shawnlovejoy.com

Building THE Kingdom, not OUR Kingdom…

The last 24 hrs have been unbelievable! Yesterday we started a new Pastor’s coaching network with pastors from all over the Southeast,  and spent an entire day investing into them, giving them permission to plant and lead churches that change the way people think about church. Here are the guys: some of the sharpest around!

Greg Bearss, Lake Pointe Lutheran Church: Hot Springs, AR

Chris Goins, a2 Church: Birmingham,AL

Paul Peterson, New Life Church: Rock Hill, SC

Jeffrey Hickman, LifeSong Church: Lyman, SC

Ken Joslin, Life Church:  Gainesville, GA

Matt Adair, C2 Church: Watkinsville, GA

Howard Koepka, Eagle Pointe Church: Acworth, GA

Kevin Bullock, Reality Church: Carrollton , GA

The greatest news is that impacting God’s Kingdom doesn’t end there for us! Right now, we have a team headed to Turkey to train pastors who have a desire to start and lead churches all across Europe and the Middle East.  In December, I’ll lead another trip to Egypt where we will have 200-300 pastors in the annual Church planting conference we host there now!

Today I also got to hang out with  a church planter from Amsterdam, Holland: Sebastiaan van Wessem (pictured below), pastor of  thousand hills international church and founder of Europe Advance, a church planting network founded out of his church plant (sound familiar?), that is  catalyzing collaboration among planters and churches across Europe, and starting new sites and churches!

Mountain Lakers, I want you to know that it’s my heart for our church to keep building, not the “Mountain Lake Kingdom,” even thought I want to reach and minister to thousands in our own backyard!  I just don’t want us to forget that the Kingdom of God is bigger than one community, city, state or even nation! I want all of us to keep before us God’s desire to impact His Kingdom everywhere: OUR Jerusalem (community) ,Judea (state), Samaria (region), and to the ends of the earth! It is my honor as pastor of this church to be allowed to invest in, and build HIS Kingdom!  I hope you;re just as honored to be a part of what God is doing in and through us together!

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.

Big news from Paul Peterson…

Paul Peterson, one of our latest church planting residents in Cincinatti, OH, dropped some pretty big, difficult news on the world yesterday. I’ve reposted it below.  Just FYI, we as a Mountain Lake team coached him thru all of this, and we believe God has BIG plans for the Peterson’s future! Paul & Sherry, I just want you to know that I believe you’ve got HUGE potential!!!!  I can’t wait to see what God is about to do next!

 

From Paul:

Some Walls Down Waddup

Posted on April 22, 2009 by paulpeterson

Hey guys! This is the toughest “waddup” I’ve ever written. Several years ago God began to stir a desire for something new in my heart. After exploring it through prayer, long conversations with my bride, consultation with mentors and friends, and deep thought, I concluded that God was calling us to start a church.

We left behind wonderful friends, a great church, a secure income, a nice home, and a secure future to prepare for this next phase of our lives.

We packed up and moved to Cumming, GA to be “church planting residents” at Mountain Lake Church in conjunction with churchplanters.com. While we were there we learned from the best church planting minds in the country. Shawn Lovejoy, David Putman, and a host of others mentored us, answered our questions, and created an incredible learning experience.

While in Atlanta, God clearly called us to Cincinnati, OH, and He gave us a clear vision of what He wanted to accomplish. Throughout the year, we built a team, secured funding, developed a strategy, and laid the groundwork for Walls Down Church.

In July of 2008, we moved to Cincinnati. We got right to work on our plan. We met people, marketed the church, worked on systems, hosted picnics, secured a facility, started meeting weekly with anyone who would come (and some did), continued learning from local church planters, and on and on and on…

We were told by several church planters, “You guys are the best prepared church plant we’ve ever seen.” We, of course, felt good about that and continued to work our plan. Along the way we had to make some adjustments but we worked the plan with diligence and determination.

The bottom line is that our plan didn’t work. Even though we did many “right things”, our best efforts simply were not enough. One of our coaches actually said to us, “I don’t know what else to tell you guys to do.”

So, about six weeks ago I made the hardest decision I’ve ever made. I determined, after fasting, prayer, tons of conversations with mentors and peers, long talks with my bride and my team, and plenty of walks by the river, that the right thing to do was to conclude our church planting effort. The fact is that we will not be planting Walls Down Church in Cincinnati.

We are disappointed with this outcome. We thought we’d roll into Cincinnati, start the church, and then write the book on how to do it in the north. Apparently God had other plans. We thought we were coming to plant a church. It appears that God called us here to break us. Job well done God.

This has been a fairly visible experience and consequently provided us with ample opportunity for humility. We were endorsed by some prestigious church planting organizations: churchplanters.com, Association of Related Churches, and even the Free Methodist Church partnered with us. We had individual churches partnering with us ranging from Southern Baptist to Nazarene and a host of wonderful individuals committed money, prayer, encouragement, and love on the journey. A lot of people were invested in and watching this process.

