http://www.lovingcommunity.info/
About The Founders
Community Pastor & Executive Director
Jim & Sharon met their freshman year of college (1978) and now some 36 years later they’re still in love with each other and God. They live by the hope that “the best is yet to come”! It’s with that optimism that “Loving Community” was founded in June of 2014.
Jim has been an ordained minister for the past 33 years serving churches in the roles of Executive Pastor, Associate Pastor and Church Administrator. He is a graduate of Baptist Bible College and Liberty University with undergraduate degrees in religion and business and an MBA in non-profit management. His giftedness and background in the areas of both ministry and administration have afforded him the opportunity to effectively serve as a pastor and church leader.
Sharon too is a graduate of Baptist Bible College and is a career teacher. For the past seven years she has taught at the Elite Learning Academy, a school associated with Texas Dream Gymnastics. She teaches language arts and history to1st through 8th graders.
Together they have three young adult children and their spouses (Chad & Heather, Joy & Caleb, & Katelyn & Jesse) and one grandson, Titus Isaiah.
God has always given Jim & Sharon awesome ministry opportunities and friendships both within the church and also the communities in which they have lived. And it’s now in these communities that they believe God has called them to invest their time, being good neighbors to the increasing population who have no faith family, lacking connection with others, and no one to care for them in times of need.
They moved to Lewisville, TX six years ago (specifically the 75067 zip code) with its 13 square mile area and 61,000 residents. Their hope is to be good neighbors and to be a community pastor to the church without walls.
Our Mission
To be good neighbors by connecting people into relationships and serving the needs of our community.
The Big Idea Behind Loving Community
When it comes to God and faith, today increasing numbers of people find a disconnect. An example of this is the marked decline in church attendance and baptisms. News outlets recently reported that Southern Baptists, one of the largest denominations, “had the fewest baptisms since the 1950’s and are losing members”.
The sad reality is that for many, the church is no longer a “go to” place, for help and hope. One poll showed that if given an invitation to attend church, 82% decline.
Now the downsides of this are many, with one being the lack of a faith voice in our neighborhoods and communities. Often there is no one to speak into the needs and challenges of life; building strong marriages and families, providing mentors for school children, caring for the elderly and lonely, or just how to be a good neighbor.
And it’s into this vacuum, that God has called us to be a voice – to be a force of good – to be a good neighbor. Our new venture led us to walk away from our familiar environment – being a pastor in a particular church – and now we serve a church without walls, our community – a single zip code of 13 square miles and 61K people. I now jokingly say our church has 61K people – I just haven’t met them all yet!
Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” And these were not empty words. He too left the familiar as John’s Gospel tells us, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood…” And it this neighborhood model, originating with Jesus, which we believe God is calling us.
Prayer & Strategy
Pray for our local Lewisville community (75067) and this “neighborhood model” of ministry that God might transform our community and others in the future through:
Connecting People
• Missional Communities
• Discipleship Huddles
• Faith Groups Collaboration
• Help Resources
Caring For Needs
• Community Pastor
• Children – Mentoring/Literacy
• Families – Marriage/Parenting
• Addiction Recovery
Celebrating Community
• Neighborhood Advocacy
• Civic Involvement
• Corporate Partnering
Current/Proposed Volunteer Opportunities & Partnering Organizations
• Arbor House – Memory Care Center – Senior Companionship
• Durham Middle School – Student Mentoring
• Communities in Schools – North Texas – Student Mentoring
• Lewisville High School – Grateful Dad’s Program
• Prayer Team & Prayer Walking – Various Neighborhoods
• Prepare & Enrich – Marriage Mentoring
• Rockbrook Townhomes – Missional Community
• Rockbrook Elementary School – Student Mentoring
Guiding Scriptures
“So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well.” Philippians 1:9 The Message
“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:36-39
“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son. Generous inside and out…” John 1:14 The Message
“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” Acts 17:26-27 NIV
For more information, please contact Jim Mustain at 214-901-6150 or jmustain@lovingcommunity.info OR Bill Burden at 972.315.5225, ext. 202, or bill@vrumc.org.
