Church Planting - New Churches

Thursday is for Thinkers: Jen Hatmaker

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:00 GMT

In case you missed the 2012 debut of Thursday is for Thinkers, last week we kicked things off with Sally Lloyd-Jones.

My guest this week is Jen Hatmaker. Jen and her husband, Brandon, live and serve in Austin, TX, where Brandon pastors Austin New Church. You may be familiar with Jen's new book as well-- 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess.

Jen will be dropping by the blog today to answer questions and respond to comments, so
be sure to leave a comment before you go.

I like the name of this series: Thursday is for Thinkers. See how creative Ed is? I named my blog, um, "Jen Hatmaker." Catchy. Really casts vision.

Anyway.

As it turns out, I have indeed been thinking some things. I'm thinking that I read constantly these days about the state of the western church and its imminent decline. We hear of church buildings foreclosing, congregations shrinking and dying, and others coasting in utter stagnation. It seems we can't draw the next generation or even keep the ones we've got.

I'm thinking how people outside the church walls are giving us the collective eye roll and tuning out the white noise of our Christian rhetoric. And why wouldn't they? We're putting coffee bars in our 30 million dollar sanctuaries while the world burns down outside our windows. Evidently this bothers people and seems inconsistent with the humble, radical Savior we say we love.

I'm thinking of this sticky observation, one we're not sure what to do with, and it is this: most of our churches are churning out untransformed people.

This doesn't resemble at all the early church, where folks met Jesus and their lives careened wildly off course. They were called lunatics, heretics. Like the pagan satirist Lucian (130-200 c.e.) mocked: "The earnestness with which the people of this religion help one another in their needs is incredible. They spare themselves nothing for this end. Their first lawgiver put it into their heads that they were all brethren."

Here's what I'm thinking, spiritual leaders: We cannot expect to develop transformed disciples of Christ, radical in word and deed, hopelessly devoted to the suffering and the poor and the lost and hungry, when our own lives do not reflect the gospel mandates Jesus was so obsessed with.

When Brandon and I sat down with Shane Claiborne four years ago, confused and buckling under tension, asking new questions and trying to figure out if Jesus was serious about all that stuff he said about poor people, Shane said to us:

"Care for them yourself first."

(We were hoping for a leadership model or some structural scaffolding, Shane.)

I'm thinking a spiritual leader on mission in his or her own life is the best possible catalyst for the movement of the Spirit within a faith community. Leaders, strip away the sermons and administration, the staff meetings and endless details of it all. Step outside the tidy boundaries where you spend your time serving saved people and blessing the blessed. What do your folks see? How do they view you radically emulating Jesus? What can they point to in your regular life as an ordinary believer and say, "That. That is legit."

We are leading the Body of Christ in a time and place where 'well done' trumps 'well said.' People are hungry for inspiration, for something big and important and meaningful to give their lives for, and I'm afraid our heady theological words and redundant Christian dialogue isn't doing the trick anymore. Show me a transformed pastor living a brave, revolutionary life, and I'll show you a transformed church under his leadership.

I'm thinking it's time to unpack what Paul meant when he said, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). In a culture where Christianese has lost all meaning and we've forfeited our right to be heard after decades of turning a blind eye to a suffering world, I'm afraid the only way back is to actually live out the gospel. Right in front of people. With our real hands and real time and real money and resources and gifts in our real homes and real neighborhoods, serving real people who are sad and lonely and sick and hungry. If Jesus was right, then the literal goodness of the Good News is compelling, so maybe we better figure out how to get the "good" back into our story.

Because people are watching.

I'm thinking this could actually change the world.

Jen Hatmaker is the author of nine books and Bible studies, including Interrupted and 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. She speaks all over the United States. She and her husband, Brandon, lead Austin New Church in Texas where they are raising their five kids - three the old-fashioned way and two recently adopted from Ethiopia. Follow her ministry and blog at www.jenhatmaker.com.

The Permanent Revolution: Apostolic Imagination and Practice for the 21st Century Church

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:40 GMT

Amazon has released the new book by Alan Hirsch & Tim Catchim. For those struggling with understanding how the change in culture is causing churches to re-orient, this book will answer some of those questions. According to the authors, many churches build their organization on Pastors/Teachers who are more interested in removing ‘messy' apostolic leaders who agitate the organization. If
your church is involved in the missional community movement, this book is a must read.

This is a large book (368 pages) and it is also a book filled with a lot of complicated ideas that will take leaders a while to process. But, if you take the book on, I believe it will be one of the more revolutionary reads for the church if you understand the implications Hirsch and Catchim suggest.

Pick up a copy of the book today: The Permanent Revolution: Apostolic Imagination and Practice for the 21st Century Church

I recall sitting in a room years ago and first hearing from Hirsch at the National New Church conference in Orlando. His book, the Forgotten Ways had released and was causing a stir in the room. Fast forward several years and Hirsch continues to agitate the comforts of the North American Church. His influence is seen by many as the Church continues to adjust to the sociological shifts of the last couple decades. The Permanent Revolution: Apostolic Imagination and Practice for the 21st Century Church is another must read in this stream of conversation.

Pros – The authors leave few stones unturned as they discuss the necessary apostolic element in the church. If you come to agree with the arguments laid out, it can have serious impacts on the local church. I found several moments where I literally had to put the book down to process what was being said. Examples include:

Their use of APEST as a model for ministry and what this looks like worked out in a local church. (I've written on the Triperspectival model of ministry which, I think the authors wrongly characterize on p. 168 but that is another topic).
The contrast between Evangelistic and Apostolic leaders. The flow from Apostolic to Prophetic, Evangelistic, Pastor and then Teaching in a movement.
How the roles of Pioneers & Settlers are needed in the church. (Pioneers from my experience often leave the structures of the church to pioneer new works because churches don't know what to do with them.)

Cons – This is not an easy read and may require time for you to process.

Overall though this is a necessary and recommended read for church leaders.

Free Tickets to Velocity

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:31 GMT

My friend, Matt Steen has two tickets to the Velocity Church Planting Conference coming up later this month in Atlanta.

Here's a look at this year's conference…

Velocity is the rate of speed. What speed are we moving at?

OUR CULTURE PUTS A LOT OF EMPHASIS ON SPEED. Speed is daring and exciting. Often as the church we fall into the trap of needing to run faster and faster. We believe the faster we accelerate the more impact we will have. Often we have a different kind of impact as we hit the wall head-on.

WE CAN ALSO MOVE TOO SLOW. This can happen when our leadership lacks a clear vision and are paralyzed by the complexity of decisions before them. We don't hit the wall. We simply never get to the wall.

VELOCITY IS ABOUT A DIFFERENT KIND OF SPEED. It is about keeping in step with the Holy Spirit. Jesus invites us into a new world. This world is His Kingdom. There are times when we must speed up. There are times that we must slow down. This is the velocity that we embrace.

We’re about Catalyzing Movements

We are committed to coaching church planters for greater missional impact. It is our desire to catalyze movements of churches committed to…

Going missional by being the church in their community (Jerusalem).
Making the Gospel accessible throughout their region (Judea).
Launching church planting movement makers throughout North America (Samaria).
Developing strategic partnerships for global impact around the world (ends of the earth).

As Churchplanters.com we want to multiplying God’s vision by equipping young leaders for being the Church in North America and extending His impact around the world.

In order for your chance to win the tickets, just leave a comment between now and Friday morning over at Matt's blog. You even get a free lunch with Matt if you win!

In Search of Masculine Christianity

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:48 GMT

Rachel Held Evans issued a challenge to male bloggers last week in response to John Piper's suggestion that "God has given Christianity a masculine feel", which she thought was "a strange way to talk about the Bride of Christ." I didn't have time to write anything but I noticed that 150 men have responded and there is some great conversation going on all over the blogosphere.

Driscoll, Piper and others are saying we are in a crisis as there are very few young men in our churches. They say their teaching is an attempt to win them back. Yet at the same time many of my educated, gifted and thoughtful female friends are feeling less and less welcome in Church culture. Vicky Beeching

What Vicky says is sad but true, especially in the church planting scene which increasingly resembles a boys game of marbles [knocking unworthies out of the circle, keeping and guarding one's 'keepsies', and compulsive counting to see who is the Winner)] many of my close female colleagues have walked out shaking their heads and moved into more holistic missional vocations and social enterprise, in which young women are leading the way. [see Predictions for the next decade]

Instead of speaking of “masculine” or “feminine” Christianity, we ought to refer to our ethos as – “image-bearing.” Pangea Blog

Also of interest, and quite coincidentally, a new songbook was released today at the monastery we are staying at. One of the songs is this:

Jesus as a mother you gather your people to you

You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds.

Underneath is written that this composition is based on the Song of Anselm 1109AD, attributed to Saint Anselm who was the Archbishop of Canterbury.

But what I really wanted to say about this matter has to do with the Masculine Christianity movement that happened a hundred years ago and resulted, in the UK, with a vigorous mission gathering in Edinburgh in 1910 and the subsequent birth of the modern ecumenical movement and on the other side of the pond, D.L. Moody, Billy Sunday, the emergence of the YMCA and ultimately basketball and volleyball.

One of the stars of this movement in the UK was a wealthy young cricketer named C.T. Studd and his brothers. They were part of the Cambridge Seven and if you are a cricket fan [I am not] then you might be interested to know that the name "Studds" is engraven on the original Ashes trophy from the famous 1882 match that gave the Ashes their name.

But C.T. Studd's contribution to 'masculine Christianity" was not his sportsmanship, or even his wealth but rather in the fact that he gave up his prospects of fame, power, and cheerleader girlfriends in a mouth-dropping announcement that he was going away to China to give his life away as a missionary, and that he might not return.

Studd's short book "The Chocolate Soldier" was a call to a gutsy way of following Jesus to a life worth living, the kind of "masculine Christianity" as was popular at the time, but it avoided the breakdown of male vs. female characteristics by challenging both sexes to follow Christ fully:

But how can they call on Him of whom they have not even heard? Must you stay, young man? Can't you go, young woman, and tell them? C.T.Studd, The Chocolate Soldier

The idea of a strong and aggressive [masculine?] Christianity, portrayed in The Chocolate Soldier, had more to do with restraint, with sacrifice, with generosity, not bullying but serving, not hoarding by giving, not rampant conference attending but packing our suitcases for Christ's sake and not coming home again.

We are frittering away time and money in a multiplicity of conventions, conferences and retreats, when the real need is to go straight and full steam into battle, with the signal for close action flying. C.T.Studd, The Chocolate Soldier

“A lost reputation is the best degree for Christ’s service.” C.T. Studd, The Cambridge Seven, quote from OMF

After reading C.T. Studd's thoughts in light of the new-Reformed movement and its recent outbursts, I am left with these 6 challenges:

1. Instead of giving the microphone to bratty 20-somethings fresh out of college,

to give a platform to the elderly who have earned a hearing.

2. Instead of bragging about accomplishments, academic degrees and lunches with megachurch pastors,

to sit in the shadows with the unlovely and the awkward and the losers.

3. Instead of targeting yuppies, winners, and high-achievers

to give preference to the poor, the marginalized and the vulnerable.

4. Instead of accumulating a portfolio of influential cities,

to send our people to the backwaters no one has heard about, places where their names and reputations will fade.

5. Instead of attributing honor to those with the largest Sunday headcount,

to find those faithful workers in the hidden corners who are really transforming their cities.

6. Instead of worrying incessantly about whether this leader or that leader has a penis or not,

to focus on encouraging the whole body of Christ to embrace His mission for the world.

For the students: Compare C.T. Studd's "The Chocolate Soldier" with John Piper's outline of masculine Christianity [as blogged here by Scot McKnight]

For the geeks: If you have time, read these two books on Masculine Christianity of that time:

The manly Christ: A new view (1904) [PDF] and The masculine power of Christ; or, Christ measured as a man (1912) [PDF]

Sifted: 20 leaders in 20 days

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:30 GMT

There’s something new happening at storiesofsifting.com this week. Make sure to check it out. Today they launched a really cool 20-day campaign of daily devotionals based on the theme “sifted.” The word “sifted” means accelerated spiritual growth in times of trouble. Each day, the site posts a new story of a church planting leader’s journey of sifting. These stories are intended to inspire and encourage church planting leaders. The collection of the stories and similar essays from national leaders will be packaged into a free eBook in the next few months.

Leaders can participate by:

visiting the stories of sifting web-site each day via http://storiesofsifting.com
subscribing to the sifted RSS feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/sifted
subscribing to the Exponential RSS feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/exponential

I will also be teaching a couple of workshops at this year’s Exponential Conference on April 23-26 in Orlando, FL. Hope to see you there.

"Sifted": 2012 Exponential Conference Big Idea

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:26 GMT

Who wants to be Sifted? I know it doesn’t sound like much fun, does it? When we first picked the Sifted theme for the Exponential 2012 Conference, I wasn’t a big fan. I’m more of a big picture and positive sort of guy so thinking about being sifted made me cringe a little. As we continued to develop this theme, I began to realize this is exactly what we need to be talking about. God allows us to be “sifted” (Luke 22:31-32) through trials and temptations to grow us as followers and leaders. How we respond as church leaders not only shapes who we become, but also those who we lead because we reproduce who we are.

Scriptural Summary:

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32) Satan wants to sift (destroy) us because we are disciples and because we are making disciples. But God is allowing us to be sifted so that – as the chaff is separated from sifted wheat – the sin can be removed from our lives (the seeds), resulting in a great harvest. The sifting process develops us into the type of disciples that God wants to reproduce.

The big ideas for each of the main stage sessions are as follows:

Session #1: Sifted

God will use the trials and temptations in our lives as a “sifting” process to grow us as leaders. To make the most of this requires that we do the “hard work”, “home work” and “heart work” necessary to become the followers of Jesus that God wants us to be. As church leaders this becomes even more important because how we respond will be reproduced by others.

Session #2: Calling

The trials and temptations that come during times of “sifting” will cause us to doubt and want to give up on our calling. It is during those times of defeat and loss that we must not quit or give up knowing that we have been called by God to lead his church and that how we respond will be reproduced by others in regards to their own calling.

Session #3: Purity

The temptation of sin is in direct opposition to the holiness and mission of God and is part of the “sifting” process. By God’s grace the resistance of sin and the redemption of our sin can result in a stronger relationship with God and therefore more mature disciples and better leadership. How we respond to sins temptation is important not only in our own lives but also others because how we respond will be reproduced in the lives of others.

Session #4: Relationships

The “sifting” process not only impacts us but also the relationships that we value the most: our family and friends. It is during those times that we must be devoted to our commitments and the hard work of reconciliation not only for the good of our own relationships but also knowing that how we respond will be reproduced by others in their relationships.

Session #5: Movement

God will use the trials and temptations in our lives as “sifting” process to grow us as disciples of Jesus and as leaders of His church. How we respond not only shapes who we become, but also all who follow us. For there to be a movement of reproducing churches that will accomplish the mission of Jesus there must first be leaders who are living lives worthy of being reproduced.

I am now super pumped about the Sifted theme and know there is a ton at stake in creating a reproducing church movement. We reproduce who we are; so as we reproduce (plant more churches, missional communities and campuses) we want to reproduce healthy churches that continue to reproduce.

Shared Missional Community Leadership based on Soma Identities

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:06 GMT

As Kaleo continues to invest in the life of our local church one of the desires brought up is to more greatly share leadership. Could there be a shared leadership model based on our identities? In this, Zac Anderson and Jeff Ramsey brought up an idea about what shared leadership looks like based on our identities as family, missionaries, servants, and learners.

We discussed what activities, roles, and areas of focus a leader in each identity might have.

Family: encouragement, teaching, care (know needs!), hospitality, counseling, DNA brother to brother, children, admin, historian, pay bills
Missionary: faithful to living out the mission, evangelist, seek opportunities for mission and service, outward passion
Servants: empathy, intuitive, gifts of service, hospitality, deacon, serving community, Sunday gathering
Learners/Disciples: scriptures, DNA, teach MC members (know how to teach), godly example, equipping, facilitating gospel in all of life, storying, coaching

How do you share leadership? What are the obstacles to enacting a shared leadership model?

Concurrently, Caesar who met with the Missio guys and a church in Austin that spoke about how they share leadership based on GCM. One of the missional aspects they discussed was a ‘Community' leader could even be a person who is not a believer.

Monday is for Missiology: Seeing Missional in 3D

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:00 GMT

The term missional is commonly used in conversations among Christians today. The earliest known usage of the word missional occurred in 1883 in The Heroes of African Discovery and Adventure, by C.E. Bourne, and its next usage materialized in 1907 in The Age of Justinian and Theodora by W.G. Holmes, though neither of these occurrences uses the word the way it is used today. As the term has grown in popularity, it brings with it some theological concerns, challenges, and opportunities.

The defining missiological debate in mission history has been the relationship between "church and mission," which has become a catalyst for three dimensions of missional: missionary, mission, and the missio Dei.

The Church as "Missionary"

In 1910, John Mott called the leaders of the evangelical world to the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. The conference's ambition was to carry the gospel to the entire non-Christian world (compare Luke 9:1-6). The Edinburgh conferees formed a committee that gave birth to the International Missionary Council (IMC) in 1921. The IMC's humble beginnings were an international collaboration between Protestant missionary societies. After 1921, the IMC--and later the Worldwide Council of Churches (WCC)--became the ecumenical vehicle by which many groups moved toward greater cooperation (Hedlund, Roots of the Great Debate in Mission, 39).

One of the most important early meetings of the IMC was the 1938 conference in Tambaram (also called Madras), India. The meeting included a focus on the centrality of the local church and its engagement in mission. William Hogg said, "In a day when many regarded the historic church as an unnecessarily appendage to 'the Christian spirit,' Madras brought a new awareness of the church's importance" (Hogg, Ecumenical Foundations, 297-278).

The Tambaram conference called the church to be the bearer of the Gospel in every sphere of life (Moreau, ed., "Tambaram Conference"). After the meeting, it was no longer possible to talk of mission without directly linking to the church--the church is God's missionary to the world (Acts 17:24-29). Francis Dubose, who used the word missional to reflect this sense in his 1983 book, God Who Sends, said he intentionally used the word to focus on the church as "missionary."

Tambaram's linking of mission and the church did not go without opposition. Former Indian missionary and Methodist theologian, E. Stanley Jones, questioned this emphasis, fearing that the substitution of the church for the Kingdom of God might fleece the missionary movement of the "needed fires of imagination, enthusiasm, and self-criticism" (Phillip, Edinburgh to Salvador). However, the Tambaram conference was clear and reminds us that a missional focus reminds us that the church is God's missionary in the world.

The Church Has a Mission

The 1952 IMC conference in Willingen, Germany, was themed "The Missionary Obligation of the Church." The theological debate on the missionary responsibility of the church became a topic of controversy, and the conference failed to accept the report on this subject. Dutch theologian J.C. Hoekendijk, whose opposition influenced the future of the conciliar missions movement, particularly resisted this church-centric view of mission in a paper entitled "The Church in the Missionary Thinking." Hoekendijk protested the "ecclesiocentric" view of missions and blamed the IMC conference of Madras for mission's propensity towards "churchism."

Willingen rejected Heokendijk's position and also affirmed that the missionary obligation of the church was found in the nature of God: "There is no participation in Christ without participation in His mission to the world..." (Goodal, ed., Missions Under the Cross, 180-190). The church changed from being the sender to being the one sent (compare John 20:21). This calling shows the self-revealing activity of God, who is the author of both church and mission (Georg Vicedom, The Mission of God). David Bosch says, "This evolution meant a momentous shift in the understanding of the church and mission" (Bosch, Transforming Mission, 371).

Charles van Engen popularized the term missional in his 1991 book, God's Missionary People: Rethinking the Purpose of the Local Church. He uses missional to talk about the types of relationships that the church has with culture--ambassadors, foreigners, pilgrims, etc. In an e-mail correspondence, Van Engen shared, "My understanding of 'missional' derives from what I would call a 'classical understanding' of mission: that women and men, through personal faith and conversion by the work of the Holy Spirit, would become disciples of Jesus Christ and responsible members of Christ's church."

Thus, the Willingen meeting and later people like Charles van Engen reminded us that a missional focus exhorts us that the church is on a biblical mission.

The Church Joins in the Missio Dei

After Willingen, a group that included Hoekendijk issued a rival report that pulled "missionary thinking away from the 'church-centered' model" and spoke "more of God's work in the secular world," apart from the church (Newbigin, Unfinished Agenda: An Autobiography, 138). This view--that the church is to join God in what he is doing in the world--became the prevailing view soon after the Willingen conference. Thus, the missio Dei became the focus of mission and mission was seen as originating as an attribute of God (building on an emphasis from Karl Barth decades earlier). Furthermore, Lesslie Newbigin's consolidated committee report signified a clear embrace of the Trinitarian grounding of missionary action. In Newbigin's version, missio Dei is movement from God to the world, and the church serves as an instrument for that mission.

