An Open Door Back in 2006, 16 years ago, Jen and I moved our family to Lafayette, Indiana to plant the church that would become Lafayette Community Church. We've invested our heart and soul (and money) in the ministry and in building relationships here in Lafayette, and we had no real intention to …
Prepping for a “Relaunch” Again
All About Relaunches Throughout the life of our church, we have gone through many different "launch" moments. We had the launch of our first "preview" services in January of 2007. We had the launch of our "public" services in March of 2007. We had the launch of a new location when we …
About that Amendment & Membership
On March 16, at 7pm, we are going to have our first ever membership vote! Here is the clip of me talking about it during our Vision Dinner (in the video, I say the vote will happen on March 9, but the actual vote will be March 16): Helpful Links The official resolution we will be voting …
Coronavirus: Waiting for Yellow
Latest Indiana County Map and COVID Statistics Note: Since publishing this post, the Indiana statistics have gotten MUCH better. However, our county is still considered "red." I and the other leaders of the church have been doing a lot of thinking regarding when and how we can return to …
Announcing the Million Dollar Miracle Project
Every year, LCC runs what we call our "Generosity Project" around Christmastime to encourage the people of our church to embrace a spirit of generosity in the spirit of our savior himself. This year, we want to kick it up a notch by challenging not only our congregation but also other local …
Continue Reading about Announcing the Million Dollar Miracle Project
September Financials Update
I wanted to take a few moments to give you an update on the financial status of the church. Back at the beginning of September, I posted an article about the struggles our church is facing financially and what we are doing about it. You can read that article here: Facing Goliath I also …
Your Feelings on In-Person Gatherings
It has been a long time since we have been all together. I constantly think back to the beginning of the year when we decided to get all of us together for one worship gathering every Sunday so that we would renew our sense of community together, and then... well, and then, am I right? Anyway, …
Continue Reading about Your Feelings on In-Person Gatherings
Service September
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash I say it every time I can. I have always wanted our church to be known more for our service than for our services. I want us to be known as people who serve more than people who hold events. This month, I'm calling for us all to join together in works of …
Facing Goliath
Photo by James Pond on Unsplash Facing Goliath Greetings friends, members, and supporters of LCC! I'm sending this note out this week to share some disheartening news, and there's no "nice" way to put it other than to say we don't have enough money to continue paying our staff. Many of you …
A Plan for Us All Along
Hi everyone! For months now, nothing has been the same for us. My children spent all spring at home. Jen and I have been working from home offices almost exclusively. And our church has been meeting primarily virtually. Then, showing even more how weird things have gotten, Walmart is requiring us to …
Starting a New Series Tomorrow on Your Past
We are still going to be virtual for a few more weeks. On Monday, the elders and I will be discussing a timetable and strategy for returning to Sunday morning worship in our building, but in the meantime, I'm still working hard to bring you lessons that I think will encourage you and build you …
Continue Reading about Starting a New Series Tomorrow on Your Past
2019 Year End Financial Status
Photo by Josh Appel on Unsplash Last month, I posted an entry discussing some of the organizational statistics of our church (attendance and donations), and I wanted to take this opportunity to give you an update on at least the financial side of things over the past month. First of all, as I said …
Church Needs & My Optimism
(The chart included with this post represents at any point in time the average Sunday attendance for the previous four weeks.) For two weeks now, I've been mentioning in our worship gatherings that our church is going through a bit of a financial and attendance lull. First, let's get the numbers out …
Starting a new series tomorrow… on Fear
Tomorrow I'm starting a new series of messages going through the book of Joshua entitled "Fearless." I wanted to write this quick little post to let you know about it because I think it's a really timely study for us. Our church has been through a lot this year. The biggest transition, of course, is …
Continue Reading about Starting a new series tomorrow… on Fear
Convoy of Hope Recap
This is a guest post from Megan Hill. I asked her to send me something reflecting on this year's Convoy of Hope, and this is what she sent. I participated the last time Convoy was here, in 2016, but in a different capacity. I was a volunteer, but only on the day of the event in the Connections …
Leadership Transitions
From our newsletter this week. I know I haven't gotten any newsletters out in a while, but this week Beth Hardy asked me to send this out: May 31st is going to be my last day as Kidopolis Director and as a staff member at LCC. I am grateful for the last 7 years that God has allowed me …