BLeach

Talk Like a Pirate (and other strange holidays)

For reasons I still have yet to comprehend, this is one of Leah's favorite websites.  It is a collection of national holidays and celebrations.  Here are a few that are coming up soon:

• September 9: Wonderful Weirdoes Day (I'm sure you can think of someone to honor)
• September 14-20: Balance Awareness Week (For those struggling to stand up straight)
• September 21-27: National Love your Files Week (Huh?)
• September 21-27: National Clean Hands Week (I'd argue to stretch this one out all year)

This is all fresh in my mind because yesterday Leah was thoughtful enough to inform me that her birthday (September 20) also happens to double as Wife Appreciation Day.  How nice for her.

So here's my question. 

If you had the opportunity to add one observance to the national calendar, what would it be?

I'll go first!

Portable Church Consultation

Today our team will be spending about eight hours with a consultant from Portable Church Industries.  On October 19 we will be expanding our church's weekend service into the auditorium at Southfield Lathrup High School.  Our vision is to amplify our voice in Metro Detroit this fall, and the consultant is going to help us think through some of the details.

We won't be a true portable church since we'll keep our building as a base of operations during the week (offices, small groups, prayer meetings, etc).  But we will be portable again for our weekend gathering.

Fortunately we're only about fifteen minutes away from the premier portalbe church outfitter in the country.  I'm looking forward to hanging with the consultant to dream and learn.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Week of War

For several months our church has been setting aside the last full week of each month to emphasize the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting.  We call it WOW (week of war).  This week is off to a special start.

Our vision to amplify this fall seems to have energized our church to pray with increased faith and passion.  Last night I met with our evangelism team.  We spent the first half of the meeting praying for our city, and it was hot!  One of the team members was actually healed of chronic leg pain in the meeting!

This morning a group of men gathered in the cafe to pray.  We lifted our voices together and declared the character of God, then we prayed with intensity for our church, our families, and our city.  I love hearing the sound of my brothers crying out to God.

If you are a part of Church of the King and haven't been to a prayer meeting this week, plan to join us tomorrow night at 7.00 pm as all of our Life Groups gather for corporate prayer.  If the start of this week is any indication then you're not going to want to miss it!

Let's amplify!

And the Winner Is...

On Tuesday I announced the opportunity to compete to win three free books!  You can catch up on the details here.

Today, as promised, the independent selection committee has determined the winners.  And they are (drumroll please)...

• Third Place: Chilly (You Don't Know Jack: Lessons from a Talking Donkey)
• Second Place: David Thomassen (Having Deer Feet in a Rabbit's World: God Supplied Traction Instead of Dumb Luck)
• First Place: David's Brother (Birds Have Nests, Foxes Have Dens: Getting out of your comfort zone and changing the world for God)!

Thanks for participating!  Send me your address and the books will be in the mail.

And make sure to pick up a copy of Mark Batterson's new book, Wild Goose Chase!

Amplify: What About Berkley?

Amplify is our church's vision to increase the fame of Jesus in Metro Detroit this fall.  On October 19 we will be expanding our weekend service into the auditorium at Southfield Lathrup High School.  The move will give us the capacity to at least double the size of our church this fall.

It also prompts an important question.  How will our relationship continue with our current neighborhood?

God has given us valuable influence with many families in Berkley.  This summer through our out of school bash, back to school bash, Tuesdays at the park, and Cruisefest outreach we have established more relationships in our neighborhood than any other summer before.  Most of all, our influence grows exponentially as we each love our neighbors in practical ways.  All of this will continue.

As we take this step forward it's important to remember that "church" is not just what will happen on Sunday morning at Southfield Lathrup.  That is simply the place where we will gather each week.  But "church" is what happens seven days a week as the people of God love Him, each other, and the city we live in. 

We will continue to do this everywhere we live, play, and work.  We will be the church in Berkley, Southfield, Detroit, Royal Oak, Ferndale, and dozens of other neighborhoods throughout Metro Detroit.

We will also continue to invest in Berkley.  Our neighborhood outreaches will continue.  And we will prayerfully consider even planting another church or campus in Berkley at some point.

Amplify is an opportunity for us to simply expand our influence to some new neighborhoods!  More on that tomorrow. 

Amplify: What About Our Building?

Amplify is our vision to double our church's weekend capacity this fall.  So on October 19 we will be expanding our Sunday morning service into the auditorium at Southfield Lathrup High School.

