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Are you a cookie cutter church?

As churches, we don’t create the vision for our churches. We discover it. From God.  As church leaders, to discover  God’s vision, however, means we have to search and listen for God’s clear voice regarding His distinct vision for the church we lead.  This is why, by the way, I get a little concerned by some of the current trends I see among many new churches in ripping THEIR vision statements off other church’s websites or trendy pastors’ blog sites!

I have seen too many “cookie cutter” vision statements lately on new church plants’ websites and blogs.  You know what a cookie cutter does, right? A cookie cutter makes the next cookie look just like the last one. That works well for Christmas cookies, but not well for church planting! Church planter: Does your church look just like every other church plant? If so, why are you planting it?  Why not just join theirs? 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against Pastors learning from one another and even rubbing off on one another.  My fear is simply that many of us are not willing to do the “hard  work” these days of being still and patient for long enough to receive God’s vision for our churches!  If we’re getting our vision for our church from another church, then we’re getting it from the wrong place! Visions come from God, not another church!

Many of us as Pastors could use this Holiday Season to get away from the busyness and the grind (and even our people) for a little while to GET WITH GOD and DISCOVER HIS UNIQUE VISION FOR OUR CHURCH!  While we cut cookies this year, let’s commit NOT to be a cookie cutter church this next year!

By the way, Will Mancini, author of Church Unique will be speaking at our  churchplanters.com conference  Feb 22-23: “Velocity”. He’ll be talking about HOW we as a church can discover, communicate, and implement the unique vision God wants us to have. Get registered now! 

Mountain Lake’s short-term multi-campus strategy…

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.

The Lord’s Day…

“Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they came to the tomb. 3On the way they were discussing who would roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb. But when they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone—a very large one—had already been rolled aside. “ Mark 16:2-4 (NLT)

For centuries, followers of the one true God worshipped Him on the Sabbath, commemorating the day the Lord RESTED from all His work.  Jesus’ resurrection shook up everything to such a great extent that Sunday, the day the Lord got  up out of the tomb, became more meaningful than the day the Lord rested. So worshipping the one true God  slowly MOVED from Saturdays to Sundays. For 2000 yrs now, people have been getting up to worship the one true God in the name of Jesus Christ! I know there are naysayers that are predicting that the world is going to abandon the church,but it’s not going to happen.  Jesus said: “…upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”

That’s why I believe in the church. Because Jesus died and rose from the dead to work through it! So today, on the Lord’s Day I will throw all my energy into worshiping the one true God and facilitating worship of the one true God in my church! I want to allow Jesus to keep building His church through me!

Also today, across the world, we celebrate the Lord’s Day. We celebrate the one true God and the relationship we have with Him because of the risen Jesus! And once again, Jesus will raise MILLIONS across the globe from the dead spiritually. Jesus is building His church! The gates of Hell are NOT conquering it. The church IS moving forward, and I believe it’s greatest days are ahead!  Happy Lord’s Day!

How do we really make disciples? (part 2)…

In this part 2 post, we’re answering the question: “How do we REALLY make disciples “ in today’s church?  This series of posts is intended to encourage and challenge church and ministry leaders across the country, but I pray God uses it in the lives of those of us at Mountain Lake, as well! Yesterday I said that if we really want to know hot make disciples in the church today, it behooves us to look at Jesus’ disciple making process, because He made pretty good disciples! Yesterday, we said that in Jesus’ disciple making efforts, Jesus focused on fruit, not meat. But also, in His disciple making efforts:

Jesus focused on the unqualified, not the qualified.

Who were the types of people Jesus picked to make disciples out of them? People like Levi? Matthew?  Are you kidding me? If you were looking for a gut to build eth Christian movement on, it would NOT have been Levi! He was a crook that worked for the government, partied a lot, and hung out with the wrong crowd!  the very fact that Jesus was hanging out with him during the early days of His ministry got Jesus a bad reputation! Rumors swirled about Jesus just he was hanging out with Levi! What’s funny is that when Jesus heard these rumors, here’s how He responded to them:

Mark 2:17 (NLT) ¹⁷When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.”

In other words Jesus was letting the religious people of His day KNOW that He was not hear to hang out with people who already thought they were QUALIFIED to hang out with Jesus, but those who knew they weren’t!

Levi was just an example. None of the other disciples were qualified for ministry BEOFE they met Jesus.  Jesus really didn’t pick any qualified people for his movement! They were all unqualified!

If this was the case with Jesus, why is it that in Jesus’ church today,  most of our discipleship efforts seem to focused on the already qualified? If Jesus qualified the unqualified,  why must people be “qualified” spiritually to serve in our churches?

