Commissioning Service - June 14

Make plans to join us at Marcus Pointe Baptist Church on Sunday night, June 14 at 6:00 PM. As the sending church for Lakepointe Church, Marcus Pointe will be honoring and praying for the Lakepointe team on this special evening. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. I hope you can attend this special evening!

HOPE Church Planters Coaching

This past Thursday, I was back in McDonough, GA, just south of Atlanta for my monthly coaching with Ritchie Miller, pastor of Avalon Church. This is the 5th months of meeting and Ritchie and his staff have been doing a fantastic job. I also enjoy the fellowship with other pastors and each month, we are bonding more and more. Through the tools of Facebook and Twitter, we are able to keep up with each other on a regular basis. It's just awesome to see how God is working in each of their lives.

I also brought Jared Sabo, one of the newest members of the Lakepointe Team. I know that his mind was challenged. It's always good to leave a conference or a coaching network to have the "wheels" in your head turning.

I want to close with this thought. Some have asked what's the value of having personal coaching. Statistics have shown that church planters that have coaching, their churches have a higher growth rate, as opposed to church planters who doesn't.

Again, thank you, Avalon Church and staff for taking the time each month to engage, mentor, and challenge everyone of us.

If Jesus Twittered

A Dangerous Disciple

Last night at SEVEN22, I spoke on a Dangerous Disciple. There are three qualities of a fully devoted disciple of Jesus Christ.

Pain

• Where you are and where God wants you to be depends on the pain that you are willing to endure!

• Hebrews 12:2 (The Message) - "Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it! Because he never lost sight of where he was headed - that exhilarating finish in and with God - he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside of God."

• If your goal is to be safe and pain-free - then you are following a false god! Jesus Christ did not die on a cross so that you can be safe!

• If you are persecuted, rejected, betrayed, or an outcast then EMBRACE it!! Worry if you're not!
  

Risk

• This is "living by faith." We will not always have 100% certainty. Logic will not make sense!

• It didn't make sense for Peter to get out of the boat and walk on water. Before we rip him apart, think about the others in the boat! Peter took a risk and although it failed, he showed more faith than those who didn't try at all.

• Too many of us don't want to get out of the boat in our lives! I much rather try and fail, than to do nothing and be safe!

• Risk, Fail, Learn, and Adjust - the constant cycle of a dangerous disciple who is willing not to live by sight but by faith!

Loss

• Matthew 10:39 (NIV) - "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." - To gain, you must first lose!
  

• Sacrifice - to give up something you love for something that you love a whole lot more!

• Jesus told the fishermen to drop net to follow him. They gave up something that they love (catching fish) for something that they loved a whole more (catching men).

• Thankful for the Nipper's and the Sabo's who are moving to Detroit to start Lakepointe Church with me and Karen. They are sacrificing jobs, families, all-year around sunny weather, and a great church home to reach people in a hard area of our country.

My Prayer for Lakepointe Church - "With Everything"

Lately, I have been singing this song in my head and can't get it off of my mind. This is my prayer for Lakepointe Church and Detroit. Pay close attention to the words of this prayer, and make this your prayer for us as we reach the city of Detroit so that they can see His glory.

To see the things that make Your heart cry
To be the church that You would desire
Your light to be seen

Break down our pride
And all the walls we’ve built up inside
Our earthly crowns and all our desires
We lay at Your feet

Let hope rise
And darkness tremble
In Your holy light
That every eye will see
Jesus our God
Great and mighty to be praised

God of all days
Glorious in all of Your ways
Oh the majesty the wonder and grace
In the light of Your Name

With everything
With everything
We will shout for Your glory
With everything
With everything
We will shout forth Your praise

New Team Members - The Sabo's

We are excited to have Jared and Beka Sabo joining with the Lakepointe Church team! We are very excited about their move to Detroit and will be moving at the end of July. Currently, Jared works at the church as a maintenance/lawn personnel and his wife is a registered nurse at Sacred Hearts Hospital. They are involved at Marcus Pointe in the children's ministry, and they both have a heart to minister to children/youth and their family. I have asked them to carry that passion with them to Lakepointe and to minister to our next generation of children and youth.

Jared and Beka are now the third family moving to Detroit (the Blanchard's and the Nipper's). By the way, Mark and April Nipper have finally sold their house (closing is next week) and will be moving at the end of the summer. Along with the Sabo's on the team, we feel that we are moving forward to achieve a big vision that God has put on our hearts. I read this quote today:

"Big vision comes from a big view of God... His plans are always larger than ours! He doesn't have small, insignificant plans for His church!"

