Impact Austria » Ministry in Vienna

New Ministries Starting

shawn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:19:55 +0000

I want to share with you the new and exciting ministries that are being birthed
in our church. When we were in the states this summer Shawn began to sense in his
spirit that there was something more that God had for him to be doing in ministry.
Through a series of events he began to dream about doing things that have a lasting
impact in the lives of people and or ministry. Once in Vienna these dreams began
to take form and something new has been birthed. That is to build up a strong volunteer
ministry to mobilize the members of our church into active ministry roles.
The timing of this was a God moment and we caught a wave of God’s spirit moving
through our church. Shawn says, “I wish I could take to time to share all that happened
but here is the bottom line. In the following weeks we sent out sign up forms in
our two English congregations and 188 people signed up to volunteer in ministry.”
In the midst of everything else going on in our church Shawn and a few others have
been working hard to mobilize the volunteers to active ministry. This entailed writing
new job descriptions, organizing how to involve volunteers, creating ways for people
to serve our church like we have never done before in the past. I tell you things
are changing around our church and it is an exciting time to be serving here.
One new ministry we want to highlight is a prayer ministry that is developing, as
we speak Shawn is working with a team of people to form and develop a dynamic prayer
ministry that will mobilize the church to pray strategically and effectively.

Other Ministry

shawn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:18:49 +0000

There is so much more to talk about yet!! In Oct. we hosted a big event by bringing
in Bayless Conley a pastor from CA who came to do an evangelistic crusade. We had
a maxed out crowd of about 500 attend with over 100 visitors to this service. Chapa
had the honor to be the worship leader for this crusade where six years ago at this
crusade she gave her heart to the Lord for the first time!
We also had a Filipino choir that traveled from the Philippines to
travel throughout Europe to minister in churches. We hosted one of their concerts
on a Sunday evening.

In Sept. and Oct. we have also had a busy season hosting 6 teams from the U.S. to
help us renovate our new facility. What an honor and joy to have volunteers come
to help us build a new building so we can expand our growth as a church. 18 teams
have come so far and we are looking for 15 more to join us over the next year.

In Oct. we also hosted a pastors Summit for over 50 International pastor’s located
all over Europe. What a powerful time we had together with great teaching and wonderful
fellowship and networking to reach Europe for Christ.

On top of all this going on we arecontinuing to run and pastor a church. In the
life of the church many things as well have been happening. In the month’s of July
and August we took 250 people through Bill Fay’s evangelism training which Shawn
recommended and brought to VCC. For the month of September we entered into a month
of prayer and fasting among our International and African congregations. What a
powerful time that was, weekly we gathered together for prayer and easily over 100
people attended our special corporate prayer times.
Starting in October we have launched into an evangelistic campaign as a church where
three of our congregations are currently going through the 6 week “WHY” campaign.
This campaign has three elements that work together, Sunday sermons, Cell group
discussions, and a daily devotional. In our International congregation we have started
8 new cell groups which is so exciting to see happen.
In Oct. we have also started our School of Leaders training where we are discipling
our member to be new cell leaders. Shawn has been directing this school for the
past three years and now a new missionary arrived this fall to help administrate
this school. In Level one we have 28 new students and Level 2 was also recently
started. In this school we prepare and train our members to be first of all true
followers of Christ and than secondly we prepare them to fulfill God’s mission to
win souls and make disciples.

20 Year Anniversary Celebration

shawn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:12:41 +0000

About two times a year the whole church of Vienna Christian Center gathers together
for one powerful service. In the past we have always rented a facility at another
location. This time we were able to host this service in our new building which
is currently under construction. We were able to have 650 people in the main hall
and over 200 in an overflow room on the lower level and at our second campus we
ministered to about 200 of our children! This was exciting not only to be able to
have the service in our new church, it was also our 20 year anniversary as a church.
We looked back over the years to see where we had come from and what we are accomplishing
today!! A church that start in a home has grown to 8 weekend services 1300-1400
in weekly attendance with over 150 cell groups. God is moving in Vienna in a powerful
way!!!

Young Adult Ministry

shawn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:11:51 +0000

The Young Adult ministry is something new to Vienna Christian Center. Two missionaries
Michal and Charrisa are leading this ministry. In the past year and a half this
ministry is growing and taking off in our church. In Sept. they kicked off the new
season of ministry with a night designed to reconnect with God as well as with each
other. God is stirring such a hunger and passion in their lives. The photo here
is George who is a rising leader in this group and you see him surrendered to the
Lord during this night of worship.

Encounter Weekend

shawn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:05:58 +0000

Encounter weekends are such powerful times in our church where we go up to the mountains
one hour from Vienna to Encounter the Lord there. In Sep. we had one such encounter
where we took over 25 people to such an event. Both Shawn and Chapa were on the
prayer ministry and teaching team. What an exciting time to see God transform lives!!!