SPEAKER_00: My dream job, I think, would be to be a weatherman in Wisconsin, especially in Green Bay.
SPEAKER_00: Because I want you to think about it for just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: How hard would it be to be a weatherman in Green Bay in January, February, March, and even April?
SPEAKER_00: I think the weather would be pretty predictable.
SPEAKER_00: Your job every day would be to go in, point to a map, show where the snow's going to come from, and your prediction for weather would be partly cloudy with a chance of precipitation, and it's going to be cold.
SPEAKER_00: So you could end every single broadcast, every single news channel update for the weather by saying, make sure you bundle up, and that would be as creative as you need it to be.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the thing with the weather.
SPEAKER_00: The weatherman gets up and tells you the weather that's coming.
SPEAKER_00: But the weatherman is not the one who creates the weather.
SPEAKER_00: The person telling you the weather isn't the one out there creating the hurricanes, creating the snowstorms, creating the rain, or even the beautiful sunshine that we get to enjoy.
SPEAKER_00: The weatherman has one job.
SPEAKER_00: And that weather person's job is to tell you the weather that's coming.
SPEAKER_00: They give you a report on what they see coming.
SPEAKER_00: As a pastor at Spring Lake Church, as leadership, which I'll talk about in a moment, at Spring Lake Church, our job isn't to create the move.
SPEAKER_00: We don't.
SPEAKER_00: That is in the hands of God.
SPEAKER_00: Our job is to see what the Lord is doing and prepare the church for what he wants to do now and what he wants to do next.
SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone, and welcome to Spring Lake Church.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're with us on a weekend service or you're watching from home today, maybe you're in the family room with the Littles at either Bellevue or Lawrence or downtown.
SPEAKER_00: We're glad you're with us.
SPEAKER_00: We've just finished our uncomfortable series, and next week we're going to launch into a new series, which you'll hear about in a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: But today I want to take a moment and kind of step off the path of our typical series protocol and talk a little bit to Spring Lake.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are new coming into Spring Lake.
SPEAKER_00: You come in, you understand our weekend services.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've even got children involved in kids ministry and in student ministry.
SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to the bigger picture of Spring Lake, like who we are and how we got to where we are, and even where we're going, right now you're still kind of operating a little bit blindly.
SPEAKER_00: You're going by what you're seeing in the moment and on the weekend.
SPEAKER_00: This message, why this message and why now?
SPEAKER_00: This message is to help us have clarity, both on where we've been, establish the past, which is scriptural.
SPEAKER_00: We'll cover that in a moment, but also to see where we are and why, and then where we go next.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've ever watched a movie where you see the beginning of the movie and it goes on, but then somewhere in the movie they lose the plot.
SPEAKER_00: They lose the storyline.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe it's because they didn't give you enough introduction, or maybe because they get too distracted in the story and too much is going on.
SPEAKER_00: But by the end, you're like, what were they doing?
SPEAKER_00: Like what just happened?
SPEAKER_00: Our goal as a church is for us not to lose the plot, for the path to be clear and the direction to be clear.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs chapter 22.
SPEAKER_00: It says, where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained.
SPEAKER_00: But happy is the one who keeps the law.
SPEAKER_00: When you don't know where you're going, people are unrestrained.
SPEAKER_00: And why wouldn't they be?
SPEAKER_00: Because why would they care?
SPEAKER_00: We don't know where we're going.
SPEAKER_00: But if we know the law, if we know the boundaries, if we know the calling, if we know who God has called us to be, it gives us uh boundaries, it gives us clarity, like riverbanks for a river.
SPEAKER_00: Also, this keeps us on track.
SPEAKER_00: Habakkuk chapter 2, beginning at verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Then the Lord answered me and said, Write down the vision and inscribe it clearly on tablets, so the one who reads it may run with it.
SPEAKER_00: For the vision is yet for an appointed time.
SPEAKER_00: It hurries toward the goal and it will not fail.
SPEAKER_00: Though it delays, wait for it, for it certainly, it will certainly come, it will not delay.
SPEAKER_00: Write the vision, make it plain so that those who read it can run with it.
SPEAKER_00: If we don't know the direction we're running, we have chaos.
SPEAKER_00: And this message is one of those which we usually do two times a year, where we hopefully bring clarity and erase the chaos.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us clearly to consider the cost before taking on any project, because it's an investment in what we do and how we do it.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 14, beginning at verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: It says, For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who are watching it will begin to ridicule him.
SPEAKER_00: Saying, This person began to build and was not able to finish.