We are excited to have a team that wants to accomplish big things for God in Detroit. Pray for the Sabo's as they make plans during this time of transition and continue to pray for us as we continue to seek the right people to be a part of the Lakepointe team.

The Cost of Your Calling

This is the last segment of the notes from Thr3e in Charlotte, NC at Elevation Church by Pastor Steven Furtick.

• The difference of where you are at and where God wants you to be is the price/pain you are willing to endure.
• There is a level of uncertainty in every certain thing from God.
• Gethsemane - "Olive Press" Before Jesus died, he went through the "olive press."
• Your greatest oil/anointing of your life is AFTER you are presses/broken. The only way for the oil to pour from our lives is to be pressed.

Every church leader/planter will go through 3 types of "press."

Emotional Press

• Revelation brings isolation. When you hear from God, you and only you may hear it. You may be the only one who hear a fresh vision from God.

Physical Press

• Figure out what you need to do to stay healthy and not burnout. The church needs you to be healthy. It needs you in the game!
• Find balance in your day-to-day ministry.
  

Relational Press

• Your destiny is not tied to anyone that needs you.
• Have the gift of "goodbye." Don't be afraid to cut those who are not on board with your vision.
• Some people will walk away from you. TD Jakes says: "Let 'em walk!"

Three Applications:
1. Receive God's Activity - Jesus received the "cup" in the garden.
2. Remember what God has done for you and how He supplied for you.
3. Respond to God's new direction in your life.

Interview with Craig Groeschel

Funny stuff as Tripp Crosby and Tyler Stanton interviews Craig Groeschel. Hope you enjoy!

Thr3e Session 2 - Momentum and Team Development

Again, more notes from Thr3e conference in at Elevation Church (Charlotte, NC) with Pastor Steven Furtick. The second half of session 2 was devoted to two topics: Momentum and Team Development.

Momentum

• God creates momentum. All we can do is ride it.
• Every church has 5 possible stages: Birth, Growth, Plateau, Decline, Death
• Most churches are too late to initiate new momentum (they do it during the "decline" stage of the church). Reinitiate and look for new ways to keep growth and momentum going before the "plateau" stage (in the growth stage). Example: Don't wait to max out before you add more chairs, space, (or in Elevation's case, multi-site).
• Often, when you see it, it's too late to change it!

Team Creation and Development

• Staff development is not an activity; it's a culture.
• Leadership is about empowerment.
• The greatest compliment is to demand more from someone.
• Who do you hire next? Ask yourself, "What do I stink at?"
• We should have 3 things in hiring and keeping staff: Faith ("I believe God has great plan and potential in your life"), Trust (based on character - "I trust you and your integrity/honesty"), and Confidence (based on performance - "I have confidence that you will get the job done").
• If you don't have confidence in a person's job performance, then it's time to cut him loose.

Thr3e Session 2 - Systems and Strategies

These are more notes from the Thr3e Conference at Elevation Church with Steven Furtick from a few weeks ago. (I have two other previous posts.) I have a few more posts that I'm going to put out this week to conclude the notes from this amazing day in Charlotte. Some of this may or may not make sense to you, but they do to me. Enjoy!

Best Practice #1

We're Ruth's Chris, not Golden Corral

• We are not a buffet, but we offer the best steak "experience" out there.
• Less is better. Do a few ministries and do it with excellent.
  

Best Practice #2

Dress for the wedding, not the gas station

• Structure for where you want to go, not where you are.
• Plan your volunteers for twice your average. Example: If you have 25 in nursery, plan for your number of volunteers for 50 in nursery.
  

Best practice #3
Stress Participation, Not Membership

• Get people involved!
• They must buy-in before they sell out.
• Don't be afraid to ask for commitments.

Best practice #4
Eat the fish, leave the bones

• Learn from anybody - from T.D. Jakes to John Piper.
• Don't swallow the whole fish at a conference and apply it to your unique situation. Not everything will apply to your church.
• "The thing that makes you unique makes you powerful."
  

Best Practice #5
Create a culture of intensity

• Work the volunteers like staff. Pastor Furtick treated his staff members like paid staff members, even before he paid them a dime.
• Don't lack the courage to demand your people to live up to their potential.
  

Best Practice #6
Church is all about the numbers

• Numbers represent lives being changed. Study and understand your numbers and trends.
  

