My friend Gary Lamb, pastor of Revolution Church, just posted his perspective on how yesterday went on his blog here. You need to read it! So thankful to have Gary as my friend.
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From the monthly archives:
March 2009
A major part of our event last night was the LIVE creation of an awesome graffiti mural. Camron & Corrine are so gifted that it really blew me away! They went from a blank bunch of wood to something majestic in just about two hours or so! To create buzz and give people a sneak peak of what we would be doing, we started the mural outside before the event, broke it down, and finished it inside during our event. It’s beautiful and will go inside of our offices when when we move in! Get the entire recap of our event here!
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Man! I have so much to say about our “Power of ONE” event that I really don’t know where to begin. Before I say anything, I wanna give BIG SHOUT OUTS to everyone that made last night such a great success. We are getting powerful testimonies and feedback and could not have done it without you!
BIG SHOUT OUTS! (Scroll down for our recap)
- From the crack of dawn until nearly 11pm a group of staff & volunteers from The Courageous Church showed up in a major way! I love y’all and love serving God alongside you!
- Jinean – most of this event spun off of your creative vision and hard work! Bless you! You are the bomb!
- I am so humbled and thankful for the generosity and hard work from my good friends @ Revolution Church in Canton! They provided ALL of our audio & video equipment, set it all up, tested it over and over and over again, and ran the service like it was one of their own.
- Thanks to my friend Stephen @ Integrity Music & Traci @ Mariner’s Church in Irvine, CA for making our video of our friend Israel Houghton possible on very short notice during a crazy busy time in all of their lives! Technology is so amazing!
- I asked hundreds of you all across the world to pray for the success of our event and you shot me messages all night letting me know you were praying! Means the world to me!
- A huge shout out to The Remnant, Funk Lordz, Gina Loring, our graffiti crew, DJ Dust, Deacon & The Courageous Church worship team, and all of the creative wonders that took our service to a whole nutha level! You all were AMAZING!
- Thank you to all of you that came out and experienced God in a fresh, new way!
- Scott Hodge & crew sent us a ton of glow sticks, but UPS messed up the order and we couldn’t use them! We are thankful anyways!
- Dean Carter, Roy Craft, my main man Sam the sound tech, and the entire Morehouse College family was very gracious the entire night and allowed us to really push the envelope in a major way.
- A big personal shout-out to my wife for holding it down with all 5 kids by herself last night! You are amazing (and hot)!
- If I left anybody out, you know I’m a thankful dude!
PRE-EVENT RECAP of Power of ONE @ Morehouse College
- We arrived @ Morehouse @ 9am to begin setting up and preparing for our event @ 7pm. I was in a pretty serious mood most of the day because our production for our event was pretty stinking elaborate and were really only going to have about 2 hours to rehearse as one big team. I would not advise this!
- We ordered 5,000 flyers that were supposed to be in on Friday, then on Saturday, then Sunday, and they never showed up yesterday! We got a refund, but I will probably never use MiamiFlyers.com again if I’m in any type of hurry. Our team winged a last minute marketing blitz with homemade flyers and free pizza that helped create a lot of buzz and boosted our attendance at the last minute.
- We also promoted the heck out of our event on Facebook with ads, etc. and anticipate that half of our crowd learned about the event online.
- Chad, Thad, Preston, Kevin, Swift, Ricky, and Gary (did I leave somebody out…that sounds like a rock group) from Revolution Church showed up early and BIG with a rocking sound system, projectors, screens, and all of that stuff! They are were awesome! (See my shout out above)
- Let me say a bit more about the work that God is building together with Revolution Church & Courageous Church……
- After the event was over last night, the Dean of the Chapel @ Morehouse College was very curious how “a church like mine” and a “church like Gary’s” had gotten together to do an event on the campus of Morehouse College – the only college for Black men in the country. I discussed this with Gary and our teams for a few minutes and I think it warrants a blog post very soon.
THE EVENT!!!
- I connected so much with a new song that Israel Houghton has out called “The Power of ONE” that we decided to shape our event after this theme.
- Morehouse College basically gave us complete freedom to do WHATEVER we wanted to do and we ran with it.
