Issue No.

38, October 2012

Praise and Glory to God:

God continues to provide faithfully for Renewal in every way, encouraging us weekly as He continues to build our church body in number and spiritual growth. Praise God for opportunities to love, serve, and engage our city through events with our community leaders, teachers, and college students across the Upstate. Praise God for the new families and individuals whove made Renewal their church home in the last month.

Praise God for those whove come forward this month to publically display their faith in Christ through baptism.

Renewal Church Prayer Needs:

Continue to pray for our elders, that God would guard and protect them, and that they would be encouraged daily in the Word. Pray for Gods direction and wisdom as we seek options for a larger space in the coming weeks to serve as our permanent church home. Pray for our local schools, teachers, and students. Pray that God would continue to grow our people and families daily, and that our Small Groups and Clusters would serve well in this process. Pray for our church and missions partnerships, both locally and abroad, as we seek to spread the gospel and multiply disciples to the glory of God.

and application of God's Word. One of the purposes of MDS this year was to equip the members of these clusters to know how to study Scripture on their 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of own, so that they grow in maturity as they learn to God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and feed themselves from God's Word. Our prayer is acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the that, as God grows them, they will begin feeding renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what others as they take on disciples and humbly follow is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Pray with us that our hearts would also respond in Paul in saying, "Follow me as I follow Christ" (1 (Romans 12:1-2) repentance as we forsake our selfishness and Corinthians 11:1). pride, and instead worship and give glory to God As we've studied 1 Corinthians during the month of as we love and serve His bride, the Church. September, we've seen a plain theme emerge from Paul's teaching to the church: Christ is preeminent. His preeminence should produce in us humility because He chose us solely by His grace, not by any merit on our part. His preeminence should produce unity in the body of believers as none of us can claim superiority over one another since it is by His grace that we are a part of God's family. And His preeminence should produce faithfulness in us to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ in our lives and in the lives of others. Our annual Multiplying Disciples Summit (MDS) took place this month as we sat under the It was our joy this month to see a married couple teaching of Jim Thompson, an author and teacher place their faith in Christ and follow Him in baptism at Southside Christian School in Greenville. Jim as a result of another family in our church pursuing taught on the theme of "Engaging Scripture," them with the love of Christ! We are seeing the Lord walking us through how best to study Scripture grow our love for Him and for the things He loves, and gain understanding in specific passages in and this is clear through the way our members seek light of the entire story of Scripture. to point their unbelieving neighbors, friends, and coworkers to Christ. Continue to pray with us that We currently have about fifty discipleship God would bless these efforts and that we would see clusters of 2-3 people meeting weekly to study many more place their faith in Him! Scripture together and grow in our knowledge

Renewed Love for God

The Corinthian church was messy, disunited, quarrelsome, and divisive; but God, in His mercy, did not leave them to their own ruin. Out of His great love for them in their sin, He calls them to repent of their sin and live out the beauty of the gospel in the context of the local church.

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Renewed in Relationships

Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. (Acts 2:46)

teachers at J.L. Mann High School and Mitchell Road Elementary School. Were grateful for the investment these teachers make in the lives of our local students, and these breakfasts give us an opportunity to tell them how much we appreciate their service to our community.

the past three weeks since the class, we've received many membership covenants and completed the accompanying member interviews. God has been incredibly gracious in continuing to bring people to Renewal, and we praise Him for His faithfulness in growing His church!

Renewed through Community

September was another great month of community and study as our church continues to pursue holiness together through our small groups and discipleship clusters, along with various fellowship activities during the week. In addition, were back in full swing with Study/Serve on Sunday mornings prior to our main gatherings at Greenville Tech.

Connect with Re*gen Nation

Weve told you about a lot of the exciting things going on with our College Ministry of late, and theres a lot planned between now and Christmas. In addition to our Renewal page, be sure to connect with our collegiate community, Re*gen Nation, on Facebook. Here you can keep up with all thats taking place in and through this ministry. You can find our group at facebook.com/RegenNation

The ladies who help lead our Renewal small groups got together at the Carsons home for a night of fun, fellowship, and games. Were grateful for the opportunity to share times like these, getting to know and encourage one another. In addition, our college crew, along with several of our adult leaders, got together for a tailgate bash prior to the recent Clemson/Furman football game.

How You Can Give to Support What God's Doing at Renewal

Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. (Acts 2:45)

Connecting at Renewal
Sunday, September 16th was a big day in the life of Renewal Church. Immediately after the service we held a Group Link event. The idea was to get all our small group leaders in the same room with recent visitors to the church who have not yet connected with a small group. This event was the culmination of three straight Sundays of in-service testimonies from some of our church members that have found profound help in biblical community through the small group ministry at Renewal. We had about 25 adults come to hear more about the small group ministry and take the first steps to get connected to one of our groups. Later that evening we had another Connections membership class. We had 12 people go through the class as the first step towards membership. We covered Renewal's history, mission, and values. In

Thank you again for your commitment to give to Renewal Church! Your faithfulness has been a blessing to our church and our efforts in the city. See the following information on how to give: By check Place a check in the pre-labeled envelope along with a stamp, and mail to Renewal Church 4 Davis Keats Drive, Greenville, SC 29607 Online Go to www.renewalchurch.cc and click on Online Giving at the bottom of the home page. Click Register to give a one time gift. Automatic Draft Go to www.renewalchurch.cc and click on Online Giving at the bottom of the home page. Click Register to complete your automatic draft. A few reminders: All gifts are tax deductible Please make us aware of any address changes or changes to your giving so we can make the necessary adjustments. Send an email to church@renewalchurch.cc to update your information!

Serving our Local Teachers

We had a great opportunity to serve teachers at two of our local schools during the month of September. We brought in and served breakfast for

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