JON ALLEN

What is it that makes a church grow and be effective? It’s the age-old question pastors ask themselves. I know of many churches that are really struggling and in most cases it is not for lack of effort by the pastor, it’s not a lack of leadership, and it’s not a lack of resources. So what is the issue?

There is a line in a song by TobyMac… “Momma always says, ‘it’s a matter of fact, that when love is in the house, the house is packed.’” This problem can be summed up in one word I believe… love. At our 101 membership class on Sunday we asked everyone what drew them to High Rock. We had several answers that came up more than others… the passion of the church and pastors for God and His work, the love and acceptance they felt when they walked in, and the involvement of the church in the community. If we break that down we see two categories… loving God and loving others. Not a big surprise when Jesus said those were the two greatest commandments. What I tend to see in churches that are declining is that love has been replaced by complacency, pride, arguments, and resentment on many different levels. It’s logical that the church would struggle because those are all contrary to the desire of God for the church.

So how does a church grow and mature? Have deep love for God, consistent love for each other, and active love for people outside the church. So the question to ask is, “how much love is there our church?”

Wow. God is so good. There is certainly no one who deserves more credit for what is happening at High Rock and beyond. God has blessed us with many different talents and passions which are being used faithfully. It is only through His blessing that we have been able to do what has been done.

This morning we really didn’t know what to expect. Statistics tell us that on the second week of a new church/campus the attendance will drop by 50% on average. This makes sense because people come out for the first week out of curiosity or because they are family and they come to support the launch but don’t intend on attending regularly. First weeks are great, but second weeks are really the test of what foundation you will have to build on. We went into this morning fully expecting to drop in attendance. We would have been fine with that considering the fact that both services were full last week. I was actually thinking it would be okay if we dropped because it would give us some space to grow over the next few weeks/months.

Man, was I disappointed when we didn’t have any seats at all at the 11:00! It was insane. We had people standing because we were out of chairs! So much for the second week slump… Last week we had 358 people in attendace and this week we grew to 389. That’s a 9.2% increase (thanks Stephen for doing the math). God has blessed us so greatly and has given us an opportunity to minister to a growing number of people. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but it is worth it because EVERYONE NEEDS JESUS!

I am having one of those moments where I am feeling something… I just can’t describe it. With the West Campus starting tomorrow I am filled with a lot of different emotions… excitement, exhaustion, fear, anticipation, joy, peace, amazement, appreciation, peace, honor, gratefulness, love… is it possible to feel all of those at the same time? I have had a lot of people ask me how I feel, I really have no answer right now.

Man this is an exciting time! We’re in the home stretch, just two weeks to launch. Scary and exciting all at the same time…

I have hardly slept at all the last two nights, thinking constantly about all of the little details that need to be done. It is like my brain is working overtime, and I’m not used to that. HA!

As I write Bobbie and her crew are over at the West Campus painting the entire building. Drywall was finished today and by Sunday night the building will have ceilings and painted walls! It is weird, but it will definitely feel like we are almost done. Unfortunately we still have a ways to go… floors, cabinets, lights, doors, A/V, bathroom fixtures, tile, welcome center, signs, banners, water fountains, fire extinguishers, furniture, and the list goes on…

Hang on, it’s going to be wild.

Well, at long last… we passed inspection on our framing! This is awesome! We also failed our plumbing, but it is only a small thing that we will fix today and it will be passed tomorrow. That means we can move on to electrical and soon to insulation. Things are really coming along. God answered prayer today!

