Thursday, November 17, 2011

Sunday recap...Our 3rd Preview Service

We have now finished three preview worship services as a new church. We have been doing preview services once a month as we prepare to launch in the coming months. On Sunday, I had the privilege of preaching the good news of Jesus at two different churches. I first preached for two services at Shepherd of the Hills UMC in Douglasville, GA, which was a church plant about 15 years ago. It was neat to be there and see what God has done through that time. 
This Sunday night we also had our 3rd Preview Worship Service at Johns Creek Elementary. As Mandy and I drove back up to lead The Fountain, we noticed something really interesting. Going to The Fountain and seeing the people from our church is starting to feel more and more like we are going home. I simply mean, when we first started having services (just two other times), we did not know who our church people would be. Now, The Fountain feels like it's "our" church. I'm already excited for our Christmas focused worship service coming up on December 4 at 6pm at Johns Creek Elementary. The sense of community, belonging, and relationships that are forming at The Fountain are encouraging given our short history. I believe that is a testimony about how God’s hands are on us, molding our relationships, hearts, and somehow making The Fountain a place to experience the love of God in our church community. I believe that means that we are starting to have an identity as a church. 
Before The Fountain preview service, we circled up to pray with those helping with the service. As I looked around, it was pretty exciting and overwhelming for me as the pastor of this new church to have so many people so invested in what God is doing through our ministry. We had over twenty volunteers that assisted and many more that have recently committed to help us launch the church. When Mandy and I first moved into the area on July 1st to start this church, we were the church. Her and me. That was it. We are now only a few months into the planting process and I am already overwhelmed to have so many that are not just attending The Fountain, but are actively part of our team. They are starting to feel God’s heartbeat for the people in this area and catching onto God’s dream of reaching so many disconnected people with God’s love. I love it! 
On Tuesday, I got to speak with some people on our team about where we are going as a church. They spoke about the excitement and opportunity to be standing at the early stages of redemptive history that is being written right now. I love these people. Not because they want to build a church, but because they want God to touch the lives of so many new people through us. We have over 140,000 people within a five mile radius of our church and the area is projected to grow another 30 percent in the next five years. Right now, there are over 80 percent of the people in our area who are not connected to a church anywhere. I think we are all catching the burden and passion for how God wants to use us to stand in that gap. I’m learning when people ask me about our vision, that’s what they are really asking. They want to know what makes our heart tick and what is our burden for planting a new church. Standing in that gap to touch the lives of the 80 percent is my heart as the pastor and that will become the deep passion of The Fountain. 

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

First Preview Service...Recap

I am finally back to blogging after a great First Preview Worship Service on Sunday night, October 2. We had a great turnout and I believe a great first worship service. Hearing everyone sing for the first time reminded me that redemptive history was being written that night and continues each new day for The Fountain. See, for the very first time in history, a specific group of people, who had never been together before, gathered in a place to worship God on October 2. It was a new timbre of sound than has ever been heard because each voice has a different timbre. I was reminded that Jesus makes all things new...new churches, new sounds, and especially leads people to new life. We are excited about our 2nd Preview Worship Service on October 30 at 6pm.