- To help generate BUZZ and attention and to give people a sneak peek of what we would be doing once we opened the doors to the event, we set up a HUGE GRAFFITI mural outside of King Chapel that we would start outside, break down, and finish inside. It was amazing! Pictures are coming soon, but it was BEAUTIFUL and shocking that this art was done live in just a few hours.
- Our b-boy crew, FunkLordz, also performed outside of King Chapel and they were the bomb! They were super talented, a ton of fun, and gave people a glimpse of what our event would look like.
- The Dean of the Chapel thought what we were doing was a ton of fun and I was pleased with this because I really didn’t know what he’d think!
- People kept asking outside, “This is going to be a church service?” We smiled and said YES!
- We started the event with a comedic hip-hop voiceover of the story of creation that really got people loose and laughing.
- Then the Funk Lordz came out for a dance set that was THE BOMB! Everybody there seemed to really enjoy them. Our event was supposed to have a hip-hop theme and we really wanted to incorporate all of the different elements into our time.
- After the Funk Lordz did their thing, DJ Dust used Serrato technology to really mix & chop up a very simple intro video he filmed of me on Sunday after our service. I LOVED IT! LOVED IT I TELL YOU!
- Gina Loring – poet/rapper/singer extraordinaire performed an awesome piece that immediately set the tone for where we planned on taking the night. When I tell you that this sister is BAD I am making a major understatement. She was amazing!
- The Courageous Church worship team then came with 2 really awesome songs (Hero & Lions, Tigers, and Bears and DJ Dust used Serrato to mix up some videos during the songs.
- During all of this, our graffiti artists were finishing up on stage the mural they started outside!
- We played an awesome video that Israel Houghton filmed just for us on the Power of ONE followed by his track of the same name. We’re uploading the video for you to see now…
- The Remnant then came with some amazing tracks that they customized just for our event! These guys are the bomb! My wife (who is very picky) loved them and thought they may have been the highlight of the night.
- After this I preached a message on how ONE person can change the world and shared some common reasons we all use to not do what God has called us to do! People were very engaged and received the message very well.
- I have spoken @ Morehouse nearly 10 times and chose to tone down my style of preaching tonight to be very conversational and easy to follow. This doesn’t happen much @ Morehouse and folk seemed to appreciate it.
- After my message I did an altar call and prayed person by person for everyone that came forward. This exposed my Pentecostal roots, but I still believe in this :-)
- During the altar call we did a remake of the Beyonce song “Flaws & All”
- We closed out the night with an awesome track from Deacon & Marquan and some dancing by Funk Lordz
Sounds like a lot, right? We did all of this in about an hour and a half (and I didn’t even mention the offering and announcements)!
Some Amazing Feedback!
- The Dean of the Chapel said we had the largest number of students in a chapel service in a very long time. I was pleased with this.
- The Dean had a big smile on his face and was very complimentary afterwards. I was glad for this because I still get the feeling that The Courageous Church might eventually hold a Sunday night service there @ Morehouse on a weekly basis.
- Gary Lamb said our church “might have the most unique and creative worship elements I’ve ever seen. Very impressed!” and that our DJ, DJ Dust was “Best I’ve ever heard…Amazing”
- A college student wrote me on Facebook right after the event and said that the sermon was “one of the best I’ve ever heard.”
- Another college student wrote and said, “I have never seen a church use so many different skills and gifts and talents in one service.”
- Several senior pastors and youth pastors in attendance said, “Can I steal your ideas?” or “I am taking this stuff back to our church right away.” I love that! Steal away!
- Nearly a dozen people came up to me after the service and commented on the very first point that I made on how it seems that God chooses and uses the “wrong” people. They have felt like the “wrong” people their entire lives and now see that God loves using people that don’t quite fit the status quo.
I’ve written all I can stand to write! I wish we had video of the service, but we’re just 2.5 months old and we’re just not there yet!
If you were there, I’d love to get your feedback!
Also, if you are an AUC student, what do you think about us hosting a weekly Sunday night service there sometime in the next year or so?
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- I am having a hard time writing this post because I am so focused and amped about the event we’re hosting @ Morehouse tomorrow night!
- Lord, help us connect 100s of college students to YOU in a real and powerful way!
