Ninety Days (A Fictional Account of a Future Reality)

September 19, 2011

It was a particularly pleasant December evening in Georgia when a group of about two-hundred people gathered together in a grassy field for a celebration of sorts.  Among the two-hundred or so people gathered together, around fifty or sixty are vibrant and happy kids jumping on inflatables and enjoying treats beneath a canopy of decorative tents.  The atmosphere feels something like a group of football fans tailgating on game day, except the camaraderie is deeper than that.  There’s is definitely something in the air.  It’s December 18th, so Christmas is near and the kids are bursting with excitement, but there’s more to this story than meets the eye…

Within a three mile radius of this over-sized lawn party, thousands of shoppers are perusing stores in search of the perfect Christmas gift and restaurants are brimming with friends and families celebrating the Christmas Season over dinner.  Many of the shoppers haven’t really paused to think too much about Christmas, or what it might mean to them personally.   The holiday revelry is in full swing.  The perspective from the grassy field becomes interesting as evening begins to set-in.  There’s a glow on the horizon from the city lights, and the grassy field seems like a calm reprieve situated at the center of the commotion swirling around it.  It’s almost like an island comfortably enveloped in the eye of a perpetually stationary storm.

Within the Larger Group of people at this big lawn party, there are smaller groups of people huddled together sipping hot beverages and engaging in rich conversation about the everyday stuff of life.  There’s something magnetic and authentic about their attentiveness to one another.  There seems to be no social facade.  The vibe is that of old friends who are reminiscing.   There’s some depth to this community of people, anyone could see that.

A family taking the back way to Target on Watson Blvd noticed the festivities and decided stop and check it out. A man wearing a green t-shirt on the periphery of the celebration observes this family and heads out to greet them.  The lady swished past chasing after her kids as they explode from the car making a b-line to the nearest inflatable.  The man, however, stops to chat with this greeter in the green t-shirt. “Are y’all having some sort of Christmas Party, the man inquired.”  “Just some friends getting together to watch the lighting of that tree on top of that building over there, but y’all are welcome to join us”, replied the guy in the green t-shirt guy.  “Forgive me for saying so”, replied the man, “but isn’t this a lot of hoopla just fire up that Christmas Tree.”   “Well, that’s actually a pretty good story,” the man in the green t-shirt responded.

“Those people are my best friends, and we’re here to celebrate, not just the lighting of that tree, but something that we have been working on together.”  “What’s that, the man asked?”  “Well, just a few years ago, my family didn’t even know any of these people.  Not one of them.  We had arrived at one of those defining crossroads in life about three years ago, and we wound up choosing a path here to Warner Robins, GA.  We were pretty nervous, but we were inspired to move here and become a part of something that we really felt like God was orchestrating in this community.” “So, is this a church deal?” the man inquired.  “Yeah,” said the man in the green shirt, “it’s a church deal.”  “I’m not much of church guy myself,” the man responded.  “I hear ya, I’m not much a church guy either, the man in the green shirt said.”  “So, what do you do?”, the man asked the guy in the green t-shirt. “Well, I’m the Lead Pastor of this church.”  (Pause) “Huh”, you don’t look like a Pastor.”, said the man.  “Excellent”, the guy in the green shirt replied.” “That’s excellent….”

“My family moved here to be Church Planters.  Church Planting was a super hard gig in the beginning, but at some point, I realized that my faith wasn’t as big as I thought it was.   I thought that God needed me to do something awesome, but He didn’t.  He just invited me take part in something that He already had planned.  He turned the tables on me, and blessed my family with something priceless, something unexpected, something he knew that we needed; incredible friends.  Friends whose lives converged with ours in monumental ways.  Friends that offered us insights and inspiration at all the right moments.  Most would attribute our new friends to accidental randomness, but I call it extraordinary providence.  Because without them, I wouldn’t be standing here now talking to you about the church that we started together in Warner Robins, GA called Longleaf.”

“Can I ask you a stupid question?” Sure, the green t-shirt guy responded.  “So, why are all of you standing around in this grassy field having a party?”  You see that building? “Um, yeah, I see that building.” We’re in the process of making it our new home.  It seats more than double the number of adults and accommodates more than double the number of kids than the space that we’ve been meeting in over the past year or so.  We’re pretty fired up about it.  We’re not quite done renovating it, but we’re going to open it up tonight for a walk-thru, then gather together for some Christmas music after we light the tree.  We punched the accelerator to the floor on relocating to this building on September 18th, which was exactly 90 days ago, and together we are opening the doors on a new chapter for our church”

One more question for you, the man said…. “Is that Justin Bieber and his little brother over there racing through the inflatables?” “No, that’s just Ben and John Harmon, but they are huge in the greater Bonaire/Kathleen area.”

Click HERE to join this story…

Rocket Ride

June 3, 2011

Since the beginning of the Longleaf Church movement, Amy and I have so enjoyed the privilege of meeting new people in and around Houston County.  Over the past couple of years, we have had countless conversations with new friends who immediately felt that the mission and vision of Longleaf Church was exactly what they had been searching for.  Our new friends represent a remarkable range of people.  This range of people encompasses people who have grown up around Middle Georgia, to those who have relocated here from other countries.  Additionally, the high-capacity volunteers and staff that have been brought together around our church are truly a gifted group of leaders.  God has assembled our faith community from pure scratch in such a short time, yet everyone seems like old friends.

Amy and I continue to have providential conversations with new people week after week.  Just this past week, we met with a couple who told us that they walked away from their first service at Longleaf Church with tears of gratitude from the sense of authentic community that they discovered at our church.  Make no mistake, we are each part of something bigger than ourselves, something that we’re called to, something that’s changing lives, including our own.  We are stewards of His grace.  We are a growing community of people cultivating a movement together.  We are Longleaf Church.

