One of the reasons why we launched Renue.me is because we believe in championing the cause of the local church. We also believe that every follower of Christ should be plugged into a life-giving church. Here are a few reasons why I love my church. I attend Shoreline Christian Center, Austin, TX. The senior pastors are Rob & Laura Koke.

1. People Feel Loved: There is a genuine love for people that flows through the culture of the church. The vision of church is “Unveiling God’s Love.” The reputation of Shoreline proceeds itself, because when people come to Shoreline, they know they will feel God’s love in a authentic way. That’s our prayer anyway.

2.  Leadership Diversity: Now, when I say diversity, I’m not talking about racial diversity, I’m talking about diversity among leadership styles. If you step back and look closely at the key leaders (the one’s who are the most visible) on the church staff you will find lots of diversity in personalities and leadership styles. You’ll find some leaders who have a calm, gentle strength in their leadership style and you’ll find others that have a loud and more dynamic approach. But, in it all I love how every leader, regardless of their leadership style have the same heart to work as ONE. Our senior pastor does an excellent job to empower, nurture and release his staff leaders to flourish in their God-given leadership abilities.

3. Always Thinking Outward: Shoreline is a very large church. Sometimes you can feel lost in the crowd. But, from a Kingdom perspective, Shoreline is just a small church that has a mega-vision. What does that mean? That means what is happening now is small compared to where God wants to take us as a Body in the future. An outward mindset to serve our community, nation and the world is evident in the culture of our church. We’re always thinking and experimenting with new ways to reach new people for Christ. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t, but you’ll never know unless you step-out into the unknown and try new things. I’ve noticed that’s what my church likes to do. I like that.

4. An Entrepreneur Spirit Among Our Young Adults: I have noticed that there is a large amount of young adults within our church that have decided to step out to pusue the vision God has put in their hearts. I love it! That’s the way it should be, but unfortunately it isn’t in every young adult ministry. We have young adults leading ministry non-profits, social causes, event/conference productions, authors/life coaches, and the list goes on and on. There is a large amount of young adults within our church that have lots of vision to step out into the unknown and take a risk. Why you ask? The real question is…why not? When you’re in your 20-something’s, you don’t have a whole lot to lose except by doing nothing.

5. People Believe The Best In You: One thing I love about my church is the incredible amount of encouragement I get from leaders and friends. I don’t think there is a week that goes by when I don’t hear someone encouraging someone else. The culture of the church loves to believe the best in people and are consistently encouraging others to pursue their dreams.

Below are some of our church leaders on Twitter that I think you should follow. You’ll get some great encouragement and insight from their tweets:

• Rob Koke, Senior Pastor of Shoreline
• Laura Koke, Co-pastor of Shoreline
• Earl McClellan, Executive Pastor
• Oneka McClellan, Creative Coordinator
• Kelly Mata, Pastoral Care
• Ben Calmer, HS Pastor
• Mike Collins, Ji-Hi Pastor
• Stacy McVane, Director of Lift

What are some reasons why you love your church?