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My heart for families: (guest post by Mitch Corn)

A few months ago my wife Jennie and I were celebrating the birth of our second daughter Colbie and pondering a passion that would move us beyond the realm of the ministry we had called home for close to a decade: Fellowship Church, in Grapevine, TX. This passion was for families and children to reach their full potential with God through the local church.

 

With our passion heavy on our hearts we began looking for a church that wanted to help families and children no matter what the cost. We were looking for a church that realized that the family is in crisis and wanted to be part of the solution. When we visited  Mountain Lake Church we heard Shawn challenge the church to give Awedaciously and sacrificially. Then he introduced one of the many couples whose marriages have been saved from divorce because of Mountain Lake. It was then and there we knew this was the place for us to fulfill the passion for families that God had given us.

 

Our goal is to change the way families and children view the local church. Without a doubt the local church is the very best thing a family can be involved in. Church is better than sports, PTA, clubs, because the local church is the only organization that Jesus Himself created. Other organizations are good but the local church is great and we want to help families realize how teaming with the church can help them reach their full potential.

 

Children are going to realize that church is the best part of their week. Parents are going to realize parenting done God’s way puts them in control and makes their children feel more loved. Marriages are going to be stronger because husbands and wives are going to learn they are not alone and how to succeed in the work of marriage.

 

God is moving at Mountain Lake Church. Our community will never be the same! And if you choose to be part of it, neither will you. I can’t wait to see all that God is about to do and I am thankful that my family can take part in it.

My call to MLC (Guest post by Eric Echols)

 
Over the past 8 years, I’ve had the privilege of serving at one of the fastest growing churches in America. It’s been an incredible ride where we’ve seen the church grow from 1800 to over 10,000 people attending weekly. In the midst of this incredible move of God, He also began a move within me. A year ago, I felt God telling me that I would one day serve as an Executive Pastor.

 

While God’s call on our lives was clear, where He was calling us mattered…A LOT. We wanted to be a part of a church that is serious about reaching people far from Him. We wanted to plant our family in a place that is striving to be the people of God he’s called them to be & daring to believe God will use them to change the world.

 

This is why I believe God has called us to Mountain Lake Church.

 

First of all, I was fired up when I heard our Awedacious goals. I knew then that Mountain Lake is willing to take risks to further God’s Kingdom. I’m excited to be a part of a movement that is going to send Mountain Lakers across the street and across the world for the sake of Christ.

 

Secondly, I am pumped to lead the amazing Ministry Team God has placed at Mountain Lake. Several of our newest pastors, including Blake Stanley (students) and Mitch Corn (families/children) are passionate about reaching the next generation for Christ. Also, I am continually impressed with the way Todd Nichols is challenging the way we worship God and how John Shepherd creates community and discipleship through our Life Groups.

 

Finally, Nicole and I have fallen in love with Shawn and Tricia Lovejoy. Their heart for the church and for our community is contagious. I am excited to partner with Shawn and follow his leadership at my new post at Mountain Lake.

 

It’s hard to believe that I will officially begin my ministry as the Executive Pastor at Mountain Lake Church this next month. I’m truly humbled by the opportunity to serve this church and eager to be a part of the movement of God started here 10 years ago and continues today.

Weekend Reflex 5-23-10...

Sorry I didn’t get my Sunday Reflex up yesterday. The last few days have been some of busiest, and yet most personally fulfilling in my ministry here at Mountain Lake Church. I’ll try to unpack that through my reflex from the weekend:    

• Friday night & Saturday, we held our Good $ense Workshop @mtnlakechurch. I think it was the BEST class we’ve ever had. One couple had over $80,000 worth of consumer debt, and by the end of the workshop, had come up with a plan to pay it all off within a year!  That will allow them to save and give in ways that honor God!

• Sunday we kicked off our new series called “Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness.” One of the best series we’ve done in a while! It’s all about Jesus and the things ONLY HE can give us. LOVE talking about Jesus!

•  The bottom line was this: “Faith is not only believing in Jesus. It’s believing that Jesus is best.”

•  I was honored to introduce Mitch Corn and his wife Jennie, as new additions to our Ministry Team. Mitch comes to us as the former Elementary Director at Fellowship Church, in Dallas, TX. He’s another game changer God has added to our team lately. Mitch will oversee our entire Children’s Ministry, as well as our new Marriage & Family Center here @mtnlakechurch! Last night, our Leadership team shared some of the initial plans and vision we have for the Marriage & Family Center, and I can’t wait to see what Jesus is about to do in and through this ministry! 
  

• Newcomer’s Lunch was Sunday afternoon, and the room was packed with new people. I encountered a first for me at the end of the class: I sat on the edge of the stage while people waited in line and had two different men approached me and asked me to help lead them in a prayer to ask Christ to come into their lives! THAT is why I started Mountain Lake!

