"Always remember this day….tell your child on that day: 'this is because of what God did for me when I came out of Egypt…When the time comes and your son asks you, 'what does this mean? You tell him…"
“This is God’s command: ‘Keep a 2 quart jar of it, an omer, for future generations so they can see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness after I brought you out of Egypt,” Exodus 16:32.
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God’s calls us to remember. Over and over again He tells us to set aside reminders. He commands us to write them down, build them up, and set them apart; all with the intent of tangibly reminding us and our children why He is trustworthy. God knows bound up within the heart of a child is about 1.5 million questions; they will ask questions regarding this tangible evidence you’ve set aside. Our answer provides an opportunity to tell of His great love and care in our lives. God also knows our propensity to forget, no matter how well intended we are, so He provides and commands the memory joggers. He promises the abundant life we long for is found in trusting Him, so He continually points us to these memorials to His trustworthiness in our lives, lest we are tempted to forget. “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worthy living,” Heb. 11:1.
My church is led by some incredible men who’ve learned this lesson from God’s Word. They have provided several key opportunities to write it, build it, or set it aside as we have progressed through the journey of growing from 100 weekly attendees when I first started attending 19 years ago, to 2,500 currently.
As Chris and I watched the journey our very small church was on, we knew God was moving. We saw His hand in so many ways, but we knew we’d forget. I felt the conviction to record snippets of my family’s part in linking arms with God through LifePoint. Two things compelled me to begin recording His work: having children and reading the Old Testament. I was commanded to teach my children, with tangible evidence, what God had done that made Him trustworthy.
A Church is Born
Over 23 years ago one of the coolest and humblest men I know, Harry Perrine, sat through a traditional church service focusing far too much of his attention on trying to keep his little girls quiet. This just didn’t seem right. Harry had a talk with God. Shouldn’t church be a place whole families could attend while each member grew to know the Lord in authentic, creative, relevant and age appropriate ways? Shouldn’t church be a place you were eager to invite people instead of doing an embarrassed shuffle when the topic came up? Shouldn't church be a place you were eager to go because you were coming to know God more and more? The answer he heard: ‘Yes, now what are you going to do about it?’ Carroll Community Church was born through a journey of a small group of believers who rented a school cafeteria, then three school auditoriums before they landed in their permanent residence. The numbers have grown; the mission has stayed the same: Influencing People to Find and Follow Jesus.
Whether the church had 100 members or 2,500 members; consistently Joe Duke's message has been that authentic life change must take place connected into a small group. Small groups at LifePoint cover every stage of life through community groups, Men's Fraternity, RBI, and The Link. Church service is the icing, not the entree, where we come to celebrate the work of God in our life that week. As our church grew so did the need for a pastor to oversee the growing number of small groups. Today Adam Workman heads this vision casting mission with a Gather, Grow, Serve theme, helping people to realize the joys of connection and being known.
Land Fund
It started as a land fun. That phase ended with the purchase, full and clear, of 70 acres for $400,000 cash. No arm twisting, no fund raisers, no raffles, just God’s people coming together in response to His call. Giving towards God’s purposes involves laying our treasure where our heart is. Families gathered to worship and dedicate this land. We gathered to put a stake in the ground for His kingdom to be grown.
Building Fund
Next came a building fund. The building progressed in phases, as did our family. The baby we were expecting at the land dedication was actually two, William and Wyatt. Over time we took the boys to the construction site to pitch rocks in puddles and cast visions of their classrooms and possible weddings. We spoke of how upside down God's kingdom is---you get when you give away, what a great mystery!
Phase I, our Ministry Center which included administration, offices, and a youth multi purpose room, was completed in September 2004. Construction would continue as work on the worship center would begin marking the start of Phase II. Weekly we were still unloading trucks, carting bins, setting up and tearing down sound equipment, and setting up and tearing down classrooms in our rented public school space. Tape marked floors and crude diagrams tried to ensure that each classroom was returned to its original state, but toddlers would pull tape and desks would be moved by accident---all to the devastation of the pack up crew. Church services required many humble hearts, tireless hands and strong backs every single week. The lesson was reinforced weekly that ‘church’ was the people, not the building. Today when visitors comment how friendly and welcoming LifePoint is, I think, I know the soil that grew that servant heart!
April 2006! We’ve gathered with our church family to pray over Phase 2 of our long awaited sanctuary construction! We are 7 months away from moving into the first facility we can call our own! Our church name was changed from Carroll Community Church to LifePoint. Reflective of Old Testament times, our name change signified God was about to do amazing things through this building. The name LifePoint was meant to help us be more inclusive in our outreach and reflect our new building's location in Baltimore County. The little collection of believers that called LifePoint Church their home, was here to proclaim that hearts responding to God’s shaping influence had built this facility. We were grounded in prayer and were laying a foundation of written prayers on the concrete slab.
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Building Work Night
All hands on deck to get the building prepared for our grand opening. Electrical work, wall hangings, cleaning, sharpening pencils, setting up rooms, stocking supplies, cutting, drilling, hammering, vacuuming…there were ample jobs for all ability and age levels. Our young marriedcouples group, RBI rose to the challenge. Then we celebrated over pizza!
So Long Century!
Our last Sunday at Century High School, November 5, 2006! The excitement was almost tangible. The last time to unpack, set up, tear down, and repack. Last week of repeatedly telling children, ‘you can’t touch that, that’s not ours.’ ‘Please don’t climb on the desks you could get hurt.’ ‘No, we can’t erase what’s on the chalkboard and draw our own things.’ ‘No…no…. no…we had to say it so often but soon we would say, ‘yes, you can climb, yes you can draw, yes you can throw balls…’
What don't these look like Sunday school classrooms!?
November 12, 2006. I think we know just a little bit how the Israelites must have felt when they crossed over into Canaan. We were entering our own Promised Land. The excitement was palpable. Grins were spread ear to ear. After so many years in rented facilities, we were home! The vision casting begun many years earlier had become our new reality!
Church growth was exploding since moving into our own facility. Our giant pile of dirt had to be moved. We needed more parking spots but it wasn’t just about parking spots; it was about people who would be influenced to find and follow Jesus as we made room for them.
This spot is dedicated to the 70 more families/singles/widows/orphans and hopeless who will come to know there is a great hope found in life when we find and follow Jesus!
Currently about 2,500 people are being influenced weekly to find and follow Jesus, between the 2 Saturday and 2 Sunday services. Traffic studies are being conducted, Sunday services are spilling over into overflow rooms, traffic backs up entering and exiting the campus, an errant bear wonders the grounds (well for a few minutes!), and servant hearts are grown as we build a family of believers who bring pleasure to God as we love Him completely, love each other unselfishly, and reach out with Christ's love to the world.
“I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out---plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on Me, when you come and pray to Me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for Me, you’ll find Me. Yes, when you get serious about finding Me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed,” Jer. 29:11-14.
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see," Hebrews 11:1.
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