In my ministry and life experience I have found that there are people who seem to exist to be contentious. You will run into them in all areas of life, but lately I have been noticing them online especially. Although I believe the internet is an amazing tool for us to use, it definitely has it’s shortfalls as well. On Saturday we had an article run in the Salisbury Post about the new Salisbury West Campus. On the Salisbury Post website people have the ability to comment. As I read the comments, my heart sank because there were several people who made negative comments about the church and even wished us harm! It is unbelievable what some people will say in a public forum, and I got the impression these were Christians writing! Amazing. Someone also made a critical comment on a skit video we posted on YouTube. (don’t lose heart though, there were good comments too)

My first reaction when I read something like that is to respond… bad idea. The response rarely comes out right and is often looked at as combative. I made the right decision and didn’t respond to the Post comments, but I did respond to the video comment. I should have known better. People like that don’t want to have a reasonable discussion, they just want to be contentious. If you respond to their comment, they will simply try to find something else to complain about. Their whole goal is to inform the world of their uninformed opinion and get a rise out of someone.

So lesson learned. Given the opportunity, there will always be someone who is negative no matter how positive the topic is. We can’t let it bother us and cause a knee-jerk response. Just rise above it and move on.

God has really been hammering me hard this week (in a good way). I have spent a lot of time reading the Bible and there has been a theme in everything I have read. It was obvious that God wanted me to get something and maybe to communicate it as well. I was already feeling it, and then when Ronnie preached this weekend and asked “Are you real?”… it slammed home.

1 John 3:9-10 (NIV) No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

That can be difficult stuff to read because we all know that each of us sins. On the surface we could read that scripture and think it is telling us that in order to be a Christian you must be perfect, but of course that is not what it is saying, because that is impossible. In fact, John is very hard on people elsewhere in this book who claim to be perfect, calling them liars. So what does it mean? If I can sum it up simply… We can’t be perfect, but we should try! When we sin we should be repulsed by it, disgusted by it. When that sunk in with me, it was a hard pill to swallow. I know that it is true, but am I actually living it? Honestly, I take a look at my life and I can’t say that I always am. That hurts. If you are anything like me, you can probably look at your life and realize that there are areas of your life that you have slacked. There are areas in my life where I have been sinning and have justified it, thinking “it’s okay”, “it’s not a big deal.” But it’s not okay and it is a big deal. I’ve got a long way to go and I need to commit to fixing the areas where I have faultered.

Ask yourself the same question I am asking myself… Am I really trying to be sinless or am I just doing things my own way?

Jesus himself asked us, how can you call me Lord but you don’t do what I say? Good question.

Sorry I didn’t update this sooner, but I didn’t… I hope that is explanation enough.

The lease was signed at long last on Friday. So the property is officially ours to do whatever we need to do with it. Oh wait, except now we need the permits! So we are waiting on them to be approved so we can really get rolling. In the mean time we are trying to get working on everything that we can do without the permit (minor repair, sub quotes, etc…).

We will probably be having a work day coming up pretty soon. There are a lot of little things that need to be done such as removing some plexiglass, de-weeding the parking lot, power-washing, mopping the floors, buffing the floors, and the like. Stay tuned for updates. If you are planning on being a part of our work crews for such events and did not receive an email from me last week, please let me know so I can keep you updated.

With the debut of our most recent reinvention of the High Rock website and the accompanying changes to the blogs; I have been pondering the effect of technology on ministry. As time has passed, we have sought ways that we can streamline our web solutions and make them more efficient. That is the main reason we made the latest advancement in the website. The previous version was slick, but it was designed by an amateur architect (yours truly) which made it visually appealing and structurally cumbersome. It was difficult to update, maintain and alter. Not only that, but I was the only one who could make changes. That is simply not a good use of our resources or time. The new site will allow anyone with access to make changes or updates. Really the whole goal of the technology we utilize is to make information easily available and deployable in an efficient manner. So what technology do we use and what effect does it have on our ministry and communication?

· Website: Believe it or not, most people that I talk to say they found our church through one of two avenues… personal invitation and the website. It has become the primary means of discovery for people moving to a new area, replacing the Yellow Pages as people’s go-to source of information. It is crucial that our site be attractive, easy to navigate, and informational. You could say I am obsessed with comparing our site to other churches’. Not because I am competitive (yeah right), but because I want ours to be as perfect as it can possibly be. For information on the company that helped design our site, go to http://www.cloversites.com/.

