Recently, I received an email from someone who had visited our church and really liked it. Coming to our church caused them to question where they were going to church. The following is an email I sent to them to help them navigate this season on their life. I did not write the email to try to talk them into coming to my church or to leave their church and go to another church. Just wanted them to think through the process strategically. I believe in my heart of hearts, that WHERE a person goes to church is the second most important decision they will ever make…more important than their job and WHERE their job might take them. Why would I say that?

The WHO’s in your life will always be more important than the WHERE’s in your life. When you get this, everything in your life will change for the better. My encouragement to you today is to let the WHO’s in your life, determine the WHERE’s in your life…and you will never be in the wrong place with the wrong people, doing the wrong things.

Two Leadershipologies for today:

“When you get with the Right People, in the Right Place, at the Right Time…the Right Things will happen.”

“Who you align your life with, will determine your next level up or down.”

I obviously did not include names, and we pick up the email/story here… 

►  Alignment is more important than Assignment.

You need to look at the season of life you are in, and determine WHO you want to go through life with more than WHERE your assignment is. There are many churches with many needs. If we just chose a church based on what was needed in that church, there would be tooooo many needs for us to really assess as to where one might fit best. It is the WHO question that is more important than the WHERE question as it relates to Kingdom, business and WHERE you choose to invest your life.

►Reason…Season…Lifetime.

A few years ago, a very good friend of mine who I had actually led to the Lord, came to me and said he felt like CCC wasn’t WHERE he was supposed to be. What he didn’t realize is, again, it is not a matter of WHERE, but WHO we are going to do life with. He ultimately chose to leave. It broke my heart initially because I loved him. One day my son Josh and I were driving along and he said, “Dad you seem a little troubled…what’s going on?”

He was 14…today he is 22…I said, “Well Josh, my friend ( I named his name) has decided he doesn’t want to come to our church anymore.” About 60 seconds passed, and he said…remember he was 14 when he said this… “Well dad, some friends are for a reason…some are for a season and some are for a lifetime.”

Wow!!! It still blows me away that he said that. I began to cry and said, “Joshua, God just spoke through you to me.” I have never been the same and celebrate the people WHO come and go to our church. Everyone has different seasons of life they are in, and that means they have different needs at different times.

I am not saying any of that to influence you to come to our church, but to give you perhaps some insight into what you are feeling that you may not understand. All churches need help. All churches have the same mission…to present a living, loving Savior to a lost and dying world. So it is never about one church being better than another. It is about what a person needs in their unique season…it is about WHO a person strategically wants to do life with ( family of choice)…most people are never this intentional and that is why many miss the purpose and destiny of God on their lives, because they go to church for the WRONG reasons…it is about WHERE a person can personally grow and develop by both giving their time, talent and treasure and by the revelation of a particular house/church that connects with their heart.

And finally, WHO you go to church with…WHERE the church is going…WHAT the metrics/results are in your own life…and HOW that place is helping you to move beyond Conversion to Transformation…that my friend, is WHEN you know!!!

On a personal note, I teach Spirit, Soul and Body…in that order, strategically every week. We have two kinds of people in our church…those who are healthy…those who want to be more healthy in all 3 areas of life. If someone is satisfied with who they are, where they are and is looking for a church that agrees with what they supposedly already know, that makes them know what kind of church they want…we are probably not their church!!!

Bless you man!
Keith