• Sunday night, was “THE PREMIERE,” the GOING PUBLIC of the new face of our Student Ministry! Blake Stanley and the Student ministry volunteers KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK! Over 500 students and nearly 200 parents showed up for the event, and Jesus was lifted up while they were there! Just a sneak peek at our new Student Ministry @mtnlakechurch called “EVOLVE”.  EVOLVE launches weekly services for Middle School and High School again on June 6. I think I might even join the Student Ministry!

•  Obviously, this was an overwhelming weekend! Mountain Lakers, I hope you are taking it all in. God is up to some HUGE things around here right now, and they’re only going to get BETTER! Thanks for hanging in there. thanks for your service. thanks for your giving. Thanks for praying. God is answering our prayers!

•  Daring to BE the people of God. Daring to BELIEVE He can use us to change the world. that’s how we roll @mtnlakechurch.

Sunday Refex 5-16-10

Yesterday was Awedacious Impact Day! We celebrated the awedacious impact that Mountain Lake has has in its history, and looked forward to the impact God will give us in the future! Here are a few highlights:

• Introduced our new Exec Student Pastor, Blake Stanley, to the Sunday AM crowd for the 1st time!
• Introduced our new Executive Pastor of Ministries, Eric Echols, to the church for the first time! Eric & Nicole join our team from 12 Stone Church, here in Metro ATL!  HUGE pickup for our church.
• Introduced our latest two church plants to our Sunday morning crowd: Ken Joslin, and Shad Treadaway. 
• Secret: We had a new Children's Pastor candidate on campus yesterday. Pray for discernment and unity among our families and for God's will to be done!
• Baptized again: Mountain Lake total as of this Sunday: 1063 people have been baptized in our baptistery! Woohoo! 
• Took up two offerings! I actually HATE this, but it does communicate once a year the difference between the TITHE and the OFFERING.
• I shared from my heart from this verse, that probably BEST expressed where God has me today: 
• David & Tricia Hosemann shared their story of life change and marriage healing. Not a dry eye in the place! David & Tricia, you knocked a home run!
• We asked people to give Awe-daciously to see our church meet critical needs and accomplish the goals he has for us!  HUNDREDS of us came forward and placed their offerings at the foot of the stage, expressing our faith and unity as a church.
• We'll be sharing how we've done in connection with these goals in 2 wks.  Stay tuned! 
• Daring to BE the people of God. Daring to BELIEVE He can use us to change the world. THAT'S what we're shooting for. 
• Love & appreciate you ALL! 

Bigger on the inside...

God led me to a Scripture passage today that rocked my world. I pray that He uses it in your life the same way:

 

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (NIV) Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

 

God reminded me once again today, that perhaps the most vital choice I make every day is to focus on the inside; or focus on the outside.

 

Focusing on the inside means I will focus on:

 

Spiritual fitness vs. physical fitness.

Sacrifice vs. Comfort.

Faith instead of Feeling.

Character vs. Charisma.

Ministry over materialism.

Generosity instead of Greed.

God’s perspective, vs. the problems.

What I can’t see vs. what I can.

The Audience of ONE vs. the audience of everyone.

The Eternal vs. The Temporary.

 

Here’ the good news: If I am bigger on the inside than I am on the outside, then I won’t worry about the outside! When the outside changes, the inside will still be solid and secure!  God reminded me today that there’s great peace, fulfillment, and reward through focusing on the INSIDE over the OUTSIDE!

Question for you: Are you more worried about being bigger on the INSIDE? or the OUTSIDE?

Student Ministry "Premiere": Guest post-Blake Stanley

Someone asked me the other day to explain how I landed at Mountain Lake.  After a few seconds of silence I answered: My family strategically prayed over this past year for a place like this. We asked, and at moments pleaded with God to position us in a church whose mission would be to reach people who are disconnected from God.  I personally asked God to allow me to serve under a certain leadership style.  Simply put, becoming the Student Pastor at Mountain Lake is an answer to my family prayer!

 

In addition to discovering a space to live out our calling we are in the beginning stages of building a culture that will effectively reach the students of Forsyth and Dawson Counties.  One of the biggest issues in American Youth Ministry has not been a lack of programming to reach large numbers of Students.  We’ve missed it by not creating an environment for students to belong and become. Big plans have been developing under the surface to create a space to do just that and we’re going public with it all at an event we’re calling “thePremiere”!

 

We’re hosting this event in our auditorium at Mountain Lake and asking students and parents of students to come hear how we intend to roll out vision over the next couple of months.  We could potentially have the largest crowd of students ever at our campus on this evening and we intend to blow their minds with: FREE FOOD, AFTER-PARTIES, SPECIAL GUESTS, A SUMMER CALENDAR RELEASE, A PARENT RECEPTION, AND SO MUCH MORE!    

