shawnlovejoy.com

Student Pastor Wanted…

We just sent one of our Student Pastors out to be the Executive Pastor of a new church plant we started last year! So we’ve begun the search for a new Student Pastor: the best in the world! 

Would you fit that criteria? We’re looking for:  a self starter; a hard worker; someone who loves students; a leader of leaders; a team builder; a great communicator, and someone who can lead at a strategic level. Does this describe you?

We’re also looking for someone who wants to be a part of a unique team culture; in a unique church; with nat’l and int’l influence; that will try and do ANYTHING that’s not immoral or illegal to reach people disconnected from Christ and the church! Does this describe the type of church you’d like to work for?

If you or someone you know might be interested in finding out  more when it comes to this position, just send in a brief bio about yourself  (including WHY you would be interested in working with us), to: slovejoy@mountainlakechurch.org.  Please don’t call FIRST. We’re simply not able to respond. Just send us an email and we’ll go from there! Can’t wait to hear from you!

The way a Pastor falls into sin…

Pastors have a HUGE spiritual bulls-eye on our backsides! We are targets of the enemy. Strike the shepherd. Scatter the sheep.  That’s the enemy’s strategy.

That’s why, more than ever before, I’m convinced that to protect ourselves as Pastors, we must NUTURE VITALITY. It’s the #1 Best Practice we talk about in  our churchplanters.com ministry and coaching network. To NURTURE, means to care for; pay attention to; attend to; feed…our VITALITY: our spiritual, emotional, spiritual, and relational strength! 

Below is just a simple list of practical ways to keep ourselves from being picked off by the enemy as Pastors. These are simple. But easier to KNOW and PREACH; than DO.  Here are a few (OK, more than a few):

• Read your Bible daily, and read portions of Scripture that have NOTHING to do with this week’s message.
• Take your off day Religiously. Burnout leads to spiritual failure and dropout.
• If you don’t rest, you will burn out. Period. You are not exempt.
• Tell you congregation you will NOT be out more than 2-3 nights a week.
• Keep office hours. Go home at 5 or 5:30 PM. People have to see their doctor, their dentist, their lawyer, and their counselor from 8-5. Spiritual counsel should be no different. You MUST have a life at night with your family.
• Don’t open your laptop after you get home.
• Don’t answer your cell phone after you get home.
• When you walk in the house after work, don’t be on the cell phone.
• Spend less time on Twitter and facebook.  Spend more time communicating with your family.
• Get secure in your own skin. The desire for attention or pleasing people is a flag that will get you in trouble.
• Confess your temptations or addictions to a trusted friend NOT in your church.
• Schedule a date night with you spouse ATLEAST once a month. If you don’t have the money, ask the church to pay for it. (my church doesn’t, BTW) Your church will, though,  if you ask them.
• Tell your congregation that the best gift you have to offer them is NOT a close relationship with every one of  them, but a close relationship with God and a close relationship with your spouse.
• Don’t just talk about ministry with your spouse. Start a hobby TOGETHER!
• Exercise! Flabby body=flabby mind=flabby spirit.
• Take walks with God early in the morning when you can talk out loud to Him and share your hurts, pains, struggles, and dreams.
• Get your spouse out of that ministry they feel tied to because no one else will do it. You’re burning them out.
• Have a family night regularly where you allow your kids to set the agenda.
• Have a hobby you enjoy by yourself.
• Tell your spouse you love them EVERY DAY!
• Speak positively of your spouse from the stage.
• Listen to friends that raise flags about your behavior.
• Don’t ever be in the car, or your office, or ANY PLACE alone with opposite sex with the door shut.  NEVER. NEVER. NEVER.
• Make the above policy for every Pastor on your Team.
• Don’t flirt, including online, or in emails! If you’re flirted with (and you will be), don’t respond, and immediately tell your spouse.
• Think about the consequences of your sin if carried out and found out. Who and how many will get hurt?
• Remember, pride goes before a fall, and you can not stand too close to a fire and not get burned.
• Make Nurturing Vitality the most important part of your job description.

Sunday Reflex 6/7/09…

I returned back from some extended R&R yesterday to be at Mountain Lake’s North Campus, and it was an awesome day! The band led worship unplugged acoustically. It was different & cool… John Shepherd and Rodney Anderson, our teachers at the two campuses had briefed me on where they were going with the messages, but they were better than I imagined! Here are a few reflex just from the MESSAGE yesterday.

