Issue no.

17, January 2011

Join us in thanking God for
His provision and grace in our
lives in the following ways:
• God’s provision of Jesus through whom
we are adopted as sons and daughters of
God!
• Continued opportunities to serve Mitchell
Road Elementary School through
landscaping, providing for needy
students, & providing breakfast for
teachers and administrators
• Financial provision for a new year that
frees us up to give generously
• Continued gracious relationship with East
North Street’s staff and congregation
• Growth in reGroups as we add members to each
group and the number of reGroups grow
• Continuing to see Renewal partners interacting
with their neighbors, coworkers, and friends for
the purpose of sharing the gospel
Prayer Needs:
• Renewal’s continued focus on the gospel and
furthering the mission of God
• Renewal’s marriages and families to be
strengthened to bring glory to God
• College students returning from Christmas
Break and readjusting to life at school and at
Renewal
• That our eyes would be open and we would
listen to God’s prompting as we try to find ways
to serve our community, and specifically East North
Street Elementary School
• Scandinavia team (see article on back for specific ways to
pray)
• Wisdom, courage to lead, strength, and growth in fruits
of the Spirit for our pastors this coming year
• Continue praying for Restoration Church in Washington,
D.C. and Covenant Life Church in Tampa, FL and their
pastors during this new year
Rogers’ small group
Christmas party

countries who must meet secretly in order to avoid

Renewed Relationship with God
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to
the fellowship, and to the breaking of bread, and to
prayer.” (Acts 2:42)
December always brings a sweet time to fellowship
with family and friends, and to celebrate the
Incarnation - the Word who became flesh and
dwelled among us. We savored this time and rejoiced
that we have “seen His glory, the glory of the One
and only who came from the Father, full of grace and
truth” by tracking through the story of Scripture from
Genesis to Revelation. Matt walked us through the
Fall, reminding us of our need for a Savior and God’s
faithfulness to His promise to provide a Savior for us.
We then were encouraged by Toby as he reminded us
of God’s promise of a Savior and His exact fulfillment
of His promises. The gospel was clearly presented
through a sermon on the genealogy of Jesus from
Matthew 1, and we celebrated the rule and reign of
Jesus in Revelation on the last Sunday of this series.
Beginning in January, Matt will take us through the
book of Deuteronomy for our next series, “Blueprint.”
By God’s grace our love for the Old Testament will
deepen as our eyes are opened to how Jesus fulfills
and redeems all of the Old Testament.
If you would like to listen to any of the sermons from
“Christmas Before Christmas,” or of the upcoming
“Blueprint” series, you can access them from
www.renewalupstate.com/sermons .
We are so blessed in America to be able to openly
hear the Word of God preached, to meet openly with
other believers and celebrate Jesus as our Savior and
Lord. We are acutely aware of those in other
detainment by authorities, threats to their family,
and physical harm, and know that comparatively,
we “have it easy.” While we are thankful for that,
we also see the inherent danger as complacency,
unthankfulness, worldliness, and lack of desire for
the Word fill our Christian landscape in America.
Christians in other countries, when given the
opportunity, long to hear the Word of God
preached and will meet together as long as
possible in order to soak in the truth of the Word.
To try to ignite this same longing in the hearts of
those at Renewal and in a show of solidarity with
persecuted believers around the world, we will be
hosting Secret Church, Friday, February 18th
where Matt will be preaching through the story of
the entire Bible from 6 pm to 12 am. Please pray
for Renewal’s partners to grow in their love for
and desire for God’s Word so that they will grow
in their love for and obedience to Jesus.
Rachelle Usher, Julieann
Dix, Brooke Boyer at staff
Christmas party
How to Give
“Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone
as he had need.” Acts 2:45
Thank you again for your commitment to give to
Renewal Church! See the following information on
how to give:
• By check
Place a check in the pre-labeled envelope along
with a stamp, and mail to Renewal Church - 201
B. West Butler Rd. #151, Mauldin, S.C. 29662
• Online
Go to www.renewalupstate.com and click on
“Online Giving” at the bottom of the home page.
Click “Register” to give a one time gift.
• Automatic Draft
Go to www.renewalupstate.com and click on
“Online Giving” at the bottom of the home page.
Click “Register” to complete your automatic
draft.
A few reminders:
• All gifts are tax deductible
• Please make us aware of any address changes or
changes to your giving so we can make the
necessary adjustments. Send an email to
church@renewalupstate.com to update your
information!
• Should you desire to give to send our first
exploratory team to Scandinavia, please not that
on your checks.

