:: OUR CHURCH ::
North Church is a small, evangelical, community-driven, gospel-centered, MISSIONAL church that was planted in 2007. We exist to know and love truth, people and God. We are broken people, leaning on Christ alone as our righteousness, sufficiency and hope. We long to continually allow the gospel to transform us as we seek to transform our community with that gospel. (www.northchurchstl.com) North Church was planted in 2007 out of Summit Community Church in O’Fallon, MO. Our church is located in North St. Louis, an area that seems to have very few churches seeking to reach out to the unchurched 20 and 30 year olds. Our desire it to be a community of believers that run away from the typical consumeristic mentality of doing church, to being a people who love and serve much, out of response to the abundance that we have been loved and served by our God.
:: OUR MISSION ::
Planting a church in Florissant, MO (suburb of St. Louis).
Cultivating a gospel saturated community on mission.
Guiding the lost to a knowledge of Christ.
Discipling believers to find their ultimate pleasure in Christ through the gospel.
I (Dave) began serving as an elder at North Church in 2009 alongside Rik Maxedon, the lead planter. In February 2010, after much dialogue between Rik and I about our small 3-year-old church plant and the need for further leadership and direction to continue the process of planting the church, Rik transitioned from being the lead pastor to the two of us being co-pastors. My main responsibilities include preaching/teaching, community engagement, mobilization, organization and structure. In addition to these responsibilities, Danielle and I also lead a weekly community group.
Since I began as a co-pastor, in February of 2010, Rik and I have been able to run more freely in our gifting and as a result have seen the Lord grow our church in tremendous ways. After 2 years of holding our main worship-gathering on Sunday nights, we have been able to move to gathering on Sunday mornings. We’ve implemented a brand new membership covenant, calling people to intentional, gospel-saturated, covenant community and have seen our membership roster double in the process. We have implemented a monthly community service day, with the goal of loving on our city for the sake of the gospel. Much needed structure and organization has been implemented in building out the ministry of the church, including regular family meetings, adding 1 new elder, 3 new deacons and mobilizing many of our members to serve in some capacity. We’ve had numerous opportunities to share the gospel with the lost around us. God is clearly at work in our church community and surrounding city.
:: OUR CITY ::
DID YOU KNOW??? In November of 2010, St. Louis was rated the most dangerous city in the United States. The need for the gospel to be advanced in St. Louis is huge and the best way to do that is by planting gospel-centered churches that will not isolate themselves from the culture but boldly engage the culture around them, while holding fast to their identity as Spirit-filled, redeemed, children of God.Our deepest desire for North Church is that we’d be a church that fully embraces the gospel and seeks to engage a lost and dying world with it. What would it look like if we really took Jesus seriously, to the degree that it actually began to impact how we lived our lives. How would we be different? How would our Christian community be different? How would our local community be different? How would our world be different?
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Below are some older posts about our mission and what brought us to planting and pastoring North Church.
We are excited to announce, as many of you probably already know, that the Lord is taking us on a new journey. After 5 amazing years teaching the Bible at North County Christian School, the Lord is leading us away. It's a very bitter sweet things for us right now. The Lord has been so faithful and allowed us to be a part of some amazing kingdom things there. We are truly blessed for the ministry the Lord allowed us to have at NCCS.
The Next Step
For almost 3 years now, we have been a part of a new church plant in St. Louis called North Church. You can check it out at www.northchurchstl.com. Within the last year or two, I have moved into the position of an elder at the church and now am coming on as a co-pastor with the guy who planted the church, Rik Maxedon. I am working part time for my parents at Subway to help pay the bills and insurance as well as raising financial support to pastor and continue the planting process at North Church.
How you can support us
Some of you may be interested in knowing how you can specifically pray for us or ever support us financially. You can contact me at dave.kuntz@sbcglobal.net if you want more information. We are also in the process of setting up online options for fundraising and will post them when they are available. We plan to use this blog to keep you up to date with what's going on. We are not consistent bloggers so I would recommend setting up the "follow" this blog option or signing up to receive an email when we update it (you can do that on the right side of the blog as you scroll down to the bottom.) Also follow me on twitter @davekuntz or on facebook and I will post when we have updated our blog.
The Next Step
For almost 3 years now, we have been a part of a new church plant in St. Louis called North Church. You can check it out at www.northchurchstl.com. Within the last year or two, I have moved into the position of an elder at the church and now am coming on as a co-pastor with the guy who planted the church, Rik Maxedon. I am working part time for my parents at Subway to help pay the bills and insurance as well as raising financial support to pastor and continue the planting process at North Church.
