• I am still dreaming about a church that effectively reaches people far from God!  I am dreaming about reaching those that have never been in church and those that left church years ago for one reason or another!
• I am still dreaming about being a church for those already following Jesus but have grown weary of being a part of churches that have given up on reaching people outside the church and simply keeping those on the inside happy!
• I am still dreaming about reaching thousands and thousands of people and always struggling to keep up with baptizing those who have turned to follow Jesus!
• I am still dreaming about being a church that has to have multiple services on Sunday to accommodate all the people God is reaching through us!
• I am still dreaming about beginning new campuses in nearby communities that need a church passionate about reaching people far from God!
• I am still dreaming about being a church-planting church that is consistently launching new churches locally, nationally and across the globe!
• I am still dreaming about being a pastor of a church that consistently invests into young leaders that plant churches and have impact in communities locally and globally.
• I am still dreaming about being the godly leader and example to a faith community that models leadership, marriage, parenting and godly living God’s way!
• I am still dreaming about being at a location for the long haul for the maximum influence and missional impact!
• I am still dreaming about living for the glory of God and the good of people!

What are you dreaming about?

We have worked together to complete a complete Home Makeover on a home in our Walnut Grove community! 

We have witnessed almost 100 people turn to follow Jesus as a result of God’s work through Church at the Grove! 

We have serve countless meals to Youth Middle School teachers, Walnut Grove High School teachers, Walnut Grove Elementary School teachers, Athletic Teams, Foster kids and families and many more groups. 

We have Loved Loganville!

We have baptized around 75 people!

We have had part in planting over a dozen churches in 3 years! 

We started with about 50 people, Launched with 183 and now average over 300 people in attendance in our Sunday gatherings. 

We will have over 100 adults in Community Groups this fall!

Our students have packed and served lunches in Monroe, loved and ministered to children in backyard Bible Clubs, helped clean up after Katrina in Mississippi, served people in New Orleans and reached out to their friends on Wednesdays at the CLC!

We initiated and facilitated a complete Home Makeover for a family in Walnut Grove that now attends Church at the Grove! 

We have partnered close to 100 children with local heros and helped make their Christmas something to remember!

We soon will take part in sending two families across the globe to help people find their way back to God through Jesus.  We look for partnerships to carry Jesus across the globe!

We have partnered with a local organization “Resurrecting Hope” to help make a difference in the lives of the homeless at the Atlanta Union Mission. 

We have loved and supported local Teachers and Educators in our community.

We have consulted and provided leadership to numerous church planters and leaders locally and nationally. 

We have only just STARTED! 

Don’t miss the next three years!

• It has proven the most effective leadership style.
• It has the danger of becoming leader centered.
• It has the danger of becoming hyper visionary.  Count the cost.

Luke 14:28-32 (NIV)
²⁸ “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?
²⁹ For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him,
³⁰ saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’
³¹ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.

• The leader can become autocratic.
• The leader must listen or skilled incompetence will emerge.  Avoid the CEO disease. 

Proverbs 18:13 (NIV)
¹³ He who answers before listening– that is his folly and his shame.
 

I found out this weekend that a fellow church-planter resigned and stepped down from his leadership role because of moral failure.  You can read it on his blog here. 

I am saddened, mad and hurt to hear about a fellow leader that has succumbed to sin and forfeited his leadership mantle.  I know that leaders have big bull’s-eye on their backs and I know that I need people praying for me in order to keep my life secure from falling into sin that could disqualify me from my leadership role in the church.  Please pray!

Check out this Open letter to Pastors!  It is a must read for all of us and especially for those that feel they are above failure!

You are the change agent but you cannot change anyone.

• In any and every context, change is difficult.
• True change in our context has to be the work of the Holy Spirit.
• We need to allow for constructive dissatisfaction and give time for the change process.
• The gospel of Jesus is perpetual new wine that will burst the old wineskines. 
  Matthew 9:17 (NIV)
  ¹⁷ Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”The hardest person to change is yourself.

• You have a new congregation each week. 

Whether it is new people or the same people, you are teaching and leading people that have new and different issues each week and you need to be aware as a leader of what they are going through.  Your character must be solid each and every week and you are a moral anchor of character for them to have a point of reference. 

