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SWCC, A Network of Churches
by Rev. Steve Engram, SWCC Regional Executive
On a personal and ministry level the thing that I most appreciate about the SWCC is the idea of partnering or networking. Churches helping churches, pastors helping pastors - that is what we are about as an association. Our mission statement starts with "a network of churches" and that is what has been so powerful in my life and the life of my church. In case you don't know the story of Desert Springs Community Church, let me briefly share it with you.
Desert Springs was launched in 1983 by a church planter who was supported by Missions Door (CBHMS back then, and they were supported by network churches). Students and faculty from Southwestern Bible College (my future father-in-law included) and from neighboring churches (First Baptist Glendale primarily) worked hard to get the church in the ground and growing. Eight years later the SWCC was able to loan money to the church for them to be able to purchase their first building. Not long after that the pastor's daughter was nearly killed after being struck by a car. This is my first memory of Desert Springs as the call went out to all the network churches to pray for this young lady whom they feared was brain dead. At the time I was on staff at Palmcroft Baptist and we gathered that Wednesday night as a church and prayed earnestly for this young lady as many other partnering churches did. God miraculously healed her and she has gone on to live a very productive life! PTL!
Fast forward a few years. In the mid-90's the founding pastor left and the church was struggling and very close to having to close its doors. They approached a network church, Palmcroft about coming along side and helping them. Palmcroft took up the challenge and that's when I became the pastor at DSCC nearly 19 years ago. Palmcroft not only sent me but a number of other families and they financially and emotionally supported us for many years as we fought to become self-sufficient. Because of this partnership Desert Springs was able to grow and develop as a church and now we have had the blessed opportunity to come along and network with other churches and seek to bless and help them. But without the partnership of Palmcroft, Desert Springs would not exist today. That is the power of network, of partnerships, of churches helping churches! I hope that you will be blessed as your read about how it is continuing to happen today! I also hope that it will make us open to both giving help to one another and to be willing to receive help as we all seek to bring in the Harvest!
Steve
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Invest
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Churches Looking
for Pastors
Click on a link below to see their website or to get an email for more information.
FBC Arivaca
FBC Mammoth
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Dr. Dwight Hunt, SWCC Church Health and Placement Consultant
On the Road Again and On Target
In 1980 Willie Nelson penned one of his famous number one hits on an airplane barf bag---On The Road Again. You know how it goes ---"On the road again-Just can't wait to get on the road again . . ." Well in the middle of last month I couldn't wait to get on the road again as I took a trip to some of New Mexico churches in our network. Frankly I was excited to be able to meet our leaders in these healthy churches. What churches? Grace Bible Church in Gallup. Grace is led by pastor John Luginbuhl. Also in Gallup is Native Bible Fellowship which is led by pastor Paul Kontz. A few hours down the road is Foothills Fellowship in Albuquerque. Mike Potter serves as the lead pastor there. Also at the southeast end of the state is the town of Alamogordo (which means fat Cottonwood tree). There Joe Bryant serves as the pastor of Grace Baptist Church. Time didn't allow for a visit with Joe, but Marilyn and I hope to do so on our way to Texas in a few months.
I was able to spend some time in fellowship, prayer, and just getting to know these crucial leaders in these three churches located in towns along I-40 (Grace Bible, Native Bible, and Foothills Fellowship). Oh did I mention eating with a few of them too? As a result of our meeting, fellowshipping, praying, and in some cases eating together, two words have come to mind about these three churches: On Target. For example . . .
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Solving Problems, Missing Opportunities
Dr. Bert Downs, SWCC Regional Coach
 Yesterday, I ran across a timely Peter Drucker (famous business guru) quote, "Results are obtained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems."
Reminded me of an experience a few years back. The leaders of a church in need of some new energy had completed a planning project, and planned a meeting to review their outcomes and set some action steps for the coming year. They asked if I'd sit in. And I did.