· Blogs: Truth is, if you asked most people in our church what a Blog is, they would probably think it is a big swampy area somewhere in the woods! Of course I know that you are savvier than that because you are reading this right now. Blogs are actually a excellent tool for communicating thoughts on the web. Blog is short for Weblog which is simply an online journal. These tools give a great opportunity for Pastors to share their passions, lessons, and general musings with their church and the world. It allows leaders to communicate every day of the week without being limited to 30 minutes on the weekend. As a staff we also subscribe to many other pastor’s blogs. It helps keep us up-to-date on what is going on the ministry world and provides us with ideas from pastors who are much smarter than us! For information on the company that hosts our blogs, go to http://www.blogger.com/.

· Email: This is no big surprise to anyone, and it isn’t really new, but the great advantage it gives to ministry is that it provides one more avenue for people to contact the pastors and know that the message will be waiting on them. One of the upsides we have seen over the years is that sometimes it is good to have things in writing… enough said. Not to mention the fact that email was part of God’s plan for Ray’s absence. Probably the greatest disadvantage that email carries with it is that it does not carry emotion or tone. Words meant one way can be taken another and misinterpretations are common. Definitely not the best way to communicate, but still effective for what it’s worth.

· Facebook: This is a train we have just recently jumped on and it has been very effective! It is a great way to communicate and keep tabs on friends and church members. You can watch people’s “status” send notes, instant message, post pictures/videos, create groups, invite people to events, etc. It is very effective networking tool. For more information, or to sign up, go to http://www.facebook.com/.

· Twitter: Again, several staff members have just started using this service. Basically it updates people on your current status and people can track it… i.e.: “Going to work”, “Feeding JD”, “Eating chicken wings”. If you want more information on “Tweeting” go to http://www.twitter.com/.

· Mobile Devices: I just got a Blackberry Curve, which several other staff members have as well. I have found it to be a great tool because I can check email, facebook, text messages, and phone calls all from one place. I don’t even need to turn on my computer when I get home now, it all goes to the BB. It has certainly made things easier, but it also comes with what I consider to be the curse of all cell phones. Although people can always get a hold of you when you have a cell phone, PEOPLE CAN ALWAYS GET A HOLD OF YOU WHEN YOU HAVE A CELL PHONE! There is absolutely no privacy anymore. Many people expect pastors to be on call 100% of the time. Makes sense then that most pastors end up getting burnt out! With the increase of technology has come the decrease in people’s awareness and respect for boundaries. But that is a topic for another blog… I think I have said enough…

That’s it for now, another random ranting. I am hoping to start blogging in series’. I have noticed that many other pastors do that as well. It should help me come up with ideas and remain consistent in my posting. Besides, what good is efficient technology if it isn’t used!?

This may not make any sense, but in the current turmoil and transition of the lives of people I love, I have never been so excited about what God is doing through us. I feel like we are on the precipice of a supernatural growth explosion as individuals and as a church.

I am in the middle of a book that Pastor Ray sent me called “Tribes” by Seth Godin. Check out this excerpt, it is amazing how God can speak to you so many ways…

“What people are afraid of isn’t failure. It’s blame. Criticism.

We choose not to be remarkable because we’re worried about criticism. We hesitate to create innovative movies, launch new human resource initiatives, design a new menu that makes diners take notice, or give an audacious sermon because we’re worried, deep down, that someone will hate it and call us on it.

‘That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!’ ‘What a waste of money.’ ‘Who’s responsible for this?’

Sometimes the criticism doesn’t even have to be that obvious. The fear of hearing ‘I’m surprised you launched this without doing more research’ is enough to get many people to do a lot more research, to study something to death, and then kill it. Hey, at least you didn’t get criticized.”

We are studying a scripture this weekend in the message that talks about Satan and his angels disguising themselves as “angels of light”, with the intent to deceive believers into temptation. There are people all around us that distort scripture to fit their own evil agenda and will try to convince us that they speak the truth. I love the words I read today from Matthew Henry on this subject. He is particularly discussing Jesus’ temptation in the desert.