SPEAKER_00: Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with 10,000 men to face the one coming against him with 20,000.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and requests terms of peace.
SPEAKER_00: So that none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his possessions.
SPEAKER_00: The passage is clear.
SPEAKER_00: Consider the cost before building the tower before we move forward.
SPEAKER_00: And we have to understand, too, that with this plan and with this path comes our marching orders from scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 28, beginning at verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
SPEAKER_00: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you.
SPEAKER_00: And behold, I am with you always to the ends of the age.
SPEAKER_00: When you look at Spring Lake and where we've been, especially over these last three years, it has been an incredible season of activity.
SPEAKER_00: And that was necessary to prepare us for what's to come.
SPEAKER_00: And you cannot go to any of the three campuses where you may be watching this right now and not see where things have been moved, up even upended, rebuilt to prepare for what's to come.
SPEAKER_00: And but here's what I would say also if all you see is buildings, you miss what God has done in life change that's gone on in this same window.
SPEAKER_00: It came at a cost, both of time, effort, by some key staff and volunteers, and financial resources of our church as a whole.
SPEAKER_00: It'd be easy to see the gym, to see the expanded downtown facilities, to see the new campus at Lawrence, and high-five ourselves and say, we did it.
SPEAKER_00: Look at all that we built.
SPEAKER_00: Way to go, people.
SPEAKER_00: But these accomplishments, accomplishments, were much-needed tools for what we believe that God has called us to as a church.
SPEAKER_00: After a great amount of prayer, our elder board, which is our leadership team here at the church, we had a retreat in May, which we do pretty much every May, where we had the conversations and planning around where do we go from here?
SPEAKER_00: And this can be a tricky question because of the activity of the last three years and especially the last 24 months.
SPEAKER_00: It would be easy to take that question and say, what do we build next?
SPEAKER_00: What's the next building project?
SPEAKER_00: What brick and mortar needs to go in place?
SPEAKER_00: But the goal as we begin to talk is to remember our calling is to build peoples, not just steeples.
SPEAKER_00: Build people and not just buildings.
SPEAKER_00: We've put the tools in place for a season with the facilities, and now let's look at the business of building the church at God's people.
SPEAKER_00: The people, once again, and not just the steeples.
SPEAKER_00: So today, what I want to do is I want to look at Spring Lake, past, present, and then touch on the future, and how did we get where we are, and where do we go from here?
SPEAKER_00: As we look at the past, you can go through, especially in the Old Testament, and you see where God challenges people to put down markers.
SPEAKER_00: Don't forget what I've done.
SPEAKER_00: You see it in Genesis chapter 35 and verse 14 when he talks about memorial stones as a memorial for what I've done.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua chapter 4, verses 6 and 7.
SPEAKER_00: It says, This shall be a sign among you when your children ask later, saying, What do these stones mean to you?
SPEAKER_00: Then you shall say to them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord when it crossed the Jordan.
SPEAKER_00: The waters of the Jordan were cut off, so the stone shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.
SPEAKER_00: We see these same types of stories in 1 Samuel chapter 7 and Jeremiah chapter 31, all through the Old Testament, God says, Don't forget what I've done.
SPEAKER_00: Don't forget where you've come from.
SPEAKER_00: For Spring Lake, Bellevue Campus.
SPEAKER_00: It started in 1987.
SPEAKER_00: There was a Bible study going on by a retired EFCA pastor, which actually started in 1986.
SPEAKER_00: And 1987 is when they called the first pastor to the pastorate.
SPEAKER_00: March 5th of 1989 was the official charter for the church.
SPEAKER_00: So Spring Lake is about 37 years old.
SPEAKER_00: Bellevue was actually a house.
SPEAKER_00: And if you look at the blueprint, you'll see that it's a house that's been added on to and added onto and added on to and added on to.
SPEAKER_00: But that's the humble beginnings.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says very clearly do not despise humble beginnings.
SPEAKER_00: Don't look down on things that may have started small.
SPEAKER_00: There was a lot of great ministry in the early years of Spring Lake.
SPEAKER_00: And as a matter of fact, many of you watching this right now are the fruit of ministry that went on in those early years of Spring Lake, in the 90s and the early 2000s, as the church grew and we saw life change happen.
SPEAKER_00: They saw life change happen in that window.
SPEAKER_00: The church had a tumultuous season.
SPEAKER_00: A time, honestly, of cleaning house.
