Life Point Blog

What A Great Day

Yesterday was a great day. I turned one year older and took a day just for me. No church stuff, just a breather. It was awesome. I was pumped and dog tired from Sunday and spent early yesterday morning in prayer and had a great quiet time. Then went to beach to talk a walk, went to Coconut Point and had a grilled tomato and cheese sandwich at Johnny Rockets, went to Barnes and Noble and read all the magazines I cant afford to buy yet, went to the movie to see Gone Baby Gone which was awesome then went to Angelia's house where my team gathered to break bread with me. We had Fried Catfish, Grits, Green Beans, Hot Rolls, Salad and a great light cheese cake for desert. We just hung out and had fun. I got lots of phone calls and emails from my peeps and family, had a bunch of people on face book write on my wall. Just a cool day. One of the best birthdays ever. Thank you everyone!!!

Sunday Night Mind Dump

* What an AWESOME DAY!!!
* Our 2nd Preview Service is now over 93 in attendance up from 82 WOW...
* Our Volunteers Rock! They rose to the occasion today
* Our Children's area had more new kids... Berry Blast is a hit
* Much better week tech wise than first preview service
* 7 people got saved today Yea God! Thats 34 Total lives changed in 2 previews and FGCU
* I am glad Organic God Series is over
* Nov 11th WE LAUNCH!!!
* I am dead tired but love the feeling
* Our band played together for first time on stage. Job well done guys...
* Shout out to Scott our Praise Pastor Man!
* Tomorrow is my birthday and I reach my tipping point :-)
* Clemson beat the socks off Maryland
* Next sermon series ... 2nd Chances in 'loving, living and laughing... cool
* I got the best son in the world... I love you Mark
* We have told 174 people total all services about JESUS and 34 lives changed.. thats 20%... its all God!!!
* After a year and a half Life Point is 2 weeks from launching I can't believe its almost here!
* I have the best staff, team, volunteers, band in the world
* Sunday night wind down...ETTA JAMES

Vision and Volunteers

At Life Point, we realize one of the basic principals to our success will be the volunteers. We plan on going to 2 services in January and adding another site by end of year one. So identifying and training volunteers is crucial to our vision. In this upcoming preview service a great emphasis is being put on volunteers. We call it The First Impression Team. Russ Winn, our Executive Pastor, is coordinating and developing a system for identifying and training these saints. The question we invariably need to ask is, “how will we get our volunteers to become so committed?”
The answer to that question is easy to say, but extremely difficult to engineer. The answer is vision, but it goes way beyond a tag line or a rah-rah session. It comes from a place a calling and a singular focus on a common goal, “seeing people far from God filled with life in Christ”.

To see how well a church believes in the their vision don’t start with the Pastor or the staff, start with the guy in parking lot or the lady changing diapers in the baby room. Go and ask them, “why do you park cars?” and see what kind of response you get. That’s where you’ll learn how powerful the vision is in a church; how deep does it permeate through the organization. Is the parking guy just as passionate about his role and opportunity as the Lead Pastor? If he is, now you’re onto something, because everyone in the organization is moving in the same spirit with a singular focus. That’s called unity; as a house divided against itself cannot stand.

At Life Point Church, we’re becoming even more passionate about moving forward with a singular vision and here are a few practical things that will be guiding us along the way.

1. Check the flow – Ask the guy in the parking lot “why do you park cars?” What do you hope to hear from him? At Life Point we want to hear two things: 1) People are coming here today who are far from God and need to be filled with Jesus Christ and 2) My role as a parking guy is a vital link in the chain of people coming to faith in Christ; they connect what they do to the vision with passion and excitement.

2. Be slow to appoint – The key to having your vision permeate through the organization is directly linked to who you put in your leadership roles. You need to be slow and put in place only those who believe in the vision of your church. Learning the vision is a process and takes time, here’s a simple filter I am beginning to use in communicating the concept:

A. Understanding the vision – Do they clearly understand the guiding
principles behind the vision?
B. Embrace the vision – Do their actions show they understand
the vision?
C. Communicate the vision – Will they speak it to those around them?
D. Defend – Will they correct someone who is speaking contradictorily of
the vision?

