It’s been a little over a month since we announced the plan to launch a second campus in Canton. Here’s a few updates on what’s been happening and what you can expect to hear in the next month.

• People are signing up to be on the Launch Team. We hope to send about 100 people from Cartersville to Canton, either permanently or temporarily. If you’re interested in helping, here’s more info.
• The first official launch team meeting will be Sunday night, January 24 at 6pm.  If you think you might want to be a part of Oak Leaf Canton, then you should attend this.
• If you know people in Canton who might be interested in joining the launch team, let them know.  Anyone and everyone is invited.
• We have a campus pastor. This person is currently involved at Oak Leaf Church and I can’t wait to let you know who it is. We’re going to make the announcement on the 24th.  We’re also going to let you know the meeting location for the campus.
• We’re planning four preview services (one in May, June, July and August) and with a launch date in August on our four year anniversary.
• Right now, we’re planning for me to teach in person in Cartersville AND in person in Canton on Sunday morning. We’ll utilize video for other services, and I’ll always teach in person in Cartersville on Saturday night.
• We’re setting aside money from HOPE to fund the campus.  We saved some stuff from our time at the theater, but there will be lots of other things to purchase.  If you would like to give specifically to the campus, you can do that.

One of our big goals for 2010 (and part of the Hope project) is to do even more to serve the community, so beginning in January, we’re doing something called Second Saturday.  On the second Saturday of every month, we’re asking everyone connected to Oak Leaf Church to just show up and serve. We’ve got a team of people who have organized a bunch of community service projects throughout Cartersville and Bartow County. Here’s a few quick facts.

• The first Second Saturday is THIS SATURDAY, January 9.
• You can show up at 8am.  The Coffee Bar will be open.
• You sign up that morning for your project.  We’ll have projects for large groups of people, and small projects for smaller groups of people.  Some projects will be kid friendly.  Some are indoors; some are outdoors.
• We’ll provide all the supplies.  You just show up wearing work clothes.
• We’ll leave the House of Rock at 9 am and head out to the individual projects.
• You’ll be done by about noon.

Showed this video from Ellis and the people of Gallery Church in Baltimore in our services last weekend.  We’re financially supporting Gallery Church and we’re honored to be a part of what God is doing in Baltimore.  When you give to Oak Leaf Church, you also give to great churches like Gallery.

We decided to charge $3-$5 for tickets to Christmas Eve Eve and give that money to Orphan Aid Liberia. And you guessed it…some people got mad that we didn’t give that money to a local organization or somebody helping kids right here at home.

Seems that if you do something internationally, someone will yell about local, un-met needs.  And if you do something locally, then someone will ask about Africa.  Good thing we’re not out to please men, because it’s impossible.

I’m proud of our church for supporting these children.  And I’m proud of you if your family supports a child through World Vision or Compassion or Orphan Aid. And I’ll be proud of our church when they show up for Second Saturday on January 9, where we’ll serve in about a dozen places all around our own county.  In the coming year, we’re going to ask you to give food to a local food bank, diapers to a local women’s center, water for Africa and coats for the homeless.

There are needs all over our community and all over our world.  I’m not out to rank them, or play the part of the Holy Spirit.  My advice is pretty simple:  Do what God asks you to do.  Find a need somewhere and meet it.  You don’t owe anyone an explanation.

I really love our Saturday night services, but we are making a slight change in 2010.  When we started a second service on Saturday night, we hoped to be able to grow our total Saturday night experience and provide an opportunity for volunteers to attend one service and serve during the other.  But as we talked to staff and volunteers, we found out that this wasn’t really happening.  We really split the crowd in half, creating two smaller services that lacked energy.

So beginning January 9, we’re going to just have one Saturday night service at 6pm. This should create a better sense of excitement in the service, and it will also help our staff and band and volunteers, who are currently arriving as early as 2pm on Saturday afternoon to get ready.

We are going to make an even bigger effort to draw people to Saturday night.   We’re going to do some special things with Oak Leaf Kids and will have some special treats just for the Saturday night crowd.  We know there people in our community who can’t come on Sunday but who could come on Saturday.  We love Saturday night and we’re committed to it.

Oak Leafers, you can really help us reach this community by coming to church on Saturday night. Guests attend on Sunday, and we’re pretty much out of space there.  So attending on Sunday night provides a seat for people who need to hear about Jesus.

Just a quick reminder of the Oak Leaf Christmas/Holiday Schedule.

• Christmas Eve Eve Concert on December 23. 2pm, 5pm and 7pm. You can get tickets at the door if you haven’t already gotten them. Kids under 12 are free, and proceeds benefit Orphan Aid Liberia.
• No Saturday night services on December 26 or January 2. We will have our normal Sunday services at 10:00 or 11:30 those weekends.
• Saturday night services return on January 9.