Someone asked me the other day, “How do you feel?” Well, I feel like you would feel if you gave your life, time,  energy, passion, money, and even family to chasing a dream, starting a new business, a new ministry, a new relationship, etc. and it didn’t work out. It feels terrible. That’s how I feel. God has broken me, and yet in the midst of hurt and disappointment there is confidence, passion, and determination. We know that the vision God has put in our hearts is a right one. We also know that church planting is a tool. A strategy. We will not stop pursuing this vision. We will simply pick up a new tool… embrace a new strategy.

Many have asked, “What’s next?” We are committed to the vision of helping people find and live the life Jesus promised. We are exploring various ministry opportunities, but at this point we are not certain exactly what our next step will be, though we are certain there will be one!

There are many questions I’ve left unanswered for now. We’ll get around to answering them in due time. For now we are living in humility and confidence - humility when it comes to how we view ourselves, and confidence when it comes to how we view our Father and His power that works in and through those who trust in Him!

Ohhh… I have so much more to say, but for now it is enough to say that our best plans have not worked, and yet His best plan is at work deep in our hearts and lives.

On a related note, many of you have asked, “How is Rindy doing?” She answers this question over on her blog.

Thanks to all of you who have traveled this journey with us and let me assure you, the journey is not over; it has just begun!

Nine years ago today...

        Nine years ago today, the Lovejoy and Wards, the only two ministry team families of Mountain Lake, were experiencing a heightened sense of what I call "CPS: Church Planter's Syndrome" as we set up Sawnee Primary School for the GRAND OPENING of Mountain Lake Church on January 16, 2000. We had no idea what to expect. We were nervous. We had been praying fasting; and generally working our tails off for six months. Here were some highlights from that day in my mind:

• I can remember borrowing my dad's converted u-haul trailer to store all of our stuff in and hooking to it at 5AM with Chad Ward, in the mud....
• I remember our worship leader backing out on us two weeks from our launch and recruiting a worship leader for our launch that I had NEVER seen lead worship. Whoa...
• I can remember not being able to AFFORD a projector, so we wired our power point into the two school TV's that hung on the wall in the cafe-torium. The secret to our success has obviously been QUALITY A/V!
• I can remember blue stackable cafeteria chairs, of which everyone of them....wobbled.
• I can remember what I taught on: "Discovering a Fresh Start". Probably the worst message ever preached.
• I remember the fact that we had worked for six months to build a core group of 15 people. The good news was that 185 people showed up for our launch. The bad news was that 185 people showed up for our launch!
• I remember my dad standing in the hallways looking through the doors into the cafeteria, while holding a baby in each arm.
• I remember the fact that for the first time in Georgia's history, the next TWO SUNDAYS were ICED OUT, and we could not have church! Three weeks later, 66 people showed up: a new core group of sinners who were having the way they thought about Christ and the church changed forever!

                Nine years later to the day, here we are: A church of 2000 people (having baptized 1000 of those!); In the  middle of our third building project; Operating on two campuses; and this year, we'll send more people around the world through our World Care Ministry, than we had people in our church after two years! WOW!
                First of all, I share all of this in hopes of encouraging the tons of church planters out there who are paying the price every day, while praying for a breakthrough of Kingdom Impact! Second of all, to all of the Mountain Lakers out there: past, present, and future: Happy Anniversary! To God be the glory! Great things He hath done!   Celebrate today! Thank God for this incredible place to belong and become He's given us called Mountain Lake! Pray that God would blow our minds again the next nine years!

A long summary of the HUGE NEWS...

           

                In case you were unable to attend Merge, here is a LONG summary of my message and the “huge” news I shared with the Mountain Lake family. Caution: You'd better read it all!!! In a family, everyone usually has different responsibilities.  The same is true in the family of God.  We all have different responsibilities. The apostle Paul spelled them out for us in Ephesians 4:11-12.

 "It was he  who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up…"

            According to this passage, my primary responsibility as Lead Pastor of this church is to prepare (equip) people in the church for greater works of service/ministry than ever before. NOT doing all the ministry, but equipping you to be the ministers. Pastors are the preparers. Members are the ministers. THAT’S God’s plan!
            And what are the results of this model of ministry in the church? The church is “built up”. In other words, growth in our lives and growth of the church! SO what does all of this have to do with us? Here’s the deal: Our church is about to enter a radical period of change:

* A New auditorium: Our new auditorium at the N. Forsyth campus is running ahead of schedule and under budget!  The building is now scheduled to be completed by July, or at the latest, August!

* A Third campus: We believe God wants us to launch a third campus within that next year (2010)!

        God has been speaking to me about my responsibility to PREPARE our church “for greater works of service” ahead.”  I feel a heightened sense of responsibility for this! I have come to realize, however,  that our church cannot adequately prepare for these opportunities if we are spread out across 4 services on Sundays at the N. Forsyth campus. Because of all this, I’ve known for some time that MLC would need to move to 2 Sunday morning services at North Forsyth when we move in the new bldg.Therefore, in two weeks, here’s what’s happening:

* December 21 will be our last Sunday Night service. We'll end with a celebration that night!

