In case you missed the news yesterday, Michael Lukaszewski announced that he and another staff family from his church in Cartersville, Georgia are going to New York City to start a new church. Today he shares the news on his blog that his current church, Oak Leaf Church, will become a campus of West Ridge. Here’s a portion of what Michael had to share in today’s post:

“In 2011, Oak Leaf Church is going to come under the leadership of West Ridge Church.  We’re joining forces with them as an official campus. Brian Bloye will be our Senior Pastor.  A campus pastor will be hired to lead the local staff and ministry.  And an in-person teaching team will provide Bible-based, Gospel-focused messages on the weekends.”

I’ll share more about this transition in the coming days, but I’m really excited about how this new partnership is going to help both churches further their mission in the region. To my knowledge, there are not many, if any, situations like this where two very healthy churches are coming together to increase their ministry impact. If you know of others, let me know.

In the mean time, you may want to check out the rest of Michael’s announcement.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been working with my friend Nathan to make some tweaks to the church consulting section of my website. With more experience and “wins” behind me, I was able to clarify the strategy for what I’m doing to help churches take their next steps.

I know many churches are budgeting for their next ministry year right now. With that being the case, you may want to plan now for me to connect with you and your team sometime in 2011. Specifically, I may be able to assist you in these areas:

• Consulting & Ministry Health Assessment — Complete a comprehensive assessment of your ministry and identify strategic next steps
• Staffing & Structure Review — Determine the best organizational structure for future growth and get the right people in the right roles
• Volunteer Strategy Development —  Review your volunteer structure and develop a new approach for building volunteer teams
• Weekend Service Review — Assess and recommend strategies to improve your weekend service experience
• Leadership Coaching — Network and learn in a dynamic leadership environment for senior level leaders of growing churches
• Speaking & Training — Hear my latest thoughts on leadership, ministry strategies, communications or building volunteer teams

Here’s a list of some churches I’ve helped with coaching and consulting in the past.

Here’s what leaders are saying about what I do.

Here’s where I’m heading next.

Let’s chat about the possibility of me helping you and your team have a bigger impact. Contact me so we can begin the conversation.

This morning Paul wrapped up a series at West Ridge walking through the core values of our ministry together. This message was on grace. Here are some highlights from Paul’s message:

I’m really encouraged by the intentionality and focus of what’s happening at West Ridge this Christmas. There’s lots of ministry happening on a day-to-day basis throughout the holiday season, but we’ve put all our eggs (or candy canes?) into two baskets.

We’ve spent all of November focusing our communications on helping our community through Hope for Christmas. We are partnering with a couple of local ministries to provide toys and food for over 6,000 people in northwest Atlanta. Our folks at both West Ridge campuses have been very generous with commitments of money, gifts and volunteer time to serve all these families. It all culminates with an event on Saturday, December 11.

Then, after we serve families in our community, we’re going to be focusing all our attention throughout December to inviting as many friends and family members as possible to one of six Christmas Eve services that will take place on December 23 and 24. These services will include an incredible time of worship, music, candle lighting and a very special message from Brian. Free tickets for these services will be available both at our campuses and online beginning tomorrow morning. We offer tickets to make seats available to as many people as possible since a couple of these services will likely be “sold out” in the coming weeks.

I love it that West Ridge is committed to both generously serving families in our community and inviting as many people to celebrate Christmas with us. It’s also fun to see what happens when we stay focused. The whole church is pulling in the same direction. When that happens, we’re able to have a much bigger impact.

For a guy that’s not a big fan of Christmas, it almost makes me ready to experience some holiday cheer.

My sister, Jen Morgan, walked away from a teaching career several years ago and became a full-time missionary in Cambodia. She lives in Phnom Penh and volunteers with several organizations that are saving the lives of orphans and reaching out to women and children who are caught in the web of human trafficking.

Here’s a video she created which captures some of the faces of the children she gets to serve and love on. They’re very beautiful people.

Please contact her directly if you or your church would like to partner with her.

Yesterday, Brian continued a series at West Ridge walking through the core values of our ministry together. This message was on prayer. Here are some highlights from Brian’s message:

You can check out the rest of the messages in this series at WestRidge.com.

“What makes Steve’s methodology different from everyone else’s is that he always believed the most important decisions you make are not the things you do – but the things that you decide not to do. He’s a minimalist.”