- Did I tell you that I’m having a hard time concentrating?!?!
- Attendance was great today @ the church and @ our Free Breakfast.
- We had about 10 leaders and volunteers out of town or on Spring Break and we really felt the difference.
- We need to empower more of our attenders to be active and dedicated volunteers.
- People really responded well to the message and music this morning.
- My NCAA Bracket is busted! I had Louisville winning. Are you still in the running?
- My wife fixed a great dinner and dessert! I love that woman.
- Looking forward to the Apprentice tonight. Do you watch it?
- I have to do the dishes.
- I have five kids (we have our niece for Spring break) in the house.
- That means we have a TON of dishes.
- Really looking forward to Servolution Week which begins this Friday! You can sign up and learn more here today!
- My buddy & fellow ARC pastor Josh launched their church today in Rome, GA! So proud of him and his awesome crew!
- Gotta run!
- Pray for our success @ Morehouse tomorrow!
- Follow my updates of the event @ Twitter.com/ShaunKing
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Check out this Facebook invite for our event @ Morehouse College this Monday!
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I was reading this post from my buddy Los yesterday and it really got me thinking about the scoundrel I used to be. Don’t get me wrong, I am still a pretty messed up dude in need of the grace and mercy of God every single day, but I am not who or what I used to be. Sure, some remnants are left behind and I still slip up and cuss or lose my temper every now and then, but I am sure that God has made me into something quite new.
Not too long ago I was ashamed of who and what I used to be and have always been very reluctant to share many of the low moments from my past, but I am at a place in my life where I am believing that somebody out there needs to know that although I have a few butterfly moments (see picture below) today, I used to be a hairy worm (see picture above)!
One of the most powerful things a Christian has is a testimony! When we hide or tuck away or compartmentalize serious segments of our past as if they did not happen, we are not only denying someone else an opportunity to be blessed and encouraged by our story, we are really acting like we are embarrassed by God.
Hear my heart, God did not bless you and change you from the inside out just for you. He did it for others to be encouraged by your example and He did it to bring back glory to His name.
I’m going to be sharing some PRETTY WILD never-before-heard details about my past & history in the comments here and I would encourage you to join in with me to tell the world who you used to be so that they can appreciate the mighty work God has done in your life!
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A few words about my wife before I recap today…
- It’s my blog, I’m going to be super honest tonight.
- Before we launched The Courageous Church, my wife was @ wits end with church and told me that she honestly thought she could do without it.
- We quickly learned that she was far from alone with these feelings (now our church is full of people just like her).
- I prayed to God several times that he would use me and our church plant to help restore her confidence in the church. I was told by another senior pastor that this was a pretty stupid prayer.
- We spent nearly 9 months @ Buckhead Church before we launched our church and this time was a total respite for my entire family after a pretty rough exit from our previous church that left us all a bit broken.
- I have never seen my wife as on fire for God and for His church than I have over the past few weeks.
- She’s singing. She’s planning. She’s socializing. She’s dreaming. (And she’s a hot babe)
- As pumped as I am about our attendance rising, testimonies of life change happening, people committing to baptism, and more…
- I have to admit that seeing God answer the many prayers I prayed for my wife is pretty stinking high on my celebration list. THANK YOU JESUS! (If I could dance I would do a Pentecostal Holy Dance…but I can’t dance and I think I’m too cool for the Holy Dance :-)
Recap of Our Services!
- I’m spending more time on sermon prep than I ever have in my life (12-18 hours a week). I still don’t have any sacred time carved out for this where I go without any interruptions, but I’m going to try to do so this week.
- This week was the first week our leaders ever really met together to creatively plan out our services and it really paid off. We’ve been winging it in a major way.
- Dorothy, one of our newest worship leaders, told us right away that it was obvious we were only making it by the Grace of God! That’s an understatement!
- Our free breakfast (learn more and see the videos here) is a very big hit and is helping us build a real community. It helps that the food is so doggone good!
- Before we started our free breakfast, attendance was spotty every week when we started the service…
- Now we have a pretty full crowd by the time we start our welcome because folk have already showed up for breakfast.