“Let not any abuse of Scripture by Satan or by men abate our esteem, or cause us to abandon its use; but let us study it still, seek to know it, and seek our defence from it in all kinds of assaults. Let this word dwell richly in us, for it is our life. Our victorious Redeemer conquered, not for himself only, but for us also. The devil ended all the temptation. Christ let him try all his force, and defeated him. Satan saw it was to no purpose to attack Christ, who had nothing in him for his fiery darts to fasten upon. And if we resist the devil, he will flee from us.” —Matthew Henry Concise

I have had some song lyrics rolling around my head and they just won’t seem to leave. It is from a new song and the line is, “Perfection is my enemy”. Interesting. Don’t know exactly what they mean by it, but it got me thinking about that idea… perfection.

I would call myself a perfectionist, I like for things to be just right. That is true for me in so many areas, but maybe sometimes I lack that perspective in my walk with Christ. Am I trying to be perfect? I’ll ask you the same question (since you are reading this), are you trying to be perfect? Often we use the excuse, “I won’t ever be perfect, there was only one person who did that”, to justify our desire to sin. We may not ever be perfect on earth, but we still have to try. So I will try to be more perfect that I am today and you commit to the same.

Someone I talked to this week got me thinking… what if Pastor Ray had resigned when he first told the church about his legal situation? (if you don’t know what I am talking about, come to 101)

Interesting question. I don’t know if I have really pondered it before, but it’s worth asking. I couldn’t get that question out of my head this week and thought about constantly. Here’s what I have come up with… things that effect me directly, other people, and the church as a whole.

1. At little more than a year old, the church probably would have closed the doors. Ray’s passion, vision and leadership based on the call of God had a lot to do with the church’s success and I don’t think High Rock could have survived without him.
2. The people of High Rock would not have learned nearly as much about grace and forgiveness extended to all Christ-followers.
3. Ray, Angie, Caleb, and Tyler may not have had a support system to be with them all the way through this time.
4. Angie would have had to go back to work to make ends meet losing time with the boys and being able to visit Ray.
5. I would not be a pastor. Ray is my mentor, the one who taught me and offered me the opportunity to be a pastor.
6. Jess and I probably would have moved back to NY because we wouldn’t have found a church family like High Rock.
7. Ronnie would still be at UPS and probably not be a Worship Pastor growing as much in his faith and abilities as he has over the past few years.
8. Ron would probably still be selling fitness equipment and not leading people to Christ on a weekly basis in Denton.
9. Doug would possibly be a Production Pastor at another contemporary church, but most likely would have never had the chance to develop his gift as a speaker as he has in Kannapolis. Plus he wouldn’t have such good actors to work with in his videos…
10. Brian might still be working at UPS and looking for a part time position as a pastor in a traditional church.
11. Hundreds of people may have not been saved and baptized. So many lives may have been left unchanged.
12. That is just a start, but if you want to add your list to this one, leave a comment.

Thank God that Ray is my Pastor, Mentor, and Friend.

I got up early this morning to go have breakfast with a good friend (just about the only thing that will get me out of bed at 5am) and as most of you know, it snowed about 2 inches. As I was driving back home I passed the car wash in Granite Quarry which had snow blowing vigorously off the roof and swirling to the ground. I couldn’t help but think, “Dang the wind is strong today.” The truth is, there wasn’t that much wind, I just don’t notice its power until I see it physically moving something. It blows like that all the time.

God’s power is the same way. It’s always moving, but sometimes we forget about it when we can’t see it in action.

Last Thursday JD dropped his pacifier, picked it up, and put it back into his mouth. UNBELIEVABLE!!! He has never done that before, and over the last few days he has done it over and over and over again. He is mastering it! I was so excited (for many reasons) that I couldn’t stop talking about it.

