ReBorn

By Jason Warman

Weather reports from 2009 and frequent updates about sciatic pain are at the crux of this book. It also contains the story of a successful church relaunch and the principles to help guide an organization through a major transition or relaunch. ReBorn is the idea that a church can be born again. Regardless of how dead and dormant it may seem. The same power that resurrected Christ from the grave is available to bring life back to existing, declining, or dead churches. ReBorn contains the stories, principles, and strategy to empower leaders to believe again, breath again, and begin again.

ReBorn was written to inspire leaders to believe in the local church again. And to not only believe in the local church, but also to believe that God can breath the breathe of life into any church regardless of its current condition. What is ReBorn? It’s the belief that by the Spirit of God both people and churches can be born again. Being born again means we are fundamentally changed from the inside out. What happened in our lives as believers when we believed the promises of God through faith and became recipients of his sovereign grace and were transformed by the Holy Spirit is possible in a church as well. ReBorn is the belief that God can call a leader to believe that anything is possible, the belief that God can breath into any situation regardless of how dead or lifeless it seems, and the belief that by the Holy Spirit every church can begin to grow again. It begins with an understanding that God’s heart is for his house. That he believes in his church and it’s the central part of the universe he created. ReBorn is the understanding that no church can stay stagnated if it has a leader with vision and passion. ReBorn is the belief that greater things are possible if we only believe in God and in his church. ReBorn is the passion to be disturbed by the condition of the local church. And lastly, ReBorn is the courage to do something about it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jason Warman
• Release date: Feb 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310212055

Jason Warman

Jason lives in Venice, FL with his wife Heidi and their two children Mackenzie and Jadon. In 2010 Jason and Heidi relaunched CoastLife Church from an existing church of 15 people. Closing the old church and launching the new gave them a front row seat to watch how a church can be born again. This "rebirth" is the inspiration for Jason's first book. For leadership insights, scriptural revelations, and frequent weather updates you can connect with Jason on social media.

Book preview

Introduction

I have a passion to see local churches thrive and grow. My firm belief is that the local church really is the hope of the world. In the times we are living in, the city on a hill needs to shine brighter than it ever has before. One of the things that excites me the most is partnering with leaders to help plant new and life giving churches. There has been a movement in recent years of young leaders with a passion for the local church going to strategic areas to plant new churches. This is a wonderful thing and my prayer is that it continues and expands.

However, with estimates of nearly 400,000 churches in the U.S. and statistics that show that potentially 80% of them are stagnated or in decline, we need an additional strategy. I firmly believe that in addition to planting new churches, we need leaders to embrace the vision of transitioning or relaunching existing churches. The reality is that there are thousands of buildings across the landscape of America that need to become churches again. Yes, there is a steeple on the roof and pews in the auditorium, but they have long since stopped being living, breathing churches. These buildings used to be the location of vibrant worship, grace filled conversions, faith filled ministry, and compassionate outreach. Now, outdated modes of worship and ministry haunt the hallowed halls of these buildings like ghosts in a museum. They are no longer beacons of hope to a community, but now are relics of the past. This is wrong. It’s fundamentally wrong. The hope of our nation rests on the foundations of these buildings. Our hope isn’t in the government or a political party. It’s in the revival and restoration of the American church.

There are many young leaders who feel the call of God on their lives. They sense an assignment that God has for them to lead a local church. Some of them will find a city, a venue, and plant a church. I support you, I believe in you, and you are my hero. Others will take the reigns of churches that are thriving, but need a younger leader to replace a retiring pastor. However, many will shy away from the thousands of churches that are in serious decline or seemingly perpetually stagnated. I get it. On the surface nothing seems desirable about these situations. However, it’s amazing to think of the resources that belong to the kingdom of God in America that are completely under utilized. I know the land and facilities technically belong to the local church that has the deed, but theologically those pieces of property and facilities belong to God. These spiritual museums with a rich history sit ready to return from the ruins of stagnation and decline. One leader with passion and vision, empowered by the Holy Spirit and God’s grace, is enough to transform a building into a life giving church again. This book is the story of my life and the start of CoastLife Church. CoastLife Church is located in Venice, Florida and is a relaunch of an existing church. From the stagnated ruins of a dead church, a new and life giving ministry began.

My hope is that this book will be the catalyst to inspire leaders to believe in the local church again. And to not only believe in the local church, but also to believe that God can breath the breathe of life into any church regardless of its current condition. I call it ReBorn. What is ReBorn? It’s the belief that by the Spirit of God both people and churches can be born again. Being born again means we are fundamentally changed from the inside out. What happened in our lives as believers when we believed the promises of God through faith and became recipients of his sovereign grace and were transformed by the Holy Spirit is possible in a church as well. ReBorn is the belief that God can call a leader to believe that anything is possible, the belief that God can breath into any situation regardless of how dead or lifeless it seems, and the belief that by the Holy Spirit every church can begin to grow again. It begins with an understanding that God’s heart is for his house. That he believes in his church and it’s the central part of the universe he created. ReBorn is the understanding that no church can stay stagnated if it has a leader with vision and passion. ReBorn is the belief that greater things are possible if we only believe in God and in his church. ReBorn is the passion to be disturbed by the condition of the local church. And lastly, ReBorn is the courage to do something about it.

Zeal for this mess has eaten me up

I was angry. It was my first visit to what was then known as Venice Apostolic United Pentecostal Church Inc. located in Venice, Florida. Yes, that was the actual name of the church. Most people shortened it to Venice Pentecostal Church. My role for the weekend was to be the guest speaker for the 25th anniversary of the church. I flew out of Detroit Metro Airport in January of 2009 with the snow blowing sideways on a miserably cold day. A few hours later I landed in Sarasota with pure, clear yellow sunshine and temps in the 70’s. The trip was a nice respite from the harsh Michigan winter I was experiencing. I knew nothing about the church before being invited to preach. All I knew was that it was a special day to celebrate 25 years of the church being in existence.

Existence, I would learn throughout the weekend would be the key word to use. Words or phrases not to use in describing this church would be growing, reaching, baptizing, converting, discipling, etc.… You get the idea. My first time to preach to this congregation was somewhat of a shock to me. I didn’t realize that churches like this still existed. Looking down the center row of the small church lined with solid wood pews you could see the American Flag and Christian Flag in their respective places. The large wooden pulpit crowned the center of the stage or platform if you prefer to keep it traditional. It was evident this church did. The special 25th anniversary services occurred on Sunday Morning and again on Sunday Evening. There were 18 people in attendance. That would be a 1 and an 8 next to each other. 18. Not exaggerated for impact. That’s an exact number. I know it’s cool to talk about how much you have had to overcome to build a church and sometimes stories get exaggerated to make it sound worse. If you are church planter you say you only started with 13 people and 7 of those people were secret members of Al Qaeda. Or we started in our living room, in a mobile home, while it was still being moved on the truck. Whatever the story, we tend to talk about the difficulties we've had to over come to start something. This story isn’t exaggerated for effect. It’s real and it’s the story of God’s amazing grace and incredible power that he gives to his church.

This is the story all about how my world got flipped, turned upside down. It would be nice if I had an Uncle and Auntie in Bel Air, but I don’t. This is the true and accurate story of a journey of transition and starting again both for me personally, and a church that would later become CoastLife Church. That’s a slightly better name that Venice Apostolic United Pentecostal Church, Inc.

The 18 people in attendance for this celebratory occasion were on average roughly the age of Methuselah. Did I mention the weather was perfect?