- I was pretty bummed that we could not use our projector and screen this morning! The room they were stored in was locked and we could not contact the person with the key! A few former criminals tried to open the door, but we couldn’t open it without scratching anything up :-)
- We moved forward and our worship team was great!
- We sang Mighty to Save (Hillsong United) and Imagine Me (Kirk Franklin) and a new song by Israel Houghton called One that is AMAZING and fits our church more than anything else out there!
- We’re wondering if we can play it every Sunday after our service ends…we love it that much!
- I started our SERVOLUTION series today and I think it is going to not only have a radical impact on our church but on Atlanta! More about this tomorrow…
- I have to cook dinner! Big ‘ol homemade turkey burgers on the grill so I have to hurry up.
- God has blessed our church with such a selfless, hardworking crew of servant-leaders! I am so thankful to God!
- People show up @ the butt crack of dawn and stay until past lunchtime to make what we do a success and do so with a BIG smile for 6 straight hours!
- I love y’all!
- Gotta run before I burn the burgers!
- Can’t wait to see what in the world Dennis Rodman is so mad about on Celebrity Apprentice :-)
- PS – My wife has a great blog post up about our weekend here!
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I came really close to starting The Courageous Church nearly 7 years ago. To get prepared, I asked about a dozen pastors what the hardest thing was about being a Senior Pastor. Time and time again the one thing that I heard over and over was how hard it was to see people that you thought would be around for a long time come and go. For some pastors, this was obviously very devastating and hard to handle.
For the past seven years I served as a leader and staff pastor at a megachurch here in Atlanta and witnessed first-hand how tough it could be for key people and families to come and go through the rotating door of the church. So, by the time we prepared to launch our church, I was pretty doggone ready for this to be a reality.
However, my buddy Chris Elrod gave me the best advice I could hear just days before our grand opening in January to prepare for the reality that I am already experiencing. Here is what Chris broke down for me…
Some people are going to be there for your ministry just for a very short season to help you get from A to B. Others may last as long as A to K (or even A to Z) and after you launch new people will come along down the road after things are stable that will stick with you from F to Z. Just love them and let them leave with an open hand when the time comes.
Steven Furtick said it this way,
“There are too many people waiting to be reached for a pastor to agonize over those who don’t want to stay. You have too much going for you to expend energy trying to convince another person to love you, accept you, believe in you…If someone can walk away from you, let them walk. Gracefully, with dignity.
Your destiny is never connected to those who leave. Build on the foundation that remains.
I thank God that I learned this lesson early! The challenge is, though, to not get jaded and not love people less because you know that they may leave one day. I’m going to continue putting it all on the line and let the chips fall where they may!
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A few days ago I told you about some rather drastic steps that I take to avoid moral failure in life and ministry and set off a firestorm of very passionate comments. I actually learned a lot from many of the comments and perspectives that were offered. However, one criticism that I took to heart was that a few people wondered what positive actions that I actually take to keep my marriage hot & spicy and I want to share a few of those thoughts with you.
Let me preface what I am about to tell you with this disclaimer: My wife and I don’t have a perfect marriage and we aren’t perfect people. These steps and strategies will help you, but taking them does not mean you’ll never fuss or argue or disagree again! In fact, hot & spicy is more of a goal for our marriage and not a constant reality :-)
Hot & Spicy Tip #1: Mandatory Weekly Date Nights – with 4 kids and very busy schedules, my wife and I have wanted to have a weekly date night for years and just haven’t been able to make it work. We do this now and will never turn back. Nothing fancy, but we might go to a movie, get a bite to eat, or head to the bookstore. Just some unfiltered time alone to talk and appreciate each other without kids grabbing at us!
Hot & Spicy Tip #2: Know Your Role – My wife is a strong and bold Spelman woman, but she and I both know that we have some very specific roles in our marriage that we have to play consistently to keep each other engaged. This in no way means that we are limited to these roles, but we both take care of them well. My primary role is to make my wife (and kids) feel very secure (physically, emotionally, financially, etc.) and I will do anything & everything to make this happen. My wife thinks its sexy that I will work three jobs to make ends meet or chase down robbers @ gun point to protect our family. I know my role.