It got me thinking… how excited is God when we finally get what He is trying to teach us… maybe He is thinking… FINALLY!!!

We have been racking our brains trying to figure out what to do for our next sermon series at church. I had been praying and thinking about what the church really needs to hear right now. God keep bringing me back to issues dealing with spiritual warfare. Marriages being attacked, people experiencing pain (both physical and emotional), job layoffs and the financial stress that comes along with it. So many things that Satan is trying to break us down with. I knew that was where God was leading us, but I just wasn’t sure how to bring it all together.

Then Tuesday night I was laying in bed after Jess had gone to sleep flipping through the channels on the TV. I came across a channel called Versus. Since Jess and I got rid of cable several years ago Versus is the only sports related channel that we get. Because of that I watch a lot of bullriding, fishing, hunting, and MMA. As I lay there watching a WEC event featuring a Japanese Judo specialist and a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu artist engaging in a highly technical contest, I thought… “That’s It!” I was a little bit skeptical at first, and thought, “Can we do this or is that just a bit too edgy.” I wrote to Ray and asked him what he thought and this is what he said. “Nothing is too edgy if the purpose is scriptural.” He’s right. So next week we will start a series called “The Ultimate Fighter: The Art of Spiritual Warfare”.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts. It is a sport that combines wrestling, judo, karate, boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, and any other martial art you can think of. Basically the premise comes down to this… put two highly skilled guys in the ring together, let them use whatever techniques they know, and see who gives up first, is KO’d or wins on points. It is an all-inclusive exhibition of fighting skills, not dissimilar from boxing except that there are more techniques used. Contrary to some people’s perception, there are rules and fighters are very respectful of the rules and the sport.

Believe it or not, I do enjoy watching these events (not the backyard stuff where people have no idea what they are doing and just want to beat each other up), but the professional events where guys train for years, respect the other fighters and the rules and are very skillful at their art. MMA gets a bad rap as a brutal, savage, evil sport where two guys are just trying to kill each other. That just simply is not true, at least for the majority of the pros. As in any sport, there are a few bad eggs that leave a bad taste in people’s mouths, but most fighters take it very seriously because it is how they make their living. The real problem is that there is a pretty dark sub-culture associated with the sport. Many people equate the actual events to the parties and language that accompany it. But if we used that as a reason that the sport is evil, then we certainly couldn’t play rock-style music in our worship services.

The question we need to ask ourselves as Christians is, “Is it sinful for me to watch it?” That is a great question, I’m glad you asked. The answer is… I can’t tell you. You may be surprised to know that some of the greatest fighters of all time are Christians. Ken Shamrock for example was once labeled “The Most Dangerous Man On Earth”… he is a dedicated Christian. He travels around to churches speaking and has a gym called “The Lion’s Den”. Other great fighters who are professing Christians include Rich Franklin, Randy Couture and Matt Hughes. There are many more, but they are certainly the most popular, all of them multiple championship holders. The Bible makes no reference to contact sports of this nature, for or against. It clearly speaks out against hating another person or an angry fight, but not necessarily against a sanctioned, regulated physical contest. It is a fine line. Would Jesus sit down and watch a WEC or UFC event? Probably not, he would have better things to do than to watch two guys slug it out in the ring. Would He call it sinful? Don’t know. So like many other things that are not specifically mentioned in the Bible, we have to honestly examine our motivations and listen to the Holy Spirit. What is your intention when you watch? Are you watching because you like the violence and you like to see someone get knocked out? Better not watch it then, for you it is probably sinful because you glorify the carnage. Do you watch it to try and sneak a ½ second glimpse at a ring girl between rounds? Better not watch it, because it is causing you to think lustfully. Do you watch it because you think it will make you look tough? Better not watch it, because you are feeding your ego. Do you watch because you appreciate the skill and would rather see a technical match than a violent one? Maybe it’s okay then, if the Holy Spirit doesn’t convict you otherwise. Frankly, it takes a mature Christian to be able to watch something like this without sinning.

