Thank you.

You don’t know me. I’m one of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands by now, of people who have attended a Passion event, visited 722, listened to a worship album recorded, written or produced by you guys, or tons of other things that you’ve been a part of.

I was watching a [...]]]> Dear Louie,

Thank you.

You don’t know me. I’m one of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands by now, of people who have attended a Passion event, visited 722, listened to a worship album recorded, written or produced by you guys, or tons of other things that you’ve been a part of.

I was watching a DVD from Andy Stanley Sunday in a class at my church, and he was talking about the practical application of Scripture. He gave the example of people who had lived their lives in or around the church and then “one day” it just all clicks because someone finally helped them to see Scripture in a new and relevant way, and they began applying it to their lives. Before watching the video I don’t think I really understood the influence you had on me and my Spiritual development.

I remember as a high school kid “sneaking” into 722 at Northpoint. I attended Passion One Day in Memphis and sat in the rain before watching the cross get passed through the crowd as Matt Redman sang “Wonderful Cross”. I purchased a tin can of preaching CD’s from a Passion conference from the late 90′s and literally wore those CD’s out in my car while delivering pizzas in college. I brought a group of college students I was leading to Passion in Nashville in ’05.

And all of that was great…

But it was when you introduced me to Ichabod…
It was when I watched “Life Interrupted” online…
It was when you introduced me to Piper, Beth, and Voddie…

I grew up in a Pastor’s home. I was a good kid. I had great influences in my life.

You didn’t do it on your own, but you helped the Bible come alive for me. You helped me see the beauty of the Old Testament narrative. Again…You helped the Gospel come alive for me.

I’m now in ministry and carry some of your influence in the way that I attempt to present the Gospel and compel people to live for the Glory of God.

I’m sure you get stuff like this all the time, at least I hope you do, but I just sat in that class yesterday, and thanked God for using you, to help me, pursue Him.

God bless!

Jeremy

Our church is opening a new campus in Canton, GA in January, 2012. Click HERE to find out more.

After making church visits to familiarize ourselves with portable church, we pointed our attention toward our launch team [...]]]> Where to even begin?

Our church is opening a new campus in Canton, GA in January, 2012. Click HERE to find out more.

After making church visits to familiarize ourselves with portable church, we pointed our attention toward our launch team and the community where we would be launching this new campus.

In September we hosted a picnic for our launch team and their friends and family.

In early October we joined with the city of Holly Springs, just 3 miles from Sequoyah High School (our new home), for their fall festival. That day we were able to give out close to 1000 invite cards with information about our Preview Services, talk to lots of people about the church, and give out 200+ bags of goodies to kids as we painted their faces and let them jump on some inflatables we brought.

October 9th we hosted our first Preview Service, and it was a great success. To be honest, I was afraid of the worst: we would lose a kid, accidentally burn down the school, or worse. But God was gracious, our volunteers were amazing, and it was a great day. We had 124 in attendance, including 3 brand new families. We loaded in, loaded out, and had a lot of fun in the process. The service went well, the band was amazing, and Pastor Mark and I talked vision and shared about God’s first portable church with the tabernacle and the children of Israel. After the dust settled we thanked God for a good day, and came up with a list of 92 things that we wanted to fix or do better before the next service. You can view some pictures of the day HERE.

November 6 was our 2nd Preview Service, and we took huge steps forward in almost every area. Our load in and setup was much faster and efficient. Our volunteers were again lights out in every area. We had 153 in attendance, including 15 brand new visitors and families…yeah God! Our tear down and load out was amazing and we beat our “out the door” time by 12 minutes. Have I mentioned how amazing our volunteers are? You can view some pictures of the day HERE.

We are starting 8 Life Groups, with some already meeting and the rest kicking off in the next few weeks.

We are plugging people into places of ministry to utilized their passions and giftedness and to serve the needs of the church and those God is entrusting to us.

We are actively looking for tangible ways to serve our new community.

It’s just been amazing so far.

December 11 provides us one more opportunity to meet together in this preview environment and iron out all the details and systems as best we can before January. We are expecting God to do amazing things!

You can follow the journey more closely on Facebook, Twitter, or at mpncanton.com.

Our first visit was to Bridgepointe Church. They meet in Woodstock High [...]]]> In our effort to learn all we can as we get set to launch Mt Paran North Canton, I set up some visits to a few churches that had been recommended to me, and that do portable church in schools.

Our first visit was to Bridgepointe Church. They meet in Woodstock High School, and have been portable since their launch about 7 years ago.

Our team met at the school at 6am since they begin load in at that point in order to be ready for their 2 worship services. Shelley Davis, the Pastoral Assistant and First Impressions Director, hosted us for the day, and was amazing. She answered all of our questions, connected us to their key ministry and team leaders, and was so gracious to allow us to get in their way. Pastor Mat Garcia has been at Bridgepointe since January, and spent some quality time with me after the services that day talking about launching new churches, the pros and cons of portable church, and his philosophy of pastoral leadership. Kristen Terrette hosted us in the children’s area, and we were so impressed with her heart for kids, and her ability to set up, set up, set up…and then turn on a smile and energy for the kids upon their arrival.