The missio Dei movement would take new directions in the decades following Willingen--and those directions led to problematic theological and missiological conclusions that cannot be adequately traced in this brief article. In short, Hoekendijk (and others that followed) sought to define the missio Dei as larger than the church. He challenged the member bodies in the WCC to abandon the traditional form of church and missions. He held that the congregations should abandon their buildings and institutions and become bands of roving ministers, believing that the time for evangelistic mission work had passed. Hoekendijk's adaptation of missio Dei ultimately became a churchless mission and had wide-ranging impact on future missiological conversations.

However, theologians and missiologists would seek to reclaim that emphasis and focus on the missio Deiv with an emphasis more similar to the conversations that followed Willingen.

In the 1990's, Darrell Guder, editor and contributor for the Missional Church (1998), traces his view of the missional church through Vatican II (which was influenced by the post-Willingen conversation): "The church on earth is by its very nature missionary since, according to the plan of the Father, it has its origin in the mission of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity, 813, as quoted in Darrell Guder, Walking Worthily: Missional Leadership After Christendom, 252). Guder's desire was to take the best of the missio Dei conversation, mostly before its later expressions, and to rally around the missio Dei idea.

Thus, the focus on the church joining in the missio Dei, bearing witness to what God was doing in the world, was reengaged with a new (and for the first time widely embraced) term: missional.

Thus, a missional focus reminds us that the church is joining God on his mission, the missio Dei.

An Unchurchly Mission = An Unmissionary Church

Through the conversations at Tambaram, Willingen, and immediately after Willingen, most missiologists would agree that the church is to live as God's missionary agent, to be focused on the biblical mission, and to join God in the missio Dei.

The conferences mentioned and the emphases they provided are helpful in defining these dimensions. However, there are also errors to be avoided, namely a mission that does not include the church Newbigin has said, "An unchurchly mission is as much a monstrosity as an unmissionary church" (Newbigin, The Household of God, 169). Every Missional thinkers who root ideas in the historical debate over "church and mission" must be careful not to end up where the IMC movement led which was a "churchless" mission. The church as missionary led to the church having a mission, which then led to the church joining the missio Dei. Unfortunately, the IMC took it one step further by insisting that the missio Dei was to be found outside of the church.

In today's church conversations, there is a resurgence of the idea of a missional church. In its untainted sense, missional finds the inseparability of "church and mission" from God himself. In Matthew 16, Jesus tells Peter that He will build His church through him, the gates of hell will not overcome it, and that He will give Peter the "keys of the Kingdom of heaven." The "keys" are the authority given to the church, including the opportunity to present individuals with the Gospel--the message of salvation (Acts 15:7-9; Barton, ed., Life Application New Testament Commentary, 76). Here is the strongest connection between "church and mission." The church's mission involves Kingdom expansion--but God uses the church as his Kingdom tool. The disciples--a proto church--are indeed sent (John 20:21) on a Kingdom mission.

The church remains the fellowship through which our Lord promotes and advances His purposes. Its mission is not secondary to its being; the church exists in being sent and in building itself up for the sake of its mission. It has best been said, "Missionary activity is not so much the work of the church as simply the Church at work" (Power, Mission Theology Today, 41-42).

May the church discover it missionary passion, mission focus, and missio Dei orientation.

Developing a Philosophy of Ministry

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:00 GMT

Your theology determines your philosophy, which in turn determines your methodology.

This was the mantra of the leadership at The Village Church in Dallas, Texas. I spent nearly six years there as a pastor and director of Missions and Church Planting before joining the Mars Hill Church and the Resurgence team in Seattle, Washington. It was from this mantra that the Lord birthed in me an understanding of how to develop a philosophy of ministry that could actually be articulated, taught through, and practically used to guide ministry on a daily basis.

I wanted to make this resource available to you to download:

Church Planting Will Cause You Pain and Leave You Sifted

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:44 GMT

I've said many times that the one universal of church planting is that you will face spiritual attack. Over the years I've seen everything from planters who struggle with depression, to planters who have had experiences that belong in a Hollywood horror movie. These experiences are painful and can either break a planter or make them stronger.

At Stadia, we assess every planter we work with. A common thing we say is that any issues you have will be amplified when you plant a church. Whether these are sin problems, marital strife, parenting difficulties, unresolved childhood issues, or anything else, you can guarantee these issues will be brought to the forefront when you plant a church.

The church planting world doesn't talk enough about these very real spiritual dimensions of planting a church. We talk a lot about strategy, why we plant churches, resources for planting, etc., but not enough about the stories of pain and brokenness that is inherent with planting a church.

That's why I'm so excited to see the theme of this year's Exponential Conference. The theme is sifted. If you're like me you need the definition. Here it is from the site.

Sifted (v) \ sift-ed 1. Accelerated spiritual growth in times of trouble, 2. Increased trust in God and surrender to His sovereignty, 3. Refined and cultivated seed for increased fruitfulness and multiplication, 4. The seemingly painful process through which every child of God has or will face trials that result in being broken and refined, strengthened and restored, and grown and empowered for God’s glory and Kingdom expansion.

To prepare for this theme, Exponential has launched a special site called “Stories of Sifted.” On the site you can read stories of other planters who have been sifted, get resources to improve your spiritual, emotional and physical health, and you can even submit your own story by emailing sos@exponential.org. If you haven't registered, get it done. The mobile site is also up and running, so bookmark it on your smart phone today.

I believe this year's conference has the potential to be a life changing event for thousands. Because of the theme and the importance it has to thousands of church planters, as a community we need to be lifting this conference and its leaders up in prayer. They too will likely be sifted by this experience.

Exponential is days away from launching our Mobile App at m.exponential.org. It is like holding the Exponential Conference Program Book in the palm of your hand. In addition, we are debuting our conference-themed site, Stories of Sifted, designed to help church planting leaders take a next step in their spiritual, physical & emotional development through a variety of leaders' Sifted stories and Pastoral Resources. Both the Moble App and Stories of Sifted will be highlighted in upcoming letters, emails, Outreach Magazine & partner church planting conferences.

Would you please help us spread the word about the Mobile App & the Sifted site during the second half of January via Twitter, FB & blogs (for those who blog)? I will circle back around to you in the next week and let you know when we are ready to roll out to the public. We appreciate you all!

The Top Churches in America to Watch in 2012

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:18 GMT

The metrics that matter most in ministry are true conversions, maturing disciples, and selfless acts that advance the gospel message. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to truly measure this in just one church let alone tens of thousands of churches.

Instead those who study churches rely on metrics like weekly attendance, growth rates, subjective opinions, scope of influence, and church planting efforts as hints to gauge if a church is successful. The underlying flaw with this is sometimes exceptional churches have humble results in terms of size, growth, and influence while sometimes unhealthy churches know all the right formulas to give the appearance of spiritual success.

It is an imperfect way to measure churches. And no church is perfect. Regardless, these metrics are our most reliable, efficient, and accurate way to gauge churches in research studies.

One of the wisest things a pastor can do outside of studying God’s Word is learn from other churches. Ministry is a busy vocation, so it is important to use your limited time wisely when looking for churches to study.

Click here to continue reading and see the top churches in America to watch in 2012.

Sponsored by: Shelby Systems - Superior Church Management Software Your one-stop-shop for all of your church, HQ & non-profit needs. We create, innovate and serve software to over 9,000 customers in more than 40 countries.

Be You-Nique

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:22 GMT

I went to Sundance a couple weeks ago and saw four movies. Three were good to great and one ... wasn't. Of the three good films, one (Beasts of the Southern Wild) was very unique, and two were kind of unique (Hello, I Must Be Going, which reminded me a bit of Garden State; and Filly Brown, which smacked of Eight Mile).

The fourth was Wuthering Heights. I believe this is the sixth time Wuthering Heights has been made into a movie. This particular incarnation was mind-numbingly boring. After awhile I started begging my wife to kill me. It may have been a little over dramatic, but at the time death seemed a better option than having to watch the rest of it.

Here's the thing: Sundance is famous for having some crap movies, some boring movies. And who am I to judge - I'm sure it's way more difficult to make an interesting movie (especially on a small independent budget) than I realize. BUT when you make a movie and it's a boring, at least you've said something. You've added something to the collective human consiousness of the world. But when you remake a movie (for the sixth time!) and it's boring, what you've added is ... nothing. It's a waste of a movie.

And I guess wasting a movie isn't a big deal, but "wasting" a life, or a church, is. And I'm afraid that too many people never discover the unique way God designed them and so they live out the life of someone else. And too many churches don't do the work of discovering their unique God-given design and so they carbon copy the vision and methods of some other church. (This is why I love Will Mancini's church unique vision.)

Have you (or has your church) done the hard work of self-discovery so that you can add something unique to God's world and live out your own story? If not, it's time.

Three Ways Church Planters Worship Themselves

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:44 GMT

Spirituality is something I don't talk about much on this blog, mainly because I want to keep things very nuts and bolts. But I'm realizing that spirituality is about as nuts and bolts as it gets. One thing many people struggle with is self-worship. We put ourselves first in everything. We do what is best for us. We are generous to ourselves. We promote an unrealistic picture of ourselves (I see lots of posts about how far someone has run and very few about the indulgent jelly donut). Here are three ways church planters worship themselves in the name of starting a new church.

Work too much. Lots of church planters are 9 commandment Christians. Surely, the Sabbath was optional. Without being scientific, I'd say 75% of the pastors I work with don't take a Sabbath and don't know how to have fun. Working too much betrays the belief that the success lies on your shoulders. It denies the image of God you were created with. God hardwired in us a rhythm of rest and then work. A pastors motto should be rest, work, repeat. Here's a couple of questions for self evaluation. Do you have a daily, weekly, monthly and annual rhythm of rest? I do good at daily and weekly, but am not that good at the monthly and annual. What do you do for fun that is completely unproductive and not related to growing the church? If it takes you more than a second to think of it, you fail the test. Would your family say you spend enough time with them?
I can do it belief. Matthew 16:18 makes it clear that it is God who builds the church, not a church planter, not a fancy strategy and not the best worship service around. God does. End of story. Church planters tend to be entrepreneurial. There's a crazy gene in entrepreneurial people that makes them believe they can start something from nothing. We like to hire those people as church planters because they are risk takers. But let me tell you something, you can't plant a church. Jesus didn't even ask us to do that. He said make disciples and leave the church building to Him. Even with all the help and funds that a world class organization like Stadia provides, you can't plant a church. If you think you can, then you are guilty of self worship. Here are some evaluation questions. When you cast vision to potential supporters are they more impressed with you or do they walk away with a bigger picture of God? Do you seek the Lord for strategy or the latest church planting book? If attendance is up do you get excited? If attendance is down do you get depressed? If so, you're trying to do it yourself. If you take credit for the church being down in attendance and blame yourself, you'll take credit when it's doing well too. Just remember that you are the clay, not the potter.
Afraid of failure. The best church planters aren't afraid to fail. They realize that its not about them. Success is not to their credit and failure is not their fault. If you fear failing, if it keeps you up at night, you might be worshipping yourself. I spoke the other night at the Emmanuel Institutes. I was all calm and cool until I saw video cameras getting set up. I had a moment of panic. What if I fail? It will be recorded for generations to mock me and laugh at my pathetic speaking skills. Why did I care? Because I worship myself. I want to be seen as better than I really am. I struggle to be as honest as Paul in confessing my wretchedness. After a quick time in prayer, my bearings were adjusted. Here's a few questions for evaluation. Am I worried that this church plant will fail? Does it bother me that I'm not “successful” in the eyes of the church planting world? Do I lose sleep over things finances and attendance?

Fortunately there is a cure for self worship. It's the worship of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Worship regularly. Follow and obey His commandments. Meditate on His word. Confess His character regularly and ask for his forgiveness, guidance and protection. You're not a very good god. Quit trying to fill His shoes.

VERVE Happs

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:30 GMT

This was one of my favorite Verve weekends ever. Easy.

Friday night we had a Mike Rayburn concert to raise money for the school and church we're starting in Monte Olivo, Ecaudor. We are trying to raise $25,000 for this project. I haven't gotten the final numbers yet, but I know for sure the night raised over $2,000 of what we need! Mike is insanely talented, and insanely cool for doing the concert for us for free.
Saturday one of the great couples in our church, Jim and JoAnn, got married.
Saturday morning I met with two guys from a Missions agency. That's the second time I've done that in the last month or so. Seems like we're drawing even more interest from missions groups than from church planting groups.
Sunday morning was awesome. Before the first service even started I had a couple of incredible conversations with people who are either really hurting, or who God is doing something amazing in their lives, or who are new and shocked they're coming to church and loving Verve. Then the services started and wow, we had a lot of people. In fact, we had more people on Sunday than we had the previous week on Sunday and Monday combined. Monday night was also a good crowd. We ended up with almost exactly 50% more this week than last week, and about 15% more this weekend than we've had in a long time (or maybe ever?).
I'm more convinced than ever that God is really up to something big at Verve. I'm so grateful to be a part of it.

Your Heart For...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:07 GMT

A couple weeks ago I met with a future church planter. I do that all the time. A few days later he sent me an email thanking me for meeting with him. That happens all the time too. In his email he mentioned one thing in particular he was grateful for. That happens all the time too. Typically it's something like my thoughts on contextualizing church services to the people you're hoping to reach, or for providing a strategy for fundraising. But that's not what he said. He told me he really appreciated hearing my heart for Las Vegas.

I loved that. It's what I want to have. I blogged about this recently, but in the Bible, it's very obvious that God has a heart for cities. And he seems to have a special place in His heart for cities that have "fallen away" from him. (Think Jonah being sent to Ninevah.) And we see Jesus weeping over cities. What I want is to have a heart for Las Vegas.

And I appreciate other people who have it. Like I love working with Jake Keck, because he has a heart for Las Vegas. And I'm grateful for Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos) for what he's doing with his downtown project.

If for some reason you'd like to learn more about the history of Las Vegas, and maybe even develop a heart for this great city, here are some books and a website you may want to check out:

Sun, Sin, and Suburbia: An Essential History of Modern Las Vegas, Geoff Schumacher
Resort City in the Sunbelt, Eugene Moehring
Sharks in the Desert, John L. Smith
The People of Las Vegas: One City, Many Faces, Jerry L. Simich
More People of Las Vegas: One City, Many Faces, Jerry L. Simich
www.1st100.com

Round Tables at LifeChurch.tv

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:35 GMT

In order to help serve churches, we will be hosting several round tables this year. Here is information on the first two.

ARC (Association of Related Churches) will be doing a one day Leadership Forum for all pastors and church leaders at LifeChurch.tv. Pastor Chris Hodges, Rick Bezet, Joe Champion, and I will be contributing.

This round table is for those who are interested in church planting and for pastors interested in developing their leadership skills. The forums will be a great time of learning, sharing ideas and growing relationships in a dynamic setting. There will also be an opportunity for you to learn about the vision and mission of ARC and how you can join the team!

When: Monday, February 27, 10am to 2:30pm

Where: LifeChurch.tv/Edmond

Cost: The event is free.

Contact: Marc@weplantlife.com

Multi-Site Round Table

I will be hosting a small round table for senior pastors of churches with 2500 or more in attendance that are going multi-site or are already doing multi-site ministry.

When: Thursday, March 1, 2012, 8:30am to 4pm

Where: LifeChurch.tv /Edmond

Cost: The event is free. I’m asking that all churches make a generous donation towards church planting. Every dollar given will be used to help start new churches. This event is limited to 22 pastors. Email lori.tapp@lifechurch.tv for more information or to reserve a spot.

The Church Planting Supersite

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 05:26 GMT

I just learned about a new resource for church planters. It's the church planting supersite at www.churchplantingsupersite.com. It's billed as the ultimate gateway to all things church planting. It has three main resource sections.

Directory of vendors and service providers for just about anything you need for church planting from Bible Study to marketing to coaching. It's not exhaustive but its a great start for such a new site.
Free Stuff. All planters love free stuff. Unfortunately this area is empty so far. It's intended to be a place where you can post items you'd like to give away.
Garage Sale. This is like Craigslist for church planting equipment and resources.

This site has potential and is worth checking out just for the directory listing. It will be interesting to see how this site grows and how the church planting community embraces it. Check it out.

Neo-Reformed Movement and the Fiasco

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:14 GMT

David Fitch asks an interesting question regarding Driscoll as the poster-boy for the Neo-Reformed Movement and the emphasis on hierarchical authority:

My question is: are these assumptions part of the larger Neo-Reformed movement as a whole and does this mean that the Neo-Reformed will always be inhibited somewhat from true missional engagement? (Can I say “just asking?”). It will always be a movement prone to attracting Christianized people who are already habituated to submit to a pre-established hierarchical (male) authority.

Lausanne Young Leaders

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:24 GMT

Nominations are open for the Lausanne Consultation for North American Younger Leaders, July 24-26, 2012 in Madison, Wisconsin. Go here to nominate someone. Feb 3 is the deadline.

Because this gathering is by invitation only, we are seeking recommendations. Participants must:

be in their 20s or 30s

have a broad influence in their country for the task of world evangelization

reflect the diversity of the Body of Christ, including ethnicity, gender, and denomination.

Although it has been difficult to see how exactly the young people are "carrying the baton", and although this will not help the balance of North American influence on the wider movement, it should be a good meeting. Nominate the right people and it should make a difference. Here's an image I made from the last Lausanne gathering I went to in Cape Town. Hopefully you will dance better than we did.

Can anyone guess who that white megachurch pastor is???? Clue: (Minneapolis)

Previous: Lausanne Young Leaders 2006, Lausanne Fringe 2011.

this weekend @ VERVE

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:30 GMT

Back in the movie "The Blues Brothers" John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd told people, "We're on a mission from God."

It was kinda funny, but maybe it's what we all need. Maybe what's missing from our lives is a sense of purpose. And perhaps God is the only one who can give us a purpose big enough to capture our imagination and fill our lives.

And it that's true, you definitely don't want to miss this week at Verve as we talk about us being "A Missional Tribe."

9 Reasons NOT to Plant a Church in 2012

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:00 GMT

"Church planting is the most effective form of evangelism under heaven," said C.Peter Wagner. I know he said that. I was there. I was a young [and good looking] Seminary student sitting in his classroom when he said it.

It was a welcomed idea, proven scientifically more effective than trying to expand older church structures. Back then, there was little argument against it and the idea was embraced by mission societies and church denominations who played it out in their strategies all through the 90's and also during the noughties when the thinking became mainstream rather than rebellious. I was part of that movement the whole time.

But now it's 2012 and while some young, enthusiastic people are out there planting churches like its 1997, others are focusing on launching more sustainable, more holistic, more measurably transformational Kingdom solutions.

One of the biggest trends in church planting that I observed in my recent 30+ country trek is the SHIFT AWAY FROM planting churches towards NOT planting a church at all but focusing on a wider range of transforming Kingdom activities. Some church planters are delaying the worship service piece of the pioneer missional ministry for as long as possible and sometimes indefinitely.

MULTIPLYING MEN "Multiplication As Spiritual Gardening"

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:07 GMT

MULTIPLYING MEN “Multiplication As Spiritual Gardening” By Chris Atwell Many church planters want to play the role of church planter rather than live the role of spiritual gardener. Enjoying the results of the harvest requires ...

Guys in dresses preaching to grandmas

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:18 GMT

What does a sex-drenched society need most of all? Another book on sex, perhaps? Some preachers think so. In Texas, Ed and Lisa Young are promoting their new book on sex from the rooftop of their house as part of a Sexperiment.

[Sounds like "Buy our book or we will do something you will regret!"]

And on the blogosphere, Mark Driscoll is promoting the "sex manual" that he and his wife wrote by slamming the British, apparently calling their Bible teachers "a bunch of cowards who aren't telling the truth" and referring to their preachers as "guys in dresses preaching to grandmas!"

It's called PR Driscoll style, but it is quickly turing into the Battle of Superlatives.

Word to the wise: Never insult the British because they are quick-witted, more clever in their use of the Queens English than you are [they invented it], and boast the sharpest critics in the world. And even though they are a small country, they are a great one, too. Or so said Hugh Grant.

In my opinion, its better NOT to stir them up at all. But Driscoll has indeed stirred them up and they are responding.

At the center of the discussion is an interview with Christianity Mag in which Driscoll shares his perspective on the British scene and is either quoted as saying some really dumb things OR has his words taken out of context. We dont yet really know.

Driscoll calls the interview "“in my opinion, the most disrespectful, adversarial, and subjective."

Christianity Mag was known as Christianity and Renewal Mag when it interviewed me back in 2004 on the emerging church and Premier Radio chatted with me the same year. That was back when the emerging church was an interesting subject. Nice people. I will watch for the interview with Justin Brierley.

