19 Tuesday Aug 2014
Posted in 7SD, jeremy, jeremy mcgarity, pastor Jeremy, seven church
I do a lot of weddings. I am really thankful to be a part of someone’s BIG DAY! I love being around joy and weddings are always full of joy. Weddings are a BIG DEAL, and they are a BIG DEAL to God. I found this article by Marshal Segal to be a good one on why your wedding is still something worth wanting. The target audience is those who are single but anyone can get something out of the article.
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/your-wedding-is-still-something-worth-wanting
31 Saturday May 2014
Posted in 7SD, Church, Church Leadership, God., jeremy, jeremy mcgarity, leadership, mcgarity, pastor Jeremy, patience, retreat, seven church, seven sd, sevensd church, Uncategorized
I’m currently attending the final residency phase of my Doctor of Ministry program and I’m working on my final Doctoral Project. I’ve been digging in to research on pastoral burnout and how it effects churches all across the nation. With 80-85% of churches declining or dying across America and with pastors leaving the ministry every day– there is a clear correlation between pastoral burnout and church decline . I’ve been shocked to read the latest research and find that last year over 1,700 pastors quit or were forced to leave the ministry every month…I’m gonna say that again…every month. That number is rising…
My project is focusing on the causes and correlations between burnout and decline in churches and the correlation between healthy pastors and healthy growing and multiplying churches. If we lose our leaders the research is showing we lose our churches. Since we trust Jesus’ words that his “yoke is easy and his burden light”
— what is causing such burnout among church leaders? So far, the research is that crushing expectations, no time off, always in “crisis mode”, wanting to please people and wanting to always be “On” and the pressure of putting together a good message for Sunday are all factors in burnout, moral failure and quitting amongst pastors in America. My goal is to help pastors and churches and find preventative methods and cures.
Here’s where you can help. If you know of a burned out pastor- either currently out of full time ministry or formerly burned out but back at it- please let me know by emailing me jeremy@7sd.org. I would like to interview pastors and leaders and draw some conclusions and provide some solutions.
Gracias and peace,
11 Thursday Apr 2013
Posted in 7SD, Church, jeremy, jeremy mcgarity, pastor Jeremy
Tags
Check out this idea on quick but effective and in depth prayer
http://justinlathrop.com/2013/03/26/adopting-the-140-character-prayer/
17 Wednesday Oct 2012
Salvations and Baptisms!!
Over the last week or so we saw 14 people say Yes to Jesus for the first time and also celebrated 8 Baptisms!!
That is awesome. We helped start more parties in heaven! We are so excited about the over 125 People who have said YES to Jesus for the first time this year and the 85 people who have been baptized this year at Seven SD!
And THERE’S MORE TO COME!!! Keep praying for your Oikos! it’s only a matter of time before they say YES!
This is gonna be a great weekend!
I’ll end with this quote from Abraham Lincoln, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
Have a great day!
Pastor Jeremy
19 Tuesday Jun 2012
Posted in 7SD
Tags
Church, church planting, churches, jeremy, jeremy mcgarity, lakeside, san diego, seven san diego
Everyone always says, “Wow…I can’t believe it’s been…and fill in the blank on how many years it’s been since…”
Part of me says the last 5 years have gone by fast. Another part of me feels the last five years have felt like 10 or 20 sometimes. I guess it just depends on the moment.
We moved back home to San Diego after seven years in the High Desert towns of Victorville and Apple Valley serving at one of the greatest churches in the world, High Desert Church.
We arrived in San Diego on June 18, 2007 and hit the ground running to start Seven San Diego Church with our first preview service scheduled for October 7 and our official launch scheduled for February 8, 2008.
The next day we received news that Janie’s (my wife) mom had cancer. Carol continues to battle cancer 5 years later and is an inspiration to me and thousands of others. See her story here http://skylinechurch.org/#/carol-garlow
Our family has moved seven, count that SEVEN times since June of 2007. I hate moving… can’t stand it… but God says move and you move.
We have lived in Santee, West Chula Vista, East Chula Vista, El Cajon/Rancho San Diego, Santee again and now Alpine. 7SD Church has been in Chula Vista and Lakeside and now looking to expand multi-site to Alpine. The church has grown from a core group of 12 people to 20 to 100 to over 700 people in less than 5 years since our doors officially opened.
God has brought amazing people along the journey, workers for the Harvest! Some I liken to incredibly helpful scaffolding early on. Getting the church going and helping it build to the next level before moving on. Others have been with us from the beginning and still others are joining the mission every week.
From our very first practice service in September of 2007 http://gallery.me.com/jmcgarity#100001
we realized we had something special but also something VERY CHALLENGING ahead of us.
Our first baptism was held in Otay Lake in Chula Vista on June 1st of 2008 and we baptized 19 people http://gallery.me.com/jmcgarity#100023
The goal and dream has been to reach lost people in the mold and form of Jesus. Jesus said in Luke 19:10, “I have come to seek and save the Lost.” That has been our primary goal and will always be the goal of Seven San Diego. We must reach those who are far from God. People who know God must look to reach those who do not know God. That’s why we always say, “Found People Find People.”
It takes “grown up” or “mature” Christians to be willing to do this. People that think outside themselves. We are grateful that those on board understand this and are focused on reaching those outside the walls of the church and welcoming them to a place where, as we always say, “No Perfect People Allowed.”
Our next steps as a church is, as mentioned, multi-site and a home-base where we can have a permanent Sunday facility. We currently meet at the community center in Lakeside and it has served us well and we have served the community center well. We have a great partnership with the leaders of the community center. We are so thankful for them.
Our search for more permanent facilities has taken us so close to finalizing properties that it’s almost funny. How many of you remember the “Lane Furniture” building in Chula Vista. We had an oral agreement and were a signature on the dotted line away from a long-term lease when they pulled back http://gallery.me.com/jmcgarity#100076
Today, we have church offices in Lakeside which we have expanded multiple times and are now out of room. We have classes, Bible studies, counseling, kids and youth events and many activities going on all the time.
It’s an exciting time in the life of Seven San Diego Church. It’s an honor to pastor a church with a ton of people focused on the same mission, “Seek and Save the Lost.”
5 years can go by so fast. I think about the fact that our boys were 3 and 6 when we got here and now they’re 8 and 11. Some prime kid years and they have some great church planting experiences to recall.
5 years can go by so slow. The constant plodding, searching, advertising, reaching, setting up, tearing down, setting up, tearing down, did I mention the setting up and tearing down? In the beginning of the ministry it was the anxiety of hope, hoping someone would show up to a) set up b) to the service.
I look back over the 5 years and go “Wow!”