Hot & Spicy Tip #3: Good Sex -I won’t go into great detail here so that I can keep my blog PG-13, but my wife and I feel pretty strongly that this is important for any great marriage.
Hot & Spicy Tip #4: More Good Sex sorry about that. Thinking about Tip #3 really got me distracted :-)
Hot & Spicy Tip #4: Open, Honest, Frequent Communication – This has not always been a strength in our marriage because it really took several years for me to really open up and talk to my wife about my true thoughts and feelings. However, I have found that doing so is essential if my wife is going to know how to really be supportive of me. At this point in my wife I can honestly say that my wife is my very best friend. We tell each other everything and support and coach each other through all of the curve balls of life. She’s not a stranger -but knows my hurts, pains, hopes, and dreams – and vice versa. This keeps our marriage fresh AND real.
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Do you use the things on this list? What would you add to it?
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The Courageous Church has been given a HUGE and rather groundbreaking opportunity to reach Atlanta’s college students on Monday, March 30th @7pm and we are going to need YOUR help!
Our church was asked to kick off a week long revival on the campus of Morehouse College by overseeing the entire production (music, videos, preaching, offering, altar call, etc.) of one night of the revival. Each night has a theme and our theme is Hip Hop Night. I don’t know if I should laugh or crap my pants when I look at who is leading the other nights, but do names like Bishop Eddie Long, Bishop Paul Morton, and Hezekiah Walker ring a bell? :-) The chapel holds 2501 people! The 1 extra was because Dr. King always said we should make room for one more! Let’s pack it out baby!
Anyways, here is where we are going to need some MAJOR help! Major! Did I say MAJOR?!?! Yes MAJOR!
1. We are hoping to have at least one VERY PROMINENT hip hop artist perform a live song there with us OR give their testimony live before the audience. Think & dream BIG! I will speak with anybody to help make this happen! Think Diddy. Kanye. T-Pain. OutKast. BIG. Who do you know that can make this happen? My contact info is @ the bottom of this post.
2. We want to do 8-10 short videos of well-known hip hop artists that answer the following: Describe a very tough time that you endured when you knew only God could save you. Did you pray? Ask God for help? Did He answer?
We need you to pull out all of the stops to help us make these videos a reality! Same thing…I will talk to anybody you need me to talk with to make this happen! Who do you know that knows somebody that knows somebody that can interview hip hop artists that have influence in the lives of young people?
3. We have friends that do videography across the country, but we need you, your church, your business etc. to volunteer some time to help us shoot these quick videos!
4. We need to use a HUGE audio/video system for FREE on Monday, March 30th to help us maximize our sound. King Chapel @ Morehouse College has a system that was not designed for hip hop.
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That’s it for now! Who can you call? Who do I need to butter up and smooth talk? How can we make this happen?
Email me @ shaunking@courageous.tv or call me @ 404.461.9850 and we can connect ASAP!
Bless you! Let’s reach thousands of college students for Jesus together!
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Did a pretty cool 30 minute “Straight Talk” interview with my friends @ Streaming Faith recently that will be airing tomorrow (Thursday, March 19th) @ 1:30pm EST! Click on the picture to get there. I am also pretty sure that they store the archives as well and I’ll let you know as soon as they put it up!
Shout out to my main man Milan Ford for making this happen!
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Our family had a ton of fun tonight celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. We’re obviously not very Irish (we’re more Irish than you may think though), but we we wanted to teach the kids a bit about another culure and have a goofy good time in the process! Check out her photos and description of all that we did here on her blog!
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- I knew that the cold weather and the rain was going to make our attendance spotty this morning.
- WRONG!
- Attendance was up significantly from last week and we had the largest # of first time visitors since our Grand Opening!
- Can you tell that I’m pumped?!
- My wife sang with our worship team this morning and they were great! Dorothy & Joe were awesome with their songs (God of This City & Waiting on the World to Change)!
- People really love & appreciate being able to gather together and eat a FREE BREAKFAST every Sunday morning!
- No matter who you are or even if you have to leave after breakfast, come on out and eat and hang with us! All of the details are @ FreeBreakfastChurch.com
- I am so thankful for the HUGE team of volunteers that pull off our breakfast and service and setup and breakdown! I love y’all like family! You are amazing!