Best Practice #7
Think INSIDE the box (rather than OUTSIDE)

• Work with what you have.
• When you think "outside the box", it usually leads to frustration. When you think "inside the box", it will lead to innovation.
• "Inside the box" thinking will cause the box to expand and get bigger.
• Biggest limitations in our ministry have created our greatest innovations.

Top Tweets of April

These are some of the top tweets from those that I follow in April.

@perrynoble: When we focus on what is wrong with other churches and leaders it is usually so we won't have to deal with what is wrong with our own lives!

@ChurchSolutions: Don't blame yourself for the declines or you may be tempted to take credit for the increases. -Craig Groeschel

@johncmaxwell: Clarity of vision creates clarity of priorities.

@willmancini: Notes from Francis Chan at Exponential 2009 - http://bit.ly/xXaPM - A beautiful message about the Holy Spirit.

@ExponentialConf: You will not be allowed to do it on your own. Because then you'd receive the glory. -Derek Duncan

@jonathanfalwell: God will never do anything great through someone who is partially committed.

@ExponentialConf: Some of you got into ministry because you wanted to see the world made different. Don't you ever give up on that dream. -Derek Duncan

@ExponentialConf: The only numbers we should care about are the numbers of people we have NOT yet reached. - Craig Groeschel

@MaxLucado: San Antonio Spurs star Bruce Bowen helped with our river baptisms. That's keith Kennington with us. http://twitpic.com/3mxzg

@perrynoble: Refusing to address a problem and "praying" it will go away is not leadership!

@ChurchSolutions: Pastor Sits on Toilet for 24 Hours to Fight Cancer: http://tinyurl.com/ctllbn

@timastevens: Everything drifts toward losing the "why" for what we do. If we don't continually talk about Jesus, people will drift.

@ChurchSolutions: Why don't your guests come back? 15 reasons: http://tinyurl.com/cezod4

@perrynoble: People who loved religion and were addicted to their personal preferences were actually the ones who resisted (and killed) Jesus!

@perrynoble: People who say "that can't be done" are usually just looking for an excuse to remain lazy!!!

@MaxLucado: Overheard today in our church hallway. Mom asks three year old what he learned in class. Answer: "Jesus got out of a hole." (So did we.)

@jonathanfalwell: Found a quote in one of my old Bibles from a sermon Jerry Vines preached in 1989, "a defeat that makes you humble is far better than a victory that causes pride."

@willmancini: For vision to be viral it must be compelling enough to make people want to say it again.

@willmancini: For vision to be viral it must be clear enough for a unchurched, junior high kid to understand it.

Thr3e Session 1

I posted last week about our experience in Charlotte, NC with the Elevation Church staff and volunteer team. Each session was led by Pastor Steven Furtick and I want to give some of the highlights from each session (there were only 3).

Session 1
Casting Vision, Creating Culture

Each church plant needs to establish 3 important cultures in the DNA of your church:

The Culture of Audacity

• Audacity is a spirit, not a set of actions.
• You have to have a level of insanity to start something from nothing.
• Where there is no vision people cast off restraint.
• God doesn't step in till you step out.
• An audacious leader - See it, speak it, and stand on it until it happens.
• A leader's job is to cast an audacious vision - to see things first before anyone else - and stay with it till it becomes reality.
• An audacious vision is not "cut out and paste" from other ministries. It comes from within you.
• The thing that make you unique is the thing that makes you powerful.

The Culture of Honor

• Respect must be earned but honor is given from the heart.
• You can only receive people at the level you perceive people.
• If your people don't perceive you as a leader then people won't receive you as a leader.
• If you're support staff you should go home & ask "How can we help take weight off our Pastor?"

The Culture of Generosity

• Don't be afraid to preach on giving!
• Pastor Steven Furtick preach (or make applications) on giving 3 of every 4 sermons preached.
• Pastors must give sacrificially. No one can go where the leader hasn't gone. ... If you want the people to bleed, you must hemorrhage.
• Part of generosity DNA at Elevation Church: They partner with outreach programs, not create them. Elevation Church supports 18 local organizations.

Creation Minute - Episode 2

Again, this is another video made by Eric Hovind and is crew. Check it out!



CREATION MINUTE WEBSITE

SEVEN22 Series - Dangerous

Tonight, we are starting a brand new series called "Dangerous." I can't wait to share God's word and how he has been speaking to me these past 2-3 weeks. We have been taught that the church should be a "safe" place [which I agree] so that we can teach a "safe" message [which I disagree]. Too many churches don't want to be "offensive", and when churches have this mentality then Hell gets more crowded.

Make it a priority to be here tonight at SEVEN22 and invite someone to be your guest!