This past Sunday was simply amazing. Having our church united for one service, packing out the auditorium, and blowing the roof off in worship was by far one of my favorite memories over the past two years.

So let’s not stop at just one Sunday!

After praying and meeting to hash out the details, we’ve decided to continue in one service at 10 a.m. for our final five weeks at Powell High School. This will give us a chance to continue building momentum as we head toward changing facilities on October 2. We will resume two services that day at Jubilee Center with new service times of 9:30 and 11.

That means over the next five weeks you better come early and you better get someone to come with you so they can experience what God is doing at OneLife!

For more information about the move and to watch the service from this past Sunday where we announced the move to Jubilee, check out this info page.

This morning was our 100th service at OneLife Church, and we announced major changes as we move forward.

First, we are changing what we care about most. Our top priority has always been to make disciples who reproduce disciples and to be a church that reproduces churches. But to be honest, we haven’t always functioned that way. “Putting out the fire closest to the tent” has often distracted us.

No more!

One move we are making to help with this is a change in facilities. Starting October 2 OneLife will begin meeting at Jubilee Banquet Facility. This is a HUGE change for us, but an exciting one as this new facility will allow us opportunities to reach more people in quite a few ways.

• Incredible children’s ministry space. We will be able to minister to families in a much better way.
• Great location still in our target area of Powell. Only 1 mile off I-75 Callahan Exit and less than 1/2 mile from Clinton Hwy.
• 300-seat auditorium will create energetic atmosphere and opportunity to pack out two services.
• Internet access will allow us to stream our services live online each week for people who want to check out church but won’t yet visit.
• Church offices have moved to the Jubilee property giving us a permanent presence on site.
• New office includes a large meeting room able to accomodate as many as 70 people that will be used throughout the week for student ministry, partnership classes, band rehearsal, small group meetings, and more.

This move is also a step toward one day acquiring our own facility that will provide us a home base to plant churches and campuses all over East Tennessee by freeing up human and financial resources. It’s a big dream and a big vision but as we sang this morning, “If our God is for us then who could ever stop us? And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?!”

This is our chance to re-launch our church and reach tons of new people for Jesus. If a launch team of 12 people in my living room turned into 400 people at OneLife this morning, what can 400 people turn into as we make this move? The sky is the limit and we’ve only just begun!!!

This Sunday we celebrate 100 services at OneLife Church and announce some big changes that will take us to the next level. I thought it would be fun to take a trip back in time and highlight some of the more memorable days and weeks of the 100 we’ve had together so far (and what I was thinking along the way).

