How to Find a Trusted Counselor from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

 The past couple of weeks have been foundational for Gateway Bible Church. It was especially meaningful to spend a day praising God for His faithfulness over the course of the past year. Celebrating with you, our Gateway church family as well as some special guests from NorthCreek, Higher Ground and Wellspring made the day a true celebration of God’s faithful work through partnerships in the Gospel. As we have said many times, we want God to be glorified in the establishing of Gateway Bible Church. We are simply caretakers, using our gifts to spread the glory of the Gospel and to establish a local expression of His church.

 God has truly demonstrated Himself along the journey and we have much to celebrate. That being said, we are now faced with the reality that God has called us to be His Church and to continue to faithfully proclaim His Good News. It is healthy for us to revisit some basics that have been foundational to the establishing of Gateway Bible Church. So, by way of reminder let me encourage you to do the following:

 1. Read through our foundational documents such as our Mission Statement, Core Commitments and Statement of Beliefs. These documents can be found on our web-site or by clicking them. I would encourage you to make this a priority and encourage you to memorize our mission statement.

2. Read through the Gospel of John. I want to encourage you to read it through at one sitting a couple of times, then as we are in specific sections to read those passages repeatedly. You will learn and grow more effectively as you keep His Word before you. We will be in the Prologue, John 1:1-18 for the next three weeks. This is a very significant passage of Scripture that teaches and reinforces the nature and mission of our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ. So, let me encourage you to read and study it for yourself.

 3. Join a Home Group. I realize that this is more time out of your day, but it is in this arena that we are able to carefully talk about the implications of what we are studying. I have attended both Home Groups and can attest that each experience has been heartfelt, intimate and a help to all.

Now, please don’t forget to read the bulletin and, in particular, be sure to make your plans to join us this Sunday morning as well as in the Evening at 6 p.m. for our Baptism Service held at Higher Ground Church which meets at 6022 Seminary Ave in Oakland, CA. Please come and encourage and support those who are testifying of their faith in Christ.

May God give you boldness as you preach the Gospel to yourself every day and as you live your life reflecting that Gospel to a world walking in darkness.

God bless,

Pastor Rod Phillips – Teaching Pastor

 Well, actually, God has thought about the birth of Gateway Bible Church for a long time...even before the creation of the world...but it is now time for His church to formalize and be included among the many.

Our story is both unique and common.

It is unique in the way that God brought a core group of people together to pray for God's wisdom in July of 2009 during a time of searching and uncertainty for all. As we met God made it clear that He wanted us to partner together in a weekly Bible Study where He would guide and shape us through his Word, in particular the book of Ezra. We were all amazed at how relevant, penetrating, convicting and comforting this often neglected book of the Bible was to us as well as how much we loved one another and truly enjoyed our fellowship in Christ.

Further times of prayer, worship, leaning on God's wisdom and "what if" conversations took place and the consideration of starting a church was brought out and discussed freely. This was an exciting time of leaning on God and delighting in the possibilities He was bringing to our attention and prayerful anticipation.

God answered clearly when Rod was asked to serve as the Part-Time Interim Pastor at the Evangelical Free Church in Oakland (EFCO). EFCO had asked NorthCreek Church in Walnut Creek to oversee a replant at their facility and Rod was asked to be the transitional pastor to ultimately bring in the new pastor. So from November of 2009 to March of 2010 many in the Bible Study joined Rod and helped, worshiped and served with the remnant people of EFCO until the transition took place.

In early March the new Higher Ground Church launched and Rev. Billie Dempsey was installed as the Pastor. We all rejoiced with them and stepped away with a new conviction that God was calling us to start a new church that would reach the communities along the 580 corridor (San Leandro, Castro Valley, Hayward, San Ramon, Dublin & Pleasanton).

Although we were all eager to meet on Sunday Mornings we took our time to truly understand the necessary mile-markers of establishing a new church: Leadership, Organization, Location, Financing, etc. We established a "core group" of about 16 people who all committed to partnering together, using their gifts and investing their time for the establishing of this new church.

Who would we be? What do we believe? What should be our philosphy of ministry? Questioins like this became our priority and we sought to establish a name, a mission/vision statement, a set of core convictions, a doctrinal statement, a set of bylaws and ministry approach/plan. Meetings, meetings & more meetings. Prayer, discussion, bible study, discussion, prayer, etc. were common realities of these early meetings. Along the way we realized that a group of men from the Core Group needed to be meeting regularly and take on the leadership responsibilities as well as finalizing some of our documents or directions. To that end we established the "GateKeepers" who now serve in this role.

After much prayer and God's provision, on May 1st of 2010, we began to gather at Creekside Middle School for a season of learning, development and experimentation with anticipation of a church launch in August. We took in our new surroundings, got comfortable with meeting together on Sunday mornings and worked through the Marks of a Healthy church (Mark Dever's 9-Marks with a couple more of our own). We offically called Rod Phillips to be our Teaching Pastor and continued to work hard at working out the kinks as well as developing the structure and formation of our new church.  In mid summer we reevaluated our anticipated August launch and felt that we needed to be patient in order to have key milestones reached before an official launch. So, we determined that September 18th would be a good time, giving us ample time to accomplish some key goals.

