LOVE10 is . . .
One more person
8519 Gilead Road = our Jerusalem. This is our home and you may have noticed that things can get a little cozy around here on Sunday morning. Lake Forest is quickly moving to a place where there may not be room for one more child, student or adult. We can be as creative as we like with service times but in our culture, church=Sunday morning, and if we want to invite people into our home, we need to have room for them. Our goal; make room for one more person who’s given up on church, but not on God.
We’ll do that by:
• Finishing the balcony (adding 250 seats) and adding a cafe-style seating area on the main worship center floor. Update! We opened these spaces on January 29, 2012 and they are sweet!
• Adding a new 600-person ministry center for middle and high schoolers to learn and gather in throughout the week, while also hosting large-group children’s worship on Sunday mornings, as well as other events and classes.
One more church
Lake Norman Region = Our Judea. It’s been a bit more than 10 years since the seed that would become Lake Forest Church was ‘planted’ by Forest Hill Church. The folks at Forest Hill gave sacrificially of their people, money, and time to help nurture a body of believers in North Mecklenburg. And, true to the way God’s message of LOVE has been spread for the last 2,000 years, we are going to pay it forward in 2011 by helping to plant a church within a 20-30 minute drive of the Gilead Road Campus. Wherever it’s going to be, we’ll need to LOVE on the new church, in ‘our Judea’, by supporting them the way we were first supported, with LOVE, grace, and greenbacks. Some of us may even feel called to be part of pioneering this new church.
Update! We had a “baby”…Lake Forest Church-Davidson launched on August 21, 2011 at Davidson Elementary School.
One more neighborhood
When we talk about expanding God’s LOVE and grace to people in ‘our Samaria’, we literally mean right in our own backyard. This community is filled with beautiful people, many of whom have more than their fair share of financial and social struggles. Specifically, families and people in the Huntington Green neighborhood off McCoy Road. Our goal is to start a conversation and then a collaboration with the people of Huntington Green to help create a self-sustaining business (or two or more) that would anchor the neighborhood, provide jobs, and positively impact the entire community and beyond.
We can have a direct and lasting affect on our Samaria, and with the input of the residents, we would formulate a plan that would make the most of our investment of LOVE and resources. End result? Our neighbors in Huntington Green experience God’s grace both through spiritual growth and poverty alleviation. And did we mention that these long-term relationships will change all of us for the better?
Update! “One More Neighborhood, Inc.” is working towards an official 501(c)3 status under the leadership of Earl Runcan. If you have a passion for helping at-risk and under-resourced families right in our own “back yard” in Huntington Green, please sign up for monthly updates from One More Neighborhood, and let us know a little about your gifts and talents, and how you’d love to serve as opportunities become available.
LOVE10 is anchored by…
• A plan to reduce our mortgage debt. In these uncertain times, getting out of debt is paramount. We hope to decrease our debt, making our future more secure while freeing up our precious funds for ministry and mission…
• A three-year Spiritual Leadership and Development Plan, to invest in those at Lake Forest Church who are loving others by taking leadership.
