Our five month journey through an unexpected adoption has come in for a landing.
Alysia Hope is now officially, legally, forever a part of Team Herron!
Our story began five months ago with a phone call out of the blue.
That led to a frantic online telethon and a little baby girl.
And now, she is ours!
Five months ago our lives were interrupted with crazy amazing news:
The birthmother of our (then) youngest contacted us asking if we would ADOPT her newborn infant baby girl!
We had always dreamt of having one more little baby girl, but we had no idea how that would happen due to the sky-high costs of adoption combined with our stage of life.
Never allow your circumstances to dictate your destiny. God is BIGGER than your roadblocks!
Our mad-dash to come up with thousands and thousands of dollars for this unexpected adoption led to a bunch of cool new stories like this one:
“Never allow your circumstances to dictate your destiny. God is BIGGER than your roadblocks!”
Fast-forward five months and things are going GREAT:
Our children ADORE their baby sister and Alysia Hope is happy, healthy, and fully-bonded to her Mommy and Daddy!
We are blown away by the support of our church family. They really stepped up and came alongside us during this insanely-stressful season of quick change.
Every adoption story is different, with many twists and turns in the areas of emotions and legal milestones.
Thankfully, we have an open and healthy relationship with Levi and Alysia’s birthmother — she is an amazing young woman who made an extremely loving plan for her children’s lives.
Our stories are now forever linked and intertwined,
and we are the better for it.
The final legal milestone takes place TOMORROW!
We’ll get the kids out of school before lunch, road trip across the High Five State, walk into a Grand Rapids courtroom, and celebrate as the Judge signs the Adoption Finalization Paperwork that grants Alysia Hope the permanent last name: “Herron!”
THANK YOU ALL for your prayers, your support, and your kindness.
The past five months have been lighter because of you.
Follow us on Instagram as I’m sure Amber and I will blow up our Instagram feeds and Insta Stories after the finalization in Court tomorrow!
I get it.
Life hurts sometimes.
That’s why I did this recent YouTube Live.
If you don’t see the details of YOUR story intersecting with God’s Story, life can feel very disappointing and frustrating.
That’s why I love Genesis 37 - 50.
Joseph is the Rejected Brother who becomes the Rescuer.
Dig into some Raw Encouragement today.
If you like what you see, Subscribe to my new YouTube Channel.
And if you want more free online resources from the life of Joseph, just go here.
You are not a failure.
I believe to my core that it is the responsibility of the reached to reach!
The local church should NEVER apologize for trying to fulfill the Great Commission because Jesus is God, the Bible is true, Hell is hot and Forever is a long time.
The drumbeat of every church leader HAS to be for reaching the lost at ANY cost!
Too often church leaders focus only on Easter and Christmas as their “big weekends.”
This drives me nuts!
EVERY Sunday is somebody’s FIRST Sunday at your church… and they are LOOKING FOR A REASON to NOT return!
I don’t know about you, but our team wants to make it HARD for people to go to HELL in our region.
Every weekend an army of volunteers that we affectionally call “Lifers” get up early and stay late to roll out the red carpet, love + serve guests, and do WHATEVER IT TAKES to make Jesus famous in Saginaw and Midland.
For what it’s worth, here are
Read Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:38, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23, and Luke 14:27.
Don’t miss this: FIVE TIMES Jesus gives you and me a job description for ministry.
If you are a church leader, your calling is crystal clear from these teachings: GO + DIE!
You have NOT been called to COMFORT. Jesus did NOT give you the Great Suggestion… it’s is a Commission and should cause HOLY DISCONTENT in YOUR HEART!
My definition of Church Leadership is simple: You are called to be KAMIKAZE DISCIPLES. During World War II, the Japanese would award the privilege of dying for the mission to elite pilots. Their job was to do whatever it takes to accomplish the mission… even if it meant risk and death. They were the elite kamikaze’s.
We need more church leaders who are less concerned about their online popularity or their next paycheck and more concerned with winning souls and making Jesus famous!
Get out there, die to self, and do whatever it takes to point lost people to the Gospel!
You cannot sit back and HOPE lost people will show up or HOPE volunteers will pull off ministry flawlessly.
God has given you a wonderful opportunity: hours and hours during the work week to set up your volunteers for success and to make some noise and attract more guests!
Don’t waste your weekdays surfing Facebook. Pick up the phone, reach out, and HUSTLE!
If YOU don’t get a fire in your belly to HUSTLE and make things happen, guess what? Things WON’T happen!
Put some MUSCLE in your HUSTLE!
Ask yourself: If the Apostle Paul were alive today in 2019 and had a smart phone mega-computer in his hands, how would he use it for the Gospel?
Every guest who walks through your doors this Sunday is expecting everything to suck.
Our generation assumes that your church is judgmental, wants their money, and wants them to vote a certain way.
If you want to grab their imagination, make it memorable! Provide Holy Wow moments from the Parking Lot to the Dismissal.