We took a building at a local park and turned it into a wonderful looking space. I am thankful for many who helped us set up and even take everything down. It was a big job. We were pulling things out of boxes for the first time and trying out things that have never been used, but it all came together. That is a sign of God at work. I especially want to thank Tom Baines, Suwanee UMC, and Shadowbrook Baptist Church for allowing us to borrow some items for that night. What a great picture of the unity of the Body of Christ, and I don't want their efforts to go unnoticed. It is a reminder that the ministry of The Fountain is far bigger than what you see. We are connected and supported in some way by more churches than I could list. 
We were blessed by the music of three band members from TheKey Band. They are friends of mine from Mercer University and they have moved into the area because their band is really picking up momentum. It was a blessing to have them lead us before the throne of God in worship for the very first time ever. I preached a message about the kind of life that Jesus offers. I focused on John 4 where Jesus offers a free, undeserved gift of living water to a Samaritan woman who comes to draw water from a well. We talked about how Jesus is really offering much more than H20. Jesus is offering this woman a gift of new life where she can find the hope, purpose, and wholeness she had been looking for. I also believe that same invitation is given to me and you.
I was also excited that over 20 people volunteered that night to serve as a part of our team. We want people to experience the love and welcome of Christ from the moment they pull into the parking lot and throughout the service. We had people greeting in the parking lot and directing people where to go, people welcoming outside the front door, an awesome group providing coffee before and ice cream afterwards, some people who were helping with multiple things inside, and a lot of people praying for us. There was a great community feel already, and I believe it started with our awesome volunteers. God has blessed us with so many who want to help us launch The Fountain because they believe in the vision of leading new people to life, hope, purpose, and wholeness through Jesus Christ. The wonderful team that is already a part of The Fountain is a great picture that God is the true church planter. Mandy and I have worked very hard to recruit, get things in order, and hear God’s vision, but God is the engine pulling this train. I wouldn’t want it any other way. 
We are excited about the future of where God is leading and we invite you to be a part of God’s movement through The Fountain. I am excited about our official launch in early 2012!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

"1st Area of Focus: Contemporary Worship"

I have found that if a company knows its mission or vision, they will be more likely to achieve it. After all, the book of Proverbs reminds us that “without vision, the people perish”. Vision is essential as it gives you focus and direction. It tells people where you are going. I have also learned for a company to accomplish its mission, it must decide on its main areas of focus and put its effort wholeheartedly into it. If a business is unclear about its mission and tries to focus on too many things, it will be inadequate at almost everything because it has spread itself too thin. Just like in the business world, a new church especially has to be clear about its mission, decide on the main areas of focus, and work toward being excellent under God in those areas. Our mission is to lead people to life, hope, purpose, and wholeness through Jesus Christ. We are striving to reach new people by connecting them to a relationship with Jesus Christ and to help people to grow in their relationship with God. We have also decided on four main areas of focus for The Fountain UMC. We are going to put everything we have into these four areas of focus (or “our big rocks”) in an attempt to offer our best to God and our community. Over the next few posts, I will discuss each area of focus in more detail. 
Our first area of focus for The Fountain UMC is CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP. Let me first say that I have a classical music degree and love that style as well, but I am convinced the best way to share the gospel story in our area is through a more contemporary style. That means that our music is going to be led by a band with guitars, bass, drums, and it will be very exciting. We will sing some of the newest Christian songs and even ancient hymns in a non-traditional style. But contemporary worship is more than music to us. 
We are going to do worship in creative and fun ways. There will be times when we will use skits, videos, art, and even come up with fun ways to bless people with radical hospitality in our worship experience. When you are intentional, worship can become so fun and exciting. I will strive to preach in relevant ways about how God can impact our lives and how we in turn can impact the world around us. After all, faith was meant to be lived out in the actual world. Our goal at The Fountain UMC is to help each person into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, so we want our worship to be relevant so that you can apply your walk with Jesus to your everyday life. No more separation between church stuff and real life stuff. The Fountain UMC is a place where church is an extension of and shapes your everyday life. Isn’t that what people want to see most through those who follow Jesus?
I can talk about it all day long, but words will not explain fully what you will experience at The Fountain UMC. The best way to find out is to come and see. Fortunately, you will get that opportunity this coming Sunday, October 2 at 7:30PM at Sharon Springs Park when The Fountain UMC holds our very first worship service ever. We are calling it our 1st Preview Worship Service because we are giving you a preview or a glimpse of what our worship will be like when we officially launch in early 2012. We will have preview worship services once a month leading up to our official launch. I hope that you are able to come and see how God is leading us...and maybe God will nudge you to be a part of this exciting journey with us as well. 