• It was week four of our current series: “Point b” It’s all about getting from where we are to where God wants us to be.”
• When many of us go on vacations, our tendency is to try to see  it all experience it all, and have our kids experience it all, when often what we need is REST on vacation! Same is true with life! We tend to think that the MORE we DO, the better off we're going to be! NOT!
• “Busyness will not get us to where God wants us to be.” We don’t need to do MORE. We need to do LESS to get to point B. We need to learn to rest!
• How can we know if we’re a candidate for needing more rest these days? We can ask ourselves these questions (from Psychologist Meyer Friedman):
• Do I find myself getting angrier these days?
• Do I feel like stress is increasing in my life?
• Do I find myself preoccupied in conversations/relationships?
• Do I find myself losing my joy?
• Do I find myself losing my sense of gratitude?
• If so, I DESPERATELY need some rest!
• God created us to work for six and rest for one. God’s way still works best!
• Resting means changing my pace! Can mean: not answering email; no TV; no facebook or twitter; playing with kids; NOT playing with kids; Getting out of the house; going to church; serving God; giving to God; Jesus worked on the Sabbath, but, the day was HOLY to him set apart! Different!  He also had periodic times in His life when He WITHDREW from the crowds and RESTED! rested at other times in His life!
• “Jesus WALKED everywhere He went! He didn’t even ride a horse! He DID ride a donkey once, but those things aren’t exactly noble steeds!”
• “Adam & Eve were responsible for taking care of the whole world and God still commanded them to rest. Our job is not as important as theirs!”
• Most of us live as if the whole world is dependent on us, rather than God.
• There will always be opposition to rest in our lives:
• from ourselves: we will always battle the temptation of busyness.
• from other people: Work, church, community, kids, neighbors, etc. We’ve got to learn how to say NO gracefully!
• from the evil one:  "If we do a lot for God He’ll approve of us more.” NOT!
• Rest is a gift. All we have to do is accept it.
• “Rest is easier when we understand grace. We are save by GRACE, not WORKS!”

GREAT JOB YESTERDAY GUYS! You all rocked the house!!! God rocked all of us through you!

Director of Children’s Ministries Position available…

As Mountain Lake Church prepares for what God has in store for us in the future, particularly as our North Forsyth Campus gets ready to move in to our new Worship Auditorium, we are looking to fill some new positions on our Ministry Team.  We're currently searching for a NEW FULL TIME Director of Children's Ministries. This person will work work with Chad Ward, our current Children’s Pastor, to facilitate ministry to children at Mountain Lake!

All applicants must be:

• Great leaders. You'll need to love children, but you'll actually be leading ADULTS much more than you'll be leading children. At a church our size, you'll be a leader of leaders!
• Very good with people. You'll need the ability to think on your feet, problem solve, and deal well with all sorts of people; encourage, inspire, as well as  courageous conversations with people!
• Able to move at a fast pace.   Very soon, Mountain Lake could have between 600-1000 children every week at Mountain Lake! We move at a fast pace! That's how we roll. Can you keep up?
• In love with Jesus.  Enough said!

If you or someone you know might be interested in this position, please send a resume to Chad.

New "Director of Children's Ministries" Wanted...

        As Mountain Lake Church prepares for what God has in store for us in the future, particularly as our North Forsyth Campus gets ready to move in to our new Worship Auditorium, we are looking to fill some new positions on our Ministry Team.  We're currently searching for a NEW FULL TIME Director of Children's Ministries. This person will work work with Chad Ward, our current Family Pastor, to facilitate ministry to children at both of our current campuses.

      

All applicants must be:

• Great leaders. You'll need to love children, but you'll actually be leading ADULTS much more than you'll be leading children. At a church our size, you'll be a leader of leaders!
• Very good with people. You'll need the ability to think on your feet, problem solve, and deal well with all sorts of people; encourage, inspire, as well as  courageous conversations with people!
• Able to move at a fast pace.   Very soon, Mountain Lake could have between 600 and 1000 children every week at Mountain Lake! Within the next 18 mos, we'll also be adding a third campus! That's how we roll. Can you keep up?
• In love with Jesus.  Enough said!

If you or someone you know might be interested in this position, please send a resume to Chad.

Our Leadership Structure, Part I...