 

Our goal at “thePremiere” is to totally paint a different perspective of what Church could be and start unpacking a vision that will ask students to consider becoming cultural missionaries in their public schools!  All of this begins on 5.23 @ 6 pm! Can't wait to see what God is about to do in and through our church! See you there!

Sunday Reflex 5-9-10...

Here are a few reflections on yesterday's worship services:

• Awesome worship! Todd Nichols unveiled the first song of the Mountain Lake Worship project they've been working on, "Worship Will Rise," for the first time in a Sunday service. This project is going to rock! Stay tuned for more details...
• The focus of yesterday was ALL on the family.
• GREAT day for the kids with firetrucks, and even a SWAT truck on campus!
• 26 families participated in our Parent Child Dedication Ceremony. We have now dedicated 52 children, by my count, to God this Spring! We've dedicated ourselves to raise and lead them in the way of Christ!
• I shared some Awe-dacious updates about MLC's heart for Family Ministry:
• • We're only weeks away from naming a new Children's Pastor. Stay tuned!
  • BIG STUFF happening in our Student Ministry, under the leadership of our new Executive Student Pastor, Blake Stanley. Blake will provide a guest blog post here tomorrow about what's coming down the line in our Student Ministry!
  • We unveiled Phase One plans for the Mountain Lake Marriage & Family Center: Marriage Mentoring for every couple that wants it in our church, will be provided this Fall! Training for mentors begins two weeks from today! If you think you've got a story, AND a God story, get there!
• I taught on "building an Awe-dacious Family." Here are a few snippets:
• • "Before God formed the spiritual family, He formed the earthly family."
  • "If our earthly family is unhealthy, it WILL affect the spiritual family!"
  • "To build an awe-dacious family, someone must stand up and sell out."
  • "Jesus must be more than first place. He must be the focal point."
• At the end of the service, we challenged people who had the desire to express publicly their desire to stand up and sell out as spiritual leaders in their family, to stand up, step out, and come to the front. HUNDREDS came forward in each service! WOW!
• Tears were everywhere Sunday; mostly the good kind! 
• Another great day @mtnlakechurch.

Difference between busy-ness & effectiveness...

These days everyone is busy. However, the temptation is to think that just because we're very busy, that we're being effective, or productive. However, I am more convinced than ever before, that we can be VERY busy and yet be VERY ineffective.  How can we be BOTH effective, and busy. The answer is incredible simple to understand and incredibly difficult to do.

Being both busy and effective requires:

• Doing the right things: WHAT'S important.
• At the right times: WHEN it's important.
• For the right reasons: WHY it's important. 

Example: Returning phone calls is an important thing for me. HOWEVER, spending time with God, His Word, and preparing to teach are the MOST IMPORTANT things for me. So...I don't take many phone calls or return many calls in the mornings, because that is when my mind is the freshest and I want to give my BEST mental energy to God, and my most important ministry task. If I answered every phone call at everyone else's whim in the mornings, it would be impossible to devote large chunks of uninterrupted time when my mind IS the freshest to this task. So I have a 30 min-1 hr time slot each day when I return most phone calls. If I can;t connect with that person THEN, I try at the end of the day.

This approach to managing my day allows me to be both busy and effective. What about you? What are ways you think you could better be both busy and effective? 

What are YOUR right things? Right times? Right reasons?

Sunday Reflex 5-2-10...

Yesterday was another AWE-some day @mtnlakechurch! Here are a few highlights:

• Bumper Bag Sunday. People brought bags of non-perishable goods to church and laid them at the rear bumper of their cars. Volunteers went by and picked them u pin trucks. We picked up 6 TRUCKLOADS of food!  Thx for being the church,  Mountain Lakers! 
• Video that showed how the Lovejoys roll around our house as a family. I continue to be amazed at how much people love seeing how the Pastor REALLY lives... Sorry to let you down. We're just another family!
• Taught on "Awe-dacious Fellowship."
• "The church was able to spark such a movement, not just because they were devoted to the Bible, worship, and prayer; but because they were devoted to one another at a high level!"
• "Did you know that almost every single 'One another' passages in the Bible weer given To Christians to show us how to relate to each other?"
• "Fellowship s a shared privilege and a shared responsibility." 
• "When we ask Christ to come into our lives, God becomes our Father, we become His children; and other Christians become our spiritual  brothers and sisters."
• "Ever heard that blood's thicker than water? Well, God says the church is thicker than blood."
• We called tons of people off the sidelines into service in our spiritual family. I'll share some numbers later through Social networking avenues.  If you hesitated, you can still sign up here.
• We announced the re-branding of our "Growth Groups" to "Life_Groups". First change to this ministry in 10 yrs! But it's big...More on this later...
• REALLY challenged those of us who call Mountain Lake home to REALLY start praying and talking about what it looks like to give awe-daciously, on May 16, Awe-dacious Impact Day.
• Another GREAT day at Mountain Lake Church! I love you guys...