Originally printed in the Summer 2004 issue of
 Church Plant Puts Vision for Transformation Theory into Practice
In 2002, Youth Pastor Ryan Delamater approached his pastor, Tony Cervero, at First Assembly of God in Ventura, California, with the dream of planting a church. Delamater had been at First Assembly for 6 years and had seen the youth group double, but Cervero was excited about partnering with him even though the church would regret his loss.
The worship team for Elements sets up for a service.
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"The idea was birthed right in my office," Cervero remembers. "You can't invest in a guy like Ryan and not participate in what God's doing. We always try to set a tone in our church of innovative ways of bringing the gospel."
Delamater's church planting method is innovative. On March 14, he and his wife, Meredith, with their ministry team held the opening service of Elements (Assemblies of God), a new church that is meeting in the Improv comedy theater in Brea, southeast of Ventura in greater Los Angeles.
The Delamaters built their congregation from the ground up, holding home meetings their first months in Brea, moving to part-time use of a nearby church building and growing the loosely affiliated congregation to about 45 participants.
Their next step made them unique.
"There are 16 Improvs in the U.S.," Delamater says of the theaters featured nationwide on the Comedy Central channel, "and they had never had a church ask to use their facility. They had a lot of preconceived ideas about what we were about."
But Elements reached an agreement with the Improv in Brea, and the March 14 service drew more than 300 people. Elements' Sunday morning gatherings follow a "four M" approach.
"We have a meal first, then music, then a film clip, then a message," Delamater says. "Our clip that first Sunday was from the old movie 'The Money Pit' where a bathtub falls through the floor and everything falls apart in this old house. I started the message with the question, 'How many of you have ever had a bad day?' "
Twelve people accepted Christ as their Savior in just the first two Sunday services. Home meetings during the week supplement the Sunday a.m. gatherings. Ryan and Meredith work with a dozen core leaders and are training others as the home groups multiply.
Their goal is not a mega-church but a multiplied church.
"When we reach 500," Delamater says, "we want to plant another church. I've got three locations in mind for the next one. One day at a time, though."
Elements' ministry team is currently a volunteer force also working full-time jobs. Delamater has been able to focus on the church exclusively by living off funds from the sale of his Ventura home as well as offerings from supporters.
"We don't really have a mother church," he says, "but a network of five churches and the district office that support us."
Ventura First Assembly is on the list, as is North Hills Church in Brea.
"Elements is just a half mile from our church," says North Hills Pastor Doug Green. "But we're not concerned about territory. There's a whole generation in Brea that Ryan will be able to reach that we won't."
"Brea Elements, with North Hills Church and Pastors Doug and Brenda Green as key partners, is a great example," says Southern California District Superintendent Ray Rachels, "of a church seeking to meet people where they are, in a new location, with a new design, yet proclaiming the unchanging message of Christ and every person's need for a personal relationship with Him."
Last year's Washington, D.C., General Council fully endorsed the Assemblies of God's Vision for Transformation church planting theme of "every church a parent or a partner." Paul Drost, director of Church Planting for the Assemblies of God, sees Elements as just one example of how the Vision for Transformation is energizing new congregations.
"Five years ago when I was given this responsibility, I felt at times like I was one person pushing this huge boulder up a hill," Drost says. "All of a sudden I'm very conscious that there are all these other people's hands not only on this boulder but others." |