SPEAKER_00: Out of that window came a season of healing and restoration, and an interim pastor who all of us should be grateful for because he brought so much healing to Spring Lake.
SPEAKER_00: An interim by the name of Gene Heacock.
SPEAKER_00: Gene came in and established and provided a stability to the church when it was greatly needed.
SPEAKER_00: So now you've got this church that's coming out of a mess in several different ways.
SPEAKER_00: You have an interim who people love and really don't want to leave.
SPEAKER_00: So who in the world is gonna want to come to a church that's coming out of a tumultuous season and yet had someone come in and do so well?
SPEAKER_00: And now you got to fill those shoes and make sure you don't go backwards to what just happened.
SPEAKER_00: That's where I come in.
SPEAKER_00: I was introduced to Spring Lake by actually three other churches in Wisconsin that had called me to talk.
SPEAKER_00: I had never set foot in Wisconsin a day in my life before that.
SPEAKER_00: And a friend of a friend of a friend apparently passed my name on to the church.
SPEAKER_00: My installation service was March 23rd, 2014.
SPEAKER_00: And coming from Florida in March, I had plenty of shorts and t-shirts.
SPEAKER_00: Didn't realize that was not going to be enough.
SPEAKER_00: Quickly learned.
SPEAKER_00: We did a baptism service.
SPEAKER_00: The quick backstory is we actually had the baptism set up in this room in Bellevue, and it sprung a leak a couple of days before the baptism.
SPEAKER_00: So a group of us is here after midnight, drying the floors, drying the walls, because the water was seeping up in the walls.
SPEAKER_00: And we went and got a new bapt bapticuzi, a jacuzzi that we could use outside, and we set it up what was once a hill, which is now where the gym is.
SPEAKER_00: And I came out to speak that Sunday in shorts, no socks and no shoes on.
SPEAKER_00: Caught some people by surprise.
SPEAKER_00: My thinking is it's a baptism service.
SPEAKER_00: We went out, we had a few people that we had planned on baptizing, and people, both at the 9 o'clock and 10:30 service, just kept coming off of the hill.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be baptized.
SPEAKER_00: I want to dedicate my life to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I want this to be a new start.
SPEAKER_00: None of it planned, all inspired by how the Holy Spirit was changing people's hearts and minds.
SPEAKER_00: It was an incredible moment.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe it was a benchmark of what God wanted to do.
SPEAKER_00: In 2016, we did one of our first worship nights.
SPEAKER_00: And we knew the Spirit was moving, and it was a shift in the way that we had worshiped as a church.
SPEAKER_00: Growth began to happen.
SPEAKER_00: We grew to four services.
SPEAKER_00: We were locked ourselves in a room as an elder board.
SPEAKER_00: We were like, we can't keep going like this.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna burn out staff.
SPEAKER_00: We were killing the facilities as well.
SPEAKER_00: We locked ourselves in a room and said, we're not coming out until we have an answer.
SPEAKER_00: We went in many different directions, many different paths, and hours later, we left with clarity that downtown was our next step.
SPEAKER_00: It has established an incredible community right in the heart of our community.
SPEAKER_00: Downtown has provided us an opportunity to love our city with things like community Christmas, right in the heart, once again, of where this city functions.
SPEAKER_00: We've had partnerships with the St.
SPEAKER_00: John Shelter and with Young Life and with other groups downtown that have been able to bless our city where it was needed.
SPEAKER_00: During COVID, we were able to open our doors and use it as a safe facility for those who didn't have COVID from some of the other shelters.
SPEAKER_00: Our student ministries have been able to house there as we do serve our city events.
SPEAKER_00: They sleep right there in the auditorium or in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: You go down there now, eight years later, and that community is established and they love each other.
SPEAKER_00: It's exciting to see what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: We follow that up with COVID, and people are wondering are we ever gonna be back in buildings or are people just gonna live in their houses and their basements?
SPEAKER_00: Bellevue had filled back up.
SPEAKER_00: Downtown was very stuck, solid, and steady.
SPEAKER_00: So we put a hold on any other planning, and little by little, going into 2022, we started seeing that we needed to take that next step of expansion.
SPEAKER_00: And Lawrence was birthed.
SPEAKER_00: Little did we know as we were voting as a church to agree to move forward to look for a campus.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't know where, we didn't know if it would be a build-out or property or a storefront.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't know how much we had an idea, we voted on that as a congregation, but there was a pastor in town praying, and he called us and said, We have this piece of property.
SPEAKER_00: And as he was praying with what to do with it, he said, The Lord laid on his call, heart to call Spring Lake.
