Jonathan Herron

They Were On Fire

I’ve always been fascinated by the lives of the earliest Christians who lived two thousand years ago. 

Under the crush of Roman occupation, a new movement was birthed: men and women who worshiped the risen Messiah. 

This wave of radical acceptance and grace-filled lives swept the world and changed human history.

In 1947, J.B. Phillips wrote this description of the Christian movement: 

“The great difference between present-day Christianity and that of which we read in these letters is that to us it is primarily a performance, to them it was a real experience. We are apt to reduce the Christian religion to a code, or at best a rule of heart and life. To these men it is quite plainly the invasion of their lives by a new quality of life altogether.

They do not hesitate to describe this as Christ ʻliving inʼ them. These early Christians were on fire with the conviction that they had become, through Christ, literally sons of God; they were pioneers of a new humanity, founders of a new Kingdom. They still speak to us across the centuries. Perhaps if we believed what they believed, we might achieve what they achieved."

 

The earliest followers experienced the powerful aftermath of Jesus’ empty tomb: thousands of people turning to Jesus as their Master and Forgiver, radical life-change, and rumblings throughout society about this God-man who now lives. 

In addition to keeping the Jewish Sabbath, these first followers of Christ added the observance of the first day of the week - the day that Jesus rose from death to life.  This is why most Christians worship on Sunday mornings. 

According to premiere Christian historian Justo Gonzalez, the earliest communion services did not center on Christ’s passion - they were not quiet, introspective, reflective services.  

Instead, Christians worshiped weekly in loud celebration, understanding that the tomb was empty, death could not hold Jesus, and He was ushering in a new age of victory.  Yes, every Sunday was a party for One! 

It was much later - centuries later - before the focus of Christian worship shifted towards the death of Jesus.  In the earliest Christian community, the breaking of bread took place “with glad and generous hearts” (Acts 2:46).

May we embrace this same infectious enthusiasm first demonstrated by the earliest Christ followers. 

May we worship Jesus Christ with great passion, may we love others with scandalous grace, and may we be outward-focused in our church communities. 

An empty tomb provokes nothing less.

Sermon on the Dugout

SERMON ON THE DUGOUT: LIFE CHURCH HOLDING SERVICE AT DOW DIAMOND

Sunday morning's event is free and open to public
by Jon Becker, for the Midland Daily News  |  May 19, 2022

 

MIDLAND — Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and … church? Yes, you read that right. America’s pastime is not normally associated with passionate preaching, live bands and a worship service, but that’s exactly what’s going on Sunday, May 22 at Dow Diamond.

Life Church, a Great Lakes Loons 2022 partner, is holding its weekly church service at the Loons' home stadium beginning at 11 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.

The nondenominational church likes to get creative in its approach to inspiring people to become engaged in their faith.

 

“We believe that faith is a journey, not a guilt trip,” said Jonathan Herron, founding pastor of the nine-year-old church. “We take our faith seriously but don’t take ourselves too seriously.”

Since Life Church is sponsoring Faith & Family Nights throughout the Loons’ 2022 season, “We thought it would be fun to actually hold a church service along the first base line,” Herron said. “We’re always brainstorming for new ideas for engaging our community at Life Church. We love bringing families together.”

Minor League Baseball is noted for its family-friendly game experiences. The Loons, who hosted their second School Kids Day of the year on Tuesday, are all in for a Sunday sermon at the ballpark.

“Faith and Fellowship Nights has been a staple at the ballpark for well over 10 years,” said Tyler Kring, the Loons’ assistant general manager of business development. “Faith is part of the journey for many of our players. We’re excited to be partnering with Life Church this season.”

The church’s house band, Kingdom Sound, will lead modern worship songs outdoors, followed by Pastor Herron sharing scripture from atop the first base dugout. The pastor also plans to interview some current Loons players about their faith journeys.

 

“Through this event, we hope to engage more Midland and Sanford area households as we gather a core group to launch our Midland campus this September,” Herron explained. “The plan is to become one church in two locations. We’ll have worship Sundays at 9:30 a.m. via Northwood University’s Griswold Theater, followed by worship at our Saginaw campus at 11:15 a.m.”

Michaela Yenior, of Midland, attended her first Life Church service about a year and a half ago and was quickly captivated.

“They’re on to something here,” Yenior remembers thinking. She added of Sunday's plans, “This event is really exciting and works within the scope of Life Church’s mission: reach the lost at any cost. The church is willing to think outside of the box.”

“We’re kind of known for doing things big,” said Herron, noting the church’s annual Easter Egg Helicopter Drop as proof positive that Life Church will pull out any and all stops to advance its mission.