How you can support us
Some of you may be interested in knowing how you can specifically pray for us or ever support us financially. You can contact me at dave.kuntz@sbcglobal.net if you want more information. We are also in the process of setting up online options for fundraising and will post them when they are available. We plan to use this blog to keep you up to date with what's going on. We are not consistent bloggers so I would recommend setting up the "follow" this blog option or signing up to receive an email when we update it (you can do that on the right side of the blog as you scroll down to the bottom.) Also follow me on twitter @davekuntz or on facebook and I will post when we have updated our blog.
Here is the thought process the Lord took us on in this transition. This was written around March 2010.
RATIONALE – WHY I AM RAISING SUPPORT TO PASTOR AT NORTH CHURCH
RATIONALE – WHY I AM RAISING SUPPORT TO PASTOR AT NORTH CHURCH
On February 12, 2000 at a high school youth conference, the Lord called me into full-time vocation ministry. The very next day, February 13, the Lord gave me the person who would be my biggest partner, supporter and encourager - the one who would be called to walk beside me in ministry - my wife – Danielle. Since Danielle was a teenager, she always knew the Lord was calling her to be the wife of a pastor, and here we are 9 years later, seeking to walk out what the Lord started so long ago.
Why not continue my ministry at North County Christian School?
I am finishing my 5th year at NCCS. It has been an incredible ministry to say the least. The Lord has used this opportunity to shape my gifts of leadership and teaching. When I began teaching in the Fall of 2005, I was terrified. I really had no clue what I was doing. I wasn’t sure if this was for me. When the Lord called me into full-time vocational ministry, my mind immediately went to the local Church – for that was true ministry, I thought. I really had no clue, not only about what ministry was all about, but even about how to go about doing it. True ministry can only be defined as being faithful wherever the Lord has me, and for the last 5 years that has been NCCS.
I have really grown to love that place. The relationships I have built with the students and staff over the years, and continue to build, have been nothing short of a blessing. There are very few days that I don’t get in my car at the end of the day saying “I love my job!” Working at NCCS is absolutely a dream job. There are so many rewards in being a Christian school teacher, especially teaching the Bible.
But what I can’t get past is what the Lord is doing in my heart. There are numerous reasons I could list for why I would never want to leave NCCS, but none of them trump obedience. I have come to a place in my ministry here that is very comfortable. Not to say there aren’t challenges that present themselves everyday, because there are definitely days I don’t think I’m gonna get through. But on a whole, my job does not present the challenges it once did. If I’m not careful, I could easily coast through each day failing to beg for God’s help. When I started, that was all I knew to do.
The Lord is calling me to a place of greater dependence upon Him. He has more for me and wants to stretch my leadership in a scary way. What I can’t deny is the incredible burden he has given me for his Church. Yes I have come to love Christian school education, but even more my heart beats for the Church.
Danielle and I began attending North Church in 2007, just a few months after its inception. There was some great excitement about branching out from the church I was born in, to being a part of something new, brand new. The early stages were difficult to say the least. From trying to build new relationships to trying to figure out how to do church, there were many days I thought we made a mistake. Ministry just didn’t look the same as I always knew and I didn’t like that. I wanted to run. Little did I know that it was all apart of the process in what God wanted to transform in my own heart. He wanted to bring me back to a Christ-centered, gospel-centered reality. He wanted to rid me of myself – my pride, my legalism, my fear, ultimately my sin.
I am currently serving as a pastor/elder at North Church. I lead a community group and preach pretty consistently. As the only other elder with Rik Maxedon, the planting pastor, I am helping cast the vision and direction for our church, as well as seeking to shepherd our people. I have come to love our community at North Church. Since I came to this church, the Lord has revealed the pastor’s heart he put within me. Everyday my longing to lead and shepherd our people grows more and more. I am currently torn between my ministry at NCCS and my ministry at North Church. Because of the commitment and demands of NCCS, I am able to give little time to pastoring at North Church. This is very difficult considering where we are as a church.
We are currently a small, young church that has a ton of potential but needs a ton of leadership. Rik, is not able to carry the load by himself. Because we are a small church, we are not at a place of financial self-sufficiency. The church isn’t even at a place of offering full support to Rik, which requires him to raise support and work part time. This greatly limits the time he can give to the church, demanding for more of my time.
North Church is a community driven, gospel-centered church. We are a broken people, leaning on Christ alone as our sufficiency and significance. We long to continually allow the gospel to impact us as we seek to impact our community with that gospel. Our church is located in North St. Louis, an area that seems to have very few churches seeking to reach out to the unchurched 20 and 30 year olds.
In seeking to raise support to pastor full-time at North Church, it would allow our leadership to assess each others gifting and determine our roles and responsibilities as leaders. Danielle and I have grown to love the Maxedon family. We desire more than anything to help them grow what God has started with their family. They have made many sacrifices to start this church, and we believed the Lord is calling us to come along side them and help them continue to move forward in being the Church and doing Church in North St. Louis.