Merry Christmas!

Dear Oak Leaf Family,

As the year comes to a close, it’s a great time to look back on all that God has done at Oak Leaf Church. We’ve seen more than 650 families attend and fill out first-time-guest cards. We’ve seen dozens of people pray to receive Christ and follow Him in baptism. Oak Leaf University was introduced, we celebrated our third year anniversary, and we moved into the House of Rock.   It’s been a great year.

As we look forward to 2010, we’re focusing on five goals. We want to do more in the areas of students and children. We want to serve the community more than ever before. We want to free up cash to do more ministry. We want to ramp up groups and discipleship. And we’re starting a second campus in Canton.

Thank you for your generous gifts and contributions that will make all that happen. There are a few more days left in 2009, and you still have time to make a donation before year’s end. You can give online, give during one of our services, bring a contribution by our office, or drop something in the mail. If you mail your gift, be sure it’s postmarked by December 31 and send it to:

Oak Leaf Church
269 Marketplace Blvd #143
Cartersville, Georgia 30121

Our office will be open on December 31 until 4pm if you would like to bring your contribution in person. Thank you for your generous support and for helping us lead people from where they are to where God wants them to be.

Merry Christmas!

Michael

A few weeks ago, we talked about what we wanted people to experience when they come to church on the weekend at Oak Leaf Church.  Here’s what we hope for.

1.  A welcoming environment. We want people to feel welcome when they come to Oak Leaf Church.  This is influenced by the parking team, signs, greeters, and the overall mood.  Practically speaking, I would love for a first time guest to have five quick conversations with people.  We also make sure that during every service, someone welcomes everyone from the stage.  Finally, the most important thing to creating a welcoming environment is the people in the church itself.  We have to teach our entire congregation to be friendly and welcoming.  Personally, I would like to see us push even harder in this area.

2. Personality and fun. I’m not going to apologize for wanting to create a fun environment.  People like fun.  And while a service focused on the cross or about the crucifixion isn’t the place for jokes, I want us to work hard to bring personality to our services.  I teach conversationally and our service isn’t too formal.  This same thing goes for kids as well…we want them to have a good time when they come to church.

3.  God. Most of all, I want people to experience God when they come to Oak Leaf Church.  I want the content to be engaging and I want them to hear a Biblical and inspiring message.  Even unchurched people expect to hear from God when they come to church.  It’s funny to me when I hear people say that Oak Leaf Church doesn’t teach the Bible, because that’s so far from the truth.  Whether it’s in a sermon, or through the worship, or through people, I want people to hear from God, understand His character, and leave with more hope than when they walked in the door.

Tickets are now on sale for A Rockin’ Christmas Eve Eve.  On December 23, there will be three performances of the show at the House of Rock.  2pm, 5pm and 7pm.  All of them are exactly the same.  It’s a one-hour, family friendly show that you’ll really enjoy.  All the proceeds are going to Orphan Aid Liberia, who will use the money to provide a generator or solar panels to an orphanage.

It’s a great show and a great cause.  Buy your tickets right here.

I am VERY excited about the series that we’re beginning this weekend.  It’s simply called…JESUS. We’re going to take the next 24 weeks (yes, you read that correctly…24 weeks) and walk through the life of Jesus.  We’ll start with Christmas and go through next Easter, using the Gospel of Luke as our main text.  I really think this is going to be an amazing series.  In addition to what we cover on the weekend, we’ve created a series website that will have additional content, including videos from the Oak Leaf Staff.  I’ll post that link for you in a couple of days.

Watch the teaser trailer and then grab some of the graphics (below) and plaster them all over the place.  Spread the word on Facebook, Twitter and any other place you frequent on the web.

Jesus: Some Stories Are True from Oak Leaf Church on Vimeo.

In December, we’re beginning a new series simply called JESUS. We’re going to walk through most of the book of Luke and examine the life of Jesus, from His birth this Christmas to his resurrection next Easter. It’s going to be an amazing series.  Here’s a little preview. The voice in the video is Matt Chandler from The Village Church in Texas, who is one of my favorite preachers.

Jesus – A New Series Coming December 5th from Oak Leaf Church on Vimeo.

As a part of the message this past weekend, I talked about our multi-site strategy.  We’ve been working on multi-site, and looking at Canton, Georgia for more than a 14 months, and I’m really excited about the future.  Here’s seven reasons why multi-site is our future?

