Lakeland Church is a healthy, vibrant church in Gurnee, Illinois fully committed to being a transforming community that finds deep joy in God and high value in all people. We are currently looking for an experienced Worship Leader who believes they have been created by God to lead people in life transforming worship of Christ, which is the epicenter of all God wants to do in and through us.
Lakeland Church was planted in 1979 in the northern Chicago suburb of Gurnee, IL. Lakeland has grown steadily over the years and today averages approximately 600 during weekend services. The church has a long history of calling people to a deep experience of Christ. At the same time, leadership has experienced a profound conviction over the last few years to orient the church towards outreach and has purchased twenty acres for future expansion. Their view of discipleship is expanding from being information-oriented to obedience-oriented as they try to become like Christ who “came to seek and save the lost.” The church has been re-tooling the vision, and over the past twelve months has seen an increase of conversion rate across the ministry.
“I think what I love most about being here is the people that I get to do this with,” says Senior Pastor Dan Weyerhaeuser. “We will continue to change our methods, and we’ll continue to tweak vision and strategy, but the people are what make this place a great place to be.”
The church is taking dramatic steps and undergoing change as we move towards an aligned staff team who are developers of leaders rather than direct ministers, a team who minister together out of a great chemistry and compatibility. There is a great attitude and much energy around the new changes at Lakeland. Hiring the right Worship Leader to join the team of other full-time pastor leaders is critical. The leadership sense that the Lord is positioning this church for an evolutionary new season.
One strong value of the leadership for years is close collaboration with other like-minded churches in evangelistic partnerships. Convinced that Christ died for, and leads one church, not churches, the Sr. Pastors of our area churches work hard to co-pastor Christ’s one church to reach the lostness of our shared geography. These partnerships have bolstered Lakeland’s own outreach. This last summer, for example, the combined Gurnee “C”hurch hosted 125 backyard events with neighbors, connecting with about 2% of our city’s population in pre-evangelistic relationship building. Supporting the broader church is a value that should excite a candidate.
If there is one word that would describe Lakeland it would be “authentic.” This comes straight from the heart of Pastor Dan, who has led the church for eighteen years. This heart is seen through the preaching and felt throughout the church. Lakeland is a part of the Evangelical Free Church of America. You can read more about this denomination on their website at www.efca.org.
The church is diverse in age and reflects the changing ethnic diversity of its community.