Here were some of our takeaways from the visit.
- Your setup process can’t be entirely relationally based, it must be systematic. If your setup and tear down is based on “Joe” and the fact that “Joe” always has 3 or 4 guys that help him, what happens if “Joe” gets sick or leaves on vacation…you’re scrambling. You must be systematic in how your process works. That way your process is dependent on “Joe”.

- Setup and Tear down can’t just be an add on, it has to be a vital part of your ministry philosophy in portable church world. You need to focus on staffing it, funding it, and investing in the people that do it.

- You can get really creative. Just because you need some pipe and drape to cover a wall or an area, doesn’t mean you have to buy the same black or colored drape to go on a pipe. Bridgepointe made custom drapes for their children’s areas out of multicolored sheets and blankets in a patch work kind of thing…it looked amazing, and added so much to these areas. Another example: when they needed another children’s space, they didn’t rent another classroom for more money, they utilized a space they were already paying for…the end of a hallway. They created some really great intentional space for their 3 year olds at the end of the hallway they were already paying rent for.

- It’s in the details. When they arrive they take up the school welcome mats and put down Bridgepointe Church mats. They have a plastic trashcan of umbrellas set up by the door every week (not just the weeks it’s forecast to rain) just in case. It’s a part of their normal set up. I didn’t fill out a visitor card, but I checked my kids in…I still received a visitor’s letter from Mat thanking me for my visit. The children’s pastor told us the portable snap and go screens shrink if they are stored on the trailer in wintertime because of the cold, so they store them somewhere else in those months.

We learned that you can do portable church, or you can do church with excellence in a portable location.

Thanks to Bridgepointe for hosting us, and allowing us to learn from your experiences. It allows us to start farther down the road, and that’s huge. That’s the Kingdom!

We host our first Launch Team event this weekend with a cookout near the school we’ll call home. I’m excited for us to get together for the first time. Since our Information Meetings in July we have had more than 130 people join the Launch Team and say [...]]]> Tons! I’m glad you asked.

We host our first Launch Team event this weekend with a cookout near the school we’ll call home. I’m excited for us to get together for the first time. Since our Information Meetings in July we have had more than 130 people join the Launch Team and say “I’m in”. That blows me away! I can’t wait to see what these passionate people can do together for the Canton community.

Out of that group of people we have started building our ministry teams for Children, Media, Guest Services, Worship, Small Groups and Students. We are working toward our first preview service in October, and we want to be as fully staffed for these ministries as possible for that day. We will launch Life Groups in September as well.

We are taking some people from our team on visits to a couple of portable churches over the next few weeks. We will visit a few that are local and we will also be making a trip together to visit the last remaining portable Elevation campus to get a larger perspective. I’m excited to let some of our crew see what is possible in a portable setting.

A few of us attending an event on Saturday and gave some things out regarding the campus. It was amazing to hear the number of people that already knew we were coming.

There’s only 144 days until we open our doors to Canton. I can’t wait.

There are times in my life when I feel [...]]]> A few weeks ago Cooper helped me carry a small locker from his room downstairs for our yardsale. He grunted and groaned about how heavy it was for him, and I’m sure it was…but I was carrying most of the weight…and he never even knew that.

There are times in my life when I feel like the load I’m carrying is so heavy, and at times almost unbearable…I wonder how many of those times the Lord is looking at me knowing that He’s carrying the majority of the load.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

In no particular order,

- We had our new baby. Kinley arrived on my 30th birthday, July 8th. She weighed 6 lb 10 oz and is so sweet. For all those wondering what it’s like have a girl after 3 boys…other than [...]]]> Let’s see. What’s been going on in my life since I last posted?

In no particular order,

- We had our new baby. Kinley arrived on my 30th birthday, July 8th. She weighed 6 lb 10 oz and is so sweet. For all those wondering what it’s like have a girl after 3 boys…other than diaper changes and picking out clothes it’s not much different…at this point.

- I started my Master’s program. I am taking classes through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary pursuing an M.A. in Theological Studies. I’m currently taking 6 hours (Old Testament & New Testament) in this quarter of the summer. Honestly, it has been challenging, but really great so far. I love the subject matter so it makes the work that’s required very easy to engage to.

- We are in the full swing of pre-launch for the new Canton campus. This week we are hosting info meetings for all those who have expressed some level of interest in joining our Launch Team. The energy so far has been AMAZING! We have a ton planned for the fall and we hold our first preview service in October. You can follow our progress HERE or HERE.

- My car died. It’s just a car, but I was upset.

- I replaced the carpet and lynoleum downstairs with a really nice laminate that Corrie picked out. It turned out great, but it was one of the most frustrating experiences of my life (future blog post coming).

And many other things I’m sure. With that said, blogging is coming back. I’ll be introducing posts regarding our Canton campus for those that want to follow that process, and I’ll be back to blogging about all things related to life and ministry…and anything else I find interesting.