Soaring

That's some serious air! John Harmon defied gravity with a little help from his friend Benjammin. What a great time we had at Paul & Jill's this past weekend for the 2/42! We will continue to host monthly 2/42 events (large group gatherings for fellowship and fun) as we incubate and pray for the Longleaf Church movement. We are building a great foundation for Longleaf Church! One of our foundational 4 Things and a long-term core value of Longleaf Church is Strategic Service. Our spiritual gifts have maximum impact when exercised in support of our strategy.

You and I have been fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) and we are uniquely gifted to do great things (John 14:12). We will soar to new heights when we serve strategically as a key member of His church. We are fortunate in these early days at Longleaf Church to have a wealth of leaders. We have identified our first Community Group Leaders and Family Ministry Leaders. There are some great volunteer opportunities on the horizon at Longleaf Church for everyone.

Amy and I have carved out Tuesday and Thursday evenings to meet with individuals and couples in part to talk about Strategic Service. We will use this time to simply build relationships, discuss growth in the three vital relationships and discuss our 4 Things. I am calling these dinner meetings NEXT meetings. I would love to hear from you on available dates to connect!

VESTED!

The value that we call Invest and Invite is currently and will forever be the primary engine of growth for Longleaf Church. Our lives are intertwined with family, friends, neighbors and coworkers. We have a vested interest in lots of people. Christians are called to be fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). We are called to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19) and we have been granted power to do so (Acts 1:8). Longleaf Church will be about the business of creating a culture of authentic biblical community and building relevant environments to invite our unchurched friends to. We are preparing to launch a church that fulfills the Great Commission to make disciples. Yet in these pre-launch days, visionaries are investing and inviting people to join our movement to plant a revolutionary church. It's passionate. It's viral....and it's spreading.

This picture is of some of the college kids that have connected to Longleaf Church. These kids have engaged with Longleaf Church in large part because one kid INVESTED AND INVITED her friends to our pre-launch ministry environments. Wow! In 2009, people want to understand what we are selling and why we are selling it. Relational influence is nothing new but the power of advocates (well-informed friends that simply want what's best for you) is really starting to trump advertising. Social media (facebook, blogs, twitter, etc.) is reshaping the flow of communication. This new technology only reinforces what we know, the church is not a building, it's a passionate and viral movement of people....

Good Soil

The parables of Jesus are amazing. It seems that the more life experience we gain the more profound and richer his teachings become. This is especially true when we earnestly seek first his kingdom. Jesus often used parables as a relevant and effective way to clarify his teachings. His parables also included hidden meanings intended for the hearts of sincere followers. The Parable of The Sower is one such parable.

This brilliant parable is recorded in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew 13:3-23, Mark 4:3-20 & Luke 8:5-15). In this parable, Jesus illustrates the response of four types of people to the word of God. The word of God is illustrated as seed scattered along the path, on the rock, among the thorns and lastly on good soil. Only the seed planted in good soil produces a crop. This parable sheds light on our hearts. Christ Followers with "good and noble hearts" will grow in truth, persevere and produce a crop.

In his book Crazy Love, Francis Chan says this "I think most American churchgoers are the soil that chokes the seed because of all the thorns. Thorns are anything that distracts us from God. When we want God and a bunch of other stuff, then that means we have thorns in our soil. A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions or commitments are piled on top of it."

We are planting Longleaf Church in good soil. I am so encouraged by the hearts of the people that OWN our vision. Planting a church is journey for people that understand the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a building or a bunch of church programs, it's a passionate movement of people. Church is not something that we do but rather it's something that we are. Change is coming. Hearts will turn. Families will be strengthened and people will be led into a growing a relationship with Jesus Christ across Central Georgia because his word is being planted on good soil......