SPEAKER_00: That's where our Lord's campus is now.
SPEAKER_00: God was at work behind the scenes.
SPEAKER_00: Only God could do this stuff.
SPEAKER_00: No pastor could manipulate this scene.
SPEAKER_00: No businessman, there is no plan that's going to capture all that God is already preparing to do now.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's provision and work over the last decade, both in services and in outreaches, to the broader community, has been astounding and once again something that can only be by his hand.
SPEAKER_00: With this addition and the folks and staff that have been added, there are some things that can't change.
SPEAKER_00: Through all of this, we've worked to stay the same church with the same heart for Jesus, both locally and globally.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to make the jump now to where we are at the current day.
SPEAKER_00: And you have to understand, everything I talk about in current day has been built on the hearts and the minds and the labors of an amazing staff and incredible volunteers.
SPEAKER_00: This church's lifeblood is in the amazing volunteers that make this church go.
SPEAKER_00: People who feel called to serve and do what they do.
SPEAKER_00: And whether that's worship teams or kids or students' ministry, kids' camps, serving teams, life group leaders, greeting, ushers, coffee teams, set up and teardown teams for events, just to name a few.
SPEAKER_00: These are the hands and feet of Jesus in a practical way to these ministries.
SPEAKER_00: Our prayer teams, which cover all of this.
SPEAKER_00: And once again, prayer is not preparation for the battle, prayer is the battle.
SPEAKER_00: So if that got us to where we are, where are we?
SPEAKER_00: And as I said before, as we look to now, let's not lose the plot.
SPEAKER_00: What are we called to do?
SPEAKER_00: What are we called to be?
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just about building.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, the last 24 months were needed for buildings, but then how do we move to building people?
SPEAKER_00: And it's by establishing and preparing.
SPEAKER_00: We are preparing to re-establish, here's how I would say it, who we are, our DNA.
SPEAKER_00: We want to re-establish our mission.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission, a practical definition of mission is it's what we do and for whom we do it and how we do it every day.
SPEAKER_00: The present actions.
SPEAKER_00: That's our mission.
SPEAKER_00: And we also want to re-establish our vision.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what will the world look like when we succeed?
SPEAKER_00: What difference will we make in the big picture?
SPEAKER_00: And the vision will outlive us in the future.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read our mission statement to you, and then we'll talk just a little bit about it.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission statement is loving God through meaningful worship and time spent in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: We're maturing in his character through studying the Bible, serving others using our spiritual gifts, and building meaningful relationships that lead to mutual edification and accountability.
SPEAKER_00: We are reaching the world through sharing the timeless message of Christ's love and forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Loving God, maturing in his character, reaching the world.
SPEAKER_00: Every single week, every single weekend, every single event, this is the goal.
SPEAKER_00: And it is not linear, it is a triangle in which we're doing each of these with every event, with every weekend, with every uh group that meets.
SPEAKER_00: We move from that into our vision, which the mission is set to move us toward.
SPEAKER_00: Spring Lake Church, by the power of the Holy Spirit, will develop and equip tens of thousands of people to be Christ's followers and disciple makers, resulting in an enduring legacy of God's love in northeastern Wisconsin and the world.
SPEAKER_00: Once again, this outlives us.
SPEAKER_00: This is our legacy.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't have time to deep dive into this, but if you have gone through our lead class, which I highly recommend, or if you've gone through Starting Point, you'll get through more of the details and discussions of these two uh mission and vision and uh get the heart of who we are.
SPEAKER_00: Membership.
SPEAKER_00: For more details, you can take that step as well.
SPEAKER_00: As a church, we've really built on four pillars that we see that God has strengthened and called us to accomplish or to do well.
SPEAKER_00: And that's our weekends, our groups, that's both care groups and life groups, which you hear about on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_00: Our family ministry, awana, kids ministry, student ministries, and our outreach.
SPEAKER_00: All of those we feel are a biblical calling, and once again, we go more into those in those classes I mentioned earlier.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the deal, though, the thread for all of that is our relationships.
SPEAKER_00: You can't read scripture, you can't read the words of Jesus and not see the importance of the statements that end with or include one another, loving one another, caring for one another, a level of compassion toward one another, challenging one another, iron sharpening iron with one another.
SPEAKER_00: All of these are great, but they're about building up people, not just accomplishing a plan.
SPEAKER_00: We want to reestablish and prepare, remind us who we are.
SPEAKER_00: We prepare by recruiting, training.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just want people to step into roles.