In the meantime, Driscoll has A Blog-Post for the Brits and it would be unfair not to read it first if you were thinking of blogging this conversation.

I, for one, do not have time for the discussion. Neither do I want to focus on the sex issue. I actually agree with Al Mohler [surprised?] that there are some things we as leaders DO NOT have to talk about. There is a place for discernment, for mystery, for some intimate secrets, things left unsaid. The bedroom is one of those places.

If you want the skinny on the controversy, and have already read Rachel Held Evans [who hasn't?] and you dont want to stick your head in the Twitterverse, and you are waiting for Adrian Warnock to say something, then I suggest starting with Bill Kinnon who is getting a lot of blog-action. And Bill points us all to the wise teaching of one of England's finest Bible teachers, Chris Wright, who does not, repeat NOT, wear a dress! At least he didn't when we were teaching together in Cape Town.

Some related old posts: Is the blogosphere ready for Mark Driscoll? and Mark Driscoll: The Skinny

The books: Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together [by Mark and Grace Driscoll] and Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse [by Ed Young]

How to Be Discipled by Committee

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:13 GMT

For years the church in the West has been guilty of abandoning babies. Not actual babies, but spiritual ones. From the outside looking in one might think that the end of the spiritual journey was baptism rather than the beginning. But that conversation is changing as more and more churches are beginning to focus on discipleship.

Most of the literature on the subject focuses on how to create a discipling culture or how to disciple a person. Some of these books, like Mike Breen's Building a Discipling Culture, have been especially helpful for me. My assumption though is that if it is good to disciple others, it's probably good to be discipled as well. This is something missing from the lives of many pastors.

In seminary, I had it hammered into me that it was important that I have a spiritual mentor. I developed this understanding that I needed some kind of spiritual guru or coach that would instruct me in how to live the Christian life. So I prayed for and sought out such a person. I even asked a few people along the way to play that role only to come up disappointed each time. Despite this void, I continued to grow in my faith.

Last year, I went through a Life Plan process with Marcus Bigelow. I shared my angst over not being able to find a spiritual coach to disciple me. Marcus began to help me explore where my spiritual influences had come from. There were many. Several men and women along the way that I had spend time with, observed, studied alongside that had a role in discipling me. There were even authors that I'd never met, but still had a significant influence in shaping me. What I learned was that discipleship happens in committee. The picture of who had discipled me was not a snapshot of one person, but a collage.

This understanding has helped me greatly. God has placed many Christians in my life who serve to disciple me. Some have close proximity to me. Others play this role from a distance. Some know they are discipling me and some have no clue. Some are around only for a season and others have been around my whole life.

So as you work out your discipleship plan both for your life and for the church, consider discipleship by committee. After all, the Church is the Body of Christ not one super-spiritual person. We can become more like Jesus by submitting to the discipling of the body of believers that God has blessed us with.

Do you agree?

Six Types of People You Meet in Church Planting

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:00 GMT

by Todd Bumgarner, Lead Pastor at 2 Pillars Church in Lincoln, NE As a church planter, you are called to raise up disciples and leaders. It's an investment of time and energy that is critical to the mission of your church. One of the hardest ...

Practices of a new Jesus movement

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:15 GMT

I visited a number of Asian countries 2011 and was amazed at the dynamism and commitment of the young Jesus followers.

One network, in a country that I will not mention, stuck out to me as an outstanding example. They have started almost a thousand new communities, many of them multiplying into the second and third generation. And like many new movements in the non-Western world, a Sunday worship service as an evangelistic entry point for potential members, has not been part of their ministry portfolio. Which was the subject of my post a few days ago, 9 Reasons NOT to plant a church in 2012.

So if they didn't start worship services, how did they start a replicating movement of Christian communities and how do they maintain such a high level of spiritual growth?

Of course it's hard and a little presumptuous to claim which elements of their ministry are the most important but . . . here are 11 practices that I think have contributed to their success:

1. Bible study.

The Bible studies were simple and regular. And there was a lengthy program of discoving Jesus in the gospels which took months to complete. Most who completed the study decided to follow Jesus by the end.

2. Open houses.

The people were hospitable to visitors who seemed to come at any time of the day or night. Their houses were full of young people living there while their lives were being transformed. I did not see any buildings used for worship or church functions. Bible studies and events took place in the houses, with young people sitting on carpets and mattresses, but I would not classify it as a house church movement, since there was no regular worship service to invite neighbours into.

3. Fringe focus.

The primary influx was young people from the margins, the underbelly of society and those discarded by it, drug addicts, and postmodern sub-cultures rather than mainstream folk. I have seen this trend all over Asia including Japan. Most of the leaders I met had come from these backgrounds also.

4. Simple habits.

Nothing took a lot of skill. Teaching Bible, sharing jesus, leading AA-type meetings, no need for a charismatic superstar to attract an audience and in fact, there wasn't one. Anyone could lead after a short time of instruction.

5. Good business products.

Financial sustainability came partly from their micro-businesses. The organic products from these businesses were among the best and healthiest in the country, even if they had not yet found a way to promote or distribute them widely. They had also innovated in the production process and believed God gave revelation that is helping them produce more and better goods and in a way that blesses the environment rather than taking from it.

6. System for rehabilitation.

They had a dedicated building for rehabilitation of drug addicts and also used it for multi-faith gatherings where people from every background could meet each other and build friendships. It was also a space for urban ministry folk to retreat to for refreshment.

7. Native flavor.

The ministries did not smell foreign. Certain areas of their ministry were more raw and vulnerable than others and they did not want foreigners, especially white Americans, turning up and stirring up unnecessary attention among the neighbours. Although they had not heard of it, the description "insider movement" would probably fit. I recognized one or two Western songs in the singing and the music they created was in part influenced by the global scene, but the ministries were quite Hillsong-free. Not all the Jesus followers used the "Christian" term. The size of the ministry was played down rather than promoted.

8. Daily rhythms.

Weekly services are sometimes not enough for those struggling to walk a new path, especially coming from addictions and deeply ingrained destructive lifestyles. Meeting daily, even if for a short time, was the norm. Some did this around meals, some around Bible studies.

9. Not outreach TO but outreach WITH others.

The Christians organized the outreach events to the urban poor and young people from many other religious backgrounds participate. I saw Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and atheists all join in and work together. These same people would later return during the week to hang out and talk.

10. Something for the whole family.

Outreach to the discarded of society involved visiting the families of those youth and attempting some reconciliation or at best, informing the parents that their kids were OK. Baptisms were generally postponed until the whole family joined in.

11. Prayer

I didn't see legendary all night prayer meetings like the Koreans but prayer was a casual part of everything they did. There were many physical healings in answer to prayer and the supernatural was accepted as normal.

Anything else?

Yes, the ministries were characterized by GRACE. Some of the leaders had fallen back but had bounced out and launched forward again by the grace of God and were embraced back into the community. And they were wonderfully generous. Being poor, they made many rich. Including our family who were treated like royalty. We left with our backpacks filled with gifts and our hearts filled with a sense of overwhelming debt of gratitude.

Also, the intentionality of the movement was focused on impacting people's lives with the gospel and NOT on creating community or starting churches which they saw as a natural outgrowth.

I am SURE there were other factors that contributed to the success of this particular movement but alas, I am too young and too dumb to know what they were. So I humbly leave these 10 practices with you to contemplate and discuss.

Why Church Planting?

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:38 GMT

Why Church Planting? The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for 1) the numerical growth of the Body of Christ in any city, and 2) the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing ...

10 Trends in Multi-Site Church Ministry

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:38 GMT

A few years ago, CityLife Church embarked on becoming a multi-site church. It has been an exciting journey and we have been encoruraged by the people God has helped us reach and the many people who have had new opportunities to step up into ministry and serving roles.

Jim Tomberlin is an expert on what multisite churches are talking about these days. Recently he noted 10 trends in multi-site in the USA.

The multisite model continues to grow in its acceptance as a legitimate and effective vehicle for outreach, volunteer mobilization, leadership development and regional impact with more than 3,000 expressions of multisite church across North America. Even though 50 percent of megachurches have multiple campuses and another 20 percent are thinking about it, the multisite movement has outgrown the megachurch movement. Each multisite church has a unique church-print but there are some common trends and buzzwords emerging from them as we enter 2012.

1. Mergers. This is the next big thing on the church scene, and though not exclusive to multisite churches, these mission-driven mergers are being propelled by multisite churches. Look this year for the first book ever published on church mergers, Better Together: Making Church Mergers Work, co-authored by Warren Bird and me. It will be released this April by Jossey-Bass.

2. Small Groups. Regardless what you call them—life groups, home groups, neighborhood groups, missional communities—small groups are big and an essential complement to multiple campuses.

3. Community Transformation. Church leaders are focusing less on church growth and more on serving their local communities through multiple campuses and collaboration with other like-minded local churches, ministries and organizations.

4. ¿Español? Everywhere I go across America, church leaders are asking how to reach the growing Hispanic population and other ethnic groups in their backyard. Multisite churches are leading the way with one out of four campuses speaking a language other than English. The new mantra of multisite churches will become: One Church—Multisite, Multigenerational, Multiethnic.

5. Teaching Teams. Multisite churches are leading the way in creative ways with team teaching. Nearly half of all multisite churches utilize live, in-person teaching, and the other half utilize fully or partially video-delivered sermons.

6. Hybrids. The most effective churches today are launching multiple campuses and planting churches in all sorts of combinations. There is a wonderful hybridization of multisites and church plants happening everywhere. At the end of the day, whether a church launches a multisite campus or plants a church, it produces the same result—a new congregation in the community. It’s all about being a reproducing church. May their tribe increase!

7. Revitalization. The multisite movement began as a Band-Aid for megachurches that found themselves out of room or limited by zoning restrictions. It quickly evolved into a growth strategy for healthy churches of all sizes and is now becoming a revitalization strategy for stable but stuck churches. This is also fueling the growth in church mergers.

8. Discipleship. The trendy church words of the last few years—emergent, missional, incarnational—all boil down to old-fashioned “discipleship” with a growing emphasis on creating systems, tools and metrics to facilitate spiritual formation and produce fully devoted followers of Jesus.

9. Student Ministry. Multisite churches are increasingly moving their student ministries off of Sunday mornings to Sunday evenings or another night of the week. This allows families to worship and serve together on Sunday mornings at the campus nearest them.

10. Succession. The biggest elephant whispered about in church boardrooms across the United States is the topic of senior pastor succession. There is a huge tsunami of church turnovers coming as the aging baby boomer senior pastors turn over the reins to the next generation. Multisite churches have a built-in pipeline with campus pastors at multiple locations who can be mentored, groomed and prepared for succession by the senior pastor.

Similar trends are developing in Australia.

[Source]

Why I Stopped Blogging

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:53 GMT

I haven't blogged since July. I haven't heard a single complaint, which is probably good. More on that in a minute. Here are my good excuses:

I broke the backend of WordPress. I had no clue what I had done. Big thanks to Aaron Box who recently gave me a few suggestions for troubleshooting. Turns out I had a bad plugin, WP TimeMachine. I removed the plugin and the site works fine.
I got busy. I took on two new roles with Stadia mid-2011. I'm now serving as Director of Project Management, Director of Coaching and I'm overseeing our development systems. I'm on cruise control when it comes to project management, but coaching and development are new to me and I've had a lot of learning to do.

Now for my bad excuse and one I'm a little ashamed of.

I was prideful. I started getting hooked on checking my site stats and felt great when I hat lots of hits for a day or when a post was getting lots of views.

So not only was my site broken, I was broken too. I've watched the emotions of church planters rise on fall on the number of people in attendance on Sunday. I've told them that God grows the church and if they take blame for when attendance is bad, they'll take credit when it is good. I've told them that discipleship and life change is more important than attendance. And yet, I was caught in a similar trap. I repented of this sin and ignored the blog for a while. Stupid I know, but it now seems even more stupid that I would find self worth in page views rather than in my identity as God's child.

So I fixed the backend of the site yesterday and I turned off the stats plugin. I'll start blogging again. Maybe not at the same pace, I've still got the busy excuse. I miss writing though and I enjoy contributing if only in a small way to church planters. You are my heroes. And my calling is to serve you.

IGNITE 2012When…

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:31 GMT

IGNITE 2012

When: March 13 through March 15, 2012

What: Church Planting Conference

Who:

Those who want to be a part of something big. You’ll be at the ground floor and join hands to ignite a new movement of church planting throughout Converge.

Those who want best practices from the best. You’ll have access to breakout sessions taught by some of the brightest and the best that Converge has to offer. You’ll receive real and practical ideas that work, not just theories.

If you want tested tools to move your church forward in 2012, this conference is for you.

Contact: Joy B. Rudolph

Email: joy.rudolph@convergeww.org

9 reasons NOT to plant a church in 2012

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:12 GMT

"Church planting is the most effective form of evangelism under heaven" said C.Peter Wagner. I know he said that. I was there. I was a young [and good looking] Seminary student sitting in his classroom when he said it. It...

NextSteps for Leading a Missional Church - Phoenix, AZ - March 12-13

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:18 GMT

LIVE Worshop with Gary Rohrmayer

Pre-Conference Event for Ignite2012

One of the differences between a follower and a leader is that a leader knows what the next steps are for their organization. Even if they don't know what the actual next steps are they will relentlessly search for ideas, advice and counsel to get their organization to the next level. NextSteps For Leading a Missional Church is designed for any church leader who embraces the missional lifestyle. It offers ideas and tools to build healthy church systems that allow the church to actualize its values and achieve its mission.

Here are a few questions we explore:

How will your leaders reproduce?
What does inspiring worship look like?
How do you sustain relational health in your church?
How can small groups serve the mission of the church?
Are your structures & systems functional?
How does one raise the evangelistic temperature of the church?
How does one handle a financial crisis?

This two day workshop is designed for any pastor seeking to lead their church toward health and global impact.

Who should attend:

Church Planters who have just launched their church or who are ten years old.
Pastors who desire to take their church to the next level
Coaches who desire to know what's new in church growth and church health
Restart Pastors who desire to lay a new foundation for a sagging ministry
Lay Leaders who desire to just want to be a part of the harvest

Schedule:

March12-13, 2012
Phoenix, Arizona Hosted by Vision Arizona and Converge Southwest
Sponsored by Converge Worldwide

Register Today

How To Lead Yourself Everyday!

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:42 GMT

My good friend Bob Bouwer was having lunch with the campus pastor of COMMUNITY a couple weeks ago when he said, "Everyday at the top of my journal I write these three letters: E (emotional), P (physical) and S (spiritual) and then give myself a 1-10 rating." He went on to explain how this daily routine of rigorous self-evaluation helps keep him in a healthy place.

As I heard Bob talk I was inspired to do the same; but to use a tool that is a regular part of our coaching of leaders at COMMUNITY and explained on page 120 of Exponential: How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Church Movement. We refer to this tool as "checking your RPM'S." This tool is based on Luke 2:52 that says, "Jesus grew in wisdom (mental) and stature (physical), and in favor with God (spiritual) and men (relational)." So for the last week on a daily bais I have put at the top of my journal these four letters: R (relational), P (physicial), M (mental) and S (spiritual) and given myself a 1-10 rating. I am already convinced that using this tool on a daily basis, rather than just during coaching sessions may be one of the most powerful self-leadership tools around. I would strongly encourage you to try it for yourself. Let me briefly explain each of these and give you a few questions to ask in your own daily self-evaluation.

RELATIONAL: Our relational world typically includes the people with whom we interact on a regular basis: our immediate family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and small group members. Here are some questions you can ask yourself.

How are my relationships at home?
What about my marriage, dating, or family life is going well? What’s not going so well? What would I like to change?
Who do I consider my closest friend? How is God using that relationship to grow me?
What are my relationships at work like?
Which of my relationships give my energy and life? Which are the most challenging or draining?

PHYSICAL: Our physical well-being is often the most overlooked aspect of a leaders life. Yet diet, exercise, sleep, and rest are all vital to our ability to lead effectively. If we are serious about developing as a whole person, we have to take seriously our physical well-being. Here are some good questions to ask:

Am I getting enough rest?
How is my current energy level?
What am I doing to maintain good health when it comes to exercise and eating habits?
Is there anything about my physical health that I'd like to change?

MENTAL: Another often-overlooked aspect is the development of our minds. In order for us to stay sharp and be a lifelong learners, we need to be challenged. Here are some questions we can ask to see if we are developing mentally:

What have I been learning lately?
How am I applying what I are learning?
What magazines, books, or websites do I read or access?
What thoughts have been dominating my mind? Are they drawing me closer to God? Are they pulling me away from him?

SPIRITUAL: It is also imperative that we discover and act on whatever it is that helps us grow deeper in our relationship with Jesus. Here are some questions we can ask to see how we are developing spiritually:

How would I describe my relationship with Christ right now?
What does it look like when I am feeling closely connected to God?
Which spiritual disciplines seem to help me draw closer to Jesus? Prayer? Journaling? Worship? Solitude?
Who is holding me accountable to practicing these disciplines?
What has God been saying to me lately through his Word? The Holy Spirit? Other Christ followers? Prayer?

The longer I am in leadership the more I am convinced that the most important leadership we can offer is self-leadership. Use this tool everyday and lead yourself!

Tim Keller on Church Planting & Reproducing

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:55 GMT

Great stuff from Tim Keller and other church planters on Acts 1:8, church planting and reproducing. This video was originally shown at one of our Exponential Conferences a few years ago. A couple of my favorite lines from Keller are when he says, "Church planting should be a part of every church...and as normal as every other ministry" and then he ends with, "If you can plant a church, you should."

The Jesus Mission

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:53 GMT

Over the last 18 months at COMMUNITY we have made strategic moves in order to mobilize all (yes, we mean ALL) our people for mission. Part of that process has been to clearly articulate in a simple way our mission and how we will carry it out. The mission is "helping people find thier way back to God" and the way we will accomplish it is throug the 3 R's. What is below is the script from a voice over I did for a video to explain in a concise way the Jesus mission at COMMUNITY.

MISSION: At COMMUNITY we have accepted the mission of Jesus and simply say it like this: "helping people find their way back to God." This mission is made up of three tasks:

REACH. First, we must reach people far from God. The Western Church is observing a dramatic shift from a Christian culture to a post-Christian one. It is now suggested that 60% of the people we want to reach will never enter the doors of our current forms of church. If that is true, we then need to allow our imaginations to be profoundly shaped by the biblical notion that God is sending us as He sent Himself in Jesus. Matthew 28 says to "Go!" and we are challenging ourselves to be the church who will reach people who are far from God.

RESTORE. We must also restore God's dream for the world. A common perception among pre-Christians is that Christ-followers talk about poverty and justice issues, but that we don't do much to address those issues. But Jesus expects us to change that perception. "He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free." (Luke 4:17-18) It is our mission to be a people who restore God's dream for the world.

REPRODUCE. We must then reproduce the mission in others. If we are called to go to "Jerusalem...Judea...Samaria... and to the ends of the earth," we have to find a new way of counting that results in rapid reproduction and exponential growth. This new math counts on you and your friends to start a missional church movement. Every movement starts with one person. When you and your friends follow the biblical example to become apprentices of Jesus, (2 Timothy 2:2) the result can be the beginning of a missional church movement. Through these apprenticeships, we will reproduce the mission in others.

That’s the Jesus Mission. Now go.

Mission, Stephen Colbert & the Power of "Yes!"

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:34 GMT

Time Magazine compiled a list of the 10 best commencement addresses ever. This list included speeches by Winston Churchill (Harrow College, 1941); John F. Kennedy (American University, 1963) and even Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005). Also on the list was Stephen Colbert (yes, that Stephen Colbert!) and his 2006 commencement address at little Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Colbert, who Knox had just awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts, closed his address with a challenge about the power of saying, "Yes": "When I was starting out in Chicago, doing improvisational theatre with Second City, there was really only one rule ... When you improvise a scene with no script ... you have to accept what the other improviser initiates ... Well, you are about to start the greatest improvisation of all. With no script. No idea what's going to happen, often with people and places you have never seen before. And you are not in control. So say yes. And if you're lucky, you'll find people who will say yes back. Now will saying yes get you in trouble at times? Will saying yes lead you to doing some foolish things? Yes it will. But don't be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don't learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. Yes is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes."

You may or may not like Colbert’s politics, but either way if you want to lead your church toward mission, you’d better listen to his words of wisdom and lead with a "Yes!" The one thing every leader possesses that every follower needs to engage in mission is permission. And permission always comes in the form of a "Yes." Leaders, if you want to see missional engagement in your churches and ultimately a movement, you must lead with a "Yes" to your people's creative ideas. If your followers can’t get permission from you, then they may never be engaged in the mission. The great temptation is to respond with questions of how. But questions of how need to wait. If we respond with “How could you do that?” we immediately begin to sow seeds of doubt by responding to the individual’s vision with a question about strategy. If we ask, “How much would that cost?” we are responding to their vision with a question of tactics. The questions about “how” will come later on, but the reflex of an innovative leader needs to be "Yes."