* Beginning Dec 28, we will have three Sunday AM services: 9AM, 10:15, and 11:30 AM.  NOTE: Our W. Forsyth service times will remain the same—9:30 AM and 11 AM.

* We’re launching “Leadership Community,” a monthly gathering for every leader at both campuses.  It will take place 8 times a year on Sunday nights @ 4 PM at our N. Forsyth campus, beginning January 25!  If you’re a leader with Children, Students, Guest Services, Growth Groups, World Care, or Creative Arts ministries, you will be invited to attend Leadership Community. We’re going to prepare you for greater works of service ahead!

* We will still have MERGE 4 times a year, on Wednesday nights.

* Beginning January 11, FUZE, our weekly Student gatherings, will move to Sunday nights @ 6 PM.

WOW! Why all the changes? One word. Preparation.

• Better prepare our church - Gives us time before next Summer to establish a healthier Sunday morning volunteer structure.
• Better prepare our leaders through Leadership Community.
• Better prepare our Student Ministry to rock this community!
• Better prepares us to reach more disconnected people!

OVERWHELMED YET? I AM! But I'm also fired up about what God is about to do! Guys, I am more excited than ever to be leading and serving this awesome church! I thanked God for this church this morning!  I truly believe God is preparing us to do greater works than ever in our community and world! Are you ready?!

Mountain Lake's Multi-site efforts...

         After spending time with Dave and the team from Community Christian Church for two days, I'm so encouraged! We've been a multi-campus church for 10 months now, and we've learned a lot about ourselves as a church during that time! It's been so great to get some outside perspective on clarifying the win for multiple campuses! I have come away convinced that we have done so many things right in our multi-site strategy!

Here are some of the wins for our second campus of Mountain Lake:

• Live teaching at multiple campuses is WORKING! It hasn't always been easy or perfect, but collaborating on the message each week with multiple communicators is working and will work! If we are able to continue reproducing sites with this approach, I will be so proud of the legacy I leave behind in raising up and coaching communicators!
• Unity among campuses has been a non-issue. We really have been able to think of ourselves as one church with two campuses, even though I am not at the other campus all the time. Our church is as unified as it's ever been!
• Our mission is happening at our new campus! People ARE belonging and becoming at our new campus! Lives are being changed!  God is using us in this new community! People are finding Christ and finding a spiritual home that would not do otherwise!
• For the most part, our new campus even "feels" like Mountain Lake. We've been able to  reproduce our DNA! Love it!
• We have raised up TONS of new volunteers that might  have stayed in the background FOREVER at our original campus. 
• We have raised up tons of new leaders, many of which have never led in any type of position in any church!
• Becoming a Multi-site church has forced our Ministry Team to become better equippers, instead of simply do-ers of ministry, which I believe is the Scriptural mandate for church leaders! Team, I'm so proud of you! I see you becoming better leaders daily, because you've had to!
• We've even raised up new staff from within to help lead our new campuses!
• Mountain Lake is proud to be one church in two locations and I can't wait to start gearing up and dreaming about starting location #3....and then #4...and then #5! North Georgia, get ready! We're coming to you!!!

closest thing we'll ever have to a steeple...

These are some pics of the tower going up on the corner of our building!

 

For renderings of the final product click here.

WOW Halftime...

    Tonight I'm headed out to another one of  our "WOW Halftime" Dinners. Eighteen months ago, Mountain Lake began a spiritual initiative to impact our Jerusalem (our neighborhood), Judea (our region) , Samaria (our nation), and the ends of the earth (our world) in a greater capacity. November marked the halfway mark in that initiative! We're at halftime! So behind teh scenes at Mountain Lake, we've been circling up with our  members and attenders who made commitments to the WOW Initiative. We've been encouraging, updating them, and doing life together. We're giving some Gatorade at halftime, if you will! We're also extending a lot of grace to people who have been hurt or injured during the first half of the game. In fact, one of the big goals of WOW Halftime,  is allowing EVERYONE who's made a commitment to WOW to re-communicate their commitment to God through WOW, in light of all that's happened in the last 18 months in our world, our nation., our community, and our families. If you've participated in WOW, but have not RSVP'd for one of our WOW Halftime Dinners at Tam's Backstage, then email me now! If for some STRANGE reason, you've been part of WOW and didn't know about all of this, drop me a line, as well, and we'll get you signed up! 
 

Mountain Lake, Minnesota...

A friend of mine sent me this picture from a recent business trip he had taken. On his trip, he passed through Mountain Lake, Minnesota! When I saw this picture, I couldn't help but dream about the day when Mountain Lake has planted churches in every state that changes the way people think about church! I dream of a day when all of North Georgia has campuses of Mountain Lake Church that's changing the way people think about church!

"God, please use us to take your church everywhere to everyone! Help us risk it all for the Kingdom! In His Name, and for His Sake, Amen!"

The final product rendering...

Just a reminder of what the MESS of dirt, concrete, and steel in front of our current North Forsyth campus is going to look like ELEVEN MONTHS FROM NOW!!!