- Thank all of you for signing the SUPERCOOL card that you gave our family for the new baby!
- How cool is it to see volunteers that you don’t know? I love that!
- Our new meeting space is getting rave reviews! Better than we expected! Here are directions!
- Pray for us this week because we are working on a lease there for additional office space that should be finalized this week.
- We did something VERY DIFFERENT for me this morning and I facilitated a Q&A during the sermon that people seemed to really connect with & enjoy. Always a risk with questions, but it really went well.
- When we created ChurchSucksChallenge.com we learned that people think the proverbial gap between the pulpit and pew is way too big. Tried to close that gap this morning!
- Many people committed to baptism this morning and our church is developing plans for when and where we will do this. Stay tuned!
- I am really proud to report that our church is really becoming a community of faith and not just a destination. Breakfast before the service is helping this!
- SERVOLUTION IS COMING SOON to DOWNTOWN ATLANTA! I cannot wait! It’s going to be amazing. Details soon…
- Did you see who is preaching on Monday, March 30th @ Morehouse College? Did you see who else is preaching? What in the world were they thinking when they invited me? :-)
- Oh yeah…My beautiful wife blogged about today here on her blog.
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I am struggling a bit with sermon prep and could use your help! Our church doesn’t yet have offices and my house of 6 is pretty crowded!
Right now I normally try to wake up super early in the morning to get some private time for sermon prep and this is working pretty good. I’d love to know how you prepare your sermons.
How long do you take? Where do you go? Any tips? Tell me all of your secrets :-)
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It is super early (4:30am) and I am about to head to Anderson, South Carolina to NewSpring Church for UNLEASH with a few members of the Courageous Church team! Pretty stinking amped! Praying that our team will get a glimpse of all that God can do and bring back even bigger dreams for downtown Atlanta!
This is the first time I have been away from my wife and the family since we had the baby in January! Pray for me and for her. I am quite the homebody!
PS – Follow me @ Twitter.com/ShaunKing for updates today!
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Nothing will zap your marriage, ministry, or leadership greater than moral failure. Several times a week I receive devastating emails and phone calls from people suffering the grave fallout from some type of scandal. Moral failure leaves behind a certain residue that is just really hard for most folk to overcome and should be avoided like the plague.
Many people see me as an example of how to be a husband, parent, and leader with integrity and I am thankful for this, but it’s not easy and it takes a lot of effort on my part and help from other people. In fact, I take pretty drastic measures to avoid moral failure. I’d advise you to do the same thing.
I’m not bragging. Heck – some of you may even think that what I am about to say is weird, but my wife is the only woman I have ever had sex with. We’ve been together since I was 16 (I’m 29 now) and I have been able to avoid moral failure in my marriage by going the extra mile to do what many others might find ridiculous. Two of my favorite pastors (and bloggers) – Perry Noble & Craig Groeschel -recently shared the measures they take to avoid moral failure and I want to share mine as well.
Here is what Craig said he does.
Here is what Perry said he does.
Here are a four things that I do:
- My wife (and other people) has access to every cell phone, laptop, bank account, email account, voicemail, social network, text message, etc. that I have or use. No one has the time (or desire) to police these accounts word for word, but they are monitored.
- I go to great lengths to never be alone with another woman and have done this for the past 10+ years. It’s not that I think women are falling all over me (they aren’t), but I don’t even want the appearance or possibility of failure to be out there. Some people actually see this as some type of admission of weakness on my part. Maybe so, but I don’t care. The proof that it works is my marriage.
- I have other people in authority that I answer to and moral covenants that I have signed off on with consequences for moral failure. It appears that being a lone ranger is a major cause of moral failure for the majority of people.
- I surround myself with great examples of what it means to have integrity in life and marriage. Simply seeing and being around these folk keeps me encouraged. It’s much easier to live a certain lifestyle in a community of people doing the same thing.
Do you have any strategies or measures that you take? I’d love to hear them!
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Everything about this breakfast just felt right! That’s why we’ll be doing it again (and again and again!) Get all of the details @ FreeBreakfastChurch.com and spread the word!
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