Some of you may have missed the big announcement about Jim Phillips last weekend and his plans to leave Alive and plant a church. Over the coming weeks we want to give you as much information as possible so that you can be praying for Jim in this new adventure and for Alive as we go forward. (I will be introducing Jim’s replacement on the weekend of Sept. 25th & 26th)
One of the big questions that I am asked is why is Jim starting a new church as opposed to an Alive campus. The answer is simple, Jim has felt God leading him to be a Lead/Teaching Pastor and start a new church. As the Lead/Teaching pastor Jim will be setting the vision, values and mission that he feels God has for him and the church he will begin.
Another question I have been asked a lot is “are we changing the direction of our strategy?” The answer is no. Alive church will continue with the strategy that God has given us to begin new campuses with our vision, values, and mission as we have done with our Continental Ranch campus. We understand that God has given Jim a call to be a lead/teaching pastor and we celebrate that in his life, we bless him in this and will continue to encourage him in this. While his work/church will not be an Alive Church ministry we will look for ways to work together to reach our community, as we do with all Bible believing churches in our community.
The last question I want to address in this article that I have been asked is this: “Is Jim going to just be out there on his own?” The answer is no. Pastor Jim is working to partner with a church planting organization/ministry. In my opinion Jim has made a wise decision to partner with these experts.
As a church we are going to bless and encourage Jim and Leslie, as they step out into this new ministry and celebrate with them as God uses them to multiply the ministry of God’s Kingdom in this area. As a pastor and friend I will miss Jim here at Alive, as I know many of you on the OV campus will. I am glad that he will be staying in the area as a comrade in Jesus mission for the greater Tucson area. Let’s all be praying for Jim and Leslie and there family as they begin this new church/ministry. Pray for Jim as he transitions to the role of lead/teaching pastor for his church and pray for Alive as we transition to our new campus pastor and continue to live out the vision of “leading people who are far from God to be followers of Jesus.”
P.S. Mark your calendars, we will be having a send off party for Pastor Jim and Leslie Saturday evening Oct. 23rd following our evening service. They will be launching out to plant their new church as of Nov. 1st.