Portico Church Arlington

• Mark Campbell
• Aug 23, 2010
• Series: Church Profiles
• Categories: Church Planting Articles, Latest News

Briefly describe your story of your call to plant a church.

I came on the staff at Portico Church, an Acts29 Church plant in Charlottesville, VA, in 2005. The church consisted of our Lead Pastor, Chris Atwell and his family and myself and my wife and daughter. When I arrived, Chris was just finishing radiation therapy for tongue cancer. Needless to say, the road was going to be difficult, but God is faithful beyond our wildest imaginations.

After labor with minimal success for over a year, Chris was re-diagnosed with cancer in May of 2006 and had massive surgery to remove a large portion of his tongue and his lymph nodes. During the two months Chris was recovering, the church grew from 30 to 100. In the next two months, Portico would grow to 200, with people getting saved, others growing greatly in their knowledge and application of the gospel, and Jesus architecting a genuine, authentic, biblical community.

For four years, I saw God move powerfully to save the lost and transform the lives of many through our church plant. I saw first hand the beauty of the Bride of Christ and how God's primary means to advance the kingdom is the local church. This put a fire and passion in me for the Church and future church planting.

In 2008, I began to sense a call to plant. I put it prayer, knowing, and having experienced the weighty and difficult road of church planting, I wanted to hear from the Lord. I was only going to do it if the Lord was calling. Otherwise, not a chance.

In December of 2008, Chris Atwell asked to hang out after church one Sunday. He proceeded to tell me that the Elders of Portico believed that I could, and should leave to plant a church. This was a huge confirmation from the body of Christ and Godly men that I respect greatly.

I shared with my wife and we began praying and after six months of prayer, research, and seeking counsel, I felt a clear call to plant a church in Arlington, VA, just outside Washington, DC.

After our house sold in 21 days on the market, we moved to Arlington in December of 2009.

How did you build up your core? What advice would you give to guys in the core-stage?

Our core was a combination of people who were members of Portico in Charlottesville who moved to Arlington, friends from other ministries I led in the past, contacts from the Acts 29 website, and random people I met here in Arlington.

The core was built by many cups of coffee and discussing the church, the vision, and the mission. In addition, we had many dinners in our home, getting to know people and sharing life with them even before the church even started.

My advice would be that relationships are paramount in the core development stage. My wife and I found that those people who we had over for dinner and shared a meal with, even if it was just one time, were exponentially more likely to stay with us. People want to know the person they are going to be following into this crazy idea and make sure their love for Christ and call to plant is legit! Is it about Jesus or you?

What were the biggest challenges you faced in planting your church (and/or currently facing)?

The biggest challenge we have faced in planting has been space. Arlington is extremely expensive and options are limited. I looked for three months prior to finding the location in which we are presently worshipping. Both a praise and challenge, we are looking at the potential of outgrowing our current space this fall. We are already launching a second service this September to create room.

How did you become involved with Acts 29? What have been the biggest benefits of being in the network?

I became involved with Acts 29 through coming on staff at Portico Church in Charlottesville in 2005. It has been an enormous blessing to be part of a network through the years and to experience the partnership and brotherhood of the Acts 29 network.

The biggest benefit has been the relationships and knowing that even though there may be days that you feel alone, there are other people who are laboring for the Christ in the same ways.

What advice do you have for men who are wrestling with the decision to plant?

Pray. Do not rush. Seek the council of men in your life who you respect their relationship with the Lord and their wisdom. Love your wife through the process. Have patience with her and do not expect her to be as excited about the plant as you are initially. Patiently listen to her concerns and walk with her through them, pointing her to Christ. God will not call you to plant and not your wife. The two become one flesh.

How do you pastor your family? 

I pastor my family first through pastoring myself. The source of my love and shepherding my family must be Christ or it will be through my best effort and not His working in my life. This never lasts or works. Christ must be the source.

Secondly, I pastor them through modeling. I believe that a love for Christ, especially in kids, is caught as much as it is taught. What does my daughter see when she watches her daddy? Do I pray when things are difficult and bring them to the Lord? Is the Bible authoritative in how we operate as a family? I am always leading, the question is, am I leading well or not well? I set the pace and tone for our family. I my hope and prayer is that it evident to my family that Christ is central to the Campbells.

Thirdly, I pastor my family through intentional time spent building our relationships and always talking about Christ and his work in our lives. I have date night every week with my wife on Thursdays and I have a date breakfast with my daughter every Friday morning. I want them to know they are a priority and our relationship is vital. Making this intentional effort allows me to continually be in their lives, letting them know my love and care for them. This way, I when I speak of Christ and his love for them, and it is consistent with the love and affection they are getting from me.