Proverbs 27:23 (NIV)
²³ Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds;

• You have a new community each week.
• The cauldron of circumstantial factors are never the same from year to year.  You must pay close attention to what is going on in the meta-narrative of culture and the microcosm of your environment. 

Read that last statement again!  That is huge for church planters and pastors in our rapidly changing culture.

1.  Character is always transferable but context is not.

Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
²³ Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

As a leader:

• How is your devotional life? 
• Do you embrace accountability or avoid it?
• Do you treat everyone as special or rather as a means to your goals?
• Are you eager or timid in sharing about Jesus?

Mike Linch is one of my best friends, a mentor and pastor of NorthStar Church in Kennesaw.  NorthStar is one of our sponsoring churches.  Mike came and spoke to our Church Planter Network (CPN) about “Developing, Refining, and Sticking to the Dream” at our April Network gathering.  Here is a synopsis of what he shared.

Vision is:

• “Painting a picture of the preferable future.”  Andy Stanley
• “Visualizing what COULD be, fueled by the convictions of what SHOULD be.”  Andy Stanley
• “Vision is putting feet to the dreams and passions that God has laid on your heart!”  Mike Linch

Vision “Playbook”:

• Your refine your vision through “time and prayer”.
• You cannot give up on your vision!  Visions take time to see them through!
• Great leaders dream “great things” ….. that other people cannot see.
• They see things the way that they “can be” not just what “they are”.
• Vision springs from something that makes you angry.  You can’t stand to sit by and watch things continue as they are!  You have a Holy Discontent.
• Vision always has to do with enhancing the lives of others more than enhancing your own life!
• You refine your vision as you “stick to the dream” and things begin to be seen more clearly!
• Sticking to the dream is what separates those you have heard of and those you have never heard of!  Some start but don’t finish.
• It takes courage and determination to stick to the dream that God called you to!  Outwit, Outplay, Outlast!
• Do not focus on the critics.
• The vision is never completely finished!  It is always a work in progress and something that only God will be able to complete over time!

Nehemiah – “I am not coming down off the wall”…..

• That’s not my responsibility.

Don’t drop the ball by passing to buck.  If a guests ask a question or asks for help, the volunteer needs to find an answer.

• I don’t know.

It is ok to NOT know the answer.  It is NOT ok to leave the guest without an answer.  The job of a volunteer greeter/host is to find the answer.

• No

Here is the deal…..Even if the answer is “no”, don’t give that answer to the guests.  Make sure they are satisfied.

• “They”, “Them”, or “You guys”

When you use these words, it is a reflection of not taking ownership.  We are a team, family, and a community and we are in this together.  Take ownership and satisfy the guests.

• I am just a volunteer

Being a volunteer in the Body of Christ is one of the highest callings that exist in the church.  You are not “just a volunteer” and a guest hearing this will liken it to a worker in a business counting down the minutes until they go home.  Love what you do and reflect your love for what you do with an undying enthusiasm as you greet guests.

• Ministry Treadmill

The first “thinkhole” is the ministry treadmill.  The treadmill is set in motion when the busyness of ministry creates a progressively irreversible hurriedness in the leader’s life.  The sheer imediacy of each next event or ministry or ministry demand prevents the leader from taking the time required for discerning the culture and defining the DNA of the church. (pg. 10 of Church Unique)

• Competency Trap

The second thinkhole is the competency trap.  As ministry leaders experience success over time, that very success can become a liability.  Presumption that “you know how to do this thing” prohibits and eclipses the leader’s active listening and reflection observation.  He loses the habit of discerning the churches DNA. (pg. 11)

• Needs-Based Slippery Slope

On the needs-based slippery slope, leaders are constantly trying to meet people’s needs and expectations within the church.  Whether the needs ring of “religious consumerism” or are legitimate concerns of life and death, the slippery slope works the same.  With the leaders’ cruise control set to “react,” thoughtful leadership becomes unnecessary because there is always a persistent parade of needs to be answered.  The vision of the church is reduced to making people happy. (pg. 11)