(This is an excerpt from my new book with Alan Hirsch, On The Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church.)

For more on "Yes" check out the following:

Are We Just Consuming "Missional"?

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:02 GMT

If a rediscovery of mission will bring new life to the church in the west; then consumerism may be it's death. The church, if it goes unchallenged will consume great Bible teaching; it will also consume community, serving experiences and even worship. But now an important question is emerging, "How do we keep churches from consuming mission?" It is not a ridiculous question! Who doesn't like to be a part of a cause greater than themselves? Don't most people like to think they are making a difference? Doesn't being on a mission appeal to an intrinsic felt-need that is in all of us? I believe the answer is "yes" to all those questions. And beware - after mission is consumed, if it stops feeling good, worthwhile and meeting needs, people will quit the mission! So back to our important question: "How do we keep churches from making mission one more product they consume?" Two suggestions:

Missionary As Identity - If we want the people in our churches to engage in mission we must make sure they understand that being a missionary is not something you consume, it is your identity. We must help them do the kind of spiritual formation that understands we worship the Missio Dei, and this missionary God sent His son, and His son sent the Spirit, and the Spirit of God sends us. If we can help the people in our churches see that we are missionaries, then mission will not simply be another program to consume, it will become their identity.
Missional Practices - To reinforce our identity as missionaries every church needs to teach and hold their people accountable for simple missional practices. At COMMUNITY, we are teaching our people five simple missional practices that are based on Genesis 12 that "we are blessed to be a blessing." These five missional practices are an acronym that make up the word B.L.E.S.S. (more to come on these practices soon). These missional practices will not only reinforce our missionary identity but also create a missional culture within a church.

I believe that the church in the west must rediscover it's mission; but at the same time we must be aware of mission becoming one more product for the church to consume! What else do we need to do to keep our people from just consuming mission? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Regional GCM Collectives

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:21 GMT

The GCM Collective invites you to join in regional GCM Collectives with other missional leaders. In a collective you will experience peer-learning; what others are doing, what is working, what they are learning and how they have dealt with similar challenges you currently face. Each Collective will setup regular opportunities to meet in person and interact in a private group within the GCM Collective Community website for you to dig deeper with these peers and share successes and challenges going forward together. The goal is for you to be able to share experiences, resources and support to assist you in the ongoing mission God has called you to in your city.

In addition to the peer learning, those in a regional collective will have access to specific training, resources, and online webinars with other practitioners and thought leaders to help you lead missional communities, centered on the gospel.

If you are interested, submit this quick GCM Regional Collectives interest form by by Dec. 15*. When we get your email, you’ll receive an invite to the Regional GCM Collective group within the GCM online community. This is where we will be putting forth all announcements of where regional GCMs are forming, training dates and other resources to aid the discussions and prayer within the regional collectives.

Our goal is to communicate with the collectives by early January, so they can begin meeting at the end of January or early February. So far we have over 120 and growing that have signed up!

If you have other pastors or leaders in your area that you know would be interested, feel free to send them a link to this post. The more information we gather of those interested up front, the easier it will be to set up the regional collectives.

We look forward to serve alongside you to make disciples who make disciples.

*If you are already a member of the Regional GCM Group by joining within the GCM Community, you do not need to take further action.

Top Ten Reasons Denominations Should Stop Starting New Congregations

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:00 GMT

George Bullard a Ministry Partner with The Columbia Partnership wrote an interesting article on why demoninations should stop starting new churches.it is a must read you won't forget it.

Download Top-ten-reasons-denominations-should-stop-starting-new-congregations-6.21.10-edition

Research on Church Planting Centers

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:26 GMT

Ed Stetzer offers the following reseach on Church Planting Centers. It is a very helpful document as we develop our Multiplication Centers thoughout the country.

The NAMB Missional Networks team has been researching Church Planting Centers and shares their findings in the document linked below. By church planting centers, they mean "environments where multiple disciples are intentionally selected, developed, and sent with support to make disciples - resulting in new churches. They examine four types of centers: the Church Planting School (EBI in California), the Church Planting Church (Fellowship Associates in Arkansas), the Partnering Church Network (DCN in Alabama), and the Disciple Making Church (Soma Community).

Concerning the document they want you to know: "This document reflects our learning about church planting centers to date and therefore, is not a completed work. The questions raised here are the driving force behind our research which has been conducted in the first half of 2010. If you have comments or would like to contribute to this discussion, please feel free to contact John M. Bailey at NAMB. (jmbailey@namb.net) (HT)

Download CPC Research Findings 9-1

Support God's Work in Acts 29 and Get a FREE Copy of Real Marriage

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:07 GMT

by Pastor Mark Driscoll Acts 29 is a church planting network that has seen over 400 churches planted in the United States in addition to churches planted in over a dozen other nations. We work across a few dozen denominations and networks ...

Missional Church Merger | Coram Deo & Core Community

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:00 GMT

On September 25, 2011, two Acts 29 churches, Coram Deo Church and Core Community Church, merged together. These two churches, which have been pacesetters in the work of urban, missional church planting in the Midwest, joined forces as one ...

Seventeen Characteristics of a Qualified Church Planter

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:00 GMT

by Scott Thomas, President of Acts 29 Besides sharing one Barbie-sized bathroom with 287 people for six hours, the most difficult thing about flying is keeping up with the ever-changing TSA rules. They now use Imaging Technology that can ...

Church Planting is Hard Work

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 06:30 GMT

by Scott Thomas, President of Acts 29 "In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'" ...

Awakening

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 16:28 GMT

I'm the type of person who can sleep anywhere, anytime. I need at least nine hours of sleep a night to function. I've been known to sleep while in the middle of a conversation, at church, while driving, and on the toilet (yep, I'm good)!

I had a sleep study done a few years ago because I started to worry that something was wrong with me. It turned out that I had a few issues and began taking medicine and wearing a mouth guard while I slept.

All was fine for several years, but we recently started noticing some issues (and by "we" I mean Vince). I started snoring through my mouth guard (think large truck driver), I would kick all night long like a karate champion (think Ralph Macchio) and I started needing naps again (think newborn baby).

I begrudgingly went back for another sleep study. I was quickly diagnosed with sleep apnea. My only option for treatment was to sleep with a CPAP machine...for the rest of my life! Needless to say, I was not happy. (Do yourself a favor and google CPAP machine...it isn't pretty).

The first few nights were HORRIBLE! I felt like I was being smothered under water (think Aqua Man, but without his powers), my entire face was covered by the mask (think Hannibal Lecter), and my nose started bleeding in several places (I'm not even going to ask you to think about that).

Despite all the nastiness, something amazing happened: I immediately woke up each morning and got out of bed!

I'm sure you're thinking, "So what! Everyone wakes up and gets out of bed!" Well, you'd be wrong. I have never just woken up and gotten out of bed. There is lots of snooze-bar-action, there is begging and pleading with my husband and children for 5 MORE MINUTES, there is bribing, there is occasional crying, and lots of falling back asleep.

So, you can understand why waking up and getting out of bed is such a big deal. To wake up and not be tired is simply unfathomable. To actually sing a song before having caffeine inserted into my veins is just absurd. To only sleep-in until 9am on a Saturday is just plain crazy!!! But all these things started happening to me! My life completely changed. I was a new woman!

So here's why I share all these embarrassing details from my bedroom...

Are you sleeping through life? Not physically, but spiritually? I had no idea that life could be lived in such a way. I was always tired and it effected every area of my life. Does your relationship with God need a checkup? Does something in your spiritual life need to change so you can have an active, joyful, peace-filled, intimate relationship with God?

Do you have spiritual sleep apnea? Sleep apnea basically means that your breathing stops or slows down while you're sleeping. Is your relationship with God healthy and vibrant, or stale and lifeless?

Do you need a spiritual awakening? Does something need to change in your life to allow this awakening to occur? What is one step you can take today towards improved health in your relationship with God? I promise it will be worth it!

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How to Get Involved in Church Planting

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:02 GMT

by Winfield Bevins, Lead Pastor of Church of the Outer Banks in Nags Head, NC Church Planting There is a church planting movement happening right now in the United States and around the world. It is causing a rapid multiplication of new ...

You're Not Alone

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:49 GMT

This week Verve put on a conference for church planters and their spouses. It was so fun to get to hang out with fellow wives and share and encourage one another. All of us struggle in some way or another whether it's with the church, family, jobs, boundaries, time management, guilt, difficulties in marriages, etc. My favorite part was on Tuesday night when the wives got together for a few hours to talk and share their experiences. We laughed hard, we shared struggles and asked for advice. All of us are in different situations, but we share some commonalities. It's refreshing to spend time with people who really understand what you're going through and experiencing on a daily basis.

I guess the main thing I walked away with was that as church planters' wives we are never alone. We may feel alone at times, but there are thousands of women out there who have or are going through exactly what you're going through. The joys and struggles are similar, along with the frustrations and worry. We all desire the same end result...healthy, vibrant churches that bring glory to God.

If you don't know any planter wives please find one in your area. She needs you as much as you need her.

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Four Indications of a Thriving Supernatural Church Plant

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 07:18 GMT

I do not think that the American church is dependent upon the Spirit's empowerment. Most of what takes place among our local gatherings may be able to occur without the Holy Spirit. This is tragic because Jesus depended on the Spirit's ...

Church planting lessons

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 15:52 GMT

1) Work with what you have on hand. In Jesus miracle of the five loaves and two fish, he asked the disciples what they had on hand. Of course five loaves and two fish were not nearly enough to feed 5000, but when turned over to Jesus, He blessed those few loaves and fish so that they fed thousands. The same hold true in church planting. Start with what you have and turn it over to the Lord and watch him multiply the "little" into "much."

2) The importance of a few key details. The difference between success and failure in church planting often hinges on attention to a few key details. For example, it is a lot easier to gather people first and evangelize/disciple them, than trying to win individuals and attempt to gather them. Another is baptizing new converts as soon as possible. Ongoing relationship and mutual nurturing of leaders within an accountability group of fellow believers is also an important detail.

3) Materials are not the key. The most frequent question people inquire about is what materials we use. "Show us your materials." This is the least relevant thing and yet is what everyone thinks is the key to a successful church plant. Just get the right materials and voila you get a church planted. Not so. What is important is the person's perseverance through the ups and downs of planting a church. Knowing how to effectively use a few simple tools (materials) can go a long way, but nothing takes the place of an inner drive and love for the Kingdom.

4) "Just do it." Nike's slogan means don't wait to have all the answers before beginning. It is better to just get out there and start something, than to stand back waiting for conditions to be just right, or for more training. The best way to learn is to get out there and "just do it." Yes, mistakes will be made, but seldom are these mistakes fatal to the overall work. The grass is NOT greener on the other side of the road. It is no harder to plant a church where God has placed you, than it is for someone else in another "easier" location.

5) Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers. Once you settle that He is the one who does the calling, then it becomes important to accept those he sends, regardless of the initial unpromising impression these folks might make upon you. Over and over it has been the "least promising" individuals who have panned out, while the really sharp, cool, educated types fizzle along the way.

6) Dealing with the "authority" issue of who can plant a church. Many are looking for authorization or blessing from their pastor, denomination, an ordination council, or respected leaders to give them the "green light." If there is any doubt in the mind of the novice church planter that he/she has the authority to plant a church, they will not do so. If, however, they understand their authority comes directly from Jesus, they will be mightily used of the Lord. Every church planter needs to settle in their hearts and minds that Jesus is the source of their authority issues. "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth [therefore] go...make disciples...baptizing...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you..." One of my roles as a missionary is empowering people to do those things that Christ has already empowered them to do!

7) Have a clear idea of what it is that needs to be done. Many of our folks see themselves as simply "evangelists" and are out trying to win a few to Christ. Once they get it into their heads that they are apostolic church planters, fully invested with the authority to do ALL that such an undertaking entails--baptizing, serving Lord's Supper, counseling, teaching, praying for the sick, planting a church, etc.--they are transformed into amazing vessels for the Master's use.

8) Simplicity. This one cannot be emphasized enough. Neil Cole simply says, "Simple is transferable, complex breaks down." He goes on to say, "Simplicity is the key to the fulfillment of the Great Commission in this generation. If the process is complex, it will break down early in the trasference to the next generation of disciples. The more complex the process, the greater the giftedness needed to keep it going. The simpler the process, the more available it is to the broader Christian populace." Almost every mistake we have made in the church planting process can be boiled down to our making things more complicated than people can actually handle. I have the tendency to think "more" is better, but "less" is always more in the long run. This certainly applies to church. The more simple church is made to be, the more likely it will take root and grow. The more complex we make it, the more likely it will fail.

What do you think of the above? Anything resonate with your own experience? What are your own observations?

7 Top Issues Church Planters Face | #6: Evangelism

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:47 GMT

Evangelism and Discipleship Church planters can do a lot of things wrong and God can still bless the new church. All pastors will confess that God often blessed in spite of their frail leadership and strategies. Still, planters need to lead ...

30, 60, and 100-fold

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:23 GMT

In the parable of the Sower (Matt. 13), seed was planted in four types of soil. Only one soil produced 100-fold. The norm is that only one in four people we disciple or train will be fruit-producing. To get a few fruit-producing disciples, we know many non-reproducing disciples will have to be trained. It is almost impossible to predict who these people will be. But God knows, and usually glorifies himself by using those "least likely to succeed" as the ones bearing 30, 60, and 100-fold.

What follows is an attempt to briefly describe how seed planted in the life of just one person has produced well over the 100-fold described in Matthew 13...

Marlene was a member of a local Baptist church in Guayaquil. For several years she tried to motivate her fellow brothers and sisters to be more engaged in evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. Excuses were always along the lines of "it is not in this year's budget," "we have a meeting planned to discuss this next month," "we have several outreach activities planned this year that will hopefully bring some new people into our church," "we don't have the money to plant a new church." No surprise that little to nothing was being done.

Marlene was part of an organic church planting training we were asked to do at her church through an invitation made to us by the pastor.

At the end of the training, Marlene respectfully requested permission to start a new house church, explaining to her pastor she wanted to put into practice what had been learned during the training. Her pastor gave his blessing.

Within a few weeks Marlene had won several friends and neighbors to the Lord through her house-to-house visitation, and through contacts made in her local business.

The first year Marlene baptized 18 and spent many hours discipling these new believers. They began meeting several times per week in Marlene's home as a new church start. The "mother church" with all their programs, budget, and paid ministry staff baptized three people that same year.

One of Maria's disciples was Martha. Martha employed a woman by the name of Monica to clean her house. Monica would share with Martha all the problems she was having at home with her husband and family. Martha offered to go to Monica's house and talk with her family. Martha invited Marlene to go with her.

Marlene and Martha listened to all the family problems and shared the Gospel with Monica and all the family she was able to gather to listen to the visitors. That evening Monica gave her heart to Jesus, as did her husband Medardo, and daughter Aneida.

Marlene and Martha continued to travel across town twice a week for several months discipling Monica, Medardo, and Aneida. Before long, Aneida's husband David joined the bunch, and the numbers started snowballing with nearly all of Monica and Medardo's families coming to know the Lord. [30-fold]

Soon Monica and Medardo had started a house church in their home. One day they came to me and asked if I would marry them. They thought if they were to continue to make disciples and start churches it was best they be married. So I married them, along with their daughter Aneida and David in a double wedding.

Within months, Monica and Medardo had started several new churches meeting in houses scattered throughout their community. They were now looked upon as the "wise ones" whom everyone would go to with their problems. [60-fold]

Aneida and David decided to begin witnessing to relatives located across town and start the work there by discipling family in the same way they had been discipled. A new church was planted there as well.

After several grueling months of daily discipling and planting several house churches in their neighborhood, Monica and Medardo decided to branch out to their Judea and Samaria. On alternate weekends they traveled out to a neighboring rural pueblo of Agua Fria (not real name) about three hours from Guayaquil. The weekend they were not in the pueblo, they were planting a new work in two distinct areas of Guayaquil where family members lived of people they were currently discipling. Always teaching the new believers just like they had been taught by Marlene. [100-fold]

After baptizing the first believers in Agua Fria, they left the work in the hands of their primary disciple, Juan (not his real name.) Juan did a great job until he fell into an adulterous relationship. At that point, grieved, Monica and Medardo took Juan and his wife into their own home for several weeks of restoration. Another brother was chosen to lead the new group in Agua Fria while Juan and his wife were being restored. (Church planting is often very messy!)

Monica and Medardo then decided that the Lord was leading them back to their hometown of Lomas to begin work there amongst the many people they knew. After spending their Sunday mornings working in Lomas, Sunday afternoons they teamed up with Marlene to train 30 new church planters in another town, Daule, not far from Lomas. Out of these 30, they are expecting about 7-8 to bear fruit. [100+-fold]

Things really start to grow exponentially when you realize we are only talking about one couple that Marlene discipled (Monica and Medardo.) When you begin looking at the discipleship/church planting lines of other people she has discipled/trained who are doing similar things, you begin to get the idea that maybe, just maybe, Ecuador can be won to Christ in this generation.

Here is a short video taken in May of this year of baptisms in just one of the many house churches started by Monica and Medardo. Almost everyone pictured in this video have their own lines of disciples/church planting, and all are the exponential fruit begun through Marlene's ministry. It is in their DNA to make disciples that make disciples.

7 Top Issues Church Planters Face | #5: Mission Drift

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 14:00 GMT

Casting Vision and Avoiding Mission Drift Church plants often lose sight of their direction, vision and resulted in mission drift in several different ways. Planters may struggle with pressure from "churched" people to stray away from the ...

Vault Conference

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:36 GMT

Do you need an excuse to come to Las Vegas...

Are you thinking about starting a church...

Are you already in the church planting process...

Do you want to know more about church planting...

If you answered YES at least once then you need to come to Vault October 10-12th.

Vault is Verve‘s church planting lab where current and future church planters can learn how to start a church for people who don’t like church. There are lots of books and conferences on church planting, but unfortunately they’re not focused on how to start a church for the unconvinced and cynical. So … we’re doing it. We’ll take you into the vault, sharing principles learned over several effective church plants, and give you practical ideas to vault you into the future.

I'll be leading some special sessions just for the wives...I'd love to hang out with you!

Click here for more info.

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Where's the passion for the nations?

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 01:02 GMT

I am one of those eternal optimists who believe the fulfilling of the Great Commission can be a reality in our lifetime. Yes, I know we are a long way from seeing this today, but it wouldn't take much to turn things around 180° and get back on track.

After all, everything we need is already in place to get the job done:

--Jesus' promise to be with us,

--the Holy Spirit's empowering,

--the Father's provision of needed resources,

--millions of Christ followers already on the front lines ready for action,

--millions more in "reserve" waiting to be deployed

--the Word to guide and us show the way,

--outposts strategically placed in all the key centers around the world,

--direct access to the Commander-in-Chief 24/7/365,

--apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor-teachers, servant-leaders willing, eager, and ready to train the saints for the work of service...

And yet with everything in place, why is it that we are further away from accomplishing the goal than ever before?

I believe we have substituted comfortable peace-time religion instead of engaging an all-out war effort to finish the task we were charged with 2000 years ago. It is about us and what we want and like; not Him and where is heart is for bringing in the harvest.

A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, "Son, go work today in the vineyard." And he answered, "I will not"; but afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, "I will, sir"; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? They said, "The first." (Matt.21:28-31)

Which of the two are we like today? The first or the second? Most of us are persuaded we are doing the will of the Father because we are "good Christians" who go to church and read our Bibles. Yet, we have been clearly told to work in our Lord's vineyard. Like the second son, we say, "I will, sir"--but our words are just words. We are not doing anything. It is perfectly OK to ~~lie~~ sing in church, "Send me, O Lord, send me to the nations, for your glory, send me..." but we have zero intention of changing a single thing about the way we live or our current lifestyle--certainly not up doing something as radical as going to the nations for the glory of the Lord!

As Steve Smith writes in T4T: A Discipleship ReRevolution, "The problem throughout history has never been with God--He is willing, passionate for His people to be reached. The problem is not with the harvest--the Spirit is doing His part to prepare a harvest even among hard peoples. The problem is with us--we need to recapture the first-century discipleship revolution that turned the world upside down. We need a discipleship re-revolution!"

I find it amazing so few Christians seem interested in even talking about evangelism, discipleship, church planting, or reaching the billions of lost souls scattered around the nations--not to mention actually engaging in these pursuits. The idea that we are followers of Jesus who fish for men (Mark 1:17) seems to be something missionaries and professional clergy are supposed to do.

