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 What I tend to see in churches that are declining is that love has been replaced by complacency, pride, arguments, and resentment on many different levels.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.