OPEN LETTER

Dear Friends of THE CITY community church –

We live in an era that has been described by sociologists as a Creative Revolution. Much like the industrial revolution, of the early 1900’s the late 1990’s and the early part of the 21st Century, can be described as an era of revolution. The industrial revolution marked a move to the cities as technology and factory labor drew masses to the urban centers of the world, resulting in overcrowding, poverty, crime, and other so called urban problems. Those who could afford it fled the cities and created the modern phenomenon of suburban life along with soccer moms and mini-vans.
We are currently encountering a return to the city and what sociologist Richard Florida calls the “Rise of the Creative Class”. More and more people are active in the creative occupations, and we are not only speaking of artists, musicians and entertainers, but also doctors, lawyers, software engineers, etc. Those creative people tend to gather in large urban areas that are conducive to creativity and change, bringing along with their creativity, innovation that impacts society and ultimately creates culture. These creative centers of innovators and culture shapers include cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC/Baltimore, Raleigh North Carolina with its Triangle Research Park, Portland and Austin.
As a matter of fact, Austin, which was recently ranked by Forbes as the fastest growing metro area in the United States, has overtaken San Francisco as the most creative city in America. Here centers of government (Austin is the Capital of Texas), entertainment (Austin is nicknamed the live-music capital of the world and is second only to LA/Hollywood in movie making), High Tech (Dell Computers, Samsung, and various software companies are located in Austin as well as major gaming companies such as EA games etc.), and education (the University of Texas at Austin has nearly 60,000 students) dominate the sociological landscape and give rise to tremendous creativity and innovation.
We are dreaming of impacting our culture by reaching the culture shapers of Austin with the Life-changing reality of Jesus Christ. This next generation of leaders and influencers are our primary target group.
In order to accomplish this with the very limited funds of a startup venture we are coming to you to ask you to partner with us for the sake of the kingdom of God here in Austin.
Robby Forsythe a talented musician and seasoned pastor has given up his secure well-paid pastoral position with full benefits and the security and prestige of a multi-thousand person congregation in Southern California in order to help us accomplish this mission in Austin, Texas. He is working various positions in the marketplace here in the city, but to make the most of his abilities and time for the sake of this church-startup we would like to raise his salary and insurance through tax-deductible donations from individuals like you.
Would you pray about partnering with us, please? You can pledge a monthly amount, or send a one-time gift. No amount is too small (or too large ;-)) Send your tax-deductible gift to HCBC c/o Matthias Haeusel at 12124 RR 620 N, Austin, TX 78750. Please make checks out to THE CITY community church, with the words ROBBY FORSYTHE in the tag-line.

Thank you for partnering with us for the Gospel of Christ!


Matthias P. Haeusel
Senior Pastor
THE CITY community church