Here is one of the first questions this strategy prompted.  What will we do with our building?

Here's the short answer: At this point we are planning to keep it.

Six months after launching Church of the King, God provided for us in a big way.  We started meeting in Thompson Middle School the Sunday after 9.11 (2001).  Later that year, as a church of about fifty people, God provided us with a building...for free.  We called it The Miracle on 12 Mile Rd.  Now, since Southfield Lathrup is located one mile west on 12 Mile Rd, we are asking God to write a new chapter in our 12 Mile Rd story.

Since God used the building to stabilize us as a brand new church plant, our dream has been to continue to invest the building into church planting.

Currently, two church plants use our building during the week for offices, small groups, services, prayer meetings and leadership meetings.  We are also praying about the possibility of using the building in a few years to either plant a church or a second campus.

In addition, we will continue to use the building during the week as a base of operations (offices, Life groups, prayer meetings, team meetings, etc.)  The building will make our transition into the high school much less complicated then a true portable church.

Bottom Line: Amplify is a dream to increase the fruit from the original Miracle on 12 Mile Rd.

Amplify

Our church has embraced an agressive vision to impact our city this fall.  On Sunday, October 19, we'll be moving our weekend service to the auditorium at Southfield Lathrup High School.  It's a vision to increase our capacity for growth.  It's a vision to reach people who desperately need to experience the life of Christ and the community of His people.  And it's a vision to increase the fame of Jesus in our city.

That's why we've branded the entire campaign with the name Amplify.  Amplify simply means to make something larger, greater, or stronger.  It is to enlarge and to extend.  It's our hope that Amplify will take us one step closer to making Jesus larger, greater, and stronger in our city!  More details to come throughout the week.

Win a Wild Goose!

Mark Batterson's new book will be released tomorrow.  To celebrate, the publisher has given me a free copy to give away right here on this blog! 

Mark's first book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, challenged me to grab life by the mane.  We've also used it in our church both in leadership team discussions and as small group curriculum. 

The new book is called Wild Goose Chase.  You can find it here.  Here's a summary:

Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit- An Geadh-Glas, or "the Wild Goose."  The name hints at mystery.  Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed.  An element of danger, an air of unpredictability surround Him.  And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious, I cannot think of a better description of what it's like to follow the Spirit through life.  I think the Celtic Christians were on to something.

So, here's how to win your own free copy of the book...

Mark's first two books have had creative titles and he seems to be challenging us to chase animals (chase the Lion and chase the Goose).  So, here's the challenge.

• Leave a comment with your most creative suggestion for the title of Mark's third book
• All animals are fair game
• The submissions will be review by my independent selection committee
• The winner will be announced right here on Friday

And just to spice up the competition a bit, I'm even going to throw in two other brand new books for second and third place: Finding God Beyond Harvard and Chuck Colson's most recent book The Faith.  That means that three people will win a brand new book!

Let the naming begin!

The Big Announcement

Yesterday was a big day for our church as I shared some exciting news about expanding our ministry this fall. 

On Friday night hundreds of our neighbors attended the Cruisefest outreach.  I realized as I met so many of them that even if they all decided to visit our church this fall they couldn't.  We don't have room for them to sit or to park.  This is a great problem to have, and one that we have prayed for.

In a little less than a month we will celebrate our seventh anniversary.  Seven years is a significant milestone for any church plant, and one that I think God is calling us to commemorate by launching out again.  For quite some time our leadership teams have been patiently praying, dreaming, and investigating options for growth.  After hours of prayer and conversation, we feel confident that God is leading us to take a step of faith.

So yesterday in our service I delivered the news!  On Sunday, October 19, we will be amplifying our voice in Metro Detroit by expanding our weekend service into the auditorium at Southfield Lathrup High School!

Southfield Lathrup is located on 12 Mile Rd., just over a mile west of our current building.  It is also located in the middle of one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Southfield.  The auditorium will give us the capacity to double the size of our church, as well as plenty of space to expand our ministry to kids.

If you're a part of our church and you missed the announcement yesterday, you will be receiving a letter this week.  You can read it here.  You can also listen to the message here.  This week I will also be posting on this blog answers to some of the most common questions that I have heard so far.

The vision of Church of the King has been clear since the day it was started.  We're on a mission to connect our city to Christ.  I can't wait to take one more step this fall in pursuit of that dream!

Loving the City