Six years ago today on Black Friday my whole life changed.
Real life is crazier than fiction and the painful miracle that I experienced is so crazy that if I made it up it would sound ridiculous! Coming that close to death has caused me to not take a single day of life for granted and even though it hurt like hell and took me forever to recover, I wouldn’t trade the pain because I am who I am today (in part) because of it.
Every since that day I have tried hard to go after the dreams and visions that God has placed in my heart. Planting and leading Courageous Church is one of those dreams.
You have dreams too. We all do. Most of us though, including me, chicken out and never pursue them. Some of our excuses are legit. Most of them aren’t. We settle for less than our potential and are left to wonder what coulda/woulda/shoulda been.
Let me tell you one way that I combat that. After really wrestling with a dream or vision, running it by people that I love and trust, praying about it, discerning if it matches up with the Heart of God, and even testing the waters a little bit…
I GO PUBLIC WITH IT. This doesn’t mean I won’t still back out, but going public with your dream is a GAME CHANGER. It demystifies the dream. It causes it to go from a private secret to a public possibility. When you go public with your dream, potential keepers or carriers of that dream begin to appear and sometimes make it their dream too.
Well…today…6 years after getting over 400 stitches on my face and getting my bottom lip and left eyelid sewed back on, I want to announce to you a dream that I have had for nearly ten years. It is going to happen. I feel it my bones. Here goes:
I want to start an elite, award-winning, private Christian, college prep high school in inner city Atlanta for the kids of inner city Atlanta. Nothing like it exists in our city and it will take many miracles for this dream to come to pass.
Each one of the above schools has ONE key feature that I absolutely love! Cristo Rey’s work option, SEED’s boarding dynamic, and Drew’s partnership with the YMCA hook me. Click on the links above to understand more.
This school would be closely related to Courageous Church, but distinctly different from a management and financial perspective. For instance, I am imagining that Courageous Church would use the school auditorium for Sunday services.
I want to form a foundation in the next few months with a Board of Directors that will begin a feasibility program.
I want to begin searching for the first Academic Principal and the first Director of Operations and want them to come from the very best prep schools in the country. I do not plan on running the school in any way. God has been clear with me on this :-)
I have already found three potential locations for the school. One would be an amazing turnkey solution and the other two are vacant lots that would require that the school be built from the ground up. Each location has great benefits.
It would take between $30-$50 million to fund this project.
I believe in miracles and I believe in hard work. When these two things come together AMAZING things happen!
I have received several clear signs that this dream is a GOD THING. One sign is all I need :-)
I have a lot more I could say, but I am putting my business out there because I believe it will serve as a CATALYST for this dream. Do you have any thoughts or impressions? Is God speaking to you about this dream? I would love to see your comments and thoughts! Comment here or email me directly @ shaunking@courageous.tv
After a church service one Sunday recently, a man that was visiting said something to me that took me by surprise. After telling me how much he enjoyed the message and believed in Courageous Church, he said,
“I’m sorry so many pastors talk bad about you.”
It took me a second to catch what he said. I had no idea so many pastors were talking bad about me! I thought about it for a split second and I honestly moved on in my mind and in my heart. Let me tell you why I was able to let this fall right off of me.
I give my life to please God and live for an audience of One. While I hope people are pleased, it is rarely my goal. I preach, teach, and lead to honor the Word of God and the call of God on my life.
I get so much praise and support from my wife, my 5 kids, and from Courageous Church that I honestly don’t need any more.
I live above the fray. I am very aloof to what pastors and other churches talk about in their gossip-time. Did you see where I said I have 5 kids, a wife, and a church to lead?
Most of my friends are rappers that love me more when they find out that other pastors don’t like me :-)
Hey Blog Readers! I need your help.I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP!
We have just about 3 weeks to raise $20,000 to shower holiday blessings on the beautiful kids of Frank L. Stanton Elementary School in inner city Atlanta and many amazing families that lost everything in the Atlanta Floods. This may sound like a huge #, but together we can do it. As a matter of fact, we can only do it together! We did it last year together! Let’s do it again!
Here’s how…
If you can recruit just 10 people to purchase either 1 toy or 1 uniform @ 500toys.org, we will hit our goal! (This is my favorite strategy!)
But maybe you want to recruit 5 people to each purchase 2 toys or 2 uniforms? If so, we will hit our goal. Or maybe you can recruit 1 person to purchase 10 toys or 10 uniforms? If so we will hit our goal.
No matter how you do it, the magic # is 10! Are you willing to pledge to make sure 10 toys or 10 uniforms or any combination of 10 toys or uniforms gets purchased @ 500toys.org or 500uniforms.org?
It will take at least 100 (well 99 because I’m ALL IN) of us to agree to each recruit 10 people to purchase a toy or a uniform.
Will you agree to be to do this? No pressure, but we pretty much can’t do it without you and the kids would be totally disappointed :-)
Would you email me @ shaunking@courageous.tv and let me know if you are down?
The more you remember that YOU NEED MERCY, the easier it is to freely GIVE IT OUT. I can smell a person with mercy amnesia from a mile away. They are judgmental. They spread gossip. They count people out. Having lost touch with how much God has forgiven them, they basically have to live a lie by pretending like they have it all together.