So am I telling you that you should watch it? Am I telling you that you shouldn’t watch it?... No.

I will tell you this… there are remarkable similarities between the techniques used in the ring and the techniques Satan uses to attack us. That’s what we will discuss in the series. He will try to pysch us out, choke us out, stretch us out, grind us out, and knock us out. As believers we must learn to resist his attacks and persist to the end so we can stand strong, lift our hand high, and raise the belt of truth that secures our salvation.

Every week when I go to church basketball practice I realize that I am the youngest old fart in history. Pray for me tomorrow.

I’m not one for strong political speeches, in fact, although I try to stay up to date on political issues I still consider myself something of a political novice. What I do understand however, is what the Bible says about moral issues. When political decision-making crosses path with moral issues that are clearly defined in the Bible, I take notice. Particularly when those decisions contradict God’s Word.

On Friday, our new President overturned a ban on federal funding going to organizations that promote or perform abortions. What that means is that as a Christian, our tax money will now go to organizations that perform abortions. I don’t like to make political statements, but I don’t mind making moral ones, and the thought of that makes me sick to my stomach. As believers in Christ we must be willing to stand up and respond when our government crosses the moral line. There must be what I consider a righteous outcry against such actions. God has really laid this on my heart and I am going to begin researching how to be a part of making our voice heard on this subject.

Thanks everyone for making G.R.O.W. an unbelievable success! We had 120 people come to help and we wrote 135 letters, gave away 150 coats, passed out 23 overflowing gift baskets to the nurses stations at RRMC, and prayed intensely for everything we could think of. God was present in an amazing way tonight. Not only was that happening at the Salisbury Campus, but G.R.O.W. was happening at the Denton Campus and 6 people were baptized at the Kannapolis Campus. Keep up the good work and let the Whatever It Takes attitude be a part of your life every day.

Something crazy happened to Jess today when she went to Starbucks and I just had to share it. I will probably incorporate it into the message this weekend, so consider this a sneak-peek.

A couple of years ago I got an idea from a pastor named Steve Sjogren from Cincinatti. He said every time he goes through the drive through he pays for the person behind him too. I thought that was pretty cool so I started doing it. Particularly at Taco Bell because they have a little digital sign that says what the total is for the next car. That way you don’t get someone ordering $40 worth of tacos, of course I don’t know how that is possible because that would be like 1,000 tacos, but I digress, or is that digest, I don’t know, anyway… It’s something that Jess and I have started doing regularly to help people.

Well today Jess was in the Starbucks drive-through (somewhere we visit often) and decided to pay for the woman behind her. She drove off as usual but this time the woman followed her, started flashing her lights, and honking! Jess didn’t exactly know what to do, so she pulled over. The woman came up to her and the conversation proceeded something like this…

  Woman: “Did you just pay for my coffee?”

  Jess: “Yes.”

  Woman: “Why?”

  Jess: “I just wanted to help out and do something nice for you.”

  Woman: “Are you a part of a church or something?”

  Jess: “Yes.”

And she proceeded to tell her about how our church wants to help people. In fact she was wearing her “Whatever It Takes” shirt. The woman was blown away. You know what I love most about this story? When Jess said that she wanted to do something nice, the first thing the lady asked was if she was a part of a church. That is awesome! It means that we have a reputation of helping. Far too often Christians get a bad rep for not caring, but this person assumed that Christ was the reason. Excellent. We will definitely gain some ground when people in our community really look at Christians as loving, caring, purposeful people who have something genuine to offer.

Thank you to everyone who was a part of the High Rock worship services this weekend. I was blown away that our church family continues to grow and this weekend we had 736 people participate in a High Rock service church-wide. God is good all the time. Make sure you come check it out again next week because we will be talking about our church focus on community outreach. It will be sort of a continuation of our “Whatever It Takes” series so you don’t want to miss it. And also don’t forget to bring your winter coats so we can take them to the homeless shelter!