Only appoint leaders who have gone through the filter and will defend the vision. Time on the front end will save a mess at best or a mutiny at worse on the backend.

3. How are we training – We need to look at our training systems for every area and evaluate how much time we spend teaching the x’s and o’s of how to perform their role and how much time is spent on vision casting? How often do you do retraining? How frequently will they hear the vision? Is the vision communicated as pieces of information or as a compelling call to action that connects people’s hearts with what they do and the vision of the church?

The biggest commodity we have in our church is vision. It needs to be constantly communicated, demonstrated in the leaders, and always defended. The influential capacity of our church will be determined by how deep the vision permeates our organization.

FGCU UPDATE

Spoke last night at CCF at FGCU. AWESOME. These kids are great and Lucas does a great job. Good crowd and here is the most awesome thing... 7 people found Jesus and 9 rededicated their life
16 new or renewed Christ-Followers. WOW!

Counting Sunday through Wednesday we know that from the preview services and ministry at FGCU the following:

12 People have gotten saved and now have Jesus as their Lord and Savior
16 People have re-dedicated their life and are now sold out Christ - Followers.
29 lives impacted for Jesus

The extra one is mine.

God is doing amazing things at Life Point and We are only through our first preview service. Our next service is October 28th and I promise all the kinks will be worked out and God will show up. Please invite people and Please see they will come. October 28th at 10:00 am at Muvico Theater.

I cant wait

Sunday Night Mind Dump

* It was AWESOME!!!!
* The volunteers we had were incredible
* Our staff did one incredible job not to have planted a church before
* Scott and Mitch and Lewis can sing
* Dixon is one talented guitar player and tech guy
* Berry Blast was a HUGE success
* We had too much food
* Everyone is bone tired
* We had 81 total counting all people
* 12 PEOPLE GOT SAVED OR MADE A RE-DEDICATION
* TODD YOU ROCK!!!!!
* The Muvico Experience was really cool
* The staff went to Shane's Rib Shack and I ate some great collard greens
* I went to a movie starring George Clooney and it was a great place to nap right Scott?
* I then went to the beach and saw this sun set
* I came home and listened to Nina Simon
* I can't believe there is finally Life To Life Point

Preview Service Bulletin

Our First Preview Bulletin For Life Point Church... Wow great job team!!!

Speaking at FGCU

I had the humble honor of speaking to a group of college students last night at FGCU. It ROCKED. Those kids were unbelievable. Lucas Hillman is the leader of an on campus bible study and I did last night and will do next Wednesday night. We unpacked The Organic God and talked about Organic people. Man it rocked. All my staff was there and after working all day getting ready for Sunday's preview service #1 came out just to support me and get to know these kids. What a team. Team Life. Awesome.
Here are some pics:

The Preview Week

This is the week. First preview service. After almost 1 year Life Point takes life at the Muvico Theater at Coconut Point Mall. I am SO freaked out. Our team has risen above and beyond all that I have asked. God has definitely brought the right team together.

Mitch and Scott have the music down pat. What a band we are going to have. Scott has been brought on as our Praise and Worship Pastor. He has experience in church planting, has led a praise and worship team for 7 years, and has one incredible voice. Mitch has pulled a band together that rocks. For the first service Sunday we will be doing some incredible songs that everyone will know but will set the stage for excitement and worship. AWESOME!

I can't say enough about Todd and Tammy. Both are so gifted and giving and have an incredible heart. Todd has worked his butt off and will be in the trenches all this week helping with the little things. Todd you rock!

The children's ministry is ready and it will be AWESOME! Angelia is the most talented Children's Pastor I have ever seen. Her and her team have everything ready for Berry Blast which is part of the Elevate Children's stuff from Fellowship Church.

