Issue no.

18, February 2011

Join us in thanking God for
His provision and grace in our
lives in the following ways:
• Favor with Mitchell Road Elementary
School next door to where we meet
• Continued blessing and favor with East
North Street Baptist Church as we work
together and share the space of the
building
• Churches like Rocky Creek Baptist
Church who love and serve the Church
well
• Addition of one small group this month
and one to two more ready to launch soon
• Opportunity to join with how God is working in
Scandinavia and safety for the team as they
traveled
• Growth in attendance over the past month and a
Partnership class with 20 potential partners
enrolled
• Growth in congregational giving of tithes and
offerings, and God’s continued faithfulness to us
financially through your giving and prayer!
• Successful Meltdown Student Conference
Prayer Needs:
• Wisdom, courage, and initiative for our leaders
as they make decisions regarding the direction
of our church as we grow and encourage our
people to take ownership of the work of the church
• College students and other individuals from Renewal as
they travel to Boston over Spring Break in March to
work with a church plant, Redemption Hill
• Growth in relationships that will be established as all of
our small groups host Super Bowl parties and invite
their neighbors, unbelieving friends, and friends
disconnected from the local church
• Pray for protection from our enemy in our marriages
and families as we seek to love and serve our Lord well
Students at
Meltdown 2011

Renewed Relationship with God
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to
the fellowship, and to the breaking of bread, and to
prayer.” (Acts 2:42)
This month marked the beginning of a new Sunday
morning series entitled “Blueprint: Glimpses of the
Gospel” where we are studying the Old Testament
book of Leviticus. If there were a book of tips and
tricks for church planters, this would be in the “Do-
not-attempt” section because of the view most people
have of the Old Testament. It can be difficult to
understand, seem almost comically strange in
sections, and seem to have no practical effect on our
daily lives. At Renewal, we believe that “All
Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so
that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped
for every good work.” This applies to every Old
Testament book including Leviticus. Our desire is to
impress upon our people the value of al of Scripture
and allow them to grasp the concept that the promise
of Jesus and the hope of the gospel is integrated into
all of Scripture.
Our first few weeks of this series have been spent
instructing those in attendance on God’s design in
creation, the Fall of mankind as we chose to sin, and
God’s plan from that point to redeem us and cover
our sin by sending a Savior. Even these first few
weeks have been fruitful in our lives as we see clearly
our need for the gospel and Jesus as our only hope
for salvation.
If you would like to listen to any of the sermons from
“Blueprint” series, you can access them from
www.renewalupstate.com/sermons.
Please continue to pray for those who have
connected to Renewal that the soil of their hearts
would be softened to God’s Word so that it can
implant, take root in their hearts, and produce fruit
thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.
We are so blessed in America to be able to openly
hear the Word of God preached, to meet openly
with other believers and celebrate Jesus as our
Savior and Lord. We are acutely aware of those in
other countries who must meet secretly in order to
avoid detainment by authorities, threats to their
family, and physical harm, and know that
comparatively, we “have it easy.” While we are
thankful for that, we also see the inherent danger
as complacency, unthankfulness, worldliness, and
lack of desire for the Word fill our Christian
landscape in America. Christians in other
countries, when given the opportunity, long to
hear the Word of God preached and will meet
together as long as possible in order to soak in the
truth of the Word. To try to ignite this same
longing in the hearts of those at Renewal and in a
show of solidarity with persecuted believers
around the world, we will be hosting Secret
Church, Friday, February 18th where Matt will be
preaching through the story of the entire Bible
College students
at the Welcome
Back Dinner
from 6 pm to 12 am. Please pray for Renewal’s
partners to grow in their love for and desire for God’s
Word so that they will grow in their love for and
obedience to Jesus.
How to Give
“Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone
as he had need.” Acts 2:45
Thank you again for your commitment to give to
Renewal Church! 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 - 201
B. West Butler Rd. #151, Mauldin, S.C. 29662
• Online
Go to www.renewalupstate.com 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.renewalupstate.com 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@renewalupstate.com to update your
information!
• Should you desire to give to send our first
exploratory team to Scandinavia, please not that
on your checks.