 

“Pastor Herron is an incredible guy,” said Life Church parishioner Arnel Hipolito. “He’s selfless. The church has been through some ups and downs, but he’s kept going forward. He’s done a lot of outreach in the community. It’ll be interesting to hear him preach gospel from the dugout. He’s a passionate, fired-up guy, but it’s his leadership acumen that really stands out.”

Hipolito, also of Midland, plays drums and guitar in Kingdom Sounds. He played at Dow Diamond a couple of times last year and really enjoyed the experience.

“It was hot and a lot of work, but fun,” he said. “You’re outside and you’re watching baseball. Who doesn’t enjoy watching baseball?”

On another occasion, the Greater Midland Tennis Center (where Hipolito works) treated a group of its employees to a Loons game.

 

“It’s great family entertainment,” Hipolito said.

Sunday will mark Life Church’s first foray into serving the Lord at Dow Diamond, so Herron is unsure how many people will show. However, “According to our Facebook Page, over 300 people have indicated that they are planning on coming.”

“Hopefully, we’ll get enough people to reopen our Midland location,” Yenior said.

Life Church in Midland closed during the pandemic. This Sunday’s morning event is part of the plan to relaunch Life Church’s Midland campus this fall, Herron said.

 

Herron encourages people to invite neighbors and friends for church at the ballpark and to then to stick around and purchase tickets for the ballgame that follows. At 1:05 p.m. Sunday, the Loons will conclude a six-game home series against the Lansing Lugnuts.

How to Quickly Reach People Far From God

I’m not concerned about being criticized for taking risks to reach people far from God.  I’m concerned about not being criticized.

Recently I was invited to teach a breakout session at a conference in Chicago based on my book, Holy Shift.  The topic was so popular among church leaders that we ran out of seats!

I had fun sharing my journey in comedy and ministry, the unique story God is writing atLife Church Michigan, and equipping church leaders in my jam-packed breakout with comedy tools that will help them reach more people far from God.

Because I love church leaders and I want to see you go further, faster, here is the full video as a free resource to your team!

Life Church's Core Values

Core Values are important in any organization as they articulate the kind of organization we dream of becoming.

Putting into words the culture you are seeking to model into existence is hard work.

During my recent doctoral studies, I've been refreshing Life Church's Core Values for the journey ahead.  

For what it's worth, here are our Core Values, Version 2.0...

We Are United Under One Vision

To reach the people no one else is reaching, we will do the things no one else is doing.
We will do anything short of sin to reach people far from God.
We will unapologetically and aggressively defend our unity and vision.

Every Person Matters

All people are image-bearers of God and are wonderfully made.
Because every person matters, relationships are not disposable.
We will always choose conversation over condemnation.
We will always seek to maintain the relationship over winning the argument.
We choose honesty over hypocrisy and gospel over gossip.

 

We Strive for Integrity, Transparency & Accountability

We do not gossip or spread rumors.  No insider politics here.
Full of honor and integrity, we will choose to do the right thing even when it hurts.
Our position is to out-love, out-serve, and out-give those who misunderstand us.

Because we have nothing to hide, we value humble transparency in all areas, including finances.

Everyone is accountable to someone at Life Church.

 

Found People Find People

We will put more effort into reaching the Lost than keeping the Found.
We will never allow this lifeboat to become a yacht club.
We will spare no expense because the just-one-more is worth it.
We will celebrate every story because every person matters.

Saved People Serve People

“... just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve..."  (Jesus in Matthew 20:28)

Becoming more like Jesus means we focus on serving others.
When we take the spotlight off ourselves and place it on other people, it will result in improving our marriages, making a difference in our workplaces and discovering our spiritual gifts.

We are never more like Christ than when we see Sunday mornings as our mission field.

Growing People Change

Jesus accepts us as we are, but He loves us too much to let us stay that way.
Over time, the Lord changes us from the inside out.

Colossians 3:9-10 reminds us that we have "taken off the old self" and "put on the new self."
Once we know Jesus, we can’t go back to the people we were before.

As we listen to Jesus and do what He says, our desires change.
We begin to think and act and love as He did.

 

I Cannot Out-Give God

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  (Jesus in John 3:16)

It is a spiritual impossibility for us to outgive God, because He has already given us everything.
Everything belongs to God and we are simply managers of God's stuff.
When we give, we’re giving God back a small portion of what He’s already given us.

 

Jesus is Our Only Celebrity

We celebrate the contributions of God's servants to our spiritual education and formation,
but we look to Jesus above all others and put our hope in Him alone.

 

Movements Move

We are not Atari, we are Apple.
We believe in humor over hammer.

