Church Planting in the former Soviet Union…

I just got back from a trip to Belarus, in Eastern Europe, part of the former Soviet Union, with one of our World Care Teams. I was honored to be asked to speak to church planters and their teams on our “Best Practices” of church planting. We had a team from our church that went with me to support the conference, as well as share their life change stories! They all did such a great job! Dre held two rap concerts for their churches while we were there! Belarussians love rap!  I was so proud of our team!

We’ve been working with an awesome church planting ministry that has planted 21 churches in 5 years in the former Soviet Union, called “New Churches Now.” Joe Wilson, the CEO, has become a great friend. He’s also a great church planting strategist!

I spoke to about 75 church planting leaders for two days. One of the churches represented was “Reconciliation Church” in Babruvsk. Check out what they’re up to:

This is not the only church or the only country we are working in within the former Soviet Union. Last month, we partnered financially to launch a new church in Siberia! I pray this is only the beginning! God is using our church all over the world to give church planters permission to be what God has called them to be and do what God has called them to do! I love my job! I love my church!

Where I’ll be at #Exponential13…

Are you going to be at the Exponential Conference this week?  Make sure you take some time and visit the team at churchplanters.com.

First, we’ll have a booth in FAITH HALL.

Then, here are the times and places I’ll be while we’re here. Stop by and see me!

PRE-CONFERENCE: 

“Effective Missional Discipleship”

Hosted by Missio, GCM,  and Churchplanters.com. 

Speakers: Hugh Halter; Brandon Hatmaker, Shawn Lovejoy, Matt Smay and Caesar Kalinowski

Location: Faith Hall FH 301GH

WORKSHOPS: 

-”What I Owe My Team”

Tuesday 4:30-5:30pm

Location: Faith Hall FH-372 

-”Partnership in Ministry and Marriage”

Wednesday 2:30-3:30pm

Location: Room AP3 

- “Changing the Scorecard”

Speakers: Shawn Lovejoy and Dave Ferguson

Thursday 8:45-9:45am

Location: Faith Hall FH-372

Are you coming to the #Uprising13 Conference?

Tomorrow I’m headed out to the #Uprising13 Conference in Louisville, KY, hosted by   Quest Community Church and Senior Pastor Pete Hise. Can’t wait to hang with this group of guys! They have their largest crowd ever registered! Pray for me as I speak on “Measuring What Matters: Crowds or Conversions.” There’s still time to register!

My #Velocity13 Reflections…

#Velocity13 was amazing on every front. God was here. He was LOUD. To Him be the praise! Here are a few reflections I have on the conference: 

 

* You could tell by the buzz on Twitter that God was speaking loudly throughout #Velocity13! 

* Here are few of the things God said to me through the conference:

• “Our dream is almost always smaller than God’s dream.” -Herbert Cooper
• “Anyone can step in and lead your church. No one else can lead your family.” -Justin Davis
• It doesn’t matter what we think our church is. We are what we do.” -Brandon Hatmaker.
• “Our systems should give people no other choice, than to grow!” -Hugh Halter
• “Success and suffering are inseparable.” -Leonce Crump
• “If we forget WHY we do what we do, we’ll eventually lose our passion for WHAT we do.” – Shawn Lovejoy

Here are a few other reflex: 

* We MUST have the most diverse Pastor’s conference ANYWHERE. Love that!

* One pastor brought his whole church planting network! 30 church planters and/or their teams to our conference!

* We have created a fraternity of men and women who come back to #Velocity every year to be encouraged and inspired. Love that!

* We have the best volunteers ANYWHERE. That is NOT an overstatement.

* We have the greatest Ministry Team in the world. Few would argue with that.

* Did people have a good experience at our conference? The proof is in the pudding! Over 1/3 of the conference took advantage of the earliest bird registration rate and pr-registered for next year’s conference! Wow!

* God is getting ready to extend our church’s influence in ways only He can imagine. I am convinced of that.

