I was a live guest on our local ABC affiliate talking about Easter at Life Church.
For what it's worth, here's the interview --
Our Easter event was a huge success!
Thank you to the thousands who came out and joined in on the fun.
A special shoutout to our dedicated volunteers who made it all happen!
““I will build my church — and the power of death will not be able to overpower it!”
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Ten years ago today, my family took a deep breath and cannonballed into the unknown by launching weekly worship experiences... the birth of the church we love!
Just like childbirth it was messy, scary, and even a little bloody... yet what emerged is beautiful and bringing Life to the Great Lakes Bay Region.
We started by renting theater and classroom space at Saginaw Valley State University.
It was a herculean task setting up and tearing down our portable church environments every week, but we got it done (even in Michigan winter!).
When you start something new completely from scratch, EVERYTHING is HARD... but it's worth it.
For the past ten years, we've lifted up Jesus, inspired our region, and seen lives transformed by God's amazing love.
To date, we've seen three hundred and fifteen people baptized at Life Church -- Holy Wow!
Every number has a name, every name has a story, and every story matters to God.
As I’ve said for years at Life Church, every person matters!
In November 2014, we opened the doors of a former Golf Mania as our main worship facility and suddenly became kites in God's Hurricane.
By February 2015, in the middle of Michigan winter, we ran out of space and began adding additional worship times!
In March of 2017 we stepped out in crazy faith by becoming One Church in Two Locations: Saginaw and Midland!
We became the very first multi-site church in the Great Lakes Bay Region.
Our rapid growth continued with young adults and families from across the region discovering new life in Christ at Life Church.
In 2018 we broke 1,200 in attendance and baptized 60 new Christ Followers.
Outreach Magazine & LifeWay Research recognized Life Church Michigan as one of the Top 15 Fastest-Growing Churches in America (September 2019).
Then 2020 hit, a year that closed our campuses and delivered a near-fatal blow to our labor of love. In late 2020 we reopened our doors in Saginaw and began rebuilding home.
Today we are a thriving, scrappy church for people who don’t always like going to church. Heading into our tenth year of ministry, we are focused on working like it depends on us and praying like it depends on God.
Three years ago today I sent our Life Church staff home due to this great unknown, COVID-19.
We had just celebrated Life Church’s Midland Comic-Con event success and I had just returned from a briefing at The White House.
Sending our team home that day, I could not have known all the change and tumult that awaited our church family in the coming months.
Online worship became the norm. We did five Drive-In Easter services that April. By September, everything I knew was sadly gone: friends abruptly disappeared and blocked my family online, the entire staff curiously quit one by one, and I was left holding the place I loved together by the skin of my teeth.
What’s remarkable to me is that none of this took God by surprise. You cannot surprise the Master. In John 13:19 Jesus says, “I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.”
When life feels out of control, God remains firmly in control. Everything that happens to you in life has passed through the sovereign hands of God and is ultimately for your good.
That doesn’t mean that life can’t hurt sometimes. Trust me, Amber and I received deep educations in 2020 on betrayal and heartache.
The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4, “At first there was no one I could count on to faithfully stand with me—they all ran off and abandoned me—but don’t hold this against them. For in spite of this, my Lord himself stood with me, empowering me to complete my ministry of preaching.”
When the earth shakes, the Lord stands firm. When life doesn’t make sense, I can choose to trust in a God who does and who is working behind the scenes for my good.
While our family’s life now looks radically different than it did three years ago, I am thankful for a God who remains faithful and just regardless of passing troubles.
I am thankful that our faith is grounded in the concepts of forgiveness and reconciliation, and that it is never too late to become who you might have been.
Whatever your life looks like today, choose to persevere. Choose to believe the best in people and allow love to cover over all sins (1 Peter 4:8).
Trust in the Carpenter-King and see what God can do through you.
"Create a culture by design, not default"
(Walt Disney)
Since our very first Informational Meeting eleven years ago today (!), Life Church has chosen to be known by what we are for, not what we are against.
Our culture is the secret sauce. We're all about Jesus: dangerously, obsessively, undeniably Jesus.