The Church in America seems to have a totally different agenda from that of our Lord. She desperately needs to understand that the call to follow Jesus means death to one's self, one's ambitions, one's personal dreams, one's personal well-being. His Kingdom is first. His mandate of making disciples of the nations takes precedence over our own plans, dreams and ambitions. "Not my will but thine be done" was Jesus prayer (and ought to be our prayer!) His interests come first. His heart beat needs to be our heart beat. His glory is what it is all about.

We desperately need to recapture the first-century discipleship revolution!

Called, Led, Blessed

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:45 GMT

by Steve Mizel Called In 2005, I attended my first Acts 29 boot camp in Edwardsville, IL. I had never been to Edwardsville. I had only recently heard of Acts 29. I definitely wasn’t interested in church planting. I was 17 years ...

Friends in Ministry

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 18:22 GMT

Vince forwarded me the following post about friendships in ministry. Hope you enjoy it!

Click here to read it.

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That's dying to self

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:52 GMT

While a student at Liberty University, Shelly Fowler McDonald served alongside our church planting team in Ecuador as a short-term volunteer. One time when we were going through a particularly trying time, she shared these timely words of blessing from a John MacArthur Bible study that I have never forgotten.

Dying to self is...

-When you are not forgiven or you're neglected or purposely set aside and you hurt with the insult or oversight, but your heart is happy and you're content to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ- that's dying to self.

-When your good is evil spoken of; when your wishes are crossed, your advice is disregarded, your opinions are ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger arise in your heart or even defend yourself but take it all in patient loyal silence- that's dying to self.

-When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, or any annoyance; when you can stand face to face with foolishness, extravagance, spiritual insensitivity, and endure it as Jesus endured it- that's dying to self.

-When you see another brother prosper and see his needs being met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor even question God while your needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances- that's dying to self.

-When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up in your heart--that's dying to self.

-When you never care to refer to yourself or record your own good works or seek commendation; when you can truly love to be unknown- that's dying to self.

-Truly loving to be unknown...faithfully serving so that others may prosper and draw closer to Jesus. Accepting any and all tasks, regardless of where that leaves you- that's dying to self.

Training to be a Church Planter

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:00 GMT

Bob Thune, Lead Pastor of Coram Deo Church Community in Omaha, NE Not every church plant has a boxing bag as part of their office furniture. Our church was kind of odd that way. My cousin J.D. – now an Acts 29 church planter in South ...

Think you know me?

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 03:16 GMT

25 random things about me. Would love for you to share in the comments section which of the following surprises you the most. Feel free to share a few random things about yourself while you're at it!

1. 39 of my 54 years have been lived in Latin America (Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica.)

2. Linda and I were engaged four years before getting married.

3. I prefer hymns over contemporary praise and worship songs.

4. I watch very little television, but will view 4-5 movies/documentaries every week.

5. I am not a sports fan, but can tolerate those who are.

6. I love books of all kinds and read/listen to 3-4 every month.

7. I have lived with 2-3 migraines/week for the past 20 years--no treatments seem to work.

8. At age 17 I had a root canal procedure done in Ecuador without any anesthesia.

9. More people know me as "Guido" than Guy.

10. One of my biggest life regrets is not keeping up my proficiency in playing the piano and guitar.

11. Some of my favorite foods are freshly baked bread & butter, cheese, popcorn, avocados, corn chips & salsa, and good coffee. I am perfectly content to make a meal out of any one, or combination of these.

12. Before I die I'd like to learn to dance, speak semi-fluent Italian, visit all 50 States in USA, and spend at least a month each wandering around Spain and Italy.

13. I function better by instinct than by planning. Really.

14. I am most attracted by the mysterious.

15. I love to travel, but stress out making all the necessary arrangements for a good trip.

16. My favorite fruits are a good Texas cantaloupe, Chilean cherries, and Ecuadorian papaya and bananas.

17. The people living that I probably admire the most are my parents.

18. I have had a mustache 31 continuous years. I plan to shave it off when I can maintain a weight under 180 lbs. for six consecutive weeks.

19. I most admire creative or artistic people.

20. Favorite stores: Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon.com.

21. My idea of a really exciting time would be to spend a month by myself in some far off lonely place without anybody else around.

22. I love all kinds of music--everything from A-Z. Daily, I spend more time listening to music than any other single activity.

23. Books recently read that I have enjoyed or been challenged by: The Help, Unbroken, Blink, Love Wins (didn't agree, but was a challenging book), Water for Elephants, The Tipping Point, Six Word Lessons to Discover Missional Living.

24. I hate talking on any kind of phone. I will do so to take care of business, but anything more than that quickly sets me on edge. I'd rather email or text message any day, than make a phone call.

25. I really believe that Texas is the closest thing to Heaven here on earth!

More thoughts on storehouse tithing and kingdom giving

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 11:12 GMT

This post is a follow-up to my previous blog post Kingdom giving trumps storehouse tithing. I realize the whole subject of tithing/kingdom giving is too vast to say everything that needs to be said in a single post. Much that is shared here is actually part of responses shared with reader's comments in my previous post.

I personally believe NT believers are to give MORE than 10% to the Lord's work. Not only do I believe this, we have personally practiced this for many decades now.

The tithe (10%) is an OT commandment, a reference point. In the NT 100% belongs to the Lord. In regards to "how much" of that 100% should be given back to the Lord, Paul answers, "each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart..." That is the NT teaching on how much.

Jesus himself did not tell his disciples what percentage they should give; rather,

"Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."

There is no percentage, only that we will receive back in the same measure that we give. Some will purpose/measure more than others, but this is something every believer must come to terms with before his Lord.

Jesus does refer to tithing in Matthew 23:23, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others."

But who is Jesus talking to? Scribes and Pharisees. These words were not directed to his disciples. He addresses this rebuke to those who were still under the Law of Moses. They were under the whole law, including tithing. We, his disciples, are not. Why would NT believers be expected to keep only part of the law (storehouse tithing), and not all of the law?

Though Jesus was a Jew, born into the teachings of the Law of Moses, He came teaching the Kingdom of God. He commanded his disciples to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).

Kingdom giving is a natural expression growing out of all that is implied in "seeking first the kingdom." We give joyfully and liberally to kingdom causes because that is what Jesus said we are to seek. That doesn't mean part of that giving can't be to our local "storehouse" (of course it can), but it isn't FIRST in what we seek. Kingdom is.

Imagine the Good Samaritan passing by the injured man on his way to Jericho saying to himself, "poor guy, I wish I could help, but the tithe has to go to the storehouse..." To me it is a woefully distorted view of all that Christ taught concerning loving God and our neighbor to think all I have to do is faithfully deposit my entire tithe to First Baptist Church, and that is somehow supposed to relieve me of helping with something like the current famine relief of 14-million people in the horn of Africa!

What we teach new disciples in our church planting is not OT storehouse tithing, but NT giving to the Kingdom. The majority of our house churches give north of 70% of their monies to kingdom causes. Individual disciples we work with commonly give upwards of 30% or more of their earned income to the Kingdom.

The way we approach the subject of tithing/giving/kingdom finances is to start with Matthew 6:33. If we are to seek first the Kingdom, what is implied by that?

We then take a look at all the passages in the NT about how money was gathered, what it was used for, and what things got financed in the early churches.

In a nutshell, what comes out of this investigation is that 1st-century disciples giving went to advance apostolic ministry, helping fellow brothers in time of need (famine relief), and providing for widows/orphans.

We contextualize these findings and basically say:

1) evangelism/missions
2) needs of the saints
3) needs of not-yet-believers

To me the issue is not whether or not a believer should give to the Lord's work (of course they should), but WHERE it is deposited, and how it is used. I affirm again, kingdom giving trumps storehouse tithing.

The Launch Team Blues...Part 3

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:04 GMT

What if God only wanted them to stay for one month? Or three months? Or one year? What if God is the orchestrator of their departure? If you think about it from this perspective there is a whole let less to be upset about, isn't there? As church planters we might be disappointed and feel rejected if someone joined the team and then left before we thought they should. But what if they were simply obeying God in leaving?

This realization has saved me from so much pain. If you really believe that God is in charge of your church plant, then you should believe that He's got every detail under control. Including the people He led to help you start the church.

The idea of God's sovereignty is difficult for us at times. We like to be in control and feel like we've got things covered. In reality, however, we don't. Sometimes we hold on so tightly to things (and people) that we forget that God is actually the one doing the holding and not us. Our perspective gets messed up; we can only see part of the picture and so we freak out instead of trusting God, who sees the complete picture.

Some of us have been hurt so badly that even changing perspectives won't help us feel better. In that case, I'd encourage you to see a counselor. You need to work through the pain of what you've experienced. It's the only way you're going to be able to have healthy, trusting, safe relationships in the future. You can't keep holding onto the pain and expect that it won't affect your relationships. Whether you like it or not, you've got to deal with it.

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One (Oft-Used) Leadership Tool

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:03 GMT

By Pastor Scott Thomas Church planting pastors usually experience a painful crash course in leadership. Very few seminaries teach this well and very few churches model this well. So, young pastors, led by a vision and driven with passion often ...

Happy 34th Birthday, Tyler

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:11 GMT

Happy Birthday Tyler & Happy 5th Anniversary with Acts 29 Network Tyler Powell is the Acts 29 Church Planting Strategist by Derrin Thomas In honor of Tyler Powell turning 34 today, I felt compelled to come up with this list of 34 reasons ...

Church Planting Fundamentals

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 10:14 GMT

Championship teams in sports are always great at the fundamentals. Right now all over the country kids are being coached in the fundamentals of football. Every team starts the season out with an emphasis on these fundamentals. So what are the fundamentals of church planting? At Stadia, we measure 5 key vitals of church planting, or the fundamentals.

Team Players. Commonly called a launch team, Stadia classifies team players as being people 16 or older who are actively serving in a ministry role and/or giving financially. For years, research has suggested that at a minimum 40 team players are needed to launch a healthy church plant. Some of the research has suggested this number is 50. You can have perfected systems, lots of money, a great facility and state of the art equipment, but none of these things make a church. People are the church. According to research by the Leadership Network (see below for link) it takes the average church plant 4 years to reach 100 people. This time can be greatly reduced with a healthy group of at least 40 team players before the church starts.
Potential Team Players. This vital seeks to measure the impact of a new churches networking, community outreach and marketing in a community. These are difficult things to measure and we are still learning. A potential team player is anyone that you have contact information for in the community. I would suggest setting a goal for at least 500. This can easily be reached by leveraging team players, networking with community leaders and serving the community.
Team Readiness. We have each church planter create a volunteer matrix of every role that needs to be filled in order to carry out the vision of the new church. This matrix should show the value of reproduction ingrained in the DNA of every church plant. We set a goal for each church plant to fill 80% of these roles prior to starting the church. Often times team players assume several roles within this matrix. It is essential to the health and sustainability of the church that new people are equipped and released to assume roles within the matrix. This ensures that the initial team players don't get burned out and that newcomers to the church can get connected.
Stewardship Development. Church plants costs money especially up front. This is one of the biggest advantages that missional communities have over launch large churches. Towards the beginning of the planting process, a Stadia project manager takes the vision of the church planter and builds a budget to support it. This budget gives the church planter a figure to shoot for in fundraising. Each month fundraising is measured to ensure that the vision for the church isn't being stifled by lack of funds. Planters often overlook the importance of stewardship development with team players. While outside funding is necessary, sustainability comes when team players give. The church planter should develop a plan for discipling team players in the area of giving.
Project Task List. A church planter's vision is the desired result of planting the church. The Stadia project management team comes alongside the church planter and works backwards to develop a project task list to take the new church from where it is today to that desired result. Each church plant typically has a few hundred tasks that must be accomplished in order to reach the vision. It requires attention to detail. Entrepreneurial visionaries, which most church planters are, do not excel at the details. They need help. That's why every Stadia church gets a trained and experienced project manager to keep the planter on task and to accomplish many of the administrative tasks for them. Each task on the list is assigned a due date and progress on the list is measured monthly.

In addition to the Stadia's key vitals, there are also some widely held best practices that we hold to. Many of these best practices are found in Leadership Networks's research called Improving the Health and Survivability of Church Planting found on their site. They are:

Coaching. Each planter is provided with an experienced church planting coach for 18 – 24 months.
Assessment. Each church planter is independently assessed prior to being hired by the church plant.
Training. Stadia conducts two training events. One is a pre-launch training that focuses on the nuts and bolts of church planting. The second training happens 12 – 18 months after the church has started and focuses on reproduction, leadership development and other issues the planters are facing.

Stadia also adds:

Accounting Services. Stadia provides accounting services for the church plant for the first 18 months through an independent vendor.
Project Management. Stadia's project management team helps the church planter by freeing them from much of the administrative burden of a church plant and serves as a treasure trove of information for all things church planting. Having worked with over 100 church plants, the project management team has seen most everything.

At Stadia we value holy discontent. This means we don't have it all figured out and are always trying to find better ways to plant churches. What do you see missing from our church planting fundamentals? What can we learn from you? For further reading see:

Improving the Health and Survivability of Church Plants. http://leadnet.org/resources/download/improving_health_and_survivability_of_new_churches_state_of_church_planting
Planting Fast Growing Churches by Stephen Gray
Church Planting Landmines by Tom Nebel and Gary Rohrmayer

Thinking About Planting a Church in a School? Read This, First

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 05:16 GMT

A buddy of mine sent me this article written by USA today Religion editor Cathy Grossman on the controversy surrounding churches meeting in schools. The question on the table is the constitutionality of church's meeting in public school facilities. On the side against church's meeting in schools they say:

It's unconstitutional because of the separation of church and state
Leasing a school to a church effectively subsidizing churches who would pay more on the open market.
The practice is biased to Christian groups as the schools are most available on Sunday mornings while other religions traditionally hold services during times the school is already in use.
If you allow evangelical groups to use the facility you also have to allow any other religious group that may not be as appealing.

The main argument on the side of those who are for churches in schools say:

Churches shouldn't be discriminated against simply because they want to rent a public facility like other groups can.

The article also points out that the five fastest growing and largest school districts in the US permit religious groups to hold services on weekends. Some school districts are getting very creative by writing in their contracts that the facility can only be rented regularly for a short period of time effectively eliminating new churches from being able to consider the schools as an option. This resistance to renting schools to churches isn't just being felt in big cities. I've experienced problems with planters renting school facilities in the Bible belt as well.

Here's a few things to do before you try and rent a school.

Read the USA today article. It's loaded with some good facts.
Do a little research to see if church's already meet in schools within your district.
Go meet the principals of the schools in your area. You should meet them anyway to learn about your community. When you do, ask them what the schools policy is on renting the facility and get a copy of the contract. If possible, start serving the school in some tangible way. You'll want to do this regardless, but it will help show the school that you aren't all words.
Determine who the decision maker is. In some cases this is the principal, sometimes it's decided on the superintendent level, other time the school board has to approve. Once you know who the decision makers are, begin to have talks with them. Make sure to meet the principals first though. Chances are the decision makers will consult the principals. A good impression goes a long way.
Bathe every conversation in prayer asking God to give you the words to say.
Don't try and force open a closed door. Legal actions might get you in, but its going to also create a bad impression. Better to find a different facility and serve the school rather than get in the facility and close doors to be able to communicate the gospel in word and deed to the school and its families.

What would you add to the list? What would you tell a church planter who is trying to get into a school facility?

Win a $20000 Grant for Your Church Plant at NEXT Nuts and Bolts

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 04:40 GMT

I met Ron Silvia and Jan Greggo a few years back while attending their NEXT church planting conference. I went to several of them while I worked with Passion 4 Planting. They are very practical and will dig into the how tos of planting a church. NEXT has partnered with Exponential to offer the NEXT Nuts and Bolts. They have to be losing money on this because the conference is only $29 and that includes lunch. It also gets you a chance to win a $20,000 grant for your church plant. I'd go for that alone.

Below is a write up on the conference from Jan. At this price it's a no-brainer to go. But if $29 is too much for your budget, how about free? NEXT was kind enough to give Stadia 10 free tickets to the event. If you would like a ticket let me know in the comments. First come first serve. The only request is that if you take a ticket you please go.

NEXT Nuts & Bolts will be an affordable 2-day, cross-denominational, how-to training for planters and pastors starting a new church or needing a re-launch. This training is no hype, no theory, no breakouts, just solid step-by-step teaching from speakers who are experienced, in-the-trenches pastors/planters donating their time to this project.

We expect conference attendees to be predominantly church planters seeking their next step in the planting process as well as pastors seeking re-launch direction. Here are the basics:

Cost is only $29!
Lunch & snacks provided both days
Free resources galore
Immediate free one-on-one coaching
Ample time for networking with other planters
Host homes available (Or Hilton $89 incl breakfast)

In addition, we'll choose one planter from this event and provide $20,000 to help fund his plant. Details are at our site, but a great Master Plan, assessment & interview are the 3 components to be chosen.

Politicians Attempt to Manipulate the Church's Message

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 03:29 GMT

I don't blog about politics often mainly because it doesn't directly relate to church planting and secondly because someone always gets made. But I'm making an exception today. The IRS is very clear that the churches are not allowed to attempt to influence legislation or support candidates. A church can lose their status as a 501c3 if they do. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois doesn't care about that rule as long as churches are promoting his agenda. He's calling on churches to set aside time this Fall to talk to their congregations about the Dream Act. See this article by Fox News. The Dream Act is a piece of legislation that gives permanent US residency to illegals who entered the country before age 16, have been in the US 5 years, and agree to attend college or the military.

Let me be clear. I believe both theologically and politically the US is mishandling the immigration issue. The issue of illegal immigration is largely our own fault for not enforcing existing laws. In large part, our nation has taken advantage of illegals by creating a system where they work in conditions and for wages that we don't allow for our own citizens. It's allowed because it makes people money. It hurts Americans who lose jobs to lower paid illegals. It hurts our social services because a large population of people don't pay taxes to support them. It hurts illegals because they are not afforded the same rights as an American worker. There is an easy fix to the problem of illegal immigration. But that's for another post.

Here's the real problem. A sitting senator is asking churches to promote his agenda. In effect, he's asking churches to help him get the Dream Act passed. If this type of behavior is allowed, expect it to get worse. Because I'm sure there are those on the other side of the aisle who oppose the Dream Act. Are they too allowed to lobby churches asking them to influence their congregations to not support the Dream Act?

Here's another example from the Christian Post. This week Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois has attacked the Catholic Church over the issue of same sex marriage. An Illinois law was passed allowing same sex couples in civil unions to adopt. Catholic Charities expressed a religious objection. The result of standing firm to the doctrine of the Church? Quinn is supporting a state decision to not renew a contract with Catholic Charities. The message: Either get in line with our agenda or your money gets cut.

Both of these examples are bold attempts by politicians to manipulate the church's message. Let's be clear, there is a double standard here. If the church attempts to manipulate political messages, they cry foul play. But apparently its ok for politicians to try and shape the church's message. I'd like to say to Senator Dick Durbin and Governor Pat Quinn to please leave politics out of the church. To church's I'd say it's time to leave politics out of the church as well and to reclaim issues such as immigration, environmentalism, and marriage. These aren't political issues but Christian ones. God teaches us in his Word very clearly how we should treat the foreigners among us. He very clearly teaches us our responsibility to the environment and He very clearly defines marriages. Let's stop making these political issues, taking sides based on our political affiliations and start studying Scripture to see what God has to say about it. Even if that means thinking contrary to our party of choice.

The Church and Health Care

Church Planting Makes Disciples (and Sometimes Enemies)

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 08:23 GMT

Church Planting Makes Disciples (and Sometimes Enemies) By Pastor Scott Thomas Church planting is still one of the most effective ways to make disciples. New church plants baptize twice as many converts per attendee than existing churches (McNichol, 1991). Jesus called the local church to make disciples of all nations. Those orders from the Head of the church motivate pastors to start churches all over the world. Where many planters fail to prepare is the enemy attack as they lead others to follow the Great Commission. Relational casualties will come with close friends, board members, core group participants, and treasurers and sometimes from their own children. The Apostle Paul speaking to the elders in Ephusus said, “from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29, ESV). Five Tips to Handling Broken Relationships “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20, ESV). Be Slow to Speak. Make a decision not to react without thinking. People make foolish comments all of the time. A friend confronted me about something I did and my response was that I had no idea why I did that. I did not have malice or intent and my actions were completely contrary to my value system. I didn’t make excuses (oh, I had a few) and I didn’t attack his actions. Instead, I asked forgiveness and he extended it immediately. Filter your emotions of anger through the Gospel. Nothing sets the Gospel aside quicker than loss of control in anger. When I am angry, I focus on how God responds to my ongoing sins and transgressions and idols. I often wonder why He puts up with me. I am convinced that He loves me more than I love myself and that He is full of grace, mercy and forgiveness. I do sinful things and God forgives me and the ministry of reconciliation is exercised. I am both reconciled and am called to be a reconciler (2 Cor. 5:18-19; Rom. 5:10-11). Be Quick to Hear. Deal with the conflict quickly. It is awkward to address it later and it seems Satan puts a wedge deeper between friends with every passing hour a conflict is left to simmer. Letting the sun go down on our anger gives the devil an opportunity to gain an advantageous position in our relationships that creates bitterness (Eph. 4:26-27). Avoid Texts and E-Mail Responses. The offended or offending party needs to hear the tone of your voice. I responded to one man’s angry text by saying that I had forgiven him and that comments taken out of context and without the associated compassion and my personal grief for the outcome of the offense are rarely (ever?) understood rightly in digital format. Acknowledge Your Role in the Conflict. One person can stir up trouble in a family, a church or a relationship but they often drudge up other’s ancillary actions and words to deflect their own sin. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. Sinful people blame shift. Nevertheless, be quick to acknowledge your role in the conflict even though it rarely justifies their sinful actions. It never benefits to hide our weaknesses and our indifference toward others. References Bruce McNichol, “Churches Die With Dignity”, Christianity Today, January 14, 1991, 69. Quoted by Aubrey Malphurs, Planting Growing Churches for the Twenty First Century (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992), 43.