Russ is my brother and my co-pastor in this journey. His passion and talents are incredible. He truly is a gifted pastor. We could not do this with him. All the rest of launch team, Bobby, Natalie, Anise, Wannah, Chad, Tom, Terry, Jim, Dixon, Manny, Kevin and everyone at Muvico are just incredible.

I was asked the other day what kind of church we were going to be. I responded a JESUS Church. Its all about Jesus. Committing to Him, living like Him, loving like Him, and reaching lost people like He did.

Life Point Church will be a church where you can come just as you are. NO PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED. Everyone on staff is a living example of God's grace and mercy. Everyone on staff has JUNK and STUFF. But everyone on staff has repented and grown and learned and are thankful that God has allowed us to go through all we have been through. Why? It makes us depend on Him all the more. Life Point will be a place where you can come and be accepted, with all your baggage. A place where lives are healed and mended. A place where you will be accepted and loved. A place where Jesus can repair and restore lives.

See none of us are perfect. None of us have arrived yet as Paul says. But we press on. When we fall. We will pick you up and dust you off and help you get back on the right road. All in love.

WE WILL NOT SHOOT OUR WOUNDED. WE WILL NOT THROW STONES. WE WILL NOT JUDGE THE PAST THAT GOD HAS ALREADY FORGIVEN. We will love and journey, and seek to become more like Jesus every day.

WOW.

Pee Wee Point and Kids Point Signs

TOO COOL!!!

Seven Gimmicks We Use At Life Point Church

When you start a new church, people are going to talk. They will talk about you, your staff, your church and the “gimmicks” used to get people to come. People are going to come to Life Point!!! It’s a God thing… can not be stopped. But see, Life Point people have one thing some other churches don’t have… PASSION TO REACH PEOPLE FOR JESUS!!!

When we start reaching people (and we have in a big way) WATCH OUT… Pastors of other churches and people in general will start talking about the gimmicks we use to get people in. Well I am going to address this up front. WE WILL USE GIMMICKS TO GET PEOPLE TO JESUS.

SO…this all created a thought or two inside of me…and I admit–we are TOTALLY into gimmicks here at Life Point Church. I started to market the idea and make a million bucks off of it…but then decided that I would just share it here–so here goes–all of the gimmicks we are into.

#1 - We Talk About Jesus All Of The Time!
Seriously…HE is the reason for the church; in fact, He said in Matthew 16:18 that it is HIS CHURCH! So we decided a long time ago that if the church is supposed to be about him…well…then He should be THE MAIN FOCUS…how He is alive and is changing lives.

Let me be clear–we talk about Jesus. We do not talk about the lottery, how all Christians should watch FOX news, blue laws and snow birds. While we DO acknowledge that we live in a messed up world–we do not think that the world is messed up because bad people keep making bad decisions…but rather the world is messed up because people don’t know JESUS!

Churches can choose their soapboxes and issues all day long–our issue is Jesus…He changes lives.

#2 - We Use The Bible

I have heard from some people that if you preach from the Bible then people will not come–NOTHING could be further from the truth.

I love God’s Word–LOVE IT, every single verse…and I believe that NO ONE SCREWS UP THEIR LIFE by following God’s Word…so, in each and every service we have we use the Bible in an unapologetic way.

From time to time we will hear in this community people say, “They don’t use the Bible over at Life Point.” When a person makes that statement they are merely proving their stupidity because there will never be a service in the history of this church where the Bible wasn’t taught.

Where do most of our ideas come from? Uh…the Bible! It’s the best book ever!!!

#3 - We Teach The Bible In A Way People Can Understand

One of the things I hear from time to time is, “Hey Henry, I wish at times we could go deeper.” Let me translate this for you–what this person is usually saying is, “Hey Henry, I wish at times you could confuse the heck out of me so that there is no application point…that way I can walk away feeling smarter & also not feeling a need to actually apply anything.”

In my mind I have two questions to answer in message preparation time. The first is what do I want them to know. I feel it is my job as the pastor/teacher to teach God’s word in an understandable way so that when people leave Life Point Church they know at least one thing they didn’t know…OR they are reminded of at least one thing they had forgotten.

