Rocket Fuel

August 27, 2010

For the growing community of people planting Longleaf Church together, these are exciting days.  Our church is set to launch on 9.12.10.  Our launch date represents more than a group of people simply showing up to do church.  Our launch date represents the culmination of a methodical and prayerful process that began over a year and a half ago.  At the outset of our church-planting journey, we didn’t have membership or church programs.  We just had a growing community people rallying around a mission and a vision.  What an awesome faith-stretching journey it has been.  When we started our journey, our friends at North Point helped us outline four things that would pave our launch runway and fuel our launch.  We didn’t want to just focus on these four things for a season; we wanted these four things to become part of our DNA.  Here’s a rundown of the these critical four things and a summary of our progress.

Connect – Our vision at Longleaf Church is about moving people into Small Groups.  We call adult Small Groups Community Groups.  When we first gathered, our church was simply one Small Group. We met, we prayed, we shared vision and we began to do life together.  Our goal was to connect at least 50 people to a Community Group before launch.  Today, there are 85 adults connected to 8 Community Groups at Longleaf Church.  We have become a church of Small Groups.  Small Groups are also an essential ingredient within our Family Ministry environments.  Click HERE for more information on getting connected.

Give – Figuratively speaking, this is where the rubber meets the road in terms of our vision and our faithfulness.  Our core people have responded by giving generously.  We went from scratch to nearly $20k in average monthly giving.  That’s just amazing.  Intentional monthly giving honors God and it fuels the mission and vision of our church.  Click HERE for more information on giving.

Serve – People have stepped up and served throughout our church-planting journey in multiple ways.  Serving strategically is a catalyst that grows our faith and it’s a core value of Longleaf Church.  Some opportunities include Host Team, Production Team and Family Ministry.  Send us an email at info@longleafchurch.org for more information on serving.

Invite – Another value that’s embedded in our mission and vision is Relevant Environments.  In particular, we will work hard to create an Adult Worship Environment that’s welcoming to first time guests.  We want to make it easier for people to invite their friends and neighbors to church.  In other words, we empower Relational Evangelism by creating a Relevant Adult Worship Environment that offers practical biblical teaching, great music and a spirit of authenticity. Click HERE for an easy way to invite someone to church.

So, those are the BIG FOUR THINGS that represent a person’s participation in the mission and vision of Longleaf Church.  They are as important to our future as they have been during our church-planting journey.  Thanks for the part that you are playing at Longleaf! We can’t wait to blast off on 9.12.10!