John Sculley, former CEO of Apple, as quoted on the Cult of Mac (October 14, 2010)

Has today’s economy put a squeeze on your church budget? Do you find yourself reducing costs, cutting staff or stressed over making the monthly budget? Are you questioning how you’re going to get more money for ministry?

LAUNCH wants to help you find answers. On Monday, December 6, we will be hosting our first session in the Atlanta area entitled, “More Money for Ministry”, featuring Casey Graham of The Change Group. During this two-hour learning experience, you will have the opportunity to

• Share best practices
• Hear stories of financial victories and failures
• Discover five key financial drivers
• Walk out with an action plan
• Receive coaching directly from Casey Graham

Casey worked for ten years in the trenches of local church ministry. He most recently served at Mountain Lake Church as the Chief Financial Officer. He is the author of Funded and Free and works with hundreds of churches across the United States helping them establish healthy financial systems.

This training session, which is being held at West Ridge Church, in Dallas GA, will be followed by a FREE lunch where you will have the opportunity to hear about a new model for inspiring, equipping and resourcing next generation church planters.

Though this is a free event with a free lunch, we need you to register prior to the event. Hope to see you on December 6!

I recently caught up with Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite to ask them about what’s happening at People of the Second Chance. Check out this interview, and then take the time to leave a comment and enter the contest to win Mike’s new book.

TONY: Just out of curiosity, how did you guys meet, and how did you become good friends?

MIKE: We first met at a retreat and then we ended up working together at a church in Southern California. I think we became “good” friends as we realized that we had a lot in common. Football, grace and how we approached people. We became BEST friends after years of trust, honest conversations and navigating the hard parts of life together.

TONY: For folks who may not be familiar with People of the Second Chance, what are you guys up to?

MIKE: POTSC is a community of people who aren’t afraid to give scandalous amounts of grace everyday. What we are asking people to do is rethink their misconceptions about failure, pain and forgiveness. We encourage people to bravely embrace their scars and leverage the failed parts of their story.

JUD: Leaders have become addicted to managing acceptable versions of themselves and always projecting success. That creates a false self and eventually leads to other toxic behavior. POTSC helps provide a framework, structure and tools to help us live honestly with our whole story. Both good and bad.

TONY: Looks like you all have a new book out. Tell us about Gracenomics.

MIKE: It is a little book with a huge idea. It asks the question what would happen if we unleashed scandalous amounts of grace into our lives, relationships, leadership and workplaces. I think all of us think we are great grace givers…but I guarantee you’re not as good as you think you are. Gracenomics is super practical, hard hitting, brutally transparent and a no-nonsense guide to help us release second chance living everyday.

JUD: Honestly, the book is unlike anything else out there. It will surprise you. The design, the message and how Mike presents these thought provoking concepts is totally fresh. It is an easy read but one that you won’t forget anytime soon.

TONY: Speak specifically to church leaders. How does this impact the ministry of the local church?

JUD: Well as Mike talks about in his book, we have a serious grace problem. Especially in the church. But I also believe we have an incredible opportunity to radically embrace second chance living and help redefine what Christianity is all about. At Central, the church I pastor in Las Vegas, we say it is a place where “it is OK to not be OK.” Our message is radical grace and because of this we are seeing incredible life transformation happening. POTSC is clearly defining what a message of grace, compassion and acceptance looks like. Then the next step is living that out in our leadership and our churches.

TONY: What’s next for you guys?

MIKE: Lots of good stuff is happening. Next month we are releasing some new POTSC resources for groups and staffs and we are building some online assessment tools. We’re thrilled that churches are starting to do People of the Second Chance weekend series and partnering with us on this message. I’m personally excited about the opportunity to speak on topic of “Gracenomics” for both business and faith audiences over the next few months. Finally, we are joining forces with Flannel and developing a brand new film series on grace and failure.

Here’s my Amazon link if you’re interested in picking up the Kindle version of Gracenomics. Or, if you’d prefer, you can use the coupon code “POTSC” when checking out and get 20% off anything in the POTSC store.

For five lucky readers, though, I have free Gracenomics books to give away. Just add a comment to this post to be entered in the contest. I will select the winners tomorrow (Friday, November 19) at 4:00 pm EST. If you Tweet a link to this post, I’ll give you a bonus entry.

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UPDATE: I pulled the names out of the hat, and the winners are John Alexander, TJ Reid, Lance M., Josh Hawk and Kimberly Stanley. Congratulations everyone! Enjoy the book.