The second question is what do I want them to do. I believe a message preached without any application is a great mistake. PEOPLE DO NOT NEED HISTORY LESSONS–they need practical help with their lives. And so as a pastor it is NOT my goal to confuse the people who attend Life Point by spewing out theological mumbo jumbo and having them think I am a really smart person…but rather to take God’s Word and show how He desires to communicate to all of us where we are.

(To the critic who now wants to e-mail me and say that I have no love for theology…please…save it…I read that stuff all the time…and I have a doctorate degree and I love to read Piper, Spurgeon, and some others…however, I learned a long time ago that when it comes to speaking I need to do the cooking in the kitchen and bring the people a fully prepared meal.)

#4 - We Care About Excellence

One of our core values is excellence…we believe that if it is done in God’s name…then it deserves our best effort.

Keep in mind that excellence is the core value–NOT PERFECTION! We literally screw something up every Sunday…but it is NOT because we are not trying hard.

It bothers me when a church offers a half-hearted, poor, pitiful presentation of the Gospel…and then when it totally BOMBS they blame the problem on the Holy Spirit.

Uh…if the Trinity is truly a Biblical concept…and I believe it is, then why is it that we blame “God the Holy Spirit” on things that we screw up?

As I said, we believe in excellence…that means we want to offer our very best. SO…people who can’t sing do not sing. Seriously–why do churches let people do this? I have heard, “Well, their heart is good.” And that might be true–but their voice is awful & makes me think of a cow dying in a hail storm.

We make sure our kids get the very best in (1) facilities–we do not stick them in some basement with leaking pipes and wall paper from the 1970’s and tell them to “like it or else.” But rather we provide them with an atmosphere that they can actually enjoy.

(2) People–we do not stick them with a lady so old that she personally knew seven out of the twelve apostles personally and that hates kids…NO–our volunteers LOVE kids…love working with them–and are willing to go through a federal background check to do so!

If it worth doing then it is worth doing right!

#5 - We Plan Ahead

Yep, another gimmick is that we plan ahead & do not just “wing it.” For example, we are already planning for Christmas and Easter. We know these things are coming our way and we want to be as ready as possible.
Our kid’s area is planning months out. You know why? Because these kids matter!!!

Some people say that you can plan so much that you plan God right out of it…I disagree. I believe the Holy Spirit works just as much in my planning and preparation time as He does when I am delivering a message on a Sunday or Wednesday. God is a planner…He is Sovereign…BUT a casual journey through Scripture can show us–He has a plan–we should as well.

#6 - We Challenge People To Commit

Let me be very clear on this–Life Point Church will have THE BEST volunteers on the planet–BAR NONE! (You will get to meet many of them for yourselves if you are planning on coming to our preview services October 14 and October 28 and our LAUNCH NOV. 11, 2007.

Here is the deal–I teach this all of the time, a church is NOT effective when a pastor ministers to the people. NO…a church is effective when the body ministers to the body!

Many churches simply kill their pastor…they expect that poor guy to do everything while they sit on their rear end and bark orders. Uh…where exactly is the Biblical basis for that.

I know, I know, some moron is going to e-mail me, telling me that pastors are supposed to “shepherd their flock.” AND…I agree…but leading that flock DOES NOT MEAN doing the things for them that Scripture clearly indicates that they are to be doing for one another!

Ephesians 4:11-16 tells us that we are to teach the people HOW to minister–NOT to do it all. And at Life Point we have a group of people that EMBRACE that concept…and God is using their skills every weekend to IMPACT thousands of lives for Jesus Christ.

#7 - We Have An Atmosphere Where People WANT To Bring Their Unchurched Friends

When I was growing up the LAST place you took a person who didn’t know Christ was to church! NO…you “got them saved” first and then took them to church…because, if you did the opposite it would mess them up forever.

We have taken a different approach…we have told people we are going to work as hard as we can, pray that God will move…and we want you to partner with us in getting your lost friends and family members here…AND…it works. We’ve seen people give their lives to Christ over the past few months…and the best is yet to come!!!