Culture determines behavior. In order to be the church we dream of, we must fight for our culture -- our unique flavor that propels us forward to reach the lost at any cost.
This is why I am committed to raising up a generation of fearless leaders in the Church.
The Church is worth fighting for. We must always rally around our shared heartbeat if we are to extend that passion into the world.
Being a Culture-Keeper requires thick skin and calcium in the spine.
Agendas must always be eclipsed by the Culture Code of your organization.
"For it is Christ’s love that fuels our passion and motivates us, because we are absolutely convinced that He has given His life for all of us.
This means all died with Him, so that those who live should no longer live self-absorbed lives but lives that are poured out for Him—the One who died for us and now lives again."
(2 Corinthians 5:14-15, The Passion Translation)
Heading into 2023, I have been working on codifying our original Culture Code. The words are nearly exactly the same, the passion is as present in my bones as on Day One, and now it's been distilled into 4 easy-to-remember big ideas.
For what it's worth, here is Life Church's 2023 Code:
HONOR: We are a generation of honor and integrity. We do not gossip. No insider politics. We are not competing with any churches. Full of honor and integrity, we will do the right thing even when it hurts. Our heart is to out-love, out-serve, and out-give those who misunderstand us.
HUMBLE: We will be known for what we are for. We will speak vision and life over our people. We choose to leverage humor over hammer. We will lift up the life-giving power of Jesus Christ rather than using our platform to condemn.
Movements move. We are not Atari, we are Apple, joining God's audacious movement of changed lives. We will always maintain a posture of learning new methods. We will always narrow the focus in all we do. We think steps, not programs.
HUNGRY: We are united under one vision -- to reach the lost at any cost. To reach the people no one else is reaching, we will do the things no one else is doing. We will do anything short of sin to reach people far from God. We will aggressively defend our unity and vision.
The church is a rescue organization, not a social club. We will not cater to personal preferences in our mission to reach this region. This is not a Yacht Club. We are more concerned with the people we are trying to reach than the people we are trying to keep. We are only as "deep" as the last person we served!
HUSTLE: Don't just stick your toe into the water -- Cannonball! We do it right and do it big! Greatness is never on sale. We believe undistracting excellence honors God and inspires people. We place a disproportionate value on creating a worship experience that boldly celebrates Jesus and attracts people far from God.
We are all about the numbers. Every numbers represents a person. Every person represents a story of life-change through Christ. Tracking metrics measures effectiveness. We will unapologetically celebrate life-change!
For those interested, our new teaching series at Life Church on the Life of Jesus (the Book of John) starts this Sunday.
Here is the Week 1 Bonus Study Guide + Discussion Questions for those who want to go deeper into the text. Enjoy!
We Are Better Together
Church mergers have become one of the most effective strategies for struggling churches to thrive again, for growing churches to amplify their reach, and for church facilities to be better utilized to advance the Gospel in a region.
What is a Church Merger?
When two or more churches become one through the combining, integrating, and unifying of people, structures, systems, and resources in order to better reach their community with the message of Jesus.
Three Types of Church Mergers
Rebirth
Typically when a struggling church gets a second life by being restarted under a stronger, vibrant, usually larger church.
Adoption
This occurs when a stable or stuck church is integrated under the leadership of a stronger, vibrant, usually larger church.
Marriage
Typically when two growing churches realign with each other under a unified vision and new leadership configuration.
Questions to Consider
Could we accomplish more together than we could separately? Would we find more ministry synergy, created by the two churches joining with common vision and purpose?
2. Would my congregation benefit from this merger? Would my individual congregation be better, healthier or stronger by joining with this church?
3. Would our community be better served by us working together? By joining forces, can we make a bigger impact in our surrounding community?
4. Could the Kingdom of God be further extended by us joining together? Would uniting help us make more and better disciples of Jesus?
I’m not concerned about being criticized for taking risks to reach people far from God. I’m concerned about not being criticized.
Recently I was invited to teach a breakout session at a conference in Chicago based on my book, Holy Shift. The topic was so popular among church leaders that we ran out of seats!