I want to take a moment to look back over the rocket ride that has been this early season of launching Longleaf Church.   I want to share some tangible results with you that we can celebrate together.  The growth trends of Longleaf Church match, or exceed, the most successful of Church Plants during their first year of operation.  In other words, our growth trends are tracking with the first year trends of churches who grew to more than 1000 regular attendees 5-7 years after launch.  Thanks to the providence of friends, our compelling vision and the grace of God, our path is straight and our future is bright.

Check out our amazing one-year growth trends:

If you were able to attend our Easter Service, you witnessed the tangible results of theses remarkable trends as we baptized five people.  Thanks for your part in our story.  We are primed to come out of the gate strong this fall.  Thanks for connecting!  Thanks for giving!  Thanks for serving! Thanks for inviting!  See you Sunday!

Growing Community

May 10, 2011

For the past couple of years, my family has been living in somewhat of a cultural bubble.  Don’t misunderstand, I’m well versed in current events both nationally and globally.  However, my family-life and my work-life are fast-paced and everything is very proximate to home.  My family spends a great deal of time on school activities, kid activities and Longleaf Church activities.  It’s awesome, but we’re definitely ready for summer vacation.

Our little world has kept us focused, but our perspective is now akin to parents looking at old photos of their children.  As my family and I prepare to close and reflect on this past season of life, we are so amazed at our blessedness.  We are amazed, not simply at the remarkable growth of Longleaf Church, but the remarkable community of friends in and around Houston County who so greatly enrich our lives.

As I consider how our growing community continues to respond to our opportunity to do something great together, I’m reminded of a video that we watched together this time last year called me generation.  Specifically, I’m reminded of a line from that video that alludes to the concept of “a community of our own making”.  I’m reminded of what God often chooses to do through us when a compelling vision collides with big faith and great friends.

As for my family, our faith has never been bolder.  Our passion for the potential of the local church has never burned brighter.  Our recognition of providential relationships has never been clearer, and our love for Longleaf Church has never been stronger.  Yep.  I love my church.  Here are a couple of things to take note of as we head into summer:

Summer Shift – Beginning Sunday, May 29 we will shift to only an 11AM service for the summer.  We’ll shift back to two full services on Sunday, August 7.  Amy and Brynn will communicate a plan for Family Ministry volunteers to take off two Sundays in June and two in July to attend church.  Thanks for your support of Summer Shift!

Volunteer Apprenticing – If you’re thinking about Strategic Service, we would love for you to take a couple of weeks this summer to shadow some of our volunteers.  There are opportunities to do that on the Road Crew and within Family Ministry.  Email us @ info@longleafchurch.org for details!

Summer Fun – We are planning some church-wide Summer Fun events such as a Family Movie Night and a Braves Game Road Trip.  Stay tuned for details!  I also want to really encourage Community Groups to share some fun events this Summer.

Jump Start – Jump Start is designed to help kids begin their spiritual journey. It is a 30-minute presentation where parents and kids learn together about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  We’re hosting Jump Start immediately following church on Sunday, June 26 and again on Sunday, August 14.

See you on Sunday!  Don’t forget to invite a friend to church!

A Vested Invitation

April 12, 2011

It’s such a replenishing time of the year.  Springtime is vibrant and warm, so people tend to get outdoors more.  The longer days make for pleasant late afternoon walks.  Yeah, I know that many of us need to prep with allergy meds and mosquito repellent, but these are pleasant days nonetheless.  Taking a walk with your spouse or a friend makes for some great relationship investment time.

At Longleaf, we talk about Four Things that represent full engagement with our mission and vision.  Those four things are to connect, give, serve and invite.  That last one, invest and invite, means that our attendees will take part in our mission by inviting friends and neighbors to church.  Using our unique relationship leverage to invite someone to church is relational evangelism.

Our desire is to make it easy for attendees to invite disconnected people to church by creating great environments that are non-threatening to people who don’t really like church.  We want to create a culture where grace is evident and truth is apparent.  Thanks to some incredible volunteers, that’s the case at Longleaf Church.  We have a great opportunity to invest and invite!

At Longleaf, we talk about Four Things that represent full engagement with our mission and vision. Those four things are to connect, give, serve and invite.  That last one, invest and invite, means that our attendees can take part in our mission by inviting friends and neighbors to church.  Using our unique relationship leverage to invite someone to church defines what is called relational evangelism.

Our desire is to make it easy for attendees to invite disconnected people to church by creating great environments that are non-threatening to people who don’t really like church. We want to create a culture where grace is evident and truth is apparent.  Thanks to some incredible volunteers, that’s the case at Longleaf Church.  There are some exciting things to share with people about our church.  We have a great opportunity to invest and invite!

In particular, we want really want to push invest and invite for Easter Sunday at Longleaf.  It’s going to be an experience that you won’t forget as we hear baptism stories from people in our church and celebrate our risen savior.   Here some easy ways to invest and invite people to church on Easter Sunday:

1. You will receive a postcard style email on Monday, April 18 promoting our Easter Service.  It’s designed for you to forward along with a personalized invitation AND for you to share on facebook and twitter!
2. Share my EASTER THREADS blog post with someone.
3. If you have friends with preschool age kids, invite them join us for our Waumba Land Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 23.  Send and email to Brynn (brynn.morseman@longleafchurch.org) for details.

Thanks for the part that you’re playing at Longleaf Church!  I’ll see you this Sunday and I cannot wait for what is sure to be a memorable Easter Sunday!