Real Good News

A vision for multiplication that begins at home in the church itself, and then reaches out to enfold the community, is driving discipleship and evangelism at Good News FMC (Mechanicsburg, PA), where the focus is on developing and sustaining “real people, real relationships, real growth and change.”

Founded in 1991 as a cooperative effort by several Eastern conferences, Good News is the enduring result of the Harrisburg Area church planting project. The church’s steady growth, building project, leadership development and creative community events are clear proof of its durable, maturing culture.

In June 2004 Good News dedicated a 65,000-square-foot facility, 80 percent of it constructed by volunteers with help from other churches — including a team from Santo Domingo who had welcomed a team from Good News to assist with its own building project several years ago.

Associate Pastor Deryl Reinhold, formerly with Youth With A Mission and possessing tremendous discipleship training, is “a great example of what the denomination’s Apollos Model provides,” says Pastor Al Sones. Reinhold works full-time in his family’s battery business and is working toward ordination using the denomination’s fast-track approach. While he has made calls on service stations and auto repair shops, Reinhold has developed a growing network of contacts, most of them fans of NASCAR. Good News sponsored an outreach event centered on the Daytona 500 in February. Missions-minded Reinhold invited a number of his friends.

With multiplication always on its mind, this healthy church plant is planning to plant another church as soon as it reaches 200-250 people. “Church planting is the best strategy for rapid kingdom multiplication,” says Sones. Another key: the identification and nurturing of “elders” in the body — those who feel the call to shepherd the flock. And the real good news at Good News? Individuals are responding to the call to maturity. Even the shepherds are multiplying.