* I pastor the greatest church in the world. I really believe that.

Welcome to #Velocity13!

Welcome to #Velocity13!

This year marks our eighth year of churchplanters.com and our annual Velocity Conference. It has been a wild ride! God has been so faithful! First of all, God’s been faithful right here in our Jerusalem, called Cumming, Georgia! As of this month, we have seen over 1600 people go public with their faith in Jesus!

God has also used us across our nation and world! Over the last five years, we have personally planted five churches that now average over 1500 people in weekly attendance, and they have helped over 400 people go public with their faith through baptism!

Churchplanters.com has become one of the most influential church planting ministries on the planet, and we give Jesus all the credit. Today, along with our annual conference, we offer personal consulting, coaching networks, practicums, and other resources to  help you be and do what God has called you to be and do.

Thanks be to God we did not quit on the days when it was hard. We stand before you today as trophies of His grace and testimonies of what God will do when we stay true to Him and His call! So hang in there! Don’t you quit! You will reap a harvest if you do not give up!  May God use us in some small way over the next two days to help you do just that.

Your partner in the harvest,

Shawn

Why Saturday Services Work For Us (pt. 2):

Yesterday I began talking about why I think Saturday Services work so well for us here at Mountain Lake. Here are a few more big reasons why:

3. We have realistic expectations. 

Our goal is NOT to pack out our entire auditorium two times on Saturday Night. In fact, our auditorium is less than half full in each of our Saturday Services! How do we manage that? We literally have a Setup/Takedown team that comes in and puts up pole and drape across the room about halfway back in our auditorium. It shrinks the room and makes it incredible intimate worship environment for about 300 people in each services. We even use this to a our advantage! We actually communicate Saturday nights as a more intimate environment for people who are overwhelmed by the large crowds on Sundays and want something smaller. If we get to 40% of our total attendance on Saturday Nights, we will be extremely pleased!

4. We are committed to be good stewards of our space.

Most Worship Auditoriums fill up 2 hours on Sunday, and are empty the rest of the week. Really?! We are committed to be better stewards than that. We basically have another campus on our campus by hosting two Saturday services; but we didn’t have to buy any equipment, pay any rent, or go in any more debt!

5. We are committed to be good stewards of our Ministry Team.

Our Ministry Team is not burned out or even weary because of Saturday Nights. Most of our Pastors tell me that this is the healthiest ministry environment they have ever worked in.  We work hard to provide a pace, environment, and even simple programming in place that allows our team to lay it on the line on the weekends and then pull back and rest.  All of our Staff Meetings happen on Tue-Thur, so our team has the flexibility of taking Monday or Friday off each week. We all go home at 5:00. We have no other weekly ministry activities at night.  Nothing! Small Group. That’s all. We also give very generous vacation time and offer a lot of daily flexibility to our team. We will not pursue the Great Commission at the expense of our team.

6. Saturday Services are considered a spiritual decision. 

I have told our church we have no plans to ever build a larger worship auditorium. Therefore, in order to keep reaching people, we ask people to be willing to be commissioned to be sent out of the Sunday service and make Saturday Services home. It is a spiritual decision we ask people to make. Gimmicks to get people to Saturday night services usually don’t work in the long run. People respond to a call, a vision, and a willingness to sacrifice, give up their seat, to give people a place to belong and a place to become. Dozens of people who work retail and the restaurant industry worship with us because they have no other option! Saturday services allow us to reach people no one else is reaching!

Mountain Lake first began Saturday services in 2004. After moving in a new auditorium in 2009, we temporarily paused Saturdays due to our larger space. We relaunched them one year ago. One year later, we average over 600 people every Saturday Night! By Summer our goal is to be over 700. Do you get it? That’s 700 more people who have a place to belong and  a place to become on Sundays! 

Thanks Mountain Lakers for making our church a place to belong and become for many, and being servants in the greatest church in the world.