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

"Values"


I must say that I have never seen an area like the south end of Forsyth County, where we are planting The Fountain UMC. I grew up in Gwinnett County and saw tremendous growth there, but I do not think I have seen anything like what is happening in the Johns Creek, Suwanee, and Cumming areas. The Fountain is located in the fastest area of growth in the entire state of Georgia. The area has already grown so fast and is projected to at least grow another 32% in the next five years! You have to see it to believe it! Numbers like that do not mean anything until you realize that each person is a soul that Jesus loves and desires a relationship with. That’s what drives me and The Fountain UMC. There are kids everywhere too. There are more daycares than I have even seen in my life. Those are children and families that Jesus loves. I have found more than anything that we have great people in the south Forsyth County area who simply want to have wonderful families, live with purpose, have deep relationships, a sense of community, and to find a place where this Jesus stuff can have a real impact for them today. 
That is why The Fountain UMC is seeking to be a church that is Christ-centered, relevant, real, transparent, exciting, and inviting in all that we do. Those are some of our values and how we want to be known around the community. When people hear contemporary, new church, or a church that pre-Christians love to attend, they often think that the message must become less than the entire message of Christianity. I have to say that I do not believe in soft Christianity. Instead, I have a passion to lead people into a deep pursuit to know Christ so much that they experience a real impact on their lives. We want to lead people to having a growing relationship with Jesus Christ where they are led to fill the world with the love of Christ that they have experienced.
Our second big value is to be a church that makes church and God relevant to a person’s everyday life. What good is talking about faith if it doesn’t mean anything when you go to work, the grocery store, when raising your family, or when tragedy hits? The reality is that Jesus IS relevant and we are a church that wants to help people experience a loving, holy God, who IS relevant and presented that way in a relevant church. Relevant does not mean that you water down the message, but that you make it come alive so that it means something and helps you to become a better person even Monday through Saturday. In order to be relevant without compromising the message, we also believe that church should be fun, creative, and exciting. 
We want to be a church for people of all ages and stages in the faith. This is not a church for only young people, but one where anyone can learn, grow, and follow God. We want to be a church that pre-Christian people love to attend, but also a church where people who have loved Jesus for years can grow and serve. Our leadership team keeps referring to this as “a church for the whole family”. It’s a reminder that God wants to disciple the whole family no matter our age or even our stage in the faith. We are a church that wants to reach the unchurched, de-churched, lightly churched, those hurt by church, those who love church, but mostly people who simply want to be real about following God, loving people, and becoming the person that God has created them to be. We want to be a church that is real about relationships, real about following Jesus, real about serving, and real about our faith. We want to be real in order to show people that Jesus is real and can have a real impact on your life today. 
Stay tuned for the upcoming blog series about our four main areas of focus for The Fountain. 

Monday, August 29, 2011

"All Things New"


NEW. What comes to your mind when you hear that word? What about when you think about it in terms of a new church? I wrote in the last post that The Fountain is a church that wants to lead people to Jesus, the source of life, hope, purpose, and wholeness. There is nothing more exciting to us than to be a part of God’s work of offering redemption and purpose to the world through love. 

You may be thinking, “that’s great, but there are a lot of churches that do that, right?” Absolutely. I think sometimes when people hear the word “NEW” they think that everything you do will be NEW. That’s why the word NEW is exciting for some because it means a fresh start and opportunities galore. But the word NEW is also one that causes much fear because what if this NEW church changes everything that we know and love about church? 
I can say without a doubt that the message of Jesus Christ that is proclaimed and lived out through The Fountain UMC is the same message of the love of God in Jesus Christ that came to redeem the world and to make us whole. The excitement about this NEW church is that we have discovered that planting NEW churches is the most effective way to reach NEW people with God’s love. We get to think out of the box of how to live the wonderful age old message of Jesus Christ in sometimes NEW ways, to reach NEW people, so that they will experience a NEW life in Jesus Christ. We are inviting people to God, the Fountain of Life. We are inviting people to the Jesus, who can take any life that has lost its way, never seen the way, and maybe thought there was never a way, and suddenly they discover Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. And hopefully through this NEW church, they will also experience the promise of Jesus for their life when he promised even to them, “I am making all things new.” May God do that in me, you, and through our new church. Lord, let it be! 