Mountain Lake Church has a unique leadership structure that has served our church well! We are a Pastor led (as opposed to a Board, Committee, or Congregation led) church. We believe that God has placed his Pastors (which are often called "Elders" or "Overseers" in the Bible) are ordained (set aside) by God for the purposes of leading the church under Christ's leadership. As our church has grown, however, and the number of Pastors has even increased, we have created a Leadership Structure within our Pastoral Team. Three of our pastors, specifically: myself, David Putman (Exec Pastor), and John Shepherd (Assoc Pastor), make up the Strategic Team inside our circle of our Pastors, and are tasked with setting strategic direction for our church, and making major strategic ministry decisions in our church.

    The Strategic Team meets every Tuesday and discusses Strategic Ministry Objectives and specific issues regarding ministry life. We also meet at least once a quarter ALL DAY off campus and pray together and work strategically through issues regarding the future of our church. These two men are then responsible for leading the rest of our Ministry Team. I NEVER attend our Ministry Team Meetings any more, except to care for, invest spiritually in, and share the vision with, our Team.  John also works HANDS ON in our Connection Ministries and David is hands on in our World Care, Church Planting, Multi-Site, and Facility Development areas.

These two men carry a ton of weight and responsibility and have to like hanging around with me more than anyone else, because we spend a TON of time together! Thanks, John and David for all you do to serve the Lord! I love you guys and I'm honored to share the journey with you!

Now: even though our Strategic Team has the power to make ministry decisions in our church, we have CHOSEN to surround ourselves with good counsel from leaders in our church who help us make good decisions, from three primary teams: Our Paid Ministry Team; and two volunteer teams: Our Finance Team; and Advisory Team.  Over the next few days, I'll unpack these teams...

a million (or so) thoughts from the conference...

• God always comes through at the last minute.
• the conference was packed out. 
• This has been the least stressed our team has ever been for a conference! We're finally learning how to do this well!
• This conference would not have been possible without our partners and vendors! Thanks!
• I'm honored to have David Putman as a partner.
• Marie Lindelli is the Best Ministry Assistant in the world...
• Mountain Lake Church is the best church in the world because we have the best people in the world. 
• I think I drank 10 cups off coffee in the last 2 days. ( and two sweet teas).
• I spoke seven times in two days.
• Church planters struggle with the same 5 things, regardless of context (best practices).
• The secret to my church planting success? I've been too dumb to quit!
• Chad, Autumn, John and Louie got GREAT feedback from their pre-conference sessions. Thanks, guys!
• Todd Nichols is the best Worship Pastor in America. Bar none. 
• I love my wife.
• Tricia did her first conference breakout and nailed it!
• I was also honored to have Will Mancini, Gary Lamb, Tony Morgan, Ben Arment, Brian Jones, Reggis Joiner, Brian Bloye, Matt Evans, Rick Campbell, Casey Graham,  and Larry McCrary, lead breakouts!
• I was honored to have: Bob Roberts, Ed Stetzer, Nelson Searcy and Troy Gramling on our stage! You guys were all so different, but knocked it out of the park in different ways! I love that!
• Mark Clement did  GREAT JOB as the Strategic Director for this Conference.
• God is using Mountain Lake Church and churchplanters.com to rock our nation and world!
• We announced that churchplanters.com is going WEST COAST on November 2, in San Diego, CA!
• Last night I got confirmation from our first speaker for next year's Conference here at Mountain Lake: Ed Young, Jr. from Fellowship Church will be here! Feb 22-23, 2009! Mark your calendar now!
• Can't wait til Sunday, now! We're going to have revival break out at our church Sunday! I just know it! One of the biggest risks we've taken in a while comes up in this Sunday's services!

The rest of our team's values...

        The last couple of days, I have talked about a couple of Mountain Lake's Ministry Team values. These values govern how we relate to each other as a team. Our core team values are:

Community

1 John 4:11 (NLT) ¹¹Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

Honesty

Proverbs 27:17 (NLT) ¹⁷As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.

Teamwork

Ephesians 4:16 (NLT) ¹⁶Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Loyalty

3 John 1:9 (NLT) ⁹I sent a brief letter to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, does not acknowledge our authority.
1 Peter 5:5 (NLT) ⁵You younger men, accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in humility, for “God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble.”

Excellence

Colossians 3:17 (NLT) ¹⁷And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Execution

Matthew 5:37 (NLT) ³⁷Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Your word is enough. To strengthen your promise with a vow shows that something is wrong.