As a Church Planter You Will Be Uncomfortable

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 07:59 GMT

So last Saturday night at Skateland, I was that guy. You know the one guy at the rink who can't skate. The nice thing about being 200+ lbs is that rather than laugh most people were just afraid I'd kill them and so they stayed away. To make matters worse I was wearing a pink shirt. I don't wear pink. I don't even own a pink shirt. Well I do now. I had to wear one for the roller derby match I went to earlier in the evening. It was paint the rink pink night. Apparently I was the only guy who got the message. So there I was a 6'3″ ungraceful man flailing around a skating rink like a new born horse discovering its legs. I couldn't turn so every time I kind of just crashed into the wall, righted myself and kept going. I did this about 20 times in front of this same lady and bless her heart I don't think she has laughed so hard in years. When they blasted the music and everyone started dancing, she told me to get out there and “get my groove on.” She said, “You just need to feel it.” I replied, “The only thing I'm feeling is my sore butt every time I fall and even if I had shoes on I'm not sure I'd know how to get my groove on.”

So why did I spend Saturday night dressed in pink at a roller derby match and then later at Skateland making a fool of myself? Simple. It was for love. These were things my wife enjoys. I was willing to look like a fool and endure a few new bruises because I love her. It reminds me of 2 Samuel 6 when David brings the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. V. 14 says that David danced before the LORD with all his might. Apparently he was half naked while at it. His wife Michal was less than thrilled and David says in v. 22 “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.” David was willing to be humiliated for love. Granted it was for the love of God not his wife, but its a close enough parallel.

As a church planter you are going to face similar humiliating and uncomfortable situations. You are going to have to do things that you aren't good at and at times it will feel like you are flailing around on skates embarrassing yourself. For many church planters, this would include things like fund raising. You're probably no good at it and the constant waves of no or simply being ignored is hard. For others its networking with community leaders. The role of a pastor isn't exactly exalted like it used to be and introducing yourself to the movers and shakers its easy to feel like you don't measure up. You can feel a little embarrassed at saying you're a pastor.

Regardless what it is, every church planter is going to experience it. But you gladly humiliate yourself out of love. Love for the community and the people who need to be restored to God. Love for God who sent you on this mission. And because of love, we can stand with David and loudly if not awkwardly proclaim, “I WILL BECOME EVEN MORE UNDIGNIFIED THAN THIS!”

Great Conference for Church Planters!

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 09:15 GMT

When I first joined this company in 2004, I had the privilege of attending a church conference in Ocala, FL under the leadership of Ron Sylvia. It was the most practical conference I'd been to about church planting. I loved the practical, team-based teaching approach. Planters, joined on principal, shared practical ways to build block parties, build & assimilate volunteers, grow disciples, choose

If you aren't helping anyone to follow Jesus - are you really following Jesus?

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 06:55 GMT

Over the years I have read dozens of books related to church planting. Six Word Lessons to Discover Missional Living by David DeVries now sits among my top five favorite titles. It would seem David has read all the same books and managed somehow to summarize them all in 140 pages. He does this with "100 Lessons to Align Every Believer with the Mission of Jesus" (the sub-title of the book.)

Six-Word Lessons gives 100 simple to understand six-word lessons. Just six words per lesson? Yes. Each lesson is explained in 2-3 carefully worded sentences. This is the ultimate "less is more" book of the year!

Here is Chapter One in its entirety:

Follow Jesus. Help others follow Jesus.

Jesus said, "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19)

First, follow Jesus fully. Then, help others to follow Jesus.

If you aren't helping anyone to follow Jesus - are you really following Jesus?
Enough is said in this chapter alone to keep me busy the entire year. And yet there are 99 others just like it!

Some of the categories dealt with in the book:

1. Love God. Love People. Make Disciples
2. Disciples Make Disciples Who Make Disciples
3. It’s His Mission, What’s My Part?
4. Think and Act Like a Missionary
5. Discover God’s Heart for Your Neighborhood
6. Embody the Gospel Where You Live
7. Church Isn’t a Destination, It’s People
8. Time To Take the Missional Challenge!
9. Lessons I Learned Planting a Church
10. Don’t Skip Reading the Final Chapter

The Launch Team Blues...Part 2

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:28 GMT

When people leave our churches it can be painful. When people from our launch teams leave it can be extra painful and even more difficult to deal with. Launch team members are different from regular church members. They've been with us from the beginning, they've helped build the foundation of the church, they've made sacrifices and are usually more committed and sold-out to the vision. Whether they leave on good or bad terms we need to deal with it.

My last post talked about sharing your pain, anger, frustration and sadness with God and a close confidant. Today I want to talk about not playing the blame game.

It's easy to play the blame game, especially when you want answers and are upset. We want to know what happened, why they left, where they are going and when. We want to figure it out and fix it, and blaming is usually the avenue we take to get there.

We blame our husbands..."Why do you have to say the things you say?"or "Why did you make this decision; people are leaving because of it?"or "Did you really have to preach that sermon?"

We blame other people..."I can't believe she said that about him; he must have found out!" or "I heard he offended them so that's why they are leaving."

We blame ourselves..."I could have been nicer or more hospitable!" or "I know they left because they don't like me."

We blame God..."Why did you bring them here if they are just going to leave?!" or "Now what, God? They were in charge of this area and now we have no one to run it!"

We blame the launch team members who left..."They weren't committed enough to God." or "They are so sensitive and would have left no matter what happened!"

No one wins when you play the blame game. All the blame game does is build up resentment and bitterness.

Instead, we need to prayerfully and objectively look at the situation and trust God.

The Launch Team Blues

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 09:28 GMT

This is one of the first pictures we took of our launch team. By the end of the summer there will only be 7 people left (not including my family) from this picture. That's a huge loss. If you've planted a church you've undoubtedly experienced the same thing. One of the main topics that church planting wives email me about is the launch team. So much pain and hurt is experienced; relationships torn, bitterness built up, regret felt. I want you to know that if you are experiencing this you are not alone. It's something we all have in common. It's unfortunate, but typical.

When people join our launch teams we have an instant connection and bond with them. We spend time with them working on church stuff, invite their kids over to play, and hang out as friends. There is a team spirit because everyone is serving together to reach a unified goal...starting the church.

People who join launch teams love God and want to serve Him. They feel called by Him to help start a new church. They sacrifice time and money and sometimes move far away from their homes in order to be part of this exciting adventure. Their intentions are good.

But sometimes it doesn't work out. What starts as an exciting adventure becomes something not-so-exciting. There's a million reasons why this can happen; and usually it's more than just one.

So what do we do? How do we react? What do we say or not say? How do we process through the pain? Here's just a few suggestions from someone who's gone through it twice and understands your frustrations.

1. Stay intimately connected with God on a daily basis. Church planting is too much for you to bear on your own. You need to ask God to help you in specific ways, with specific things. If you are feeling hurt, tell God about it. If you are struggling in a relationship, tell God about it. If you are worried about your launch team, tell God about it. If you are upset with your husband, tell God about it. I'm a huge fan of journaling. There are different ways of doing it; I literally write every word that I'm thinking (the good and bad) down in my journal, others write lists, verses, poems, etc. However you want to do it is fine as long as you do it. You've got to get it out of you and onto God; He can handle it...and He cares.

2. Try to find someone that you respect who is not your husband or part of your church to talk to on a regular basis. This can be another church planting wife, pastor's wife, close Christian friend, etc. The person you choose is important. You need to be 100% comfortable sharing and they need to be 100% confidential. I'm going to be honest and tell you that I STINK at this. I'd much rather be the helper than the one needing help. I understand that it's not an easy thing, but try really hard to find someone. It does make a difference.

3. Don't play the blame game....more on this later!!!

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Every Nation North America - Online Magazine

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 01:39 GMT

<a href="http://walterwalker.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/1M/375"><img border="0" class="alignright" src="//multiply.com/mu/walterwalker/image/iQhPjRnulJyukbWU5ScPYA/photos/1M/300x300/375/EN-News-and-Updates-w300.jpg?et=8wzjHohSJr2jAc48%2Betrew&nmid=0"></a>IT IS UP AND RUNNING! Every Nation North America has launched an <a href="http://news.everynation.org">online magazine</a>. Article are added each month in the following categories: Church Planting, World Missions, Campus Ministries, Social Responsibility, Generosity, Sola Scriptura, and Perspectives. Log on at http://news.everynation.org. Subscribe, share, leave a comment. We would really like some comments from readers outside the U.S.  -- Walt Walker

San Jose Boot Camp - Photos and Video

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:17 GMT

Last week with 850 in attendance, we hosted the Acts 29 San Jose Boot Camp in partnership with The Gospel Coalition as well as The NorCal Network. What an exciting time – with the largest boot camp we've hosted in 2 years, we were all surprised, laughing and thankful at what God brought about in The Bay Area, where church planting is greatly needed.

Our friends at The Resurgence took some good photos from the event, which we are reposting here. Also, the video below was created by The NorCal team and shown at the boot camp – we wanted to share it with you as well. Justin Buzzard, Michael Burchfield, Steve Fuller and several other church planters in the video are also Acts 29 members.

The event was a huge blessing, success and encouragement and we are excited to see what happens in the weeks, months and years to come for San Jose and The Bay Area in planting gospel-centered, Christ-honoring churches.

Why Plant Churches? from NorCal Network on Vimeo.

Photos via The Resurgence:

From top: D.A. Carson and Acts 29 Co-Founder Mark Driscoll answer questions from attendees, with Acts 29 President, Scott Thomas as moderator. Mark Driscoll (x2) talks about the importance of the church planter's marriage – which included the humorous and moving story of Martin and Katie Luther. The lobby at our church host venue was filled with exhibitors' booths and attendees milling around on breaks – we were blessed to be able to give away hundreds of books. Last two photos: Mark Driscoll and D.A. Carson in their teaching sessions.

While registration is not available yet, we'd like to highlight that there are two more boot camps coming in 2011 that you may wnat to plan for now: Chicago on September 15-16, and Seattle on November 3-4. Hope to see you there!

Cracked

Sun, 29 May 2011 16:30 GMT

I went to get my car washed last week and they noticed that I had a pea-sized crack in my windshield. They had a windshield repair shop on site and after a quick call to my insurance company I filed a claim to have it repaired (at no cost to me).

While the guy was fixing the window he somehow messed up and the window cracked. He apologized for the mistake and offered to sell me a new windshield for $180. What started as a small ding from a rock turned into a nightmare (which I'm still dealing with).

This situation got me thinking...how often do I take something small and blow it out of control? And when I do this does it cause damage to me or someone else?

As a church planting wife, we have a lot of influence on our husband, kids and church. Whether we like it or not, we are impacting all of them. Our words, attitudes, thoughts and actions affect other people.

Are you someone who takes a volatile situation and brings peace to it, or do you feed off the drama? Do you read into conversations and stew about things that people say to you? Do you use sarcasm or passive aggressiveness as a weapon? Do you tend to make situations more stressful or less stressful?

The guy didn't mean to crack my window; his intentions were good, but his actions proved otherwise. In the same way, most of us don't mean to hurt other people with our words or behaviors, but our actions prove otherwise. There's always consequences....my free window repair turned into a $180 expense. I wonder the consequences are in our lives?

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Nashville Boot Camp - Photo Update

Fri, 27 May 2011 05:15 GMT

It's the beginning of Day 2 of Acts 29 Boot Camp at Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee.

At this moment, Acts 29 member Martin Scott is sharing from his own life with about 125 boot campers who have returned for training and discussion. Those here today are those who are in the midst of church planting, about to plant, or part of a planting team.

Everyone is at round tables, hosted by Acts 29 members, to listen to 7-minute talks by church planters based on the topics of the Man (church planter's character), Mission, Message and Marriage. Each talk is followed by a table discussion for each participant to share from their own lives, ask questions and receive help as they pursue and clarify their calling.

Here are a few more photos from yesterday's activities:

Acts 29 President Scott Thomas teaches nearly 300 boot campers on "The Man," differentiating between a "performance-driven" versus a "gospel-driven" life for a church planter.

Ray Ortlund, our host, teaches on marriage from Genesis 2 and Ephesians 5. He and his wife Jani celebrate 40 years together this year.

At every boot camp, dozens of Acts 29 members attend specifically to meet, talk and hang out with those interested in church planting. The friendships and connections made at boot camps are what everyone agrees is so crucial and revolutionary for them.

Acts 29 member, Jason Martin (right) talks at a dinner table with couples who have come to be assessed. We host a dinner for those being assessed to meet their assessors in advance and help alleviate any nerves and give more time for everyone to get to know each other informally.

Boot campers join in song after dinner. It was great to hear loud, joyful voices of men and their wives praising Jesus.

A lot more happened yesterday, but we wanted to share a sampling with you. And yes, we'll be posting audio from the main sessions soon.

By the way, you can keep track of Twitter updates from attendees today by searching #a29.

If you'd like to join us for boot camp, how about next week in San Jose? You still have until Monday to register!

The Pastor and His Wife Get to Pick Their Own Friends | Part 3

Tue, 24 May 2011 19:48 GMT

by Mark Driscoll

Read: Part 1 | Part 2 | Full Version PDF

You get to pick your friends. Your wife gets to pick her friends. Your kids get to pick their friends.

As a pastor, you will be blessed if even one of these friends is on your leadership team. You are likely young, naïve, and simplistic, and so you will disagree with me. You will work very hard to make leaders in your church into friends and pretend they are peers. It will blow up when you have to lead them, correct them, fire them, and/or they betray you. True friends may emerge from your young church plant, but only time will tell. Give it some years and see who sticks around and acts like a Christian. As a church planter, the odds are your real friends will be people outside of your church who are spiritually mature and carrying the same kind of load you are. They will not be the young guys you are mentoring, the old guys you are dragging along for the mission, people you can fire, anyone who wants a job, office, or power from you, or anyone you do not consider a peer and trust with the most intimate details of your life.

So, do have friends. Start with Jesus and your wife as your first two friends. After that, be the kind of friend and seek the kind of friends that Proverbs speaks of so often:

Godly Friends

Prov. 13:20 – “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Devoted Friends

Prov. 17:17 – “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

Prov. 18:24 – “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Sanctifying Friends

Prov. 27:6 – “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”

Prov. 27:9 – “Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.”

Also watch out for the deadly kind of false friends that Proverbs warns of and whom Satan particularly enjoys sending to church-plant core groups:

Fake Friends

Prov. 19:4 – “Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend.”

Prov. 19:6 – “Many seek the favor of a generous man, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts.”

Sinful Friends

Prov. 16:28 – “A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.”

Prov. 17:9 – “Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.”

Prov. 22:24–25 – “Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.”

Painful Friends

Prov. 25:17 – “Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house, lest he have his fill of you and hate you.”

Prov. 25:19 – “Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips.”

Prov. 25:20 – “Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, and like vinegar on soda.”

Mark will be speaking on June 3 in San Jose on “The Gospel and Your Family,” at Church Planter, a boot camp and conference brought to you by Acts 29, The Gospel Coalition and theNorCal Network. Anyone who wants to see more people meet Jesus (not just church planters) is encouraged to attend. (get details and register)

FREE CHAPTER: Church Planter, by Darrin Patrick

Tue, 24 May 2011 02:27 GMT

Darrin Patrick, Vice President of the Acts 29 Network and lead pastor of The Journey Church in St. Louis, authored Church Planter, published by Crossway.

Crossway has generously allowed us to post Chapter 2 for free.

Get it here.

Join Us for the Church Planter Conference in San Jose on June 3-4

We are excited to be joining The Gospel Coalition and NorCal Network to bring Mark Driscoll, D.A. Carson, Matt Chandler, Scott Thomas and Jeff Vanderstelt to San Jose in June to speak to church members, leaders and planters about getting on mission through church planting to see more people meet Jesus. Don't miss your opportunity to hear from leading influencers about God's mission to save the lost through Spirit-led and empowered church planting. Registration and details here .

The Pastor and His Wife Get to Pick Their Own Friends | Part 1

Mon, 23 May 2011 02:23 GMT

by Mark Driscoll

As church planters, Grace and I learned the hard way what a friendship is and is not. Somehow, I got the silly notion that everyone who picked me to be their friend was, in fact, my friend.

Subsequently, I ate lots of meals with people I did not enjoy, had people on my family vacations that drove me so nutty I could not wait to get back to work, and spent countless hours answering the phone, replying to emails, and responding to the demands of pushy, rude, selfish people who smiled while saying words like “buddy” and “friend.” What they meant by “friend” was something more akin to “bullied victim.”

The truth is, as a pastor, you and your wife have many kinds of relationships. What has been helpful for me is considering the kinds of relationships I have like lanes on a highway. I am then better able to clearly determine and articulate who is in which lane without allowing everyone to drive in my friend lane.

Also, I get to decide who drives in which lane. I consider the amount of time, energy, and effort I can pour into each person and relationship on a scale from 0 to +10. I am a finite being. My time and emotional energy are limited and I need to be a good steward of them despite what critics, religious types, and guilt manipulators may say. Here is how I see it:

Relationship Lanes

0 Enemies

+1 Old Acquaintances | Not in regular, meaningful contact

– Past relationships such as classmates, teammates, coworkers, neighbors, etc.

+2 Distant Relatives | Little regular contact other than when obligated

– Family event (funeral, wedding, reunion, holidays)

+3 Neighbors | Not in community; see often but not close

– Not in one another’s homes and only surface chats

+4 Connections | Same social circles bring together

– Kids in same school, on same team, or in same activity

– Work out at same gym, etc.

+5 Coworkers

+6 Activity Group | Doing something organized with others

– Sports team, community organization, club cause, hobby

+7 Close Family | See and speak to frequently

– The family you enjoy and pursue

+8 Fellowship | “Church Family”

– Bible study group, ministry partners

+9 Close Friends | Friends you frequently see and speak to

– People you enjoy and pursue, mutually

+10 Spouse

The doctrine of the Trinity (that there is one God in three persons) reveals that God has community and companionship within himself. Or, to say it another way, God is a friend and has friends. Furthermore, God wants us to have friends. This explains why, although sin had not yet entered the world, the first thing God said was not good was to be alone (Gen. 2:18). The book of Proverbs has a great deal to say about friendships. Before looking at those verses, though, there is much that needs to be said about this important subject.

Read Part 2 here.

Mark Driscoll is co-founder of the Acts 29 Network and planted Mars Hill Church in Seattle 15 years ago. He and his wife have recently written a book about marriage to be published in the near future.

Mark will be speaking on June 3 in San Jose on “The Gospel and Your Family,” at Church Planter, a boot camp and conference brought to you by Acts 29, The Gospel Coalition and the NorCal Network. Anyone who wants to see more people meet Jesus (not just church planters) is encouraged to attend. (get details and register)

Altar Call and Red Tape Alternatives: How a Church Can Confirm the Called

Thu, 19 May 2011 07:48 GMT

Darrin Patrick, Vice President of the Acts 29 Network and lead pastor of The Journey Church in St. Louis, authored Church Planter, published by Crossway. With permission, we are sharing from Chapter 2, on how churches can help confirm the called.

There are two ditches that church leaders can fall into as they help confirm a man’s calling to gospel ministry. First, they can make it too easy to be affirmed in gospel ministry. A church can accept uncritically a man’s internal call — the man’s subjective sense of calling — as God’s affirmation. Churches who fall into this ditch have the attitude, Just let the boy preach! Many times this approach produces a man who relies on his gifts and fails to develop his character, which all but ensures future disqualification.