• September 13, 2009 – OneLife launched with 158 people and more importantly one person gave their life to Jesus! A true testament to our incredible launch team that had grown to around 30 by this time. (“Are any of these people gonna come back next week?!”)
• September 20, 2009 – The first “real” week after launch. So-called experts say only 50% of launch people will come back. They were wrong. 77% came back.
• October 18, 2009 – Lowest attendance ever at 114. (“Maybe the experts were right?! Nobody is ever going to come back now.”)
• November 3, 2009 – Staff meeting in my kitchen gave birth to two new ideas. One, we have great services and put on a great event each week but we aren’t yet a church. We care too much about the wrong things! (see previous thoughts all about attendance) As a result, volunteer teams began functioning as small groups leading toward our current VIP structure. And second, we realized a huge need for an office space! We found one and moved in three weeks later.
• December 6, 2009 – HUGE day. Our first ever baptism service with six baptisms, 250 people attended the worship service, and more than 80 volunteers came to the Volunteer Appreciation Christmas Party that night. (“In just three months?! God, this is CRAZY! THANK YOU!!!”)
• January 31, 2010 – Snow and high temperatures in the 20s led to an ice-covered parking lot at our storage unit so our trailer wouldn’t budge! That forced us to do something I hope we NEVER do again…cancel a service. But we had to, and it led to our first ever live streaming service from my living room. About 100 people connected to the service live online.
• April 3, 2010 – The Egg Drop. More than 3,000 people showed up, but only around 2,300 could fit! (“What were we smokin’?!”)
• April 4, 2010 – Our first Easter and launch of second service.
• June 6, 2010 – Student Ministry Kick-Off with tons of students showing up to worship Jesus and get involved with a small group.
• September 12, 2010 – An unbelievable day. Our one year anniversary, 20 baptisms, a packed-out auditorium for one service and small groups called “Communities” kicked off that night.
• November 16, 2010 – Staff meeting was about me sharing my burden and vision to do more for current OneLifers to see them grow in discipleship and leadership. (“I feel God so strong saying we need to develop people, but how? All the traditional methods don’t seem to work.”)
• December 24, 2010 – The most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced as an attender. The Powell Community Christmas Eve hosted by OneLife attracted nearly 400 people, mostly from the community! Our creative, tech, and band teams blew this one out of the water.
• January 16, 2011 – The Overflow Church, the first church plant sponsored by OneLife, launched in South Knoxville.
• March 8, 2011 – Our staff met with Dan Grider, a pastor on our oversight team, who I had been meeting and praying with for months. Dan helped us develop a plan for Xcellerate, God’s answer to our prayer from November to develop better disciples and leaders. This is not a program, but a way to change what we care about! Xcellerate launched a month later, and we are still seeing people grow like crazy and become better equipped to lead the multitudes to Jesus.
• April 24, 2011 – Our second Easter was more than I could have ever dreamed. 440 people attended and 23 prayed to receive Christ. (“God, it feels like you are answering my prayer that you do something so big only you can get the credit. This is far more than I ever imagined, and in only 18 months. Wow.”)
• June 27, 2011 – A meeting was held with key leaders at OneLife to share the vision of our next big step. An awesome time of prayer led to two weeks of seeking God’s direction for this step.
• July 13, 2011 – A follow-up meeting confirmed this is God’s plan for our church. The wheels were set in motion to begin the process of this move that will be announced on August 21.
• August 21, 2011 – 100th Sunday morning at OneLife. One HUGE service at 10 a.m. will celebrate all that God has done and IS doing as we move forward! (“I CAN’T WAIT!!!!”)

On September 13, 2009 OneLife Church was born. It was a huge day. But this Sunday – August 21 – will be our biggest day ever.

100 services later we are celebrating all that God has done in the early days of our church with one combined, HUGE service at 10 a.m. But that’s not all. We’ll be making an announcement that changes OneLife more than anything in our history.

If you call OneLife Church your home, think one day you might, or just want to hear what’s next for our church, do NOT miss this big day!

It’s also the perfect day to invite someone to come with you. Use the facebook event to RSVP and send an invitation, or use the website and video below to spread the word.

See you Sunday!

The past two posts have dealt with changing what we care about so that discipleship is our only goal. But as we say in the South, what in the Sam Hill is that?!

Some would tell you that discipleship means simply getting people “saved”. In this model, discipleship equals evangelism. Others say discipleship is an intense, one-on-one or small group Bible study environment where a teacher leads the time with the students. In this model, discipleship equals education.

There’s a HUGE problem with both: Jesus’ model of discipleship was neither!

The clearest example is Luke 9-10 when Jesus sent out “The Twelve” who would go on to become known as The Disciples. In this part of the story, The Twelve got sent out and a chapter later they had not just added to their group but they had multiplied! The Twelve were now The Seventy-Two! These 72 would then turn into the 120 in Acts 2 who would then turn into the 3,000!

From that simple look we see that when Jesus said, “Go! Make disciples!” he clearly intended one thing: a true disciple not only follows Jesus, but also reproduces!

That’s why a church should not gauge itself on simply how great their service is, how many people attend their church, or (hang on to your hat!) even great things like how many poor people are helped or simply how many are converted. All of these should be happening, but Jesus said what we should care most about is seeing disciples reproduce. And then that’s what the first church did!

So at OneLife, our measure of success will be seeing disciples reproduce disciples. That means seeing lost people find Jesus and then in turn lead more lost people in their lives to Jesus so that they, too, can reproduce. And then on and on it will go.

That means your life will make a difference as you impact the eternity of others. It means our church will grow because of what OneLifers do Monday through Saturday, not just what a staff and volunteers do on a Sunday. It means the needs of our community will be met when groups of disciples see and meet that need rather than waiting for a pastor to point it out and organize an event.

But to get there, this must be what we care most about. So OneLife, hang on! We are changing what we care about, and that changes everything!

Are you ready?!