At the four-hour mark, they asked what I thought. As best I can recall, this is what I said: I love the fact you took time to discern and develop the key value statements. Summarizing 26 programs in four hours is equally amazing; you must have done a tremendous amount of work to come to such succinct points of view on each. And I applaud your willingness to make some hard decisions (closing two programs). Because I haven't been involved in all of the steps to this point, what I'm now going to say is both risky and possibly totally wrong. Let's just look at your top value and the two programs you have decided to close. As I've listened, it seems to me they're the only two ministries really fulfilling your top value - evangelizing the community (gets quiet). So here's my question for you, "Why are you really closing those ministries (got quieter)?" . . .
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How Can We Network?
Here are three recent examples of the networking I've seen in my ministry to the SWCC. Mark Phillips, the new pastor at First Baptist Church in Quartzsite, shared with me how valuable the Yuma Connection group has been for him as he and his family have transitioned into a very challenging place to do ministry.
The southeastern AZ Connection Group let by AB Blair has begun praying together about the need to plant a church in the small mining town of Morenci AZ with the help of the SWCC. What an exciting example of collaboration and networking.
Here's one more example that hits close to home. My church after an exciting start to 2013 lost a number of people after enduring some unexpected challenges this summer. So, knowing that the facilities where we meet could be better used by Palm Valley Church for their growing Buckeye Campus, we will step aside or possibly join with them and in either case, feel a sense of team victory.
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Thinking Bigger
Mrs. Carol Tetzlaff, SWCC Event Coordinator
I recently read the account of Jesus feeding the 5,000, a story I am sure you all know. As the disciples notice the crowd is hungry, I am perplexed by their response to Jesus' request, "give them something to eat." Most of the time feeding 5,000+ people would be a daunting task, but this account follows one that is even more extraordinary.
The disciples had been traveling with Jesus and seen Him do the miraculous. In Luke 9:1 Jesus gathers the twelve and gives them the power over demons and disease. They travel throughout the land with all their needs cared for preaching the gospel and healing. They return to Jesus and begin to share all the amazing stories of their encounters with the people to whom they had been sent.
Then comes the familiar scene of the feeding of 5,000. The same men who had just experienced the power and authority that Jesus possessed, turns to Jesus and said, "all we have is 5 loaves of bread, and 2 fish." Did they forget who they were with and the power that even had come to them? I can imagine Jesus saying to them, "think bigger boys!" . . .
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Dr. Ed Clavell, SWCC Regional Facilitator
 Are You Enjoying the Gifts of Leadership?
Being a leader necessitate having followers, and if everyone can be a leader, then who are the followers? Or are we both? As leaders, our followers are the people we serve. We need to serve our children, our friends, our colleagues. Leadership is about bringing out greatness in others. It is about putting those we serve ahead of ourselves. All of us are called to lead and to be led, to serve and to let ourselves be served.
To practice leadership is to live for others, and joyously know, that others exist to serve you, to accept that they have something to offer you, something intimate and personal. The Russian poet Olga Sedakova, who knew Pope John Paul II well, once remarked: "He needed something personal from everyone he met.... He looked at people with such interest and hope as if to say, 'What wonderful things will you help me discover today, what gift you will give me?'" When a leader practices humility, he teaches and inspires the people he leads. In addition, he learns from them and comes to see them as gifts. Through them, she grows as a leader and in her maturity in Christ. As we approach the Advent Season; stretch yourself in your service to others, humbly allow others to serve you and look for the gifts God has blessed others with that would be a blessing to your life and ministry.
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article by Micaela Clark, Prescott Pines Camp
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A Network of Men
Prescott Pines Camp has sponsored our annual Men's Roundup for over twenty-eight years. A countless amount of steaks have been consumed, an immense amount of friendships have been made, and many families have been impacted because of these retreats. A great amount of dedication and time goes into preparing and planning for the retreat each year. Camp Director, Jim Trail plays in part of that planning. With years invested into men's retreat, he looked back to a memorable and impactful memory, "A few years ago, I was in a coffee shop with two men discussing the plans for an upcoming retreat. One of the men made the comment that our planning committee was made up of men that the disciples might have chosen to plan a men's retreat in the first century."
Currently the retreat committee is made up of thirteen men who come from nine of the SWCC churches. . .
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