www.renewalupstate.com

Renewed Relationships With
Each Other
“Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple
courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together
with glad and sincere hearts.” Acts 2:46
Renewal small groups (ReGroups) are such an
integral part of our DNA, providing us the
opportunity to "work out our salvation" together.
ReGroups carve out time to take what was learned
on Sunday to apply it to the rest of the week, as well
as provide biblical fellowship and encouragement,
time to confess our sins one to another with other
believers, accountability, etc.. With that said, our
ReGroups are growing! We currently have four
small groups meeting on a weekly basis for the past
several months, using that time to deepen
relationships and train up new small group leaders.
This month, one new ReGroup will birth! Hugh
and Hollie Carson will join with Lee and Jodie
Buford to head up the new group. There are also
two other couples in-training, preparing to birth
their own small group in the near future. This is
very exciting for us! We are blessed to see our
reGroups deeply loving each other and consistently
being in each others’ lives!
Rogers’ small group Christmas party
Along with the 18 people that joined Renewal
Church in membership on November 21st, we also
asked our current Renewal Church members to re-
covenant together at the beginning of year 2011 and
every year thereafter. Why? Church membership is
very important to us and taken very seriously. We
desire to set the bar high by educating and teaching
our body of believers that being a member of a
Christ-centered church means committing yourself
to pursue sanctification and holiness. This is the
expectation we have of our members and by re-
covenanting together every year we are reminded of
the importance of church membership.
In the area of church-wide discipleship, people are
still meeting for the Disciple Experiment as they
study through the book of Colossians together,
learning from one another in discipleship
relationships. We are so excited to see people's love
for discipleship grow, and we pray that the fruit of
these relationships produces more disciple-makers
within Renewal Church.
Toby & Julieann Dix, Hugh & Hollie
Carson at staff Christmas party
Renewed Love for Those Far
From God
“...And the Lord added to their number daily those who
were being saved.” Acts 2:47
Renewal had many great opportunities to share
with others during the month of December. As a
church, we were involved at Mitchell Road
Elementary School on three occasions. The first
opportunity Renewal had was on Friday, December
10th. About 20 Renewal partners watched
classrooms of children from 10am till 1pm to allow
the teachers to attend a luncheon in their honor. It
was a great opportunity to begin to get to know
many of the children as we took them to lunch and
played games with them in their classrooms. The
second opportunity Renewal had was to provide
Christmas gifts for fifteen Mitchell Road students.
The school counselor was overwhelmed at the
giving of the church. Thirdly, the Dix small group
provided breakfast for the teachers and staff of the
school on December
17th. Six Renewal
partners met the
teachers as they
came in on their last
day before their
Christmas break and
were treated to
Dunkin’ Dounts
coffee, Chick-fil-A
biscuits, and baskets
of fruit. The small
group also handed
out the candy cane
“Christmas Rat” Toby at Meltdown Student
treats that they had Conference
made for every child within the school. The faculty
and staff were thankful for the love they were
shown. On January 8th, Renewal will be able to help
Mitchell Road Elementary with landscaping projects
to help beautify the school. We are rejoicing that
God has opened the door wide for us to serve, love,
and share the gospel in this school. Please continue
to pray that we would use those opportunities for
God’s glory and to further His kingdom.
Meltdown Student Conference in Branson, Missouri
was a blessing to those in attendance. Toby and
Matt were able to touch about 85 students, plus
their leaders December 29th- 30th. God provided
safety for all in their travels and most of all He
touched many people’s lives during these days.
There are plans to go back again next year for a two
night, three day youth event during the same time
in December. Coming in January the 21st-23rd, the
annual Meltdown Conference will take place in
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. This will be the thirteenth
year Meltdown Conference has taken place here.
There are approximately 700 youth plus leaders that
will be in attendance for this weekend.
www.renewalupstate.com
All praise and glory goes to the Lord for what He
has and continues to do. Renewal is thankful to be a
part of His great work.
Scandinavia
As we look forward to a new year as a church, we
are thrilled to see the opportunities God has in store
for us to serve. On January 4th, we have a team of
three (Matt Rogers, Stephen Rutland, and Jordan
Helms) leaving for Scandinavia. This team will be
meeting with pastors and church planting leaders in
order to develop a partnership that we can
strategically send teams consistently to each year.
We’ve included their itinerary and ways that you
can be praying for them as they travel:
Jan. 4th - pray for safety as the team flies from
Atlanta to Copenhagen, Denmark
Jan. 5th-6th - pray for the team as they meet with
Hans Lund and Birthe, leaders of ecumenical
organizations, Ravi - pastor of International
Christian Community, Jack Fussell - missionary to
Denmark, and David - pastor of Copenhagen
Christian Community.
Jan. 7th-9th - pray for the team as they travel to
Goteborg, Sweden and meet with Jacob, Haakon,
and Tore - pastors in Angered, Sweden, Persson -
pastor of New Life Goteborg, Lance - pastor of
Fisher’s Creek International Church. Pray
especially for Matt as he preaches in Goteborg on
the 9th.
Jan. 10th-12th - pray for the team as they travel to
Oslo, Norway and meet with Ivar - pastor of First
Baptist Church Oslo, Frank - pastor of Oslo Free
Evangelical Church, Timothy - pastor of American
Lutheran Church, Peter, pastor of Hurum Lutheran
Church, Stephen - pastor of Jesus Church
Jan. 13th - pray for the team as they fly back to
Atlanta and readjust to life in America.
Pray for the team’s adjustment to these countries
as they will be experiencing a drastically different
climate with extreme cold, as the high will be
around 0 degrees each day, and darkness, as the
sun is only out about 5 hours each day. Pray for
discernment for the team as they meet with pastors
and leaders to determine where our partnership
should be.
Toby & Julieann Dix, Christina &
Stephen Rutland at staff Christmas party