1.  New is often more effective than old.  This is why I buy new candy bars at the check out…caramel, pretzel, peanuts, Oreo and squid…if you slap the word NEW on it, chances are that I will try one.  In our short history, we grew the fastest in year that we were the newest.

2.  We can grow large while staying small.  We currently have a multi-service strategy…four different services on the weekend.  So even though there may be 1,000+ people attending, it can still feel comfortable.  Multi-sites will allow this to continue to happen.

3.  We want to keep growing.  I believe it’s God’s plan for the church to grow.  I’m going to keep leading us to accomplish the Great Commission.  Healthy things grow, and I ain’t putting up a “we’re full…go away” sign.  There are some great churches in Canton, but if they were all totally full, there would still be thousands of people who don’t know Jesus.

4.  We need more seats at optimal times.  I would do a service at 1am on Tuesday morning if people would come.  But for some strange reason, I don’t think it would be very popular.  Most people like to go to church on Sundays at something that starts with an 11.  That just “feels” like the right time for church to people in the south who don’t go to church.  So a second campus would allow us to have more services at the best times. (By the way, this is why I need 100 of you to make the switch to our Saturday night services.  We’ve got space there but we’re pretty full on Sunday.)

5.  It’s good stewardship.  It would cost millions of dollars to build a big building.  I don’t have a problem with that, but I don’t think God is calling us to do that now.   But for a relatively small amount of money, we can rent space, set up, and hold services.  We think it’s a great way to manage God’s money.

6.  We feel called to reach a pocket of people in Canton.  A lot of Leafers live or work in or around Canton.  And a lot of Leafers have family or friends there.  But Cartersville is just a little too far for them to drive.  So we will go to them.  Incidentally, I looked very hard at Canton before starting Oak Leaf Church, and I always felt like we would do something there.

7.  It will help us develop new leaders.  Anytime we have leadership opportunities, people step up and fill them.  I want to send our best people to Canton, and see hundreds of new people step up right here to fill those shoes.

One of our five big goals for 2010 is to do twice as much to serve the community. We’ll continue to do big events like Christmas Eve Eve, The Egg Drop, and our own version of “Vacation Bible School,” but we’re also adding two important things.

First up, we’re really going to push our journey groups and volunteer teams to serve on their own out in the community.

Secondly, we’re going to organize something called “Second Saturday.” On the second Saturday of the month, you can simply show up at the House of Rock (kids welcome too!), and go serve. We will set up all the details and have all the supplies. All you have to do is show up and serve.

I want our church to do more and more to serve the community. In tough times, this is the perfect opportunity to step up and be the church.

This is one reason that I want you to give big on November 21/22 and give regularly in 2010.  Check out this PDF for more on what we’re doing next year.

We don’t babysit kids at Oak Leaf Church on the weekends. Our goal is not to keep them quiet so their parents can attend the service. Instead, we’re trying to lead them from where they are to where God wants them to be. We’re trying to teach them about Jesus.

I’m proud of Bekah and the Oak Leaf Kids team…these people get it. They understand that their job is not to funnel kids goldfish or entertain them with coloring sheets. They are leveraging their resources to actually teach children God’s Word.

In 2010, I want to double our funding of the kids ministry at Oak Leaf Church. I want us to spend more money and unleash more resources in this area, because it’s one of the most important things that we do. A child has their whole life in front of them…more opportunities to live for Christ.

This is one reason I am asking people to give big on November 21/22 and to give regularly in 2010. In order to reach children and lead them to Christ, we need to give big. These kids are worth it.   Check out this PDF brochure.

For the last few months, Jake has been meeting with a group of student leaders who want to accomplish something for Christ. We intentionally pulled back from the big-weekly program so we could lay a solid foundation for this ministry. So in the last few months, I’ve seen students get connected to the church, not just a youth group. We’ve taken a little flack from parents who want the big, mid-week service, but I am telling you…what Jake is doing developing leaders is so much more effective right now.

God is putting together a team of students and adults who are going to do more than entertain students with a band a speaker on Wednesday nights.  Fuel is coming back on Wednesdays in January, but with some great adult and student leaders as the foundation,.

A while ago, I had this thought: What if student ministry was students doing ministry? See, we’ve got pretty cool services on the weekend…four of them actually. The last thing teenagers need is another service presenting another truth.  I could care less about creating a safe environment for kids to hang out, where they can play ping-pong while Christian music plays over the speakers. I could care less about entertaining teenagers…they have plenty of entertainment options. What I am interested in doing is challenging them to live for Christ, to live as missionaries and to change the world.

Student ministry is one of the key areas that we are going to invest in next year. We want to do more in this area, because it’s so important.  That’s why I am asking you to get involved with HOPE.  Check out this PDF and then pray about how you can jump in.