This is NOT Normal

What is happening at Oak Leaf Church is NOT NORMAL.

According to this report, which includes data from 2,000 churches started between 2000 and 2005 from many denominations, the average attendance during year one of a church was about 41 people. By year four, attendance doubles to just over 80 people. That’s the average. At our Grand Opening service on August 20, 2006, there were about 250 people. And during this first year, average attendance grew to about 600 people each week. During the month of July, our average attendance was higher than the previous Easter and we had to add a third service just to keep up.  Last week, there were more than 700 people.  That is not normal. And we’re not stopping. Even if we grow to 1,000 people, we will have reached just 1% of the people that live in this county

You might have heard that in most churches, 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Another way to state that is that about 20% of the people volunteer and serve. That’s been pretty typical for all the churches where I’ve worked. At Oak Leaf, about 40% of the adults that come on Sunday volunteer somewhere. For the first time in my life, I’m not working at a church where there is a volunteer catastrophe. People are serving and working because they are called, because there is a vision, and because they are participating in God’s plan. No guilt required. That is not normal. I’m so thankful to serve with so many people who go above and beyond the call. Forget what’s required…they shoot for what is possible.

So far, we have baptized about 25 people this year. The average church plant baptizes 10 people. The average established church baptizes less than that. People’s lives are being changed right in the middle of this this thing. It was an honor for me to baptize 20 people in the lake, and I’m hoping that it was just the beginning. Our prayers are that God would use all of us to reach everyone in Cartersville for Christ.

As part of my job, I get to stay in touch with churches like Elevation in Charlotte, who has grown to more than 2,000 people in a year and a half, and Newspring in Anderson, SC, who has about 8,000 people after just a few years. These stories motivate me and challenge me. But I can’t think that what God is doing here is any less miraculous. I was talking to Shawn Lovejoy the other day, and he reminded me that we are probably in the top 1% of church plants. He reminded me to smell the roses and to celebrate the stories. Again, what God is doing through Oak Leaf Church is not normal.

I’ve never worked at a church like Oak Leaf. Several on our staff have worked at churches where stuff like this NEVER happened. There are people literally suffering on the staff of dead churches with no vision. There are good people who love Jesus but never get to see this kind of thing happen. We’re all a part of something that is over our head and God-sized.

For those of you that attend Oak Leaf, I want you to know that you are a part of something that is NOT normal. It’s not normal for this many people to be attending a one year old church, especially in a town our size. It’s not normal for this many people to actually be enjoying church and growing in their faith. It’s not normal for this many teenagers to want to go to church. It’s not normal for you to get to a movie theater so early and set up so much equipment. It’s not normal for you to write checks and support this new thing. None of us are a part of something that’s normal.

And for that, I’m grateful.