I had fun sharing my journey in comedy and ministry, the unique story God is writing atLife Church Michigan, and equipping church leaders in my jam-packed breakout with comedy tools that will help them reach more people far from God.
Because I love church leaders and I want to see you go further, faster, here is the full video as a free resource to your team!
Sunday morning's event is free and open to public
by Jon Becker, for the Midland Daily News | May 19, 2022
MIDLAND — Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and … church? Yes, you read that right. America’s pastime is not normally associated with passionate preaching, live bands and a worship service, but that’s exactly what’s going on Sunday, May 22 at Dow Diamond.
Life Church, a Great Lakes Loons 2022 partner, is holding its weekly church service at the Loons' home stadium beginning at 11 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The nondenominational church likes to get creative in its approach to inspiring people to become engaged in their faith.
“We believe that faith is a journey, not a guilt trip,” said Jonathan Herron, founding pastor of the nine-year-old church. “We take our faith seriously but don’t take ourselves too seriously.”
Since Life Church is sponsoring Faith & Family Nights throughout the Loons’ 2022 season, “We thought it would be fun to actually hold a church service along the first base line,” Herron said. “We’re always brainstorming for new ideas for engaging our community at Life Church. We love bringing families together.”
Minor League Baseball is noted for its family-friendly game experiences. The Loons, who hosted their second School Kids Day of the year on Tuesday, are all in for a Sunday sermon at the ballpark.
“Faith and Fellowship Nights has been a staple at the ballpark for well over 10 years,” said Tyler Kring, the Loons’ assistant general manager of business development. “Faith is part of the journey for many of our players. We’re excited to be partnering with Life Church this season.”
The church’s house band, Kingdom Sound, will lead modern worship songs outdoors, followed by Pastor Herron sharing scripture from atop the first base dugout. The pastor also plans to interview some current Loons players about their faith journeys.
“Through this event, we hope to engage more Midland and Sanford area households as we gather a core group to launch our Midland campus this September,” Herron explained. “The plan is to become one church in two locations. We’ll have worship Sundays at 9:30 a.m. via Northwood University’s Griswold Theater, followed by worship at our Saginaw campus at 11:15 a.m.”
Michaela Yenior, of Midland, attended her first Life Church service about a year and a half ago and was quickly captivated.
“They’re on to something here,” Yenior remembers thinking. She added of Sunday's plans, “This event is really exciting and works within the scope of Life Church’s mission: reach the lost at any cost. The church is willing to think outside of the box.”
“We’re kind of known for doing things big,” said Herron, noting the church’s annual Easter Egg Helicopter Drop as proof positive that Life Church will pull out any and all stops to advance its mission.
“Pastor Herron is an incredible guy,” said Life Church parishioner Arnel Hipolito. “He’s selfless. The church has been through some ups and downs, but he’s kept going forward. He’s done a lot of outreach in the community. It’ll be interesting to hear him preach gospel from the dugout. He’s a passionate, fired-up guy, but it’s his leadership acumen that really stands out.”
Hipolito, also of Midland, plays drums and guitar in Kingdom Sounds. He played at Dow Diamond a couple of times last year and really enjoyed the experience.
“It was hot and a lot of work, but fun,” he said. “You’re outside and you’re watching baseball. Who doesn’t enjoy watching baseball?”
On another occasion, the Greater Midland Tennis Center (where Hipolito works) treated a group of its employees to a Loons game.
“It’s great family entertainment,” Hipolito said.
Sunday will mark Life Church’s first foray into serving the Lord at Dow Diamond, so Herron is unsure how many people will show. However, “According to our Facebook Page, over 300 people have indicated that they are planning on coming.”
“Hopefully, we’ll get enough people to reopen our Midland location,” Yenior said.
Life Church in Midland closed during the pandemic. This Sunday’s morning event is part of the plan to relaunch Life Church’s Midland campus this fall, Herron said.
Herron encourages people to invite neighbors and friends for church at the ballpark and to then to stick around and purchase tickets for the ballgame that follows. At 1:05 p.m. Sunday, the Loons will conclude a six-game home series against the Lansing Lugnuts.