, 2008 at 1:21 pm

Sounds like you are moving into our neck of the woods… May God be with you as you seek to further His kingdom.
Joshua Brunken (Omaha North 98er says:

January 17, 2008 at 10:14 am

congrats Erik. just like I said to Christ Community Church’s folks, I wish you guys the best of luck also with your Sarpy County campus.
Jon Wymer says:

January 18, 2008 at 9:06 am

This will be the first OBC expository ministry in Sarpy County, but just for info there are at least two other expository ministries in Sarpy County. Grace Baptist gracebaptistpapillion.org) in Papillion, and Gretna Community gretnacommunitychurch.org) in Gretna. There may be others I am not aware of.
erik says:

January 18, 2008 at 10:13 am

Jon, I am aware of both churches (though less aware of the church in Gretna). Please understand that I am not insinuating a ‘we are the only ones who have this figured out mentality’ but rather that there is a great need for biblical ministry in this community. Sarpy County is the fastest growing community in Nebraska and we have well over a hundred people who drive a fair distance to be involved in the ministry at OBC. So, my point is there is hunger and there is a great need. So we are moving forward to reach more people for the glory of Christ.

Erik
Jon Wymer says:

January 21, 2008 at 12:51 pm

Yes, and it’s very exciting! The more Word-centered ministry the better…
Irish Calvinist » Blog Archive » I Can Relate… says:

February 13, 2008 at 1:14 pm

[...] I have experienced numerous emotional extremes with respect to the prospect and the pursuit of church planting. I have found myself frightened, excited, overwhelmed, encouraged, apprehensive, confident, and [...]