Funding God’s Rescue
A discipleship and generosity guide for building a permanent home for God’s family in the North Georgia mountains.
[originally written as a book – if you would like a copy, just let us know]
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This effort is dedicated to all those who have and who will come to know God’s rescue through Blue Mountain Church.
Your God, your King, your Rescuer has come, is here, and is coming again.
It is also dedicated to all those who have stood beside us over so many years. Your prayers, love, and generosity have held us up all along the way.
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PREFACE
The world and the people in it are a mess. We are broken. We are fallen. But there is a light in the tragedy. Our Creator is rescuing us – and in the most unexpected way: through a rescue operation called the Church. It is messy and flawed because it involves us, but it is the greatest force for good and the greatest hope the world has ever known. The Church is God’s big idea . . . and it’s working!
Thank you. It’s hard to explain, but just the thought of you holding this book in your hands and reading it gets us all choked up with gratitude. Maybe you have been standing beside us as we attempt daring and crazy things for God for decades. Maybe we’ve met more recently along the way. Maybe we have yet to meet, but somehow this book found its way into your hands. Whatever the case may be, we are grateful for you and believe that God is at work in this moment.
You could think of this as a fundraising book, but that would be minimizing what we are after to the point of misunderstanding. We hope you will find this short book to be more of a guide and inspiration in the journey of discipleship and spiritual formation. Part of the end result, of course, is that we hope you will give meaningfully to this exciting and enduring endeavor, but only out of a deeper realization of the true value of things. We hope this book and what it is inviting you to makes you more free, whole, alive, and closer to our Savior.
Also know that we aren’t inviting you to any place we aren’t committed to leading from the front. We are working out ways so that we can give proportionally more than anyone else. It will be a sacrifice and yet no sacrifice at all. We will all have regrets in this life. We know this won’t be one of them. On the contrary, this will be one of our greatest joys – and one we hope to share with you.
All that we are, for all that He is,
Nathan & Carrie Dean
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LESSON 1 – The World Is Broken
The world is a broken place – from the global, international perspective all the way down to what is going on behind the door down the street, or maybe even behind your front door.
We live in an era of abundance and security that few who have come before us could come close to believing or imagining. It is a fragile state, but it is a wonder; and even still we sense and we know the tragedy. There is something inescapably wrong. The world is broken. We are broken. It shows up in broken families, broken lives, corruption, addiction, injustice, violence, abuse, indifference, war, broken promises, broken dreams, chronic loneliness, suffering in the soul, suffering in the body, and death.
There is a tragedy that runs through everything we touch.
We can’t fix it. We can’t manage it.
When we accept this reality, we are ready to find our greatest and only hope.
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LESSON 2 – The Greatest Difference
God’s rescue plan for the world has always been through a people – to save the world through a family on a mission. It was the promise and the plan given to Abraham.
“I will make you into a great family and I will bless you all. Everyone will know about you all and together you will be a blessing to the world. Those who celebrate your family will be blessed and those who crash into you and plot the ruin of your family will be broken against it; and all families of the earth will be blessed through you.” (Paraphrase of Genesis 12:2-3)
From the beginning, that plan alone wasn’t going to work by itself. There was something missing, but from the beginning there was also the promise that one day, the missing piece would come. And one day he did; the Creator Himself, living and dying, and rising again, so that we could have the missing piece, become who we were made to be and take our place in rescuing the world with and through Him.
“Christ in you, the hope of glory” is the way a follower of Jesus named Paul put it (Colossians 1:27).
God’s answer to selfishness, addiction, slavery, abuse, neglect, poverty, broken homes, corruption, trauma, depression – all of it – is a God-filled and God-focused people that put the self-sacrificing, heroic love of God at the center of their lives, learn to love God back the way God loves them, commit to God’s people and
practice loving them the way God loves us.
This family on a mission is called “the Church” – God’s heroic people with a heroic purpose. Heaven inside of us and heaven ahead of us.
The Church is not a nice idea, it is not an event to attend with audiences and performers. It is not a club. It is not a market segment offering a selection of religious and spiritual programming and experiences. It is an insurgency against all that is dark, evil, and broken in this world. It is plan “A” for the rescue of the world and there is no plan “B.” It’s real and it’s working. Sociologist and historian Rodney Stark wrote these words about the impact of God’s church in its earliest days on Roman society:
“Christianity revitalized life in Greco-Roman cities by providing new norms and new kinds of social relationships able to cope with many urgent urban problems. To cities filled with the homeless and the impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as hope. To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for attachments. To cities filled with orphans and widows, Christianity provided a new and expanded sense of family. To cities torn by violent ethnic strife, Christianity offered a new basis for social solidarity. And to cities faced with epidemics, fires, and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective nursing services.”
