Our mini-conference on church growth was a huge success. I call it “mini” because it’s only a Friday night and all day Saturday, but it is “maximum” in terms of response and the incredible effort our team puts forth. We had approximately 400 registrations and if you add volunteers and all the Axis students in the house, Friday night was crazy packed. It was awesome. I love the opening our creative team put together. So much creativity and different than anything I’ve ever seen. Like everyone else, Friday night was the first time I had seen it and I was just standing there, like, “Wow!” Love the creativity that is in our House.
Make Room is really all about the “details” of growing your church. We definitely don’t have all the answers, but we’ve experienced exponential growth the last few years and have learned so much over the 13 year history of our church. In the general sessions I talked about the 3 identities that have shaped our church and brought growth. We had specialized break-out sessions that covered every detail of church-life (even, “infrastructure and reporting” which was packed with people ) All in all, a lot of information downloaded and some inspiration imparted.
Hundreds of volunteers from our church hosted the conference and they made it 5-star. Once again, I was so proud and blown away by our team. We went straight from Make Room into a strong weekend with 6 services and nearly 90 salvations. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard this past weekend. Leslie and I love you and are sooooo thankful for your heart and passion and hard work!
Several years ago, after much prayer and consideration we decided to host a mini-regional church growth conference. I was a little hesitant at first because there are so many amazing conferences, but we were getting so many calls, tours, questions about how we do things. So we thought we could do a sort of round-table type discussion about best practices, etc. Before we knew it, 26 churches registered and we were off and running. The roundtable format turned into a full-blown conference with packed-out, high energy general sessions and practical, “how-to” break-out sessions. We got such great feedback we did it again in 2009 with many more churches involved and registrations increasing by nearly 60%. I’m more excited than ever and I know this is going to be the best year yet. There is a real hunger among pastors in this entire mid-south region. Our team is getting ready to host, inspire, impart and learn from all of the great churches, pastors and teams that are coming to Make Room 2010.
Leslie and I planted The Life Church of Memphis in 1996 and the first 5 years were difficult to say the least. We did the set-up, tear down, portable thing for 5 years and could not seem to break the 200 barrier. But then we started to see some breakthroughs. In the past 5 years our church has grown exponentially to a multi-campus church with a weekend attendance of over 3000 people. When things started to breakthrough for us, I distinctly remember God dealing with me about never forgetting those early years and always being available to help pastors and churches break through the key growth barriers. So, the total focus of the conference is on growing our churches. I know growth is God’s plan and this 20 hour conference focuses on the nuts and bolts, the practicals, of moving your church forward and breaking to the next level.
I always tell pastors the most important thing they could do is bring their entire leadership team. In fact, that’s why the conference starts Friday evening and finishes on Saturday afternoon so that even volunteers can come without having to take time off of work. Also, we structured the pricing so it’s only one price if you bring more than 5 people. I just heard that one church in Mississippi is bringing 48 people! That’s cool.
If you are a pastor or church leader near Memphis, TN, I hope you can make it over. I would love to meet you and spend some time with you that weekend. Please click on this link to read through all of the info about the Make Room conference.
Last weekend was a mega weekend in the life and history of our church. We launched two campuses – one in Collierville and the other in Jackson, TN.
Our Collierville campus was a miracle that came our way at the end of 2009. It has 35 acres of buildable land with a first phase 28,000 square foot building. We closed on the property in January and just 3 weeks later had our first weekend there. We started with 2 Sunday services and had over 1100 people. Incredible.
Jackson was amazing as well. We adopted this campus in the summer of 2009 and this weekend launched with 178 people. It’s about an hour away from our other campuses. This weekend was a great beginning to all that God has called us to do there.
I’m so thankful for all that God has done, is doing and will do! Leslie and I are so grateful for all of you that worked hard to open the doors to these new campuses. Check out some pics from the weekend below.
We’re only a few days away from opening our new Collierville campus. Thought you would enjoy a few pics. The auditorium stage is amazing and the Axis auditorium (still rough in the pic) will be soooo cool. I know we’re going to touch generations from that space. I’m a huge fan of the lobby with its massive windows. Love the bright flow for sure. It’s all so exciting. Don’t forget new service times this weekend:
Collierville: Sunday at 9:00a and 11:00a
Cordova: Saturday at 5:00p and Sunday at 10:00a and 11:45a
Jackson: Sunday at 10:30a
Leslie and I are so incredibly thankful to our amazing team working hard-core to get both Collierville and Jackson campuses ready for this mega wknd.
) All in all, a lot of information downloaded and some inspiration imparted.