Lastly, I pastor my family through Bible reading and study. My wife loves the scriptures so I do not have to do anything to encourage her to read and study. I just love to ask what the Lord is teaching her in her life. With my daughter I read to her most nights, the Jesus Story Book Bible and talk about God. She has great questions! We also pray together every night. Little John is too small to read Bible stories, but I pray over him every night and soon enough, we will read together. 

It is the greatest joy of my life to see my family grow in our dependence and love of Christ as our Savior and Treasure.

Outside of the Bible, what is the most helpful book you have read for church planting?

Redeemer's Church Planting Manual

How can we pray for you? 

Please pray that I am faithful lead my home well, I preach with boldness, and many rebels becomes worshippers of the King.

Church Profile: Portico Church Arlington
Launch Date: April 11, 2010
Location: Arlington, Virginia

Mission, Vision, Values of Church 

Vision:

• Know. Build. Tell.
• We exist to Know Christ, Build the Church, Tell the Story.

Mission:

• Plant Twenty Churches in Twenty Years.

Values:

• Inspire-Gospel Creates Worshippers.
• Involve-Gospel Creates Community.
• Instruct- The Gospel Creates Learners.
• Invest- The Gospel Creates Servants.
• Initiate- The Gospel Creates Missionaries.

What is your philosophy of community in your church and what does that look like practically in your church? Of evangelism?

Community is everywhere in our culture from bars, softball leagues, gyms, coffee shops, to social networking sites. Clearly God has created us with the need to be in community. We believe that everyone should be in not only community, but biblical community. Here we indeed share in our mundane daily experiences and our play activities, but we add the additional layer of the scriptures, exhortation to pursue holiness and Christ, and engage in living our spiritual lives together. It is in this context that growth in faith and mission happen.

That practically works out in our church through community groups. We have groups that meet in homes throughout the week. These groups discuss the Sunday sermon, care for one another, pray together, serve their communities together, and grow in their faith.

All of our groups have an outward face always looking to draw believers and non-believers alike into their groups and lives. We want as many people as possible to see what it looks like for people to wrestle with Scripture and have it transform their lives. Leaders of these groups then are expected to raise up new leaders and multiply and replicate to create new communities.

Our philosophy of evangelism is predominately what Keller calls, evangelistic networking. We all have networks of relationships where we have influence. We are called as missionaries to take the gospel to the places in which God has us.

The third part of our vision is to "Tell the Story." We do this in Word and Deed. We tell the story of redemptive history through both the verbal proclamation of the Gospel and through how we live our lives. We must do both.

How this practically works out in our church is that we gathering for the preaching of the gospel every weekend. Our hope is that nonbelievers will be brought to hear the Word preached and the Holy Spirit will convict people of sin and they will turn to Christ for salvation. Our members then scatter as missionaries to their jobs, neighborhoods, communities, to bring the message of the gospel.

A big emphasis I make is that we must use words. Romans 10 makes it clear that salvation comes through the proclamation of the Gospel and then the person in turn calling on the Name of the Lord. While deeds are imperative, we must actually talk to people about the person and work of Christ.

Far to many Christians feel like they are being "missional" because they feed the homeless or do a tutoring project in a local school. Yes, they are living out a merciful, Christ-like life, which we are called to and is absolutely good, but if we never tell people they too can be saved, we have done nothing but make them more comfortable on the way to hell. Word and Deed. The Gospel makes every member a missionary.

We also emphasize evangelism and mission by having every community group open with an outward face. We want to invite those who do not know Christ into biblical community so they can see what it truly means to be a Christian. We struggle, we need grace, and we need each other. It is here, where true authenticity and battling to live the Christian life in the power of the Spirit takes place, that a nonbeliever can get an accurate picture of the grace of God working in real people's lives. I've seen many people come to a saving faith in Christ through the ministry done in community groups.

What are some examples of God's grace that you have seen in your life and/or the life of your church? 

They are almost too many to count. The Lord's grace in this church plant has been tremendous and at times overwhelming. The people are one of the biggest evidences of God's grace and honestly is a testimony to the faithfulness of Acts29. Our church and the core has people from approximately eight different Acts29 Churches literally spanning the entire US. The people that have come from these churches love Christ, are faithful servants, understand the Gospel, and are living lives on mission. It's a beautiful thing to see.

In addition, God has given my wife and me grace in our transition from Charlottesville to Arlington. We are from the Northern VA area and had never really wanted to move back. We love our church in Charlottesville and the people there, but needed to be obedient to the call to plant. God has supernaturally given us a love for the city, the people, and we feel like we have lived here for years. It's totally God's grace.

God's grace is evident in the Lord's provision financially as we plant in one of the most expensive areas in the country. He is good.