So…If we want to make disciples like Jesus, the focus of our discipleship efforts need to be on the same types of people Jesus focused on: unqualified people! Can I just tell you that At MLC, we actually believe that qualifying the unqualified makes better disciples! In fact, our best disciples and leaders are often formerly unqualified disciples?! 

For all of us, however, if we’re honest, our churches need to rethink the focus of our discipleship efforts from time to time, and ask ourselves some hard questions:

• Can “unqualified” people easily enter our spiritual growth process?
• Are there places for “unqualified” people to serve in our church?
• Are the people we’re  focusing all of our discipleship efforts , the types of people Jesus focused on?
• Are the people we LISTEN to as we design our discipleship process  qualified, or unqualified?
• Understanding that qualifying the unqualified is not just an event, but a process, how am I going to help formerly unqualified build an ongoing, personal relationship with Jesus?

Hope all of this helps!  Give me your thoughts!

How do we REALLY make disciples? (part 1)

So much is made of the question today in churches: “How do we make disciples?” “How do we help people grow spiritually?” I’ll admit  the answers come harder than the questions, and I’ll admit that not even pastors agree on this issue. However, if our goal is to be more like Jesus Christ, then don’t you think it would behoove us to examine more closely how Jesus made disciples and try to emulate Him? I think so.  So…what was the focus of Jesus’ disciple making? In this series of posts, I’ll talk about a few.

First of all, Jesus focused on fruit, not meat.

If you want to talk about some jacked up terms in our church society today… it’s this idea of getting more “Meat of the word” and the desire to go “Deeper” in our churches and teaching. I understand that God wants all of us to grow spiritually and that should be a desire all of us have as followers of Jesus. However, you want to now what most of our people’s ideas of discipleship are in our churches?

 

“Feed me!” “ I want more meat!”

Suffice to say, I don’t think this is the picture Jesus had in mind, when He said: “Come, follow me.” I don’t think Jesus had in mind the hoard of Christian consumers  in our country running from church to church; sermon to sermon, and Bible Study to Study, looking to “be fed” and “go deeper”!

I actually think if we would take our cues from Jesus, we would stop trying to feed each other and start teaching each other to feed ourselves! Baby bird don’t get fed by their mother forever!  We don’t need more Biblical information to follow Jesus.  We need to start teaching people to apply what they already know and kick them out of the nest to fly on their own! Don’t most people already know more of the Bible than they practice? I know I do.

That’s why Jesus said: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” John 13:17 (NIV). In other words,  applying God’s word to our lives was MORE important to Jesus that KNOWING what to do.  It still is! Jesus Himself didn’t value meat. He valued fruit. That’s what we need more of!

That’s why the focus of our disciple making efforts at Mountain Lake aren’t FOCUSED PRIMARILY on new information (even though we teach new information all the time); but our focus is primarily on transformation through the application of God’s Word.

So each week our Bible Reading Guide focuses people’s spiritual development on the same issue we’re talking about on the weekends; so people’s “quiet times” actually have something to do with our church services!

Then, during the week, all of our small groups discuss the weekend message and talk about how they might APPLY what God said to us on the weekend!  No, our plan’s not perfect. We’re not making perfect disciples. yes, I believe we should teach people the Bible.  I’m just not as interested in what people KNOW about the Bible as I am in how much people are doing what it says. I’m interested to see if their knowledge is it’s moving them to love and serve people more. I’m interested to see if their knowledge of eth Gospel has moved them to form relationships with people disconnected to Jesus. I’m happy to say, by the way, that  around here, that’s  happening all the time, and I love it!

I agree with Jesus.  Fruit. Not meat. that’s where it’s at. Fruit is Deep. Loving God. Loving people. If you want to follow Jesus just start loving people inside the church and outside of  the church. that’s deep! Fruit is more important than meat. The sooner you realize that the happier you’ll be!

Stay tuned for part II of  “How do we really make disciples?” tomorrow…

4 days ‘til Sticky Church!

Have you heard? These guys have lost their minds!

Sticky Church is offering buy one get one free ticket, here at the end, because we still have space! 

Get signed up!

Sunday Reflex: 5-03-09...