The other ditch is when the church makes it too hard to be affirmed in gospel ministry. Such churches set the bar too high with regard to skill development (being a great preacher) or with regard to education (a candidate must have finished seminary). Many gifted pastors started successful ministries even though they had never been to seminary, like Mark Driscoll or Matt Chandler, two pastors whom I serve with on the board of Acts 29 and who have had great pastoral influence. We need to be careful not to set the bar so high that we exclude from ministry men whom God is genuinely calling.

How should a church test whether or not a man is called into pastoral ministry from a skill perspective? There are at least two tests a church should consider. The first test involves the man’s understanding of Scripture. Questions that should be answered might include:

Does he have a working knowledge of the whole of Scripture?

Can he articulate the gospel story throughout the Scripture?

Does he understand the controversial verses that have caused division in church history (Calvinism vs. Arminianism, method and mode baptism, and so on)?

Can he explain the Christ-centered nature of Christian theology?

The second test involved inspecting the fruit of his ministry. Questions that should be answered here might include:

Can he inspire the church for mission?

Can he cast vision for the church and inspire people to pursue that vision with him?

Can he organize the church to reach its goals?

Can he set up systems and structures that run apart from his direct influence?

Stay tuned for the free release of Chapter 2 coming soon. Get a copy of Church Planter here. Also, we'd love for your to join us for our Church Planter boot camp and conference on June 3-4 in San Jose.

Twitter Book Recommendations

Thu, 19 May 2011 02:31 GMT

Yesterday I asked my Twitter friends to recommend leadership and spiritual books. Thank you for your awesome suggestions. If you’d like to add your favorites, please comment!

Click here for recommendations from my Facebook friends.

Sun Stand Still by @stevenfurtick (Love this one)

When Helping Hurts by Corbett

Lone Survivor by Luttrell - leadership

When Life Isn't Working by Merritt - spiritual growth

The Good & Beautiful God

Tribal Leadership

The Radical Disciple

Weird by Craig Groeschel (Already read that one!)

Radical Together by David Platt

A Christian Manifesto by Francis Schaeffer

Sabbath by Dan Allender

Prayer Saturated Kids by Cheryl Sacks and Arlyn Lawrence

Think Orange by Reggie Joiner

Off-Road Disciplines by Earl Creps

Failure of Nerve by Friedman

Spiritual Leadership by Oswald Sanders

Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome by Kent & Barbara Hughes

Leading Change by Kotter

Winning by Welch

Missional Renaissance by McNeal

The Power of Team Leadership by Barna

How the Mighty Fall by Collins

The Spiritual Leader by Chambers

Lead Vertically by Craig Johnson

Jesus’ Plan for a New World by Richard Rohr

More Than Conquerors by Simon Guillebald

VENEER by Timothy D. Willard and R. Jason Locy

Spiritual Leadership by Oswald Sanders

The Man God Uses by Henry Blakeby

On Being a Servant of God by Wiersbe

Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos

Leadership Gold by John C Maxwell

Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel

The Called to Lead by John MacArthur

26 Leadership Lessons from the Life of the Apostle Paul by John MacArthur

Men's Health-The Basics by @DruglessDoctor

Renovation Of the Heart & The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard

Humilitas by @johnpauldickson

Happy reading!

More than Your Pounding Heart: External Confirmation of a Call

Wed, 18 May 2011 05:53 GMT

Head and heart confirmation are both important. They both fit into the category of what many pastors and theologians have described as the internal call. But by themselves they are incomplete. A genuine call to ministry manifests itself not only in the thoughts and desires of the called person but also in his gifts, abilities, and skills. This last aspect of confirmation fits into the category of what theologians name the external call because it is the one that is most easily recognizable to other people.

Skill Confirmation

I did not grow up going to church as a kid, so when I became a Christian and began to experience the heart and head aspects of the call, I didn’t have a paradigm for what to do with God’s call on my life. The tradition of the church I was attending was to walk forward at the end of the service to signify spiritual commitment. You walked forward if you wanted to become a Christian. You walked forward if you wanted to join the church. You walked the aisle if you wanted to be baptized. And, as strange as it may sound, you walked forward to make your sense of God’s call for vocational ministry public.

My church had a process for helping young men as they explored a call to ministry. First, the church confirmed that we were indeed called. There was an examination of character as the church asked, Is this young man qualified in his character? … The church also examined the skills of the man who claimed to be called by asking, Does this man have the gifts required to perform ministry? These two examinations of character and skill are paramount for the one who is called because he is able to check his subjective prompting objectively against the church’s evaluation.

The Teenager Who Didn't Know the Ridiculous "Praise Song" Hand Motions at Camp: Darrin Patrick's Call to Ministry

Sun, 15 May 2011 19:00 GMT

What's A Missional Community? Jeff Vanderstelt and The Story of Soma

Thu, 12 May 2011 09:29 GMT

Soma Communities - Tacoma, WA from Verge Network on Vimeo. Have you heard the term "missional communities" buzz near your ears? Is it a special kind of Community Group? Is it house churches? Small groups that befriend and evangelize local ...

Top 10 Reasons Not to Join a Church Plant

Wed, 11 May 2011 13:19 GMT

Justin Buzzard is a new member of Acts 29, planting a church in San Jose.

A few months ago I moved my family to San Jose to start Garden City Church. The day we moved we had three adults committed to the church plant. It was a move of faith.

After getting settled, the first thing I did was hold an informational meeting about the church plant. I hoped twenty people would show up. Sixty-one people attended the meeting. The turnout was comprised almost entirely of Christians from a variety of other churches in the area, the vast majority of whom had never been involved with a church plant.

After speaking for about an hour on the vision of Garden City Church, I shared this top ten list. I spent ten minutes sharing and unpacking this list I'd created in order to de-romanticize church planting for all the Christians in the room. As people were growing excited about the possibility of joining our church planting team I wanted them to have a realistic picture of the difficulty of church planting, to be aware of some of the wrong reasons why people join a church plant, and to take an honest assessment of their own expectations and motives in considering joining the team.

Coming up with and sharing this list has proved very helpful for me, for the people who have decided to join me, and for the people who have decided not to join our team.

1. If you’re looking for the next cool thing in town. (We want to grow by conversion growth, not church-goer transfer growth.)

2. If you’re a Christian and you don’t like your current church. (You will find reasons to not like this church.)

3. If you have a bad track record at churches of being unteachable and causing problems. (You won’t change here, you’ll repeat the pattern.)

4. If you’re a consumer wanting to “go to church” 1x a week for a nice show. (We are not a Sunday show, we are a community of disciples on a mission)

5. If you want religion. (This church will be built on the radical gospel of grace)

6. If you have an agenda. (We have our vision, our mission, and our values—your private agenda does not supercede them)

7. If you’re a wolf. (We will sniff you out).

8. If you think this will be a nice little church that stays the same size, where everybody knows your name and you have my cell number on speed dial and we have a picnic lunch together every week. (By God’s grace, we want to grow.)

9. If you think this will be easy and smooth. (This will be hard and difficult; this will be a fight, a battle, and a challenging mission.)

10. If you want to hold onto your comfortable life. (You must lose your life.)

I also shared a quote from Sir Ernest Shackleton, from the advertisement he used when recruiting men for his expedition to Antarctica in 1914:

Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.

This blog originally appeared on Justin's blog.

How Do I Confirm My Call to Plant? 12 Potential Confirmation Questions from Mark Driscoll

Thu, 05 May 2011 10:26 GMT

The following is from Acts 29 Co-Founder Mark Driscoll's teaching "The Calling of a Church Planter." After outlining the necessity of a calling on the life of a church planter, he presented twelve questions to ask in confirming the call. We are thrilled to have him preach on the Gospel and Family at the San Jose Boot Camp on June 3.

Listen to the full audio | Get the notes in PDF

Here's an audio segment of Driscoll explaining the calling and a need for confirmation:

Calling Confirmation Questions

1. Is the Holy Spirit out ahead of you planting the church? You don’t plant a church for God, you plant a church with God. If money, people, and a place start showing up as you’re preparing to plant, that is potential evidence that the Holy Spirit is out ahead of you. (Acts 1)

2. Is your church planting call obvious to other godly leaders?

3. Has God confirmed your church plant by showing up in miraculous (big, supernatural, no-other-way-to-explain-it) ways? In Acts 3 and 4, Peter heals a man, preaches, and then thousands of people get saved.

4. Are you reaching lost people? The goal of church plants is the salvation of lost people. If you’re not doing this, don’t plant a church. If you want to be a shepherd, there are plenty of existing flocks in need. (Acts 8:5-9)

5. Has Jesus showed up and told you to plant? (Acts 9)

6. Has God told you to plant through a vision? In Acts 10 and 11, Cornelius and Peter both have a vision: Peter is called and Cornelius welcomes him.

7. Has God providentially relocated you to plant? In Acts 11:19-21, believers scatter due to prosecution and plant a church where they resettle.

8. Is God calling you to plant because you’re not totally necessary at your current church? If you’re in a church with good leaders that will be fine without you on their team, God may be calling you to relocate to a place where you can use your gifts and resources to their full capacity. (Acts 13)

9. Is God calling you to plant because you’re currently wasting your time in a toxic place? (Acts 14)

10. Are you called to be a catalytic church planter or to plant a church-planting center? In Acts 14, Paul goes from one city to the next planting churches and then sends in other men to establish elders whereas James (Jesus’ brother) plants a church in Jerusalem and stays there, sending other men out.

11. Has God called you to plant by giving you a deep burden for a city or people? (Acts 17:16)

12. Has God called you to plant by giving you a core group? (Acts 18:7-8)

Come hear Mark Driscoll, D.A. Carson, Matt Chandler, Scott Thomas, and Jeff Vanderstelt speak in San Jose on June 3-4.

Update on Webinar and my Conversation with Cindy

Wed, 04 May 2011 16:32 GMT

I'm so sorry; I spoke too soon! The Webinar I blogged about is a closed event for girls involved with Stadia church plants. I will take awesome notes and share them with you.

We just got back from an amazing vacation for Spring Break. It was the first trip we've taken as a family that had no connection to Vince speaking, seeing extended family, etc. since we moved to Las Vegas. It was amazing...no computer, phone or connection to the outside world. I highly recommend it for all of you.

While we were watching the kids swim with dolphins I had a conversation with Cindy...Crawford. You know, the mole, Pepsi, etc. She sat down next to me on the rocks and we talked about dolphins and how the kids are allowed to do more with the dolphins in Mexico than in the United States. Apparently the U.S. treats its dolphins more humanely, which is great, unless you're a kid and you want to do all kinds of tricks on one. She was really sweet; just like any other mom you'd meet at the park. Except a multi-millionaire. And gorgeous.

Here's some things I learned from my brush with greatness...

1. Supermodels do not like the sun. At first I thought she was wearing a hat to disguise herself from potential bloggers. But after about five minutes of sitting next to me in the blazing sun she excused herself by saying, "I need to get out of the sun." I, on the other hand, was soaking up as much sun as I possibly could. I guess when you're paid to have great skin you actually listen to all the sunscreen hype.

2. Yes, she is pretty in person (and tall), but not as pretty as you'd assume she would be. Compared to Cindy in the magazines, dolphin Cindy looked surprisingly normal. I guess the airbrush, photoshop myths are true after all!

3. There is no escape for the famous. We were in the middle of Nowhere, Mexico and everyone was stalking her with their eyes (and cameras). It was a small crowd and we were very well behaved, but the whispers, flash bulbs, etc. were kind of hard to miss. I even saw a dolphin ask her for an autograph.

4. Supermodels are moms too. Like us, Cindy is a mom. She has the same worries as we do, the same hopes and dreams for her kids, the same love and adoration for them. Life is crazy for all of us. We all need time away with our kids to laugh and make memories.

As we drove away from Cindy and the dolphins I thought about what her life must be like...and how many women wish they could be her...and how she probably wishes that she could be someone else sometimes (like me, basking in the sun without a care in the world!!!). I thought about how normal she is...and how jacked up we get with comparisons and jealousy.

I'm really thankful for my life. I'm glad I'm not famous or a multi-millionaire (just a plain millionaire would be fine, though). I'm glad that God made me the way He did. And I think you should be too. You're exactly perfect just the way you are...supermodel or not!

Featured on newchurches.com

"We Need to Stop Being So Nice Sometimes" | Planter Wives Answer, pt. 3

Tue, 03 May 2011 05:13 GMT

Last month in Dallas during the boot camp, many wives attended the Wives' Track hosted by Acts 29 church planter's wives. We've been posting audio and transcription portions and continue the Planter Wives Answer series today on friendships.

Q&A panel, L-R: Stephanie White (Ft. Worth; wife of Rick), Susan Wesley (Houston; wife of Bruce), Lauren Chandler (Dallas; wife of Matt) and Kara Bruskas (Albuquerque; wife of Dave).

Q: How do you cultivate gospel friendships? What advice would you offer for women who have to do this long distance?

Kara: Since I am the relationship junkie of the group, I am definitely praying through doing it the right way. I see myself as having a few, rather than just one best friend. That’s helped. Of course, getting the deep friendship need met my Jesus and then by my husband. I really made that mistake. Your husband should be your best friend. I really encourage you guys to do that, and to be really honest and transparent with your husband. And then your girlfriends are your girlfriends. Right now, I have a few friends in Albuquerque but I do have some friends in Seattle and I’ve kept those up through phone conversations. It’s been a really great thing and it can work long distance, so that’s a hope for anybody who needs that.

Susan: I never considered not having friends in the church, and I know that some of you have really experienced some brokenness in that. I think that friends can hurt you, regardless of what your husband does. Don’t always attribute it to being a pastor’s wife; realize that’s just life for all women.

...There’s really not much that substitutes for friendship that is eyeball to eyeball, holding your hand, praying with you, crying with you. I think that [long distance friendships] help, but you’ve got to have someone that’s looking you in the eyes, that’s right next to you, that can tell if you’re spiraling, or if you’re not doing well. I’ve got some really close friendships, gospel-centered friendships, people that tell me the hard truth, people that I tell the hard truth to, and they’ve also hurt me. I don’t know how we get away from that. We confront in love. We need to stop being so nice sometimes. Christian woman can be really nice, and then stab you in the back. So let’s just be honest with each other, kindly and gently tell each other the truth out of love. Sorry I’m preaching now.

Q: How much do you share with other wives in your church? Are there things you don’t share because of your role as a pastor’s wife?

Lauren: There are about nine other women that I meet with weekly. I don’t lead the group. There’s a woman that’s a little bit further down the road in life and in experience that leads it; some of the women in that group are pastors’ wives, then some are members, and some are on staff. They know a lot about me and a lot about Matt. I think having Matt from the pulpit be transparent helps me in that because he doesn’t let them think he’s super man and that he’s got it all together, so it won’t come as a surprise. It probably comes as a relief that he’s not perfect and I’m not perfect and we’re struggling. But, we’re wanting more of Jesus in our marriage, for our family, in our lives, and so I share a lot. I mean there are definitely things I’m going to be discrete about, that I might not share here but I’ll share with those women. There are women in my life that know almost everything. Like it was said, you need someone eyeball-to-eyeball that can call you out and see you in the context of your life and not what you just let them see via phone or email.

Susan: I’m trying to think of a context in which there would be something that I would not want to share. I think that we have to be careful if we share something that would put our husband in a bad light or our children. When we share something about our own struggle and we implicate them, even other women sharing, that’s really not fair to our kids or our husband. It’s okay if I share about my own garbage going on inside me. I think that sort of goes across the board for anything.

Stephanie: That’s exactly what I was going to say. You can confess your own sin, but I don’t confess Rick’s sin or my children’s sin. Frustrations with the church, that does not go out. That goes first to my Heavenly Father, and then it goes maybe to by husband if the Holy Spirit lets it get that far, but usually these thoughts go pretty quick.

Q: What’s the best way to respond when a friend comes to you with a frustration with the church or with your husband?

Kara: Smile, ask Jesus to give you the words, and then run away. You should not listen to them. I listened to way too much. It can be from your family, it can be from your best friend, I don’t think you should listen to that. It’s wrong, they shouldn’t have dragged me into it, and I don’t want to be a party to it anymore.

Susan: I think that we often foster the DNA where women think, “I can come to her and I can just tell her anything and she’ll just absorb it, whatever it is that I have to say.” I was that way for a long time. The stories Bruce told yesterday, about the woman poking me in the chest at church, and sitting on my couch saying, “ I could run you out of town if I wanted to” -- those things happen. I wouldn’t let those things happened today, twenty years later.

Lauren: I had a situation recently happen. It was probably one of my closest friends, and it wasn’t that she said anything bad about my husband or the church; it was just a hard situation. It was sticky. This is one of my closest friends who I would pour my heart out to and she would pour her heart out to me. And it was just a place where… if I listened to what she had to say I would feel like I had to defend Matt and the church, but then I would bring it to Matt and ask him questions and I would feel like I had to defend my friend. I would just keep finding myself in this really sticky place. And my friend is so wise and loving. There was a meeting that was going to happen. She and I just agreed, “this is hard enough as it is, know that I love you and I'm here for and I'm praying for you and on the other side we’ll be able to talk through some things but right now we can’t.” We just agreed on that. That we love each other no matter what and we do respect each other’s husbands, but we had to wait until this meeting because none of us had all the information. It was tough but it was very sanctifying.

Listen to the audio here
Read Previous "Planter Wives Answer" installations: Part 1, and Part 2.

In Case You Missed Them: Top Posts from Acts 29 in 2011 (So Far)

Sun, 01 May 2011 11:28 GMT

In case you missed any of these, we're sharing our three most popular posts from January, February, March and April this year. Enjoy!

April 2011

1. Transformation is Prerequisite to Mission.

By Matt Chandler. “Earning our righteousness is a death trap. In fact, it’s this backward understanding of the gospel that in the end has emasculated missions.” Read more…

2. Elect or Elite? Why Arrogance Has No Place in Reformed Theology.

By Elliot Grudem. “We can rely on our theology too much, thinking that our theological precision is the key to our church’s growth rather than the Holy Spirit.” Read more…

3. Does My Wife Have to Share My Sense of Calling?

By Bruce Wesley. “I had a guy ask me one time, ‘does my wife have to share my calling to plant a church?’ Seriously? I live among rocket scientists and engineers these days, but I used to live in Cut and Shoot, Texas. It’s a very different world.” Read more…

March 2011

1. Accountability is Not the Silver Bullet… But it Is a Bullet.

By Scott Thomas. “I am concerned about the number of pastors falling (or more likely, leaping) into sexual immorality.” Read more…

2. Am I a Church Planter?

By Scott Thomas. “Not all churches have a vision for church planting and few have insight into what a church planter looks like. Our church leaders should be able to spot a church planter and then send him to plant as soon as he is ready.” Read more…

3. Five Things I Learned From Billy Hornsby.

By Scott Thomas. “Billy Hornsby, our good friend and a man who left a legacy of churches, passed away March 23 at 9:44 pm EDT.” Read more…

February 2011

1. 4,000 Saved and 133 New Churches – Reflections on 2010.

By Acts 29 Network. “The Acts 29 Network was founded 11 years ago. In our first six years, we grew to team of 71 churches. We saw an explosion of growth over the last five years, adding 300 new churches, with hundreds more planters applying.” Read more…

2. The Church Planter’s Marriage.

By Acts 29 Network. “We’ve corralled some great, tough, short audio clips from Acts 29 pastors addressing church planters in their marriages. Some rebuke, some teach, some give practical ideas and inspiring challenges.” Read more…

3. Frustration and Love for the Fundamentalist.

By Acts 29 Network. “Matt Chandler preaches the gospel in the center of the evangelical world, and faces self-righteous fundamentalist ‘older brothers’ as a majority demographic. Here he illustrates the problem with a story of an ex-con visiting on Easter and smoking cigarettes on the steps of The Village Church.” Read more…

January 2011

1. Acts 29 Network’s Co-Founder, David Nicholas, Goes Home to Be With the Lord.

By Acts 29 Network. “Dr. Nicholas pastored Spanish River Church in Boca Raton, Florida, and spent much of his life and energy investing in church planters. “He was an incredible supporter of our church and mentor to me and our pastors,” said Chan Kilgore.” Read more…

2. Free Resource – Theological Clarity and Application: Equipping Leaders in Biblical Doctrine.

By Scott Thomas. “The question I get asked most often by church planters and pastors of young churches is, ‘How can I train people in preparation for leadership in the church?’” Read more…

3. Baptisms, Alaska Style, at 10 Degrees and Snowing.

By Acts 29 Network. “’And [he] said, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’ - Acts 8:36. In Caleb Richardson’s case, he had plenty of frozen water in Fairbanks, Alaska, and with baptisms not being permitted inside his church's rented space, he and his people had to get creative.” Read more…

How to Schedule Yourself And Your Kids | Planter Wives Answer, pt. 2

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 04:23 GMT

Last month in Dallas during the boot camp, many wives attended the Wives' Track hosted by Acts 29 church planter's wives. We recently posted audio from Part 1 of their Q&A time here. Below we're including portions of the transcriptions from Part 1.