Need practical ideas and simple how-to’s? Check out Fearless Leadership All Access!
“Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.”
Remember how I said you need to put some MUSCLE in your HUSTLE?
You cannot assume your volunteers are prayed up, prepared, and punctual for serving.
Be the leader who is accused of OVER-communicating!
Email, text, and PICK UP THE FLIPPIN’ PHONE to OVER-communicate the plan for this Sunday!
Vision leaks.
Details fall through cracks.
If you want to create a memorable experience, get your ducks in a row every single week, follow a checklist, and communicate the plan over and over again!
If your team senses YOUR urgency — guess what? — THEY will develop urgency!
Make sure you collect contact info from every single guest.
If you don’t have a way to follow up with guests, you are completely blowing it!
At Life Church, we use Connection Cards AND Text In Church.
Dangling Carrots means you want to incentivize WHY a first-time guest should become a second-time guest.
Give them a reason WHY this coming Sunday is going to be killer!
* We have a robust follow-up system for our staff and interns that we love sharing with church leaders in Fearless Leadership All Access.
Dangling Community means offering easy on-ramps toward developing relationships and making new friends.
* Our team would love to equip you from start-to-finish with HOW to develop systems of care through LifeGroups, Online Growth Tracks, and more! Start winning now by joining Fearless Leadership All Access.
You can do EVERYTHING RIGHT and yet without God’s supernatural power, you will continually encounter failure.
I believe God WANTS to BLESS your church!
Your personal worship moves the heart of God.
Focus on Jesus (apart from Him you can do NOTHING), ascribe worth (aka “worship”) to Him, beg the Father, worship in spirit and truth… Seek God’s Heart!
BREAKING 200 VIDEO TRAINING (right now it’s FREE for a limited time!)
Discover how YOUR CHURCH can reach more people far from God with my new BREAKING 500 VIDEO TRAINING
Go nuclear with Fearless Leadership All Access
I love a New Year!
Everyone gets a Clean Slate: Winning is a choice.
Choose to do the tough things that will cause you to win!
Take 60 seconds to get fired up and creatively focused for 2019.
Together, let’s fearlessly lead your church toward growth!
One of my heroes of the faith is the little-known missionary William Borden.
William Borden’s funeral took place at The Moody Church in Chicago.
During my college years, I discovered the beauty of the gospel while attending The Moody Church.
“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin...”
( Zechariah 4:10 )
My worship pastor had just quit and moved back to Florida.
We were meeting in a local elementary school as a portable church stuck at 60 people.
I was angry, discouraged, and our baby church was homeless.
A phone call completely out-of-the-blue from a Lydia of Thyatira (see Acts 16) led to a walk-thru of this former golf store in the shadow of Freeland, Michigan.
The latest owner had grown so frustrated at the lack of customers plus mounting bills that he abruptly locked up the facility one day and walked away, never looking back.
Bankruptcy is a funny thing: everything in Golf Mania was frozen in time.
The show room was still stocked with expensive golf gear.
It was quiet, musty, and cluttered.
Receipts were strewn everywhere from freshly-fired employees who never bothered to clean up.
The facility and furniture were exquisite.
I couldn’t believe this facility was just sitting here unused!
This facility was chock full of potential!
The facility tour was in December of 2013.
It would take eleven long, drawn-out-months before we could begin gathering inside the old Golf Mania.
2014 was a year of vision-casting to a dwindling audience, pleading with the Landlords to take a risk on our church start-up, never taking No for an answer with city officials concerned about Zoning, and intense fundraising.
I could have given up.
I felt like giving up.
Yet I didn’t.
Elisha said,
“God’s word: Dig ditches all over this desert valley. Here’s what will happen—you won’t hear the wind, you won’t see the rain, but this valley is going to fill up with water and your army and your animals will drink their fill. This is easy for God to do!” (2 Kings 3)
If He has called you to it, He will see you through it!
Do not despise the days of small beginnings.
Do not give up when you are in the very situations that are ripe for a miracle of God.
Once we opened the doors on a 24/7 leased facility (it was a huge step of faith; we could not afford the monthly rent at that point and I was scared!), the floodgates of blessings were poured out.
People started showing up.
Lives starting changing.
The facility was simply a tool for ministry… and our perseverance was paying off.
We were praying for God to fill our worship space in 3 years…
…and He literally did it in just 3 months!
Never give up.
Fight tooth-and-nail.
Kill the doubts in your head before the Liar kills the dream in your heart.
The great day finally arrived, and after the school's fanfare and acclamation, Sir Winston Churchill stood to his feet, acknowledged the introduction, and gave the following address, which is quoted in full:
'Young men, never give up.
Never give up!
Never give up!!
Never, never, never-never-never-never!'"
90% of American churches are plateaued or declining.
I want to help you beat the stats.
Let’s quickly reach people far from God.