My goodness. Just when I think things can't get any better, God just keeps showing up at our church! Here are a few reflex from today:

• We baptized 13 more people at both of our campuses this week! We've scheduled several more baptism services this Summer to get everyone baptized! Love that! 
• Jay Lowrance did a good job standing in for Todd Nichols, our Worship Pastor(who, by way of Jenee) now has Lucy Bell Nichols: 6 lb 15 oz!
• Our 10:15 and 11:30 services were packed out again at North!
• I heard John Shepherd, our Campus Pastor at the W. Forsyth campus, knocked it out of the park, too!
• I'm always uncomfortable talking about what we talked about today at our church. I was very transparent and honest. But I pray God will honor my obedience!
• We all made commitments to bring our best to God for our annual impact offering. I believe we brought our best!
• Our total IMPACT offering was... Can't tell you til next Sunday!!!! Remember, you can still give online or drop yours by the office this week and have it included in next Sunday's announcement total! 
• God shook me up mightily leading into this week's message. I was a MESS this morning at 6 AM. God worked in me and through me today. I can feel it. Cant explain it. 
• My family stepped out on faith and brought our best. I believe God will use that, too!
• This week marks the 10th anniversary of Trish and I's move to Cumming, GA to start Mountain Lake! 10 yrs later, my life has never been more full of purpose and impact! In January, we'll celebrate our church's 10th anniversary with a bang! Stay tuned...
• The "Potential" Cookout rocked! The rain held off! The turnout was miraculous! No kid killed themselves on the inflatables! To God be the glory!
• Our Ministry Team did a miraculous job planning out the day and feeding that many people without mass chaos!
• My wife is the best ministry partner a man could ever ask for!!!
• The Ministry Team presented me with a cool picture with handwritten notes, for my 10th anniversary. Meant a TON to me! Thanks guys!
• I really DO pastor the greatest church in the world. Period. God reminds me of that every week. Honored.

Greater Impact… fast…

Once again, numbers don’t lie!

Nine years ago, as a church:

• We  averaged 90 people in worship attendance.
• We had 2 people on staff that were financially supported entirely from sources OUTSIDE the church.
• We had 3 small groups.
• We had no student pastor, worship pastor, small group pastor, guest services pastor, no directors, and no paid administrative help in the church.
• We had no missions or world care ministry.
• We owned no property or buildings.
• We met in Sawnee Primary School’s Cafeteria.
• We had no offices. We used the study in my home.
• Everything our church owned fit in a borrowed “u-haul” trailer.
• We were borrowing a sound system because we could not afford one.
• Our weekly offerings averaged $1150/ week.

Nine years later:

• We’ll have more elementary students in KRAZE during one of our three morning services, than people in our church back then!
• We have more people on staff than we had in our Student Ministry back then!
• We’ll send more people out in our World Care Ministry this summer than we had in our church back then!
• Our offerings this week will far exceed our church’s annual  budget back then!
• We’ll baptize more people this week than we had volunteers in our church back then!

Would you say God has given us greater impact…fast?! 

In the mean time, over the last nine yrs, I could never have imagined all that God would do in my heart, my life, my marriage, and  in my ministry! I could never have imagined all the life change that would happen. I could never have imagined how God would change me! How He would use me! How He would use US!  

The best is yet to come! I can’t wait to see what God does this Sunday to give us even more GREATER IMPACT…fast!

Pastor, is your church a “Sticky Church”?

Let’s be honest. In today’s world, it’s relatively easy, with marketing and intelligent lighting, to draw a crowd to church.  The question is, in the long run, will we as Pastors build crowds or build churches? Will we make a teaching center or make disciples? As Pastors, will we be happy with what we’ve accomplished, in the end?

I love the idea of becoming a  “Sticky Church”, because doing so, is really all about making disciples! The question for us as church leaders, is: Will we help people STICK to Jesus and His church long enough and strong enough to keep growing? Are people REALLY connected to, and becoming ,the church, in our church? Or do we  just have a crowd?

The numbers will tell the story! For example, presently, we have 79% of our adult attendance active in small groups in our church. But community is not the only goal.  Every one of our groups is actively investing into our community missionally in tons of ways! Almost 70 % of our attendance is actively serving God through our church’s volunteer ministries! Granted, these don’t tell the whole story, but numbers don’t lie. People are connecting with God, His word, His people, and His mission for their lives in our church!  THAT’S church! THAT’S making disciples!

Yes, we’re baptizing people. We baptized this past weekend; we’ll baptize 13 more this weekend , and we’re quickly filling up our next two baptism dates! However, at Mountain Lake, baptism is not the end goal! It’s just the beginning of the journey!  We want to help these new believers stick to Jesus and the church for the long haul! That’s our commitment. We are committed to being a sticky church! If you would love to learn how to become a stickier church, get to this one day conference on May 11 at our church! Larry Osborne, Greg Surratt, and others will be here to help you! Get signed up NOW!