The problem is the more religious most of us get, the more we “go to church”, the more we listen to Christian radio, the more pastors we follow on Twitter – the less we remember how broken we’ve been and still are today.
This is dangerous!
It’s dangerous because the second we lose touch with how much we still need the new mercies of our God we begin to subconsciously pretend like we made it here all by ourselves. But you and I know that you aren’t smart enough, cute enough, wealthy enough, savvy enough, articulate enough, or connected enough to get where you are today or where you want to be tomorrow! You need God!
How many sins have you committed over the course of your life? You can’t even remember every sin you’ve committed. Let’s be real – it would take a scientific calculator to multiply out your sin per year ratio! How many times have you asked or even begged God for forgiveness? How many times have you found yourself in a bind in which you knew ONLY GOD could get you out? We’re talking about some pretty big numbers right?
Listen, I want you to have a healthy self-esteem. I want YOU to feel good about YOU, but if feeling good about YOU requires you to forget how much you need God…something’s wrong!
I’ve won awards and earned degrees. I’ve been on TV and all over the internet, but the bulk of my confidence comes not from myself, but from the fact that the same God that mercifully forgave Peter for denying him three times and then empowered him to lead the first movement of revolutionary Christians is the same God that forgives and empowers me today!
When you live with the mercy of God on your mind (and on your lips) here are at least 3 great things that happen:
1. You bring new people to the faith! By revealing your brokenness and reliance upon the mercy of God, you will gain trust even with strangers. Our contrived togetherness causes broken people to wonder what’s wrong with them instead of what’s right about our God.
2. You stay fresh! Your faith starts dying when you stop living like you need God. It’s great that you have a testimony of what God did for you in 1988, but people will want to know how God has been real for you in 2009. Trust me – a fresh faith rooted in the mercy of God can take you places.
3. You please God! At the end of the day, if you can please people and please God – this is great, but if you have to choose one – choose God! With arms wide open, God receives those with humble hearts that seek His mercy.
As I prepare to begin pre-marital counseling with several couples in our church (can’t wait) I noticed how many churches absolutely will not marry men or women if they are living together. If you are living together, they ask that you move out for up to six months first.
Forgive me if I sound unholy, but I found this to be a bit preposterous. Imagine this…
John & Jane didn’t grow up in church. Unsaved. They have lived together for ten years. They have three kids and love each other and the kids a great deal. They come into a relationship with God and the church and decide they want and need to get married. You are telling me that Dad needs to move out of the house before the church will marry them?
I kind of catch the logic, but I just think it is one too many hoops to jump through.
In fact, I think that all of the hoops that we make people jump through in the church are a major problem! I’m not saying that we lower our standard or quit asking people to leave some things behind to follow God, but I think we are getting pretty carried away.
I was watching Ellen Degeneres (and her wife) on the Oprah Show recently. VERY INTERESTING. Ellen clearly is not a Christian based on her comments on the show. The thing is – most churches I know would not welcome Ellen or her wife there. Period.
But is this right? Doesn’t Ellen have 1001 other things to learn about how to be a great Christian? I think so, but in order for Ellen to learn anything about grace, forgiveness, or generosity from a Christian perspective she must first change? I’m not sure that’s the right order of things.
For years I have told folk that you don’t get your life together and then come to church, but you come to church and then get your life together. Does this just apply for certain sinners?
Courageous Church is in Midtown Atlanta – the gayest part of our city. We have a few gay dudes that have started to attend. Do they have to stop being gay before they serve as an usher? Sing a song? Play an instrument?
How about join a small group? Attend Sunday service? How about attend a class for couples?
Here’s my point – I understand a hoop here and there, but I am afraid our hoops are too arbitrary and too plentiful.
After all, Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
What do you think? Let’s talk this out! What hoops that I discuss above are right or wrong? How do we choose the hoops? Why have them?
I referenced this HILARIOUS clip from The Cosby Show this past Sunday @ Courageous Church as we dive into what it takes to honor God with our money. It is a classic scene from the very first episode with a great exchange between dad and son dealing with what it’s going to cost to make it in life. (“I’ll ride a motorbike” is at 1:59 :-)
I told an entire elementary school in inner city Atlanta that all of my friends online (if you are reading this that definitely means YOU) would purchase every child in the school a brand new uniform and a brand new toy this Christmas. Are you mad?
I know I didn’t get your permission, but it’s pretty much too late now :-)
Since I obligated you, you might as well go to 500toys.org and do your thing! We’ve raised enough for about 80 uniforms so far, but have a LONG way to go and little time to get there!
Oh yeah - if this is going to work it will take you telling everybody you know to join you!
On this past Sunday @ Courageous Church we launched a new series dealing with the intersection of faith, finances, and the church called “iGwt?”. It is the first time we have really dealt with this topic head-on since we launched this past January. People REALLY received it well and I am praying it helps us (and you).
We have a simple microsite up for the series where you can download my sermon notes and the podcast.