Sacrifice

Colossians 3:23 (NLT) ²³Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

What are your team's core values? Do you have any?

the right team for change...

        Yesterday, I got to spend most of my day just valuing and caring for different members of our Ministry Team. It's a special time at Mountain Lake these days, but also an intense time! We're a very simple church with simple programming, so I can't remember a time when Mountain Lake had to prepare for and program THREE BIG EVENTS IN ONE WEEK, but such has been the case this week: a big Sunday service this PAST Sunday, Christmas Eve Services on TWO CAMPUSES; and three days later, another worship service!
        On top of all of this, we're changing our worship service format this coming Sunday, and our entire volunteer structure is being rearranged this week! It's been dizzying, to say the least!  As I thought about all the changes our church is experiencing right now, I was reminded that moving at such a fast and hectic pace in a church  requires some things of a church's Vocational Ministry Team  that are really critical for success:

• The right work ethics. Bottom line: Our Ministry team is willing to lay it on the line. Our mission is more important that our fatigue. Our team is willing to do "WIT": WHATEVER IT TAKES. If you have potential team members you interview that ask: How many hours do you work each week" or "What time do I have to be in to the office each day?", it's probably an indication they want to do the minimum to get by, without getting fired! Those are the wrong people for our team! The team at Mountain Lake is full of self-motivated, self starting, hard working people who are willing to lay it on the line to get the job done!!

• The right sommitments to Excellence and Execution. When programs are coming at you fast, it's possible to have three events, but have ONE MEANINGFUL ONE, out of the three! Our church will have three different "set designs" on the stage in the span of one week this Christmas, but I've already seen layouts for all three of them and the ROCK! Every detail! 

• The right competencies in  the right places. More so than ever before, Mountain Lake has the right Ministry Team in place to HANDLE the challenges of the rapid changes this Christmas. Pastors, if you have people on your team that get "frazzled" every time your church goes through some rapid change, it could be a sign of the fact that the church is out growing that team member's competency in that area. It doesn't mean that person doesn't love God or love the church. They just might not match the position at the next level. This is something we CONSTANTLY evaluate at MLC.

• The right hearts in place. Everyone on the Ministry Team here at Mountain Lake daily places God's desires over their own on a daily basis! They value "mission over position". They have a deep desire to serve God, serve their team members, and serve their Lead Pastor that ministers to me on a daily basis! 

I believe ALL OF THIS is REQUIRED to be part of a a Kingdom Impacting Ministry Team! Today, I want to say a special thanks to the Mountain Lake Ministry Team for being the BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD! I love you guys! Merry Christmas!

My A-Team...

Do you remember Mr. T? Hannibal? Face? Murdock? I used to LOVE watching these guys shoot their guns at the bad guys every day (BTW, did you notice they never shot anyone? They were terrible shots!). Why did many of us love this show so much for so many seasons? It was the chemistry the team had together. Whether it was Hannibal and his cigar, Mr T and his jewelry; Face and his impersonations, or Murdock and his insanity, somehow, in an odd way, they all seemed to compliment each other! That's why they were the A-Team!
        Today I'm headed out for a couple of days on a Retreat up in the mountains with my A-Team: Our Pastors here at MLC, and their wives. Every year, this is the highlight of my year. There is NOTHING I love more than hanging out with my A-TEAM! We're all so different, but there's an incredible chemistry that exists among all of us! Over the next two days we will   hang by the fire in a cabin, hike together, laugh together, XBOX 360 together, and share our lives on a deeper level with each other. First and foremost, our being together will keep our team close to each other.

So here's to my A-Team: Guys, I wouldn't want to fight 'the bad guys with anyone else! I want each of you to know that YOU COMPLETE  ME! I don't tell you enough, but when I'm in a foxhole with spiritual gunfire blazing over my head, there's no group pf people on this earth I'd rather be in the foxhole with than you. I wouldn't trade you seven guys for ANYTHING. And I'm sorry, but we have the coolest Pastor's wives club in the world! You guys rock! Your servant's hearts and support of the men in your lives does not go unnoticed. you are my best friends, my partners, and the group of people I want to spend the rest of my life with! Thanks for saying YES to God's call to join the Mountain Lake team! As Hannibal often said: "I love it when a  plan comes together!"  I love you; I'm honored to be your leader; And you make me better than I would be alone! So here's to my A-Team! Let's retreat to our hideout and so we're ready for the next battle! BTW, don't tell anyone where our hideout is! It's a secret!