Monday, March 23, 2009

Church Planter Assessment

This week I will be in Orlando, FL with two great couples that are prayerfully considering church planting. Tyler & Karmen and Curtis &Nancy both have been drawn by God to take this next step toward future ministry as church planters. Both have ministry experience and a passion to proclaim a clear gospel message. Curtis and Nancy are praying for God to open doors in Kansas City, KS and Tyler and Karmen are praying about Kearney, NE. Thank you for praying for them this week.

Friday, March 20, 2009

The Calling of the Planter

Mark Driscoll shares from the book of Acts the calling of a church planter. He list the following 12 items as evidence of church planting. All need the first one and you need at least one of the others.

Watch his sermon here
.

The opening session of the 2009 Acts 29 Boot Camp held in Seattle on March 9-10, 2009.
13 Questions to Determine God's Call of a Church Planter


The first one is mandatory. One other is needed as well (not every one).


1. Have I responded to the gospel call & received the Spirit?

2. Is the Holy Spirit out ahead of me planting the church?

3. Is my church planting call obvious to other godly leaders? (Acts 2:14)

4. Has God confirmed my church plant by showing up in miraculous power? (Acts 3 & 4)

5. Am I reaching lost people to start my plant? (Acts 8:5-9, 12)

6. Has Jesus showed up & told me to plant? (Acts 9:15-16)

7. Has God called me to plant through a vision? (Acts 10-11:18; 16:9-10)

8. Has God providentially relocated me to plant? (Acts 11:19-21)

9. Is God sending me to plant because my church does not much need me? (Acts 13:1-3)

10. Is God calling me to plant because I am wasting my time in a toxic place? (14:1-7)

11. Am I called to be a catalytic church planter or plant a church planting church center? (Acts 14:23-26)

12. Has God called me to plant by giving me a deep burden for a city/people? (Acts 17:16)

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

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Prayer video

Gary Rohrmayer has a great video talking about prayer. Take a look.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Will Evangelicals be gone in 10 years?

Michael Spencer writing in the Christian Science Monitor stated "We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity." The so called "Evangelical Church" is not divinely inspired, but the church of Jesus Christ is describe in the Bible and was established by Christ. God always prevails. Mr. Spencer does make some claims that have merit. One is that many churches today are not providing solid biblical education for all ages. Many in the church have no idea why they believe what they believe, some are not even sure what they believe.

While I do not believe the evangelical church will be gone in 10 years, I would agree that it will look different than it does today. My pray is that it will look different. Solid doctrine and biblical teaching will have the highest priority over "looking good" Christianity. Tell me what you think about the article.

Monday, March 9, 2009

USA Today

I got a call today to make sure I read this article and I notice that Andy Wright has it listed on his blog. The need to proclaim a clear gospel message is great then ever before. Read, pray, talk about it and then do something.

Just a little humor for the day

The Perfect Pastor

The perfect pastor preaches exactly 10 minutes.
He condemns sin roundly