Check it out @ www.iGwt.me My first message was entitled “The Naked Truth”
Last year 100s & 100s of people from 25 states and several countries came together and raised over $20,000 to purchase every single student at an award-winning inner city Atlanta elementary school brand new school uniforms and a new toy of their choosing! It was amazing!
This year we are doing it again AND we are also going to give hundreds of kids who lost all of their toys in the Atlanta floods a great new toy (or two) too :-)
If 900 people gave $25 a piece we could knock this out! Or if about 225 people gave $100 we could do it! Whatever you can give, be it $1 or $1,000 – let’s do this!
See the awesome video from our 2008 BIG GIVE and learn about all of the ways you can help us bring hope to hurting children in our city @ 500toys.org
Spread the word, text it, tweet it, email it, facebook it, fedex it, scream it, tell your boss, write an old fashioned letter with paper and pen…do whatever you can to make this cause huge!
I hope you see that the question in the title of this post is rhetorical. If you ever happen to offend a billion people…or ONE person on accident – I have 3 simple tips for you.
1. Accept that you did indeed offend them (if you meant to offend them or not should be temporarily irrelevant).
2. Say you are sorry from the heart and don’t say something like “I’m sorry IF I offended…” but say “I’m sorry THAT I offended…”
3. Change the offensive behavior. If you don’t, #1 & #2 mean nothing.
Why am I saying this? My good friend and fellow Covenant pastor Eugene Cho made it painfully obvious today on his blog that my (internet) friends Mike Foster & Jud Wilhite, with the marketing and promotions of their Deadly Vipers concept, are being highly insensitive and very offensive to Asian people. You have to read it for yourself.
I say this @ Courageous all of the time, but I love people that tell me I have a booger hanging out of my nose. There is nothing worse than walking around and talking to folk with a floaty booger thingy hanging out of your nose and people that love you will tell you about it. Very few people will do that, but when they do it tells me a lot about their character.
Eugene did Mike & Jud a favor. Their PR campaign is basically a public booger that deserves a public response and will hopefully create some widespread sensitivity to some real cultural issues that folk are pretty much ignorant about.
Before you get defensive, read my 3 tips above. I have learned them the hard way.
On Sunday, November 1st we gave every volunteer the day off @ Courageous Church! We filmed this video the previous Sunday to really show all of the attendees what it takes to pull one “simple” Sunday off! Shout out to DJDust for the great video!
Judging from the stats, hundreds (maybe thousands) of you visit here regularly, but you don’t subscribe. Maybe you don’t know how to subscribe to blogs or don’t know how to subscribe to mine. I read dozens of blogs daily through subscriptions and they keep me sharp and encouraged! Here are two ways you can subscribe today:
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Yesterday we gave every volunteer @ Courageous Church the day off…without telling anyone else. No set up. No breakfast. No music. No parking crew. No Courageous Kids. No signage. No sound system. Nothing! It was a mess…just like we wanted it :-)
Our goal was to show everyone what a Sunday without volunteers looks like! It pretty much sucks.
We got this idea from our friends @ Elevation Church and it really worked! We had a ton of people commit to being a part of our Sunday team and we can’t wait to see how next Sunday goes!
For the first six months after we launched Courageous Church, I often felt like a car salesman when it came to volunteers. Regularly I would basically beg people to serve and tell them how much we needed them in the clearest way possible. In the end, a few great people would sign up, but it would never be as much as we needed. I’ve changed my tune. Let me tell you why.
Church plants require a ton of volunteers. Without them, you burn people out and the quality of what you are doing really suffers.
So one Sunday a few months ago I was doing my whole sad begging routine and Reggie Joiner, a mentor to me and one of the best leaders in the world, was there to hear it. Our leadership team met with him later that day and he told me point blank…
Stop telling people how badly you need them to serve and begin telling them how badly they need to serve. Tell them how serving changes their life. Tell them how much you grow and change and get connected when you serve and how not serving basically freezes them in time as far as their growth in the church (and in the faith) goes.
It’s 7am on Sunday morning and I am going to be preaching that message twice this morning. I’ll let you know how it goes on Twitter later.
Hello! I'm Shaun King - a 30 year old husband, father, pastor, and grad student (in that order) in downtown Atlanta.
I am the Lead Pastor of The Courageous Church- a brand new, diverse, exciting church in the heart of downtown Atlanta! Before I put on my SuperSuit and go live out my call in the city, I fix my five kids a bowl of cereal, change diapers, pack lunches, and give my wife a kiss.
This blog is all about the tight rope that I walk between Courage & Corn Pops!
How many sins have you committed over the course of your life? You can’t even remember every sin you’ve committed. Let’s be real – it would take a scientific calculator to multiply out your sin per year ratio! How many times have you asked or even begged God for forgiveness? How many times have you found yourself in a bind in which you knew ONLY GOD could get you out? We’re talking about some pretty big numbers right?
I was watching Ellen Degeneres (and her wife) on the Oprah Show recently. VERY INTERESTING. Ellen clearly is not a Christian based on her comments on the show. The thing is – most churches I know would not welcome Ellen or her wife there. Period.
