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Gabriel! Interview Steve Jackson is no stranger to believers in
North Fulton and Forsyth County. Jackson and his family have lived in the
community since the early 80's. After a successful business career Jackson
attended seminary and was ordained in the Methodist Church. He served at Cumming
First United Methodist Church and was the founding pastor of Creekside United
Methodist. Last year he helped start the Chapel @ Johns Creek, a contemporary
service at Johns Creek United Methodist Church. In December Rev. Jackson
announced that he was planting a new church. We caught up with him recently and
asked him about the new church. Gabriel: Tell us a little about your new church. Jackson: The new church is named NewSong and it's a new non-denominational
community church that we are forming in the Central Cumming/Forsyth County area.
If you had to classify the church I suppose it would be called a
contemporary church because we have a praise band and we're pretty casual. Gabriel: Where
did the name come from? Jackson: We took the name
from the 96th Psalm where it says, "Sing
to the Lord a new song…proclaim his salvation day after day." NewSong
is going to have plenty of music and one of our main goals is to proclaim God's
salvation to everyone we can. We wanted a biblical name, and we're going to do
some new things, so the name seemed perfect. Gabriel: Why did you choose to plant the church in
Forsyth County? Jackson: There are two main reasons. One reason is because Forsyth County
is home for my family and me. We love the people and the atmosphere here and we
can't think of any place we'd rather be. A second reason has to do with census
figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau last March. These figures showed
Forsyth County having the highest growth rate in the nation. The seventh fastest
growing county in the nation in this same report was Dawson County just to our
north. New homes are springing up everywhere around here. We're planting NewSong
to reach out to these new friends and neighbors. Some of them will already be
followers of Christ and will be searching for opportunities too learn, worship,
serve and to get to know their neighbors. We want to offer these people our
assistance in their personal and spiritual growth. Other newcomers will be new
to the claims and teachings of Jesus Christ. For these people NewSong will be a
place where they can ask questions without fear and where they can feel like
they're at home. Gabriel: Give us a little more background, how did
NewSong come about? Jackson: I was a United Methodist Pastor for a few years and have some
experience planting churches. The timing for NewSong came about primarily
because I reached a turning point in my own ministry. I felt called to leave the
Methodist Church and to plant another church. I have some ideas that I want to
try out. Gabriel: What kind of ideas? Jackson: Well, there are several. For instance I think it is possible to
start a church for people who don't particularly like church. I also happen to
think that church doesn't have to be boring or dull or spiritually unfulfilling.
Most importantly I think God wants every person to experience Him in a powerful
way, so as long as there is even just one person out
there who hasn't experienced God, we have a mission. I decided to plant a new
church that would be free to do all these things while still holding to an
historic, orthodox understanding of biblical Christianity. Gabriel: What will your services be like? Jackson: In a word, our services will be a celebration. There will be lots
of music, which is another reason we named it New Song. The services will be
very informal and casual. In addition to all the music we'll have a drama from
time to time, Scripture reading and a prayer time. Oh, and don't forget the
sermon [laughs]. My preaching style is biblical, relevant and practical. I tell
a lot of stories that people can relate to when I preach. I try to use more
"how to's" than "ought to's" in my messages. I also use
humor in my sermons, so we have fun when we worship God. That's why we call it a
celebration. Gabriel: Since NewSong is non-denominational, what
will your theology be like? Jackson: We were very careful about that. We studied several historic
Christian creeds and articles of faith and then developed a Statement of Faith
that covers all the classic aspects of the faith. We believe in the Trinity, the
Sacraments, Eternal life, and that Jesus is the way to the Father. We believe
that the life God intends for everyone is a life that flows from having a
genuine, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. We believe that many people,
believers and non-believers, are missing out on the fullness of life that God
wants for us. Oops, I guess I'm preaching. To answer your question, our theology
is mainline, orthodox, classical, biblical Christianity. Gabriel: How does one go about starting a new
church? Do you have backing from another church or group? Jackson: The key to starting a church is to make sure, first of all, that
God is behind it and in it all the way. If
God is in it, doors open, people are receptive, resources become available, and
everything clicks. We don't have any backing from any other group. My strategy
is to gather a core group, we call them "seed families," and to pray
together about the new work. Working together with the Spirit, things just
happen. Don't get me wrong, it's hard work, but the rewards are out of this
world! [laughs again] Gabriel: Are you patterning NewSong after any
particular church? Jackson: That's one of the blessings of planting a NEW church. You can do
a little research and then take the things the best churches are doing, innovate
on your own, and the result is a church that is exciting, dynamic and powerfully
effective at it's mission. I am a
big fan of Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Church model and I like some of the
things that Bill Hybels does at Willow Creek near Chicago. I also happen to
think we have one of the best young church leaders right in our own back yard in
Andy Stanley down at North Point Community Church. NewSong will be a mixture of
all the best elements of these churches, plus some new things of our own. We'll
be unique. Gabriel: What sort of outreach ministries are
planned at NewSong? Jackson: We'll reach out into the community to help those outside our
church with things like food, clothing, shelter, mentoring and more. I don't
know what specific outreach ministries we'll have yet because I've discovered
that the best ministries always start with a passion in some individual's heart,
then the ministry is owned and nothing will stop it. One of the really great
things about being non-denominational is that we don't have to waste our
outreach funds propping up unwieldy denominational boards and agencies. I've
seen way too much money that was supposed to reach needy people be used instead
to pay salaries and rent for big church agencies. All of our outreach funds will
go to outreach efforts, every dime. Gabriel: What about programs and activities, what
will NewSong offer? Jackson: Since we'll be fairly contemporary I expect our worshippers will
be rather young so we'll have lots of activities and programs for children,
young people, and parents. We
already have a men's fellowship meeting for breakfast once a week and we've got
a group of ladies who want to form a women's Bible study. At our earliest
meetings we've had several youth attend so I know we'll be hiring a youth pastor
before long also. Our main strategy in planning programs and activities is to
gear these activities towards those we hope to reach, not just to our own church
family. The church is the only entity I know of that exists for others, not for
its own members. We want to fill the felt needs of the individuals and families
in and around Forsyth County. Gabriel: You mentioned the word strategy. What is
your main goal at NewSong? Jackson: Wow. That's a huge question. If I had to put it in one sentence
I'd say our goal is to reach people for Jesus Christ and then to help them along
the path. Personally I believe a lot of people try to make this harder than it
really is. People need the Lord and the Lord loves people, our task is to help
make the connection and then to make it stronger. Gabriel: Before we close, tell our readers where are
you located. Jackson: That's kind of interesting [laughs]. We don't have a place to
worship on Sundays yet. For now we're meeting on Wednesday nights from 7 -
8:30pm at the Sawnee Center in Cumming. We get together for praise and worship
and some teaching and fellowship time. We have a blast.
Our first "real" worship celebration will be on Easter Sunday
somewhere near Forsyth Central High School. We do have an office though. Our
office is located in the Colony Park Office complex (behind First Colony Bank).
The address is 106 Colony Park Drive, Suite 600 Cumming, GA 30040. My office
telephone is 770.888.5212 our fax is 770.887.8723. My Email is jackson2@mindspring.com
and our web site is www.newsongweb.org Gabriel: Thanks for your time. Do you have any
closing thoughts or comments? Jackson: Thank you! My only closing thought is to ask you and your readers
to please pray for us and for our mission. The way I see it, we're all on the
same team. Jesus gave us a commission to fulfill. None of us can do it alone. It
takes all kinds of churches and all kinds of ministries like yours at Gabriel,
and all kinds of individuals working together to reach the world for Christ. My
prayer is that we'll all start working together at that mission. |