www.renewalupstate.com

Renewed Relationships With
Each Other
“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
The 2011 year kicked off with a bang in the area of
discipleship at Renewal!
At the beginning of every month, one evening is
dedicated for all Renewal members gather together
for “Connections.” The name says it all, a time for
Renewal-ites to connect. Our main purpose is to
communicate concerning whatever need is at hand.
We always spend time praying with one another
and sometimes there will be teaching, usually from
one of Renewal’s elders. We cut to the chase in these
meetings, with little room to dilly-dally. January’s
Connections meeting was spent praying for the
Scandinavia Team that was sent out from Renewal
for two weeks in January. We prayed for the pastors
in Scandinavia, as well as asked the Lord to raise up
someone from Renewal to go full-time to
Scandinavia.
Mid-January we had a welcome back party for all of
our college
students, and
we greatly
encouraged
our college
students to
bring
someone
new with Students at the Welcome Back Party
them. We had 30 students total and half a dozen of
those were new faces. During that time, Hugh
Carson encouraged the students to get plugged into
small groups, to sign up for our up-coming mission
trip to Boston (more details on that later), and to
sign-up for discipleship opportunities going
through the book of Hebrews. We are hoping to
pair up those that want to disciple and those that
want to be discipled, all the while studying
Hebrews together.
This last Sunday in January, we have our
Foundations Class, where those who desire to join
Renewal will attend our three Foundation classes.
Presently 15 are signed up to attend, and we are
planning on more showing up the day of the
meeting. Several families that have recently
connected with Renewal will be attending the
Foundations Class. Oh how thankful we are that
the Lord is growing Renewal Church! Thank YOU
for your investment in us and your incredible
generosity toward our ministry at Renewal Church.
We are also thankful to Rocky Creek Baptist Church
for sponsoring a “Church Planter’s Date Night” in
January. They invited church planters they are
partnering with from around the upstate to a
downtown restaurant, arranged childcare for our
“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you,
majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
Upstate Church
Planters at
Church
Planters’ Date
Night
children at their church, and generously paid for our
dinner. We were blessed to spend time with other
church planters and their wives as we shared stories
and encouraged one another in the journey. Thank
you Rocky Creek for your love, care, and generosity
to us and other church planters in the upstate!
Renewed Love for Those Far
From God
“...And the Lord added to their number daily those who
were being saved.” Acts 2:47
January has been an extremely cold month and one
of surprising weather. God continues to show His
faithfulness as Renewal has many opportunities to
join Him in the work He is doing in so many places.
On the second Saturday of the New Year, we were
able to partner with the PTA of Mitchell Road
Elementary School. Despite the cold temperatures,
we had several Renewal partners come to the school
with shovels, rakes, and wheelbarrows. We
distributed mulch around the natural areas of the
school yard. It was a great way to once again let this
school know that they are loved and cared for by
Renewal Church. The Principal this month put a
special article in their newsletter thanking Renewal
for the work we’ve done and the love we’ve shown
for their students, faculty, and school. Praise the
Lord with us that God is at work in this
Students at Meltdown 2011
relationship with us and the school and continue
to pray for inroads for the gospel in this school!
Meltdown 2011 in Pigeon Forge was a wonderful
time. The greatest joy to share from this weekend is
that a young man became a believer in Jesus on
Saturday evening. What a blessing to have another
follower of Christ. Around 600 young people were
in attendance from churches all over the upstate of
South Carolina. Matt Rogers and Tracy Turner, the
youth pastor at Rocky Creek Baptist Church,
communicated the Gospel through the book of
Daniel. All were encouraged to take a stand in their
faith and to be bold for Christ. All were entertained
through the impromptu comedy brought by Theater
New small group birthed
this month: Lee & Jodie
Buford, Hollie & Hugh
Exodus 15:11 Carson
www.renewalupstate.com
Off the Cuff. Satellites and Sirens, Tuesday’s Child,
and Jonathan Elrod’s band led the group to worship
through music throughout the course of the
weekend. The weekend could not be run without
the help of so many friends and loved ones that
support and believe in the impact that Meltdown
has upon so many young lives.
Toby did an excellent job coordinating and
administering this weekend to make it a reality. God
has been so gracious to allow this weekend to
continue and there is great anticipation for what He
has in store for the future.
Renewal is looking forward to the year 2011 and the
opportunities that await her to serve. We look
forward to sharing the joys and ways we as a body
will have a chance to further the cause of Christ
through the time we commit to serving others.
Thank you for your continued love, support, and
prayers as Renewal is striving to faithfully live out
loud what a great God we serve.
Scandinavia
Written by Stephen Rutland
From January 4-13 Jordon Helms, Matt Rogers, and
I were in Scandinavia on an exploratory trip.  Our
goals were to meet with numerous pastors and
missionaries, find out what they are doing to get
after the Gospel there, encourage the Christians that
we met, and learn about the culture and spiritual
landscape.  Each day our model was to meet with
three Christian leaders for a few hours, although a
couple of days we had only one meeting due to
traveling.  We began in Copenhagen, Denmark, then
made our way to Goteborg, Sweden, and ended in
Oslo, Norway.  In all we met with around 14
separate leaders/organizations. Along the way we
surveyed close to 100 people asking questions about
their culture, view of God and spirituality, and
interests.  We returned with a lot of notes, a lot of
ideas, a much better understanding of the area, and
some new friends.  On February 2, Jordon, Matt,
and I will gather to debrief the trip.  We are praying
to discern a single location and ministry into which
we can pour people and resources.  We hope to
make a presentation soon regarding our findings
and recommendations for moving forward.  We
value your prayers during this process!
We thank God for the safety He gave each of these
men, as well as their wives, children, and families
while they were away. Praise be to God for the
work He is allowing Renewal to take part in this
area of the world.