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!!!
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