Friends, all we can say is that God is good.  He has been with us all along the way opening doors, guiding us and knitting us together for this purpose.  We certainly don't deserve His gracious provision and we are humbled by the great responsibility we have at overseeing and being a part of His glorious church.

So, our story is, in one sense, a unique story, with specific people and specific direction and answer to prayer. Yet, we realize that our story is common as so many of God's people have gone through their own unique circumstances with God to establish churches around the World.

To that end, we want to "gorify God by building a community of believers who are actively committed to knowing, applying and proclaiming the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

Would you please do the following:

1. Pray for us - We know that so many reading this are faithfully serving in healthy churches and are rejoicing with us that God is establishing another light in the East Bay.  We covet your partnership through prayer.  The Bay Area is the mission field and we have a hard task before us, yet we realize that our Sovereign God is already at work preparing the hearts of His children.

2. Visit us - If you attend another faithful church it is not our desire to draw you away, but we would love to have you come and share in God's blessing being unfolded at Gateway Bible Church.  It would be an encouragement to us and we want God's people rejoice over His goodness with us.

3. Join us - If you are not attending church, are asking quesitons about God, considering what it means to be a Christian then we invite you to attend and join our church family.  We would love to help you come face to face with God and His Gospel and encourage you in your walk with God.  If you are attending an anemic church and are in need of a robust Gospel and teaching ministry we invite you to come and to join us.  It is our desire to grow God's people through the faithful preaching and teaching of God's word.

As a guest, and since I was in a consultant mode, I kept quiet, simply taking in the presentation.  Eventually, however, when the delegation had gone, I was asked to evaluate the meeting and I confess that I had a mouthful to say.  Sadly, this delegation was so in love with their own personal DNA they were under the delusion that simply injecting it into a new facility in a new context was all that was necessary.  They boasted that they would provide a vibrant and exciting worship experience, an atmosphere of complete acceptance that was free from any legalism, a context of authenticity where people would be real and would not be preachy, and the energy needed to reach that region and bring in new attendees quickly - even suggesting that there would likely be at least 200-400 on the first Sunday.  (There was more that they said, but I will leave it at that)

So, when I responded to my friends question about my evaluation of the meeting I simply said the following.  "Did you notice that the only reference to the Bible and the preaching of the Word was when they said in passing that they were a "biblical" church? And, did you notice that there was no mention of the power of the Gospel and the need for it, Jesus and the cross to be central to what they wanted to do.?" 

Honestly, I was shocked at their presentation.  It was all about the bells and whistles of a Church Growth mentality that has gone the way of marketing and has abandoned the central truths of biblical Christianity.  What they proposed may have brought people in, and those people may be brought to a form of the gospel, but friends, what they were proposing was not what Scripture describes as a healthy church.  It was lacking in significant core ingredients that are absolutely necessary.

But, who am I to say what a healthy church should look like?  You might be saying, "Who died and made you the judge and jury of church life?  Isn't it arrogant to accuse another ministry of falling short of what it means to be a healthy church?"  And friend, the honest answer to the last question is simply and humbly, a resounding "yes".  I don't want to be the one making that kind of judgement in my own thinking.  However, I am confident that God has something to say about it.  In fact, His Word is very clear on many key DNA issues of church life, and He calls me (and us) to be discerning so as to understand what He has to say and then to apply it to our lives and our church.

So, to that end and simply focusing on the one church that I (we) are responsible for, Gateway Bible Church, it will be a good exercise for us to identify and discuss some of the "Marks of a Healthy Church", and in so doing seek to be the kind of church God is calling us to be.

We have already determined that "we exist to glorify God by building a community of beleivers who are actively committed to knowing, applying and proclaiming the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ."  However, as we seek to implement that vision we will also need to be reminded of some of the core ingredients or marks of a healthy church. 

Here is where we will be headed:

• Mark 1: Expository Preaching
• Mark 2: Biblical Theology
• Mark 3: The Gospel
• Mark 4: A Biblical Understanding of Conversion
• Mark 5: A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism
• Mark 6: A Biblical Understanding of Church Membership
• Mark 7: Biblical Church Discipline
• Mark 8:  A Concern for Discipleship and Growth
• Mark 9: Biblical Church Leadership
• Mark 10: Practicing Strategic Hospitality
• Mark 11: Investing in the Next Generation

Now, let me say up front that I am going to be leaning on the wisdom of Mark Dever and the 9Marks that he determined.  There are some key ingredients that are not on the list, i.e. Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Giving, etc. that are also extremly important, but the ones he and I am selecting are especially necessary to point out as there has been a neglect in these areas in our American Christian church culture.

So, I invite you to join me to study these Marks with vigor and to dialogue on what we find and their implications on our lives and ministry.

I ask for your prayers that God would guide me by His Spirit in His Word so as to be faithful to expose to you what He says and not what is simply Rod's opinion.

May this be a loving and healthy foundation for God's church, Gateway Bible Church.