Thursday, August 25, 2011

"The Fountain"


I don’t have children yet, but I imagine one the most exciting and difficult things to do is to figure out a name for your child. A name is very important because it sticks with you no matter where you go. It’s who you are and how people identify you. Someone recently joked that naming a church was probably like naming a child. It is a holy task that must not be taken lightly because the name a church is given will go with it no matter where it goes. The name speaks about who we are and how people will identify us. I’ll be honest, we took a long time to finally set the church name. That was on purpose. We realized that this church does not belong to me or anyone else. This new church is God’s church and we knew that if the church was to touch lives, the vision also must be God’s. So, we took a lot of time to ask questions, pray, get to know our area, read passages in Scripture to articulate the calling God gave us, pray more, test names to see what people thought, and did I mention to pray? 

At Annual Conference and until recently, this church that used to have no name, was given a “code name”. It was known as New Church South Forsyth UMC. Not exactly an easy name to say, huh? Thankfully after much prayer, I am so excited to announce that the new church will officially be called...THE FOUNTAIN - A New United Methodist Church. 

Why The Fountain? During the beginning of July, God woke me up one night with the vision of the living water that Jesus offers. I read John 4 where Jesus offers this living water to a woman who comes to draw water from a well. She soon realizes that Jesus is offering a different kind of water than she can get anywhere else. The living water that Jesus offered could satisfy her from the very depth of her being. Jesus was offering a chance to experience a new kind of life that comes only from God and one that can bring life, purpose, hope, and can make her whole. Isn’t that what we all want really? 
In Psalm 36:9 and other places in the Bible, God is referred to as the “fountain of life”. It became very clear to us that our purpose as a new church was to simply lead people to the “fountain of life” so that all can experience the life, hope, purpose, and wholeness that God offers. 
Another reason The Fountain is a great name is the symbolism we see in everyday life. A drinking fountain is something that we gravitate to when we are thirsty and it quenches our thirst. A fountain in a courtyard is so beautiful that it draws people who are complete strangers to it and collectively brings them together at the edge of the fountain. If you think of a three-tier fountain, the water flows from the top and then overflows from one level to the next. There never seems to be an end to it. That is a lot like the kind of life and love that Jesus offers too. We are inviting people to experience Jesus at The Fountain!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

"Stepping Out On Grace"


“Standing on grace” is exactly what it means to start a new church. Grace is a churchy word that is thrown around a lot. Maybe we use it so much that we lose the power of its meaning, but the more I fall in love with Jesus, the more I realize that God’s grace is the most solid foundation one can stand upon. The radical, unmerited, underserved love of God sounds good on paper, but it completely changes your life when you meet it face to face. You wonder why I said yes to God when God called me to plant / start a new United Methodist Church? It’s because I have experienced God’s grace and love for me in such a powerful way and God has enabled me to feel God’s heartbeat for the people in south Forsyth County. 
You may wonder, “Are you crazy?” Maybe. But I believe so strongly that the love of Jesus Christ is not only something that we read about in the Bible, but that Jesus can have an impact that changes lives even today. 
So my wife, Mandy, and I moved back to our old stomping grounds to help people experience the love of Jesus Christ that is real and can change lives, families, schools, communities, nations, and the world...forever. Planting a church is hard work, but exciting. It’s exciting because we are standing on God’s grace. It’s exciting because God has called us to create a church that is relevant, exciting, Christ-centered, and one that helps people to experience the grace of God that your entire life can stand upon. 
I also must say that I am a normal guy, who gave his life to God through a relationship with Jesus Christ in the seventh grade. We have been sent out to start this new church by our team, The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church, not because we know everything about starting a church, but because we love God and simply want people to grow in their love for God too. I’m standing on grace and inviting others to join me.