I’m fortunate to be a part of the team at The Unstuck Group. We get to interact with great churches across the country. As we provide health assessments, strategic planning and staffing reviews, it’s fun to watch churches move from where they are to where God wants them to be.
This past year was no exception. Our team served many churches throughout the United States and Canada. These are some of the stories that stood out to us.
5 Churches That Caught Our Attention in 2014
- Community of Hope (Loxahatchee Groves, Florida) – Pastor Dale Locke and the team at Community of Hope found themselves stuck at the 1,000 barrier. Rather than settle, they wanted to continue to reach more people for Jesus. Because of that vision, they’ve engaged challenging conversations about revisiting the roles of lay leadership and staff teams. What worked when the church was smaller had become a barrier to growth in recent years. We were impressed with their openness to new roles and responsibilities to position themselves for future growth.
- Cowboy Junction Church (Hobbs, New Mexico) – As their name implies, Cowboy Junction Church is not your typical church. Pastor Ty Bean and this unique ministry have experienced quite a journey in the last 24 months. Their attendance has increased from 375 to 495 people each weekend (including a Monday evening service). Their giving has more than doubled. The percentage of people volunteering has grown from 14% (well below average) to 49% (above average). Most important, they’ve seen 190 people accept Christ in the last 12 months. Love that!
- Freedom Church (Acworth, Georgia) – We’ve served Pastor J.R. twice in the last several years by helping them revisit their staffing structure. The first time we helped them respond to their growth challenges. Their attendance had increased by over 30% in 2011, and they needed help getting the right people in the right roles. The challenge looked a little different this past year because the church had almost doubled in size in the previous months. Freedom Church is the perfect example of a ministry that understands they need to staff and structure around their core growth engines–the ministries that produce both numerical and spiritual growth.
- Mountain Lake Church (Cumming, Georgia) – Pastor Shawn Lovejoy and the team at Mountain Lake did something we don’t recommend every church try to tackle. (Don’t try this at home.) They opened three new campuses in the last year. With that vision in mind, our team worked with them to map out their strategy with action plans and then build a staff structure to support their new multisite model. What’s encouraging is that Mountain Lake is doing all of this in the backyard of some of the largest and healthiest churches in the country. Once again, it takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people.
- Piedmont Church (Marietta, Georgia) – Though we helped facilitate a health assessment, strategic planning process and a review of their staffing structure, we felt like we were just as challenged and encouraged by being with Pastor Ike Reighard. What’s most encouraging about Piedmont, is that they’re in the middle of a remarkable turnaround. The church at one point was dying just a few years ago. Under Ike’s leadership, they’ve walked through an amazing transition. They’ve updated their ministry approach, their facilities and their leadership team. It’s not the same church. Though Ike is in his early 60s, he’s not slowing down. Among other things, this certainly proves that strong vision and leadership is ageless.
We hope you’re encouraged by how God is using these churches and leaders to reach thousands of people for Jesus.