SPEAKER_00: We want to make sure you feel equipped in what you're called to do in prayer that can never become secondary to who we are as a church and resourcing the ministries we have, not just with people, but also with equipment.
SPEAKER_00: They're both necessary.
SPEAKER_00: And then in mobilizing, as Arlen likes to say, easy steps, easy on roads towards ministry, easy onroads toward being able to share our faith.
SPEAKER_00: And in that we'll multiply, we'll multiply teams.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see the harvest multiply.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Lift your eyes and look to the harvest.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's ready.
SPEAKER_00: Do we have the workers who have the heart to be ready for the harvest coming in?
SPEAKER_00: God has blessed us in this region with an influence and an affluence.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't take that lightly.
SPEAKER_00: And it is not a bragging point, it's a responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: We've been blessed.
SPEAKER_00: And as I've said before, sometimes blessed sounds better than it feels.
SPEAKER_00: Because this blessing requires us to be responsible with it.
SPEAKER_00: We'll continue to be to prepare and be ready for local and global missions and how we can bless and help equip other churches.
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like for us to not just be involved with things with a Spring Lake title on the door?
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like to get behind and maybe help support other plants and other churches?
SPEAKER_00: There's going to be more on that to come in the future.
SPEAKER_00: So this is who we've been.
SPEAKER_00: We are preparing, we are reestablishing who we are, strengthening what's going in now.
SPEAKER_00: We're pulling the battleships in from uh consistently going out and building.
SPEAKER_00: We're cleaning the battleships up, we're preparing them for whatever God has in the next season after this one.
SPEAKER_00: And that leads us to the future.
SPEAKER_00: What does the future look like?
SPEAKER_00: And I would say if you're looking 10 years into the future, the answer I would give you is I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: What I've learned is that the plan is in pencil, but the direction is in ink.
SPEAKER_00: What does the plan look like for the future?
SPEAKER_00: I would ask you to be praying for us as a staff, as an elder board and church leadership, as ministry leaders, be praying that we're aware, like the weathermen, to see what the weather is that that's about to happen, see the move of God, and then be able to report it.
SPEAKER_00: It's our prayer to stay ahead of that curve, but not ahead of God.
SPEAKER_00: To see where He's leading us to build bridges to the future.
SPEAKER_00: What I can promise you is we stay true to Scripture, we stay true to our DNA, who God has called us to be as a church, and we continue loving God and loving Green Bay.
SPEAKER_00: Now, so what?
SPEAKER_00: As I wrap this up, so what?
SPEAKER_00: What does this have to do with everyone in the seats or anyone who may be watching online, other than the fact that now you know kind of the plan, the history, and where we are now?
SPEAKER_00: I would ask the question: if you call Spring Lake home, what's your part in where we are now?
SPEAKER_00: What's your part in the ministries that God has opened the doors to us having within our church and within our community?
SPEAKER_00: Are you currently serving?
SPEAKER_00: If so, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: If not, and you call Spring Lake home, I would ask, why not?
SPEAKER_00: What's keeping you from serving?
SPEAKER_00: Are you telling?
SPEAKER_00: Have you invited anyone to church?
SPEAKER_00: Have you shared your faith story?
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that involves Spring Lake, maybe it doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: But have we shared our testimony and our stories of what God has done?
SPEAKER_00: Remember what we read earlier, it's the mile markers.
SPEAKER_00: Don't forget your story, don't forget what God has done.
SPEAKER_00: Don't lose the plot.
SPEAKER_00: Are we giving towards Spring Lake?
SPEAKER_00: I would ask, if you are, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not, is there a reason?
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to have that conversation and you have a question.
SPEAKER_00: And the big one that I would end with is are you praying for your church?
SPEAKER_00: Are you praying for leadership?
SPEAKER_00: Are you praying for the different ministries that go on?
SPEAKER_00: Because there is everyday stuff that happens, there's battles that go on that feel very practical, but scripture tells us very clearly we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, and rulers in our places.
SPEAKER_00: I would ask you to be praying.
SPEAKER_00: And as a matter of fact, what we want to do to close this message out is I want to turn this back over to the campus pastors, and we're gonna take a moment to pray.
SPEAKER_00: For Bellevue, for Lawrence, for downtown, for those online who have yet to set foot in a spring lake church, and maybe you live in a different state.
SPEAKER_00: We have a number of people who join us that way, but can we pray that, like good weathermen, we pay attention to what God is doing now, and we be prepared for what He does next?