L-R: Stephanie White (Ft. Worth; wife of Rick), and Lauren Chandler (Dallas; wife of Matt) who answered the questions below.

"Read Your Bible On Your Phone When You're Up Nursing Again at 3 A.M."

Q: What advice do you have for young moms with small children to structure the home and schedule well?

Lauren: Iʼm not a naturally scheduled person. I definitely thrive when I have a schedule, but just the idea of having to set one up kind of overwhelms me. We started Audrey at a university-model school where she goes to class for several hours twice a week. Then I home school her on our off days. That has really helped me be scheduled, because I am held accountable by this teacher to get this certain amount of work done. When Audrey gets home from school, Iʼm forced to be structured and to say, “you do your worksheets and then you can go play.” I still havenʼt figured out chores yet, the kids are five, eight and eleven – weʼre kind of at “pick your room up.” I have to be scheduled because I know there are things that if I donʼt get them done then Iʼm going to be overwhelmed: thereʼs going to be a mountain of laundry, a mountain of school work, etc. So if I just take a little bit of time each day to do it, then Iʼm not overwhelmed. But hold your schedule with an open hand. Itʼs going to look different on different weeks. Youʼre going to have different things going on, so get the stuff done thatʼs important, and then all the other stuff youʼll eventually get to.

Stephanie: My kids are young too, but getting older. I have a whiteboard in my house, so when my older kids are at school, Iʼll think, “Oh I want Aidan to empty his trash because thatʼs disgusting.” So Iʼll write it there, and that way I donʼt overwhelm my children when they come home. Especially when I know Annabelle has homework on these days and Reagan, my oldest, has more homework. If they need to practice piano, then Iʼll make sure itʼs ʻpiano for you,ʼ ʻhomework for you,ʼ and ʻyou donʼt have homework, so itʼs empty your trash and put away your laundry.ʼ” That way I donʼt overwhelm my children. As I think about it throughout the day I can just write it on my white board and my children are trained. They walk in, they get their snack, they know that they have until 4 p.m. to unwind and then, usually my oldest will say, “itʼs four oʼclock!” Theyʼll go and start working through the list. They love to mark off, and they know in order to mark off they have to do first. Thatʼs been remarkable. It works in our house very well.

Q: With young children in the home, how do you maintain your relationship with the Lord?

Lauren: I guess in the infant stage, you just take whatever you can get. Even if youʼre nursing or if youʼre feeding your baby in the middle of the night, getting your phone out and reading the Bible, reading an en- couraging blog, one thatʼs going to point you to the Lord or whatever. I would say donʼt waste that time. The iPhone is great because then you donʼt have to turn a light on. Take the sweet lullaby time and sing praise songs over your babies. Getting time with the Lord doesnʼt have to look a certain way: you donʼt have to sit down at your dining table and pull out your Tozer. Just grabbing any moment you can, or even taking one Scripture verse, especially in those times when your brain is so fried, and just having one verse that you just go to over and over again. I did that with Nora. And as they get older, Matt and I are loving this new rhythm weʼve gotten into where Noraʼs in bed at seven-thirty and the other two are in bed at eight, and we go to bed at nine or nine-thirty. We feel like old people, but then we get to wake up in the morning before the kids are up and begging for us and we get to spend our time there to- gether and I get to ask him questions like, “Iʼm reading this, what does this mean?” So I think just for me with Audrey sheʼs at that age where sheʼll go to bed at seven-thirty. I used to stay up really late and then I just wasnʼt ready to be a mom in the morning because I was toast. Audrey was getting up at six in the morning and I just wasnʼt ready to be mom, so Iʼd have a crappy attitude for the rest of the day. I needed to just go to bed and take advantage of just being recharged.

"I think I had a selfish mindset about my time. Yes, you need your own time, but itʼs like ʻwhat are you really doing?ʼ Because for me, I was on Facebook and I was watching TV."

So I feel like I wasted a lot of that time when I could have been better prepared for the next morning. But if you waste it, the Lord is still good and you havenʼt failed as a mom or as a wife. There is grace there so donʼt let that be a discouragement to you, either.

Stephanie: I think you have to be creative when your children are young. Itʼs not always going to be structured. Like you were saying, when youʼre nursing, donʼt waste that time. I spend a lot of time in the carpool lane. Iʼve been redeeming it (most of the time!) with the Word. When I do the dishes, Iʼm finding joy in that. Because I used to kind of think, ”I hate doing this,” but itʼs just a great time to rejoice and thank the Lord for toilets that are dirty, that I have a home to clean. When I read through Feminine Appeal, I was really challenged in that area of just finding joy in those tasks. When my spirit wants to grumble, thatʼs a good time to worship.

Listen here or download the Q&A. More will be posted soon from the Wives' Track at the Dallas Boot Camp.

For more content from Acts 29 wives, look here.
Read also "How to Handle Weekends as a Church Planting Family"

How to Handle Weekends as a Church Planting Family | Planter Wives Answer, Pt. 1

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:39 GMT

Q&A panel, L-R: Stephanie White (Ft. Worth; wife of Rick), Susan Wesley (Houston; wife of Bruce), Lauren Chandler (Dallas; wife of Matt) and Kara Bruskas (Albuquerque; wife of Dave).

"No, You Can't Have Your Friends Spend the Night on Saturday."

Q: What are practical ways that you minister to your husbands? What do you do to recharge your husbands after Sunday?

Lauren: I try to have a home-cooked meal for him at lunchtime. That doesnʼt happen every time, especially if I sing, and I sing about once a month. But I at least trying to feed him something healthy. I try not to schedule anything that would further zap any emotional or spiritual strength out of him.

Susan: I would say the exact same thing. The weekends kind of wind down on Friday night and Saturday is a sacred time at our house. We time conversations. I donʼt bring up anything thatʼs really volatile or anything that could cause a fight on a Saturday because what happens on Saturday can affect him on Sunday. I learned that early on. Sunday afternoons, my husband is toast. I donʼt have a whole lot of expectations as to what heʼs going to do. So I give him that freedom.

Q: How did you handle Sundays when your kids where little?

Susan: I probably didnʼt do this really well. I was always the buffer and just saw myself as that. I was a drill sergeant; I would force them outside, and I sometimes locked the door! (They survived it.) But they just knew that this was their life. We laugh about it now. They survive those kinds of things; kids canʼt be satisfied immediately all the time, anyway. We donʼt want to raise them to be that selfish. They have to know that, “Daddy has to do this now, and youʼll be fine.”

Kara: I was just going to add that the great news is if you can start that pattern when theyʼre young, then when youʼre my age and your kids are going to prom and they want to have the breakfast at your house on Saturday, they donʼt get to. My kids stopped asking about weekend stuff, and then when I did get to say, “oh we can do that,” they were excited. Start them young with whatʼs to be expected.

Lauren: Weʼre in that right now. The good thing is that when your kids are younger your husband is younger, too. With Matt, if I sense that heʼs just tired I try to act as the buffer. But then if heʼs up to it and we talk and I ask, “do you want to take the kids to the park,” he may say, “yes.” Just feel it out with your husband. And our kids know weʼre not going to have friends stay the night on a Saturday night. Weʼre just not going to do that, and they respect that and its just part of life.

Stephanie: it depends on your husband, too. My husband is done Fridays. Heʼs made that a firm commitment. So Saturdays are our family day. It just has to do with your husband. To address the question about dealing with loving your husband on Sundays, when baby showers fall on Sundays, I just donʼt go. We talked about this recently because there was one. I have to get my nap so I can be ready to celebrate Sunday night. Thatʼs how I help my husband.

Listen here or download the Q&A. More will be posted soon from the Wives' Track at the Dallas Boot Camp. For more content from Acts 29 wives, look here.

Webinar: Finding Your Role in the Church Planting Journey

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:08 GMT

I just found out about this webinar for planting wives on finding your role in the church planting journey. This is the info I have so far; I'll keep you updated...

Webinar will offered two times:
Monday May 10th @ 1:00pm (CDT) or 3:00pm (EST)
Wednesday May 11th @ 7:00pm (CDT) or 9:00pm (EST

Janet McMahon is a Lead Planter Spouse and serves staff as Director of Community Life with Restore Community Church in Kansas City. This webinar will be geared towards spouses at all levels of the church planting experience. Is our role supportive wife? Co-staff member? Head of women's ministry? Finding our unique role releases us to experience joy in one of the most stressful experiences of our lives. More details will follow in the next newsletter, for now please mark your calendar for one of the times listed below.

Run Your Own Race with Endurance

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:50 GMT

This is adapted from Matt Chandler’s message, “Ministry for the Long Haul,” which he taught in Louisville in November 2009, just days before he would be diagnosed with brain cancer.

In Hebrews 11:33, we’re told of people who, “through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” In the next verses, we’re told that others, still faithful, “suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword.”

Some of you will shut the mouths of lions. Some of you will be devoured by lions.

We’re often taught that technique determines where we will fall on this list. We hold up men who shut the mouths of lions and put foreign armies to flight and call it normative; we elevate an unrealistic expectation that we can control the blowing of the spirit.

However, Hebrews continues in 12:1, “Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [this includes both lists of people], let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.” No technique we can try will determine whether we are the faithful who shut the lion’s mouth or the faithful who are devoured, but either way we can deeply praise God’s work because he’s doing exactly what he said he would do in Genesis 12.

Lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely.

The life of the believer is marked by repentance. 1 John 1 lays out two paths: we can walk in light or not, and this comes down to how we handle sin. Repentance is an opportunity to grow in holiness and come into deeper intimacy of God. It’s comforting to pretend that your sins don’t bother God, but if repentance is not a continuing ethic in your life, you are a liar.

Run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Don’t try to be someone you’re not. The man who loves Jesus Christ deeply praises God when he’s being devoured by lions and when he’s being overrun by foreign armies, saying, “If this is my role in the furtherance of your kingdom, praise your name.” This is the man we need: men who play their part well, are content in that part regardless of what it is, and become all they can be in Christ.

I want to play my part well, and be content in that part regardless of what it is. And I want to encourage you, church planter: don’t feel the need to attack larger churches and ministries. Don’t idolize them, either. The temptation is to either idolize guys or rip them down, depending on the level of bitterness. Both are wrong.

Can I give you a little secret about the big places? Please don’t let this leave the room.

Nobody knows what they’re doing. Everybody’s just trying stuff.

When I started out, I thought “oh, let’s go check out what they’re doing!” So we’d read their books and we’d say, “oh this is such a brilliant idea,” and then we’d go to their church and they weren’t doing that at all. Their pastor had just said “one day we’ll do that,” and they were all working toward that but they weren’t there yet.

The more access I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realized no one knows what they’re doing, we’re all just trying stuff. So, welcome. Let’s be faithful to the Word, faithful to our history and boldly proclaim the gospel.

Fix your eyes on Jesus.

We endure not because we walk in some Western definition of success, but because our heart and mind are His. Throw off everything that hinders and sin that so easily entangles and run with endurance the race marked out for you with your eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith.

Is your life marked by confession and repentance?
Are you trying to be somebody else or are you doing the hard work of who God’s made you?
Are your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of your faith?

Please be in prayer for Matt as he starts another round of chemo soon. He will be speaking in San Jose at our boot camp on June 3-4.

There is Something More Important in Your Life Than Serving Jesus

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:14 GMT

Matt Carter is pastor and planter of The Austin Stone Community Church in Texas, and we are grateful to have him in the Acts 29 Network. He speaks passionately on the church's mission and recently taught at the Dallas boot camp on The Church Planter's Two Callings.

The following is adapted and excerpted from Matt's message.

You and your wife have two callings on your life as a planting couple. The primary calling on your life is to Jesus Christ. The primary calling on your life is to be his, to belong to him, to be his child. You also have a secondary calling on your life, and that is what you do for Jesus.

Paul talks about these two callings, the primary and secondary, in Philippians chapter three. Paul makes the point that if anyone can put confidence in the things that they’ve done in their life, he is one who could do that. And he goes on to give a list of his accomplishments in life.

But look forward to Philippians 3:7-8: he says “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ."

Paul is saying there is something more important in your life than serving Jesus.

There's something more important in your life than planting a church for Jesus. That 'something' is Jesus himself.

This is such a key verse for your ministry! For your preaching! For your marriage! For your church plant! Why does this have to be key, and rest on you, and hit you, and be a part of your DNA? Because:

The gospel will never be effective or powerful through your life until the gospel is first effective and powerful in your life.

Let’s make this personal – and see where you’re at with this. Let me ask you a question, and be honest:

What do you really want more?

Maybe the way to find out the answer to that question can be found by asking another question.

What do you pray for more often? Do you pray that God would be powerful through your preaching? Through your church? Through your leadership? Or do you pray more often “God, be powerful in me!”

The reason I think that is so critical is very biblical. If you want a very haunting example and warning, read Revelation 2. Jesus speaks to the church of Ephesus. He starts by listing off all the good things the church does, and applauds their deeds, toil, perseverance and good doctrine. But then Jesus looks at this church and says “but there’s a problem: I’m not the center of your affections anymore. You’re doing all this stuff for me, but I’m not the heartbeat of you. You’ve lost your love for me.”

Then what does he say?

It should scare you. Jesus says, “if you don’t repent and come back to me, I’m going to remove your lampstand from its place.”

I don’t know about you, but if Jesus isn’t a part of or blessing my church or showing up, I’d rather be a fireman or drive a truck. I’d rather do anything than pastor a church where Jesus isn’t showing up. "I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ."

Listen to all of Matt's message here, and check out the rest of the Dallas Boot Camp Audio here.

Also we want to invite you to join us for our next boot camps in Nashville (May 26) and San Jose (June 3-4)!

Does My Wife Have to Share My Sense of Calling?

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 06:28 GMT

Bruce and Susan Wesley planted Clear Creek Community Church in Houston, Texas, nearly two decades ago, and love being a church-planting church. Two years ago, they joined the Acts 29 Network and have been a tremendous blessing to Acts 29 church planters in the Houston region, the Texas region, and the Network as a whole. We are so thankful for this seasoned couple and their love for each other, and their love and ministry to our Acts 29 family.

The following is adapted and excerpted from Bruce's message at the recent Dallas boot camp, where he spoke about The Church Planter's Marriage.

I had a guy ask me one time, “does my wife have to share my calling to plant a church?”

Seriously?

I live among rocket scientists and engineers these days, but I used to live in Cut and Shoot, Texas. It’s a very different world.

In Cut and Shoot, if a man wanted to have a house and was trying to live financially free or couldn’t get a loan, typically he would buy some land, and he would take his wife and children out onto that land. They’d live in a tent until he dug a well and a septic tank. And then he would build a garage and they would live in the garage and build (by hand) their own house and pay as they went.

Think about the leadership challenge that is. How are you going to help your wife understand what life you’re going to have when you go through this long, hard process and you finally have your own home? You have to convince her of that future while it’s 25 degrees in February or the third week that it’s 100 degrees in August, and she’s going to live in tent with the kids.

That’s going to take some leadership. And there are some challenges along the way with that.

So when guys ask me ‘does my wife have to share my calling?’ I think:

Do you understand that if you plant a church, that along with the planting of a church comes the greatest challenges in a marriage?

For heaven's sake don’t do this: don’t say, “well the church is my thing, and the home is my wife’s thing.” If you say that, don’t plant a church! No matter what, you’re going to struggle with the church being your husband’s mistress, and your children being your wife’s lover, and that’s going to separate the two of you. So you have to have 100% commitment by both parties for the church and for the home. Because the challenges will come.

Like when some lady has her finger poked in my wife’s chest, all mad about not being a part of a decision in the early days. Or when the rich snooty lady is in my living room telling my wife how with just a few calls she can get us run out of town. Or when we’re having that discussion about how we’re not making enough money and we’re not going to get paid, so we’re maybe going to lose the house.

Those conversations are challenges for the marriage.

You’d better bet that she needs to be on the team, and be clear that this sense of calling is a shared sense of calling.

You’ve got to lead her first. I’m not talking command and control lead. I’m talking the shepherd and vision and pray kind of lead. The kind of lead where she looks in your eyes and she is confident that God has spoken to you and you’re following God’s leading.

Listen to Bruce's full message on The Church Planter's Marriage.

Restoration and Relationship: Marriage in Ephesians 5

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 04:56 GMT

By Ed Marcelle

If Genesis two is all about marriage's design, then Ephesians five is all about restoration and relationship.

Butchering Ephesians Five.

A lot of people (especially my more liberal Christian friends) will start at Ephesians 5:21 with “submit to one another” and stop right there. And this is where they get their view of marriage: that it is this two-headed beast, where man and woman submit to each other and no one is really the head.

The conservative and fundamentalist Christian’s favorite marriage verse is Ephesians 5:22 – “wives submit to your husbands.” They stop here and miss the big picture.

Ephesians Five Brings the Gospel to the Broken Genesis Design for Marriage.

But if we go through the whole chapter, we see that the discussion on marriage is all about restoration and relationship. It’s this gospel stuff that fixes what went wrong in the fall in Genesis. “For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church” – it’s not just about you and your wife, it’s about Christ. All the references to a husband’s duties are in relation to Christ’s treatment of the church.

Men and women, because of the fall, have very different needs. Men need respect because Eve didn’t listen. What was Adam’s problem? He didn’t love her and didn’t step in; and then when she was hurting from sin, knowing what she did and that God knows what she did, Adam blames her. So what does he need to do, restoration-wise? Love her. But all of these words (submit, love, head, etc) just become about us unless they become about Christ.

Marriage is for Pointing to Christ, Not Self.

When it comes to marriage, so many people believe this: “my life will be better, fuller and more complete if I have someone, and Jesus, make them good-looking!”

Where do we get the idea that two sinners living in close proximity for a long time will make happiness? I have no idea. If you think through the good Reformed theology of this, it seems like a bad idea for happiness. This is why Luther said marriage is better than a monastery for working the rough edges off of someone; it’s two stones in a tumbler.

It can’t be about “I’m going to love you because I want you to do this.” That’s not serving, it’s selfishness. You’re taking the God stuff without God.

You're Not the Savior, Jesus Is.

You have to triangulate to Jesus. She is going to do stuff that makes no sense to you, and vice versa, and it’s not your job to fix and address it. It’s your job to keep looking to Christ because if you keep moving towards a fixed point, the One who never changes, you will both get there. This is the rallying point of restoration for the entire world (everything Matt Chandler was talking about in his session at the Orlando Boot Camp); we all come from different places but we’re all moving towards the same fixed point, Jesus.

It’s not going to be solving what he or she thinks, or making sure that you’re doing enough so you can get something – it’s going to be triangulating back to Jesus. That’s the important piece.

Adapted and excerpted from Ed Marcelle's Orlando Boot Camp message, "The Church Planter's Marriage and Family".

Join us for another boot camp in 2011! The next two are in Nashville (May 26-27) and San Jose (June 3-4).

You Know You are Pastoring a Missional Church When...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 06:09 GMT

Adapted and excerpted from Matt Carter’s Orlando Boot Camp message, “Leading Your Church on Mission.”

The Church Leader’s Job is to Equip People for Ministry

In Ephesians 4:11, Paul writes, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”

Think about this in context of your church. Apostles, prophets, shepherds, teachers – this is you and me, the leadership of the church. God gave us these gifts for a reason: to equip the people in our churches to do the work of the ministry for the building up of the body of Christ.

What makes the body of Christ grow?

In Ephesians 4:16 Paul says: “From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

This verse is especially convicting in light of the fact that we’re seeing Christianity decline in the United States. If the body of Christ in the United States is not growing, what does that say about each individual part of the body of Christ?

Each Part Working Properly, or Dead Weight?

Two years ago our church did a random survey on a Sunday of the entire church asking, “What’s your spiritual gift and how are you using it?” Less than 10% of the people knew what their spiritual gift was and how they were using it to build up the body of Christ.

We can pat ourselves on the back all day long and say, “Woohoo! Seventy-five hundred people are coming to church!” And that’s great and good, but if we’re not helping them discover how God has uniquely designed and gifted them to get into the fight, we’re not a missional church.

You Know You are Pastoring a Missional Church When Your Church is Full of Missional People.

You personally can be missional all day long, and your wife can be missional, but if you're not pastoring a church where the people sitting in the pews are living on mission themselves for God, you are not a missional church.

Listen to the rest of Matt Carter's message, and join us for another boot camp in 2011 -- the next two are in Nashville (May 26-27) and San Jose (June 3-4).

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The Permanent Revolution: Apostolic Imagination and Practice for the 21st Century Church

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Sifted: 20 leaders in 20 days

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Who should attend:

Schedule:

How To Lead Yourself Everyday!

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7 Top Issues Church Planters Face | #5: Mission Drift

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Called, Led, Blessed

Friends in Ministry

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Training to be a Church Planter

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