Church Shopping

As a pastor’s wife, I have never really had the opportunity to go church “shopping.”  Most of you will know what I am talking about; the ability to visit lots of different churches trying to find just the right one for your family.  In fact, I have known some people who spend a year church shopping.  That smacks a little of being too picky to me, but to each his own.

For the first time in our 10 years of married life and ministry together, we are church “shopping.”  Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean that we are looking for a church other than Life180.  But right now there is no Life180.  So right now we go to a mega (mega) church in the area on Saturday nights so that the kids have consistency, and then pick a different church every Sunday.

I love it.

It is especially exciting to visit all these amazing churches when you are busy planning your own.  Every week Ben and I spend the car ride home (sometimes it is a long one) talking about what we liked, what didn’t like, how they had the children’s area set up, etc.  A lot of the churches we have been visiting are ones that still do not have buildings.  That is strategic since we really what to know how other churches run their programs in rented schools, movie theaters, and performing arts centers.

So far I have noticed how much Micah and Savannah’s initial reaction to the child care/Sunday School and how the staff handle their reaction matters to me as a mom.  As a mom, I would never go back to a church that my kids hated no matter how much I liked it.  Therefore, high quality children’s programming goes high up on the list.

Here is where you guys can help.  Why do you attend the church that you do?  What hooked you?  What do you love?  What do you wish you could change?  A lot of you probably go to Woodcrest, but your experience there was probably different than mine so I would love to hear what you think.  When you were out church shopping, what made you stop and find your church home?

Think of this as your chance to have a voice in the planting of Life180 Church.  Believe me, you will have influence.  I have a special in with the Executive Pastor.

Life180 Update ~ August 2011

We have now been in Phoenix for a little over two months.  Unreal.  It feels much shorter than that and much longer than that at the same time.  Maybe it is like having kids.  On one hand I look at Micah and can’t believe that he is almost four.  How could I have an almost four year old!?  It seems like he was sleeping on my chest just yesterday.

Then I put him in his 37th time out of the day, and it feels like he has been in our family for-ever.

That is what it feels like living here.  Minneapolis feels a million years ago and just yesterday all at the same time.

If you are anything like me, you have really been enjoying Ben’s blog posts.  I found myself being slightly shocked by what a good writer he is.  Then I remembered how much I get out of and enjoy his sermons.  He writes those, so I shouldn’t really be surprised he knows how to put together a good devotional.

As much as I enjoy those devotionals, I know that I would want to know what is happening with Life180.  Ben has got a lot on his plate and it is never ending, so I have taken it upon myself to update you all.  I am going to try to link to Ben’s blog in my sidebar too, so if you haven’t been reading it, you should check it out.

Here is my bullet point version of what is happening with Life180.

• We have a new website!!!!  Go to www.life180church.com to check it out.  Ben even has a video on it, so search around and see if you can find it.
• I think I had mentioned it before.  We now have three pastors/families on staff.  We were fortunate enough to meet the Errett family from NY State a few months ago.  Corey has signed on to be our Life Pastor.  His role will be to train parents and oversee adult discipleship.  Since we are in a community with lots of young families, this is a vital role in our strategy to reach local families.  We are so excited for them to get here.  Please pray for them right now.  They are in the process of selling their house, raising support, finishing up at the church they are currently at, planning the move, and raising three boys all under the age of four.  Whew!  I am exhausted just typing that.  I remember what the months leading up to our move were like and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.  I know they would appreciate all the prayers they can get.
• Ben and Dwayne have been busy interviewing people for the Worship Pastor, Youth Pastor, and Children’s Pastor positions.  It is going well.  We are all having dinner tonight with a guy and his wife who are very close to accepting the position as the Worship Pastor.  You know what that means??  Triple date with no kids!!  A candidate for that Youth Pastor position is flying in in a couple of weeks to check us out.  We are competing for him with a very large church in Texas that wants to offer him an internship.
• Planning for the launch is in full swing.  Ben is busy making spreadsheet upon spreadsheet organizing all the information needed to get this thing off the ground.  Like any church plant, the schedule is fluid and is constantly changing.  Therefore, I won’t share it with you now, but you can bet that I will let you know as the dates get closer and things firm up.
• Ben and Dwayne are meeting with churches to ask them to partner with us.  That could look like financial support, giving us people for our launch team, loaning or giving us supplies needed to start, etc.  In fact tomorrow we are all going down to a Vision Arizona church (the organization that is planting Life180 too) where Dwayne will be preaching.  We have to be in both services and the kids “get” to be on stage with us.  Dwayne and Michelle, who have a 15 and 12 year old, probably aren’t worried about how their kids will act on stage.
• Ben and Dwayne are busy planning a 5k run that will benefit a local charity and help raise awareness in the community about Life180.  For now they are shooting for January 2012.
• We will be starting informational meetings here at the end of August to start being able to build the launch team.

That’s all I can think of for now, but I am sure there is even more.  I wanted to let all of you know how much we appreciate those of you who support us financially and through prayer.  God has truly been faithful during this entire process and we trust that it will continue.  If you are interested in supporting the work we are doing at Life180, you can click on the donate link on their website.  (For those of you scratching your heads saying, “What?  Support?”  Very briefly, the church does not pay us for the first three years as we focus all resources on making the church successful and creating ministries that can impact lives.  If you have more questions about this, please let me know.)

Now for some specific prayer requests:

• Praise God for friends!  He has blessed us with some great friends early on here and we truly appreciate it.  Especially me.  I know friends are important to Ben too, but he is not home all day with just the kids to talk to.  I am very thankful for other mom friends.
• Pray for continued faithfulness in financial support.
• Prayer for wisdom for Ben and Dwayne as they make important hiring decisions.
• Prayer that our launch team will start to come together.  Per Vision Arizona’s rules, we need to have 50 adults on our launch team before they will release any funds to us.  Right now we have six.
• Pray for wisdom for Ben and I as I consider going back to work.  It will be a process to find a job without being licensed, and I probably won’t be able to find one that allows me to work as part time as I did in MN.  We are trying to decide what is best for our family.  I will be attending the AZ Association of Marriage and Family Therapy Fall Conference in October down in Tucson.  This will allow me to keep my MN license active.  I am excited to learn more about couples counseling and meet some other therapists here in Arizona.