Planting By The Brook

By: Jay Foreman,

First Impressions Ministry Lead & Director of Home Groups.

Southbrook Church, Weddington, North Carolina

Way back in February of 2004, my wife Darlene and I visited Southbrook church for the first time. It was up at Providence High School in Charlotte , NC. We were in the “Church shopping” mode, and had been for about a year. Looking for a place to call home. A place where, not only could we connect with God…but a place where we could be a part of His family. Sadly, more often than not, we’d keep on searching because we just didn’t “Feel” noticed, welcomed, or connected.

Only by the grace of God did we see a sign (literally) being placed in the ground saying, “Future home of Southbrook Community Church – currently meeting at Providence H.S.” All the trees were in the process of coming down, making way for yet “Another” church in the Charlotte area. We have over 600 of them…lot’s of church shopping available.

When we arrived on that Sunday morning at the high school, we were greeted at the front door by the most beautiful, warm, welcoming smile, “Hi – I’m Ron Flowers, Welcome to Southbrook!” He and I have been great friends since. Southbrook was a growing church of 350 adults then. The shopping spree ended, the rest is part of Southbrook’s history as we surpass 2000 per week.

What made the difference? Why did we decide to keep coming back to Southbrook, become members, become volunteers, become First Impressions Ministry Lead, and now a staff member? How did we grow from 35 Greeters and Ushers to 140? What did we do to create glue, not only to our First Impressions teams… but to our church wide attendance?

In the 1986 Academy Award winning movie “Top Gun,” Maverick says to his “back seater” Goose, “I feel the need…for speed.” Up cranks the volume to the music of “Danger Zone,” and once again max speed at low altitude. But… that always creates havoc and disorganization.

As I said, it was Ron’s heart and servant’s attitude that came across to me right away. Mark Waltz, Pastor of Connections at Granger Community Church, says in his book “First Impressions, Creating Wow Experiences in Your Church,” “We want to define our guests experience in the first 10-15 minutes of their arrival. Somewhere between the parking lot and the children’s area, the front doors and the restroom, we want them to say “WOW, I’m Impressed.” That’s the real deal. People WILL decide whether or not they are returning to your church within 10-15 minutes after arriving in your parking lot. The music hasn’t started, the Pastor hasn’t spoken yet and the decision to come again is implanted. If you don’t believe that’s true then you’re in for more of what you already have… Question, how’s that going for your church?

Andy Stanley, Founding Pastor of North Point Community Church, near Atlanta, writes in his book “Visioneering,” “Vision demands change…Vision is a clear mental picture of what could be, fueled by the conviction that it should be.” He used the Old Testament story of Nehemiah. Without recalling the whole story, Nehemiah was basically a nobody with a servant’s heart. He was given a vision by God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Why did they need rebuilding? What is it about your church that folks visit every weekend, but they don’t come back? They don’t want to see what’s really being offered to them inside your walls? Is there some magic glue you need to get? More prayer? Absolutely! You need both. Most of all…you need a compelling vision that rocks your inner soul and wants to make you throw up because you’re not sure how it’s gonna get done. Andy Stanley says “A vision is always a solution to a problem.”

No big deal for Nehemiah. After all, he did have direct daily access to King Artaxerses (pronounced Art ak zerk sees). Grab your contractors license, a few thousand men, some supplies and a building permit…right?… NOT. You see, the broken, burnt, destroyed walls of the city wasn’t the real problem in Jerusalem, it was the broken, burnt, destroyed spirit WITHIN the walls. (Read about it here) The people were so used to seeing their walls in disrepair (for 4-5 generations by then) that they didn’t see that their representation of God’s holy land was a reproach. A disgrace. (Read about it here) .

Fade back to Southbrook, by the time we moved into our new permanent location in Weddington, Dar and I were already committed 101 members and we were both now greeters and ushers. We didn’t have a parking lot team then and I felt a compelling burden in my own heart that we should. I prayed, asked permission from the church staff and within 2 months we had a 20 member parking team that was on fire to make a difference. It was definitely a “God thing.” We became the talk of the church, we were having fun, waving at all the people I and saying “Hi, welcome to Southbrook” to every car that came on the lot. Some folks laughed at us, made fun of the “guys with the flags out in the rain.” Even (only some) Godly Christian members made fun of us. I remembered Nehemiah’s words “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” This became our Parking Team battle cry. And God protected and guided us. We eventually became the “envy” of servant hood.

About a year later, Pastor Rob asked me if I would consider applying my same vision to the rest of Southbrook’s greeters and ushers. Is it throw up time again?

Stay tuned for Part II.

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