We will always maintain a posture of humility and learning new methods for reaching people far from God.

We will always narrow the focus in all we do.  We think steps, not programs.

Being In Christ

"The great difference between present-day Christianity and that of which we read in these letters is that to us it is primarily a performance, to them it was a real experience.  

We are apt to reduce the Christian religion to a code, or at best a rule of heart and life.  To these men it is quite plainly the invasion of their lives by a new quality of life altogether.  They do not hesitate to describe this as Christ ‘living in’ them.

These early Christians were on fire with the conviction that they had become, through Christ, literally sons of God; they were pioneers of a new humanity, founders of a new Kingdom.  They still speak to us across the centuries.  

Perhaps if we believed what they believed, we might achieve what they achieved.”

(J.B. Phillips, 1947)

 

Kicking off the first Sunday of 2022, we looked at the new discipleship model mentioned during the message based on my current doctoral studies.  

These are the 5 rhythms or spiritual disciplines that marked the earliest Christ Followers in the Book of Acts.  

This is what the Scriptures teach historically and theologically about what it looks like to "be" the church!

 

"Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance" (Jude 2).

 

10 Years Ago Today I Became a Church Planter Life Church Michigan

10 years ago today I became the church planter of Life Church.

We had no people, no money, no facility, and no clue!

It was just me and my wife Amber Herron plus official-looking incorporation paperwork from the IRS saying we were a “real church.”

So much has happened during these first 10 years:

• hundreds of salvations

• hundreds of baptisms

• lots of weddings + baby dedications

• four adoptions in our family

• two additional Life Church campus launches

• COVID campus closures

• new friendships

• loss of friendships

• ten Ministry Interns

• welcoming special guests to our Mainstage including Bob Goff, Perry Noble, and Blessid Union of Souls

• partnering with Converge MidAmerica and The Timothy Initiative to plant more churches

• indirectly helping launch two new churches in our region (!)

• experiencing 2 Timothy 4

• praying for Acts 2

• hosting two church leadership training events

• becoming 2019’s 11th fastest-growing church in America according to Outreach Magazine

• discovering new friends and new adventures together

Church planting is extremely hard work. Amber and I couldn’t dream of a better labor of love to invest our lives into.

Thankful for our Lifers and thankful that in Christ, the best is always YET to come! (Ephesians 3:20)

“Who is Apollos, really? Or who is Paul? Aren’t we both just servants through whom you believed our message? Aren’t each of us doing the ministry the Lord has assigned to us?

I planted the church, and Apollos came and cared for it, but it was God who caused it to grow.

This means the one who plants is not anybody special, nor the one who waters, for God is the one who brings the supernatural growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:5-7, TPT)

ABOUT

I am the founding pastor of Life Church, recognized in 2019 as the fastest-growing church in Michigan and 11th fastest-growing church in America. 

I am focused on strategic leadership and engaging teaching, all fueled by a gnawing passion for reaching people far from God. 

My unique ministry approach has been featured online in Time Magazine, USA Today, The Detroit News, MLive and The Washington Times. 

Married twenty-three years to my high school sweetheart, I have five children plus a wiener dog with a nervous bladder.

Love the Team You Lead

Passion. Integrity. Grit.

Just some of the reasons I love this crew from the church that I love.

Over the past eight years of this church planting adventure in the High Five State, we’ve been privileged to work alongside some wonderful talent.

But I’ll take passion, integrity and grit over talent any day.

Amber and I have sacrificed everything + poured our lives into this labor of love — Life Church — and we are HONORED to have this team on board!

C’mon gang, let’s go storm the gates of hell with water pistols!

 

“Be faithful to guard the sweet harmony of the Holy Spirit among you in the bonds of peace, being one body and one spirit…” (Ephesians 4:3)

3 PRINCIPLES I LEARNED WHILE AT THE WHITE HOUSE

Don’t freak out everyone -- this isn’t going to be a big political message.

In 2020, I was invited to The White House for a Special Briefing for Leaders of Faith. Here’s 3 principles I learned while at The White House…

1. LIFE CHURCH IS APOLITICAL

We’re a big tent -- we welcome everybody here!  That means we fight for our unity: no gossip, no griping, we just don’t have time for that:

But the one who slanders you behind your back

proves that he’s a fool, never to be trusted. If you keep talking, it won’t be long

before you’re saying something really wrong.” (Proverbs 10:18-19)

Words that bring delight pour from the lips of the godly,

but the words of the wicked are duplicitous.” (Proverbs 10:32)

When you act with presumption,

convinced that you’re right,

don’t be surprised if you fall flat on your face!

But walking in humility helps you to make wise decisions.” (Proverbs 11:2)

I love our church because we’re in this together -- We follow God, we trust our spiritual leaders, and we roll up our sleeves to make a difference for time and eternity. 

We want to unite as many people as possible as quickly as possible under the Jesus Flag through our Midland and Saginaw Campuses.

A life lived loving God bears lasting fruit,

for the one who is truly wise wins souls.” (Proverbs 11:30)

Security at The White House was TIGHT -- Secret Service was everywhere!

I discovered that it is very hard to get access to the Most Powerful Person on Earth.

Not so with God -- We have 24/7 access with no K-9’s and no Secret Service!

2. WE HAVE INSTANT ACCESS TO THE MOST POWERFUL PERSON IN EXISTENCE

 

The one who walks in integrity

will experience a fearless confidence in life.” (Proverbs 10:9)

 

Wow, aren’t those words great? 

Don’t we all just want a fearless confidence in our everyday life? 

Spending time with God fuels up our faith and trust in Him!

Lovers of truth follow the right path

because of their wonderment and worship of God.” (Proverbs 14:2-4)

“The words of the wise

will become a shield of protection around them.

The only clean stable is an empty stable.

So if you want the work of an ox and to enjoy an abundant harvest,

you’ll have a mess or two to clean up!” (Proverbs 14)

 

God loves when we gather together -- We gather on Sundays because that’s the day Jesus rose. 

Sometimes we’re going to make messes together -- and that’s okay! 

Proverbs says that the only CLEAN stable is an EMPTY stable --- look around you, this place is not empty!

 

As we all fumble forward in our faith, let’s give each other a break… let’s show each other grace as we are all learning together what  it looks like to follow Christ day by day.

 

To worship God in wonder and awe

opens a fountain of life within you,

empowering you to escape death’s domain.” (Proverbs 14:27)

I went to a White House Briefing -- It was all “Off the Record” -- Y’know, sometimes it is Hard to get clear info from Politicians!

Book of Proverbs = God is crystal clear with wisdom that applies to everyone, everywhere!

3. GOD GIVES US WISE ADVICE WHENEVER WE LOOK FOR IT!

 

Wisdom soothes the heart of the one with living-understanding,

but the heart of the fool just stockpiles stupidity.” (Proverbs 14:33)

 

The Bible has a term for the person who refuses wise counsel: “fool." (Prov 12:15)    

When we refuse to listen, when we dodge the truth, when we insist on having our own way, we are fools.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." (Prov. 9:10) 

Wisdom begins with the recognition of who God is.
Wisdom begins when we recognize that God is God and then respond accordingly.

Lovers of God hunger after truth,

but those without understanding

feast on foolishness and don’t even realize it.” (Proverbs 15:14)

 

Go ahead and make all the plans you want,

but it’s the Lord who will ultimately direct your steps.

We are all in love with our own opinions,

convinced they’re correct.

But the Lord is in the midst of us,

testing and probing our every motive.

Before you do anything,

put your trust totally in God and not in yourself.

Then every plan you make will succeed.

The Lord works everything together to accomplish his purpose.” (Proverbs 16:1-5)

Spontaneous Baptisms

 

"We were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:4)

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Spontaneous Baptisms, Cookie Monster Visits, Life Kids Volunteer Luncheon...

This is how we change the world!

#TogetherWeWin

Have You Considered a Church Merger?

We Are Better Together

Church mergers have become one of the most effective strategies for struggling churches to thrive again, for growing churches to amplify their reach, and for church facilities to be better utilized to advance the Gospel in a region.

What is a Church Merger?

When two or more churches become one through the combining, integrating, and unifying of people, structures, systems, and resources in order to better reach their community with the message of Jesus.

Three Types of Church Mergers

1. Rebirth
   Typically when a struggling church gets a second life by being restarted under a stronger, vibrant, usually larger church.
   
   
2. Adoption
   This occurs when a stable or stuck church is integrated under the leadership of a stronger, vibrant, usually larger church.
   
   
3. Marriage
   Typically when two growing churches realign with each other under a unified vision and new leadership configuration.

Questions to Consider

1. Could we accomplish more together than we could separately?  Would we find more ministry synergy, created by the two churches joining with common vision and purpose?
   
   2. Would my congregation benefit from this merger?  Would my individual congregation be better, healthier or stronger by joining with this church?
   
   3. Would our community be better served by us working together?  By joining forces, can we make a bigger impact in our surrounding community?
   
   4. Could the Kingdom of God be further extended by us joining together? Would uniting help us make more and better disciples of Jesus?

 

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE?  Let Us Know!