You all are the salt of the earth . . . you all are the light of the world Jesus said . . . but we forget. We think we can’t possibly matter in the shaping of the world. But history tells a different story. The life and impact of Jesus and his small band of whole-life-apprentices tells a different story. You matter. You all, the church, matters. The world is saved through the small things.
Tolkien knew and tried to wake us up. He said, “Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”
The culture around us, the water we are all swimming in, wants us to believe that life is about being comfortable or entertained, about building up a collection of nice things, or curating an enviable life to show off to others. These are all invitations to a small life. They are deceptions. Because we matter and because we are in a fight, every message that comes at us says, “Don’t care, don’t notice, stay busy, stay distracted, stay discouraged.” See the lies for what they are and remember who you are.
God’s people, God’s Church, is the rescue plan for the world. It is where and how the world is being saved. It is where the heroic, self-sacrificing, love of God is being learned, cultivated, and spread. It is a growing constellation of outposts of heaven in a dark sky.
Remember what is important. Remember what is at stake. Remember who you are.
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LESSON 3 – A Family & A Home
A church isn’t a building anymore than a house is a family – but just like every human family, God’s family, the church, has always needed a place to call home.
A home gives to God’s family what a home gives to every family – stability, protection, and a place to rest, live, connect, and grow. A place of hospitality and warmth that reflects the reality of heaven into a cold, harsh world.
And that is exactly what we are building—a warm, functional home for God’s missionary family.
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LESSON 4 – “I’m Rich!”
The god of money, like all false gods, wants us to repeat a series of lies that keep us trapped. It’s lies sound like, “I don’t have enough,” “I don’t have what someone else has,” or “I’m just doing okay, but not much more than that.” Those evil gods want to keep us trapped by their lies into mindsets of scarcity, fear, greed, insecurity, and inadequacy.
God wants us to be free!
The way to free ourselves from those demons is to say what is true. The true thing that almost all of us can say and need to say is, “I’m rich!” I’m so rich that kings of old couldn’t imagine eating like me, being healthy like me, and having the comforts I have. I’m so rich that I have everything I need and so much of what I want. I’m so rich that I eat pineapple in the winter time.”
Smile, and repeat that truth to yourself, “I’m rich!” It will set you free and orient you to the truth.
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LESSON 5 – What We All Want Money To Do For Us
As people get older, there are generally only three things that matter to us. In no particular order, 1) We want to be healthy, 2) We want to have good relationships with those we love, 3) and we want our life to have counted for something. In other words, we don’t want to outlive our health, we want our children and grandchildren to be okay and get to spend time with them, and we want our life to have purpose.
There is no greater purpose, no greater impact we can have with our lives than to help a church get established in the world. Once a church is established it will typically exist for hundreds of years transforming lives, families, and communities like no other organization on earth could hope to replicate.
A church with a building planted today will be joining God in rescuing people, marriages, and families and bringing beauty and goodness to the world long after all of our work in this life is over.
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LESSON 6 – Unless A Seed Falls To The Ground
A Christian is someone who hears Jesus’ offer of “My life for yours” and grabs a hold of that deal for the treasure that it is. That is the deal: that we take up our cross and follow Him, that we lay our lives down for the One who died for us.
This is hard for modern, American Christians. We live with a degree of comfort and security that few who have come before us could believe or imagine, and yet, the calling and definition of a Christian has never changed – we are called to die. “My life for yours.”
What then do we lay before our King – the one who, while we were traitors, laid down His life for us?
Every Christian has to wrestle with that question. It is an ongoing part of the journey, but here is an ask: Think about what you have or would have paid for a new car that you wanted. Think about what you would pay for an expensive medical treatment you or someone you love needed. Think about what your second home costs. Think about how much you could give and still afford pineapple in the winter time.
Think about that number, and give that to permanently establish a church in the world.
None of those questions point to real sacrifice. Your quality of life and standard of living would still be beyond the comprehension of almost all people throughout all time. And it would satisfy one of the deepest longings of all of our lives: purpose. To know we did something that mattered.
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
– Missionary, Jim Elliot.
“Unless a wheat seed falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
– Jesus (John 12:24)
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LESSON 7 – Two Jobs & Two Messages
The work God has given all of us comes down to two basic jobs and two basic messages.
The two jobs are to love God and to love people. When we do both of those things we become the meeting place between God and people. Some of the habits that fuel this meeting place are a posture of gratitude and praise to God and fostering an interest in people. Everyone’s favorite subject is themselves and people generally like it when someone shows interest in them. It is a simple way to show love and when we show genuine interest in someone, more often than not, we find that they are interesting.
Our two basic messages that we find God has given us through the New Testament are “All I know” and “Come and see.”
“All I know” is being a witness to something you have experienced from God. It doesn’t have to be defended or argued, it just is. An “All I know” can be something like, “I know when I was going through something difficult, God came through for me, I bet if you let him, he’ll be there for you too.” And “All I know” can also be a “Wow, can I pray with you about that?” followed by a short prayer. One is pointing to a past experience of God, the other is pointing to the presence of God.
In the Gospels, “Come and see” was inviting people to come and see the walking around, in the flesh Jesus. Today, our most common “Come and see” is an invitation to church or a church event where outsiders might come and experience the goodness of God through His family.
This building will provide space for God’s people to offer a “Come and see” to the world for generations to come.
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LESSON 8 – Designed For Discipleship
A disciple is a whole-life apprentice. Just as an apprentice wants to learn to be able to do what the master does, a disciple wants to learn to be who the master is. Apprenticeship is a journey of doing. Discipleship is a journey of becoming. Every aspect of this building is designed for the purpose of discipleship – for people spending time with God and time with God’s people so that we can become who He is.
It is through a life with Christ and life with Christ’s people that we become Christians – little Christs.
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LESSON 9 – Designed For Community
God gave us a template for human community. We call it family. Not long ago, everyone everywhere knew this, but we have forgotten. In our modern world we have replaced the template of family for the factory. Everyone and everything is categorized and compartmentalized for ease of management and control. The two year old goes with the two year olds and mom goes to the cubical. The eighth grader goes with the eighth graders and granddad goes with the senior adults.
And we wonder why there is less connection, soul, or wisdom in our people. It has been pressed out by the conveyor belt of the factory systems that shape our lives.
We were made for more. We were made for community that looks like family – and we’ve designed for that: kitchen, living space, porches, fields, and playgrounds. Multigenerational, family-based, community at every aspect of our life together.
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LESSON 10 – Designed For Engagement
One of our savior’s last words to us on earth was, “Go.” We’ve designed for that. There is no classroom space or small group space in the building – by design. Right now, all of those activities happen somewhere in the town of Blairsville – restaurants, coffee shops, parks, and even the grocery store. Why would we stop that? Why would we design to remove our presence from the community? We haven’t. By design, we will continue to “go” and the people to whom God has called us will continue to see us and find us in all the places they go.
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NUMBERS & UPDATES
The total projected “ready for worship” cost for a home for Blue Mountain Church is estimated at $2,728,040. As of April 14th, 2026, we have already raised $375,000 or 14% of the funds needed.
We will keep these numbers updated, so check back in to keep up to date on how things are progressing.
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WHAT TO GIVE
Everything has a context – and impactful giving is no different.
If a little girl is running a lemonade stand to buy a bike and you open your wallet and give her a $20 for your glass of lemonade, that is impactful giving. It makes a meaningful difference towards the goal. If a friend lost his job and is struggling to put food on the table for his family, that same $20 would be appreciated, but not impactful. Instead, you get $1,000 from your checking account and say, “How about you not worry about that for a while friend.”
Those same two things are true for impactful giving when it comes to permanently establishing a church in the world – all gifts are incredibly appreciated, but mathematically only some gifts are impactful.
To understand what an impactful gift is, you have to understand the math of the situation. That changes based on whether the objective is a toy bike, food for a family, or establishing a church.
This isn’t the type of opportunity where you open your wallet or go to your checking account. For this, you go to the sources you would to pay for that car you’ve been wanting, or that expensive medical procedure for someone you love, or for the down payment on that second home.
What those numbers are vary from person to person, but most of us can, and do, layout significant funds from time to time in our life for things we want or need.
The difference though, is that they are typically not for things that will make a generational and eternal impact.
Impactful gifts for permanently establishing a church are in the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars. That is not a statement of what is appreciated, but what mathematically moves the needle.
As mentioned in the preface, Nathan and Carrie, are working out ways where they can lead from the front in this. From one perspective it will be a sacrifice, but in reality though, in reality of who God is and all that God has done for us, it will be no sacrifice at all.
It will be a life-treasure and an exciting joy to be a part of – an exciting joy that we hope you will know with us.
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HOW TO GIVE
You can give online by clicking on the DONATE button at the top of the website or on the dropdown on your cellphone. Under the amount given, please change the selector from “Blue Mountain Church” to “Funding God’s Rescue.”
Checks can be mailed to “Blue Mountain Church” at the address below.
Please direct any questions to Nathan or Carrie Dean at the contact information below. We would love to hear from you.