What's APT?

CityLife is called to make and multiply disciplemakers in and through apartments therefore we were determined to stay focused on the multi-family housing mission field. However, we began to hear from the Lord that we needed to expand our scope to the homeless. We decided to follow the Lord's leading and launch a homeless ministry in the Rivergate area in partnership with Faith Baptist Church, Madison. 

This episode is about that very first Meal of Hope where we served 20 homeless and had multiple Gospel conversations with was undoubtedly a God thing. 

America is home to many nationalities and cultures. As we continue with this discussion on Home Missions and CityLife we will acknowledge some of the many cultures we connect with in our apartment ministry. We pray that these sessions regarding Home Missions piqued your interest to take the next step and investigate some of the mission opportunities that are in your own neighborhood. Our responsibility is to obey God, and make disciples in Nashville, New Mexico, Netherlands, or your own neighborhood.

Don't forget to pray for CityLife!!!

This is the first time Gary and Rod did their podcast recording in from of a live audience. Mt Juliet Christian Academy invited us to speak at one of their High School chapels services.  We were asked to represent CityLife as an example of a Home Mission.       

Acts 1:8 (ESV)

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The Jerusalem in this command is the Home Mission."

As Christians we are commanded to share the witness of Christ from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. I pray that you and the High School students of Mt Juliet Christian Academy will each obey God’s call to be a witness for Jesus whether He calls you to go across the world or across the street.

This is the final episode of an interview Gary Jennings had with John King, the retired global coach with Final Command Ministries. John is also Gary's coach as he practices the principles of DMM in the context of apartments. CityLife is committed to these DMM principles to transform apartments by making and multiplying disciplemakers in and through apartments. John goes over the five basic principles of DMM including praying and fasting, serving with purpose, finding persons of peace, starting Discovery Bible Studies and embracing multiplication. 

CityLife partners with churches, nonprofits, individuals, entrepreneurs and business leaders to provide a "lab" to implement these Kingdom elements for the multiplication of disciplemakers from the inside out.  

Thank you, John!!!

This is an ongoing interview that Gary Jennings had recently  with John King focused on how critical ordinary people are to lead, disciple and multiply movements. Traditionally, the local church depends on seminary-trained ministers to share the Gospel which seldom leads to the multiplication of disciplemakers. However,  ordinary people is essential for the multiplication of the Gospel in the workplace, schools, neighborhoods, and communities

This conversation also includes some very special insights John has for those of us who use the principles and practices of Disciple Making Movements in apartment ministry. 

We are so blessed to have John King on our podcast today. John is the retired Global Coach with Final Command Ministries in Murfreesboro, TN. John has been a part of several Disciple Making Movements around the world and has been Gary's Disciple Making Movement coach since 2015. This interview is first episode of three beginning with some basics about Disciple Making Movements. We will be discussing what is a DMM and how they get started as well as brief conversations about how God uses ordinary people to transform their circles of influence from the inside out. We will also talk about how to train people for multiplication. 

We love working with the apartment management teams. They are the entry point for CityLife to be effective in serving and discipling employees and residents. First, as we serve the apartment management we are developing  and building a community that encourages retention among residents and employees. In other words, we are assisting apartment management in their business model by creating a safe and healthy community for their residents to live, play, serve and flourish. 

As we pray and serve with purpose CityLife is able to interact with the community through access events and ministries, we are given the opportunity to have spiritual discussions, and find persons of peace, start Discovery Bible studies and multiply what God is doing. This enables God’s Kingdom to be expanded in and through apartment communities. 

In order for CityLife to accomplish all that God has given us – God also provides the resources that come from partnerships. Today we will talk about “The Ministry of Networks” and how God uses networks to bring us the essential resources that come from partnerships.

Networking provides the “all sufficiency” that we read about in 2 Corithians 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace aboundtoward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”

MissionLab615 is a ministry of CityLife, that provides customized, short-term mission trips to share God’s love in apartments. We want mission teams to “taste and see” what God is doing in our Middle TN apartments and equip them to make and multiply disciplemakers in apartments here in Middle TN as well as where the mission team lives, works, and plays. 

Who is MissionLab615 for? 

Churches, collegiate ministries, and nonprofit organizations are invited to Nashville to have practical, hands-on experiences on how to make and multiply disciplemakers in and through apartments. 

Our mission lab experiences are for high school students (who have completed the 8th grade), college students, and adults in churches, collegiate ministries, and faith-based nonprofit organizations. 

This is the final episode in a three-part series called CityLife Distinctives. Rod and Gary cover the last five of the twelve distinctives in a short amount of time but each distinctive is garnished with stories from our apartments. 

• Compassionate Partnerships

Partnerships are our fundamental way of implementing Matthew 9:35-38. Partnerships are our model in earning trust to serve and build apartment communities. We are dependent on strong partnerships to fulfill the Great Commission in and through apartments.

• Coach the Coach(able)

Coaching is essential in making obedience-based disciple-makers who support disciple-making movements in and through apartments.

• Willing Learners 

We must be willing to learn how God is using our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world that are experiencing disciple-making movements and adapt in our ministries to apartments.

• Equip Churches for Apartment Ministry 

Strong, healthy missional churches in North America are critical in sending and supporting disciple-makers in difficult-to-reach Acts 1:8 areas. By enlisting volunteers from local churches they get to experience the work that God is doing and the opportunity to join Him in making disciple-makers. Additionally, we coach churches in initiating prayer and service for apartments in their own communities.

• Success measured by transformed lives. 

Our effectiveness will be measured by apartment employees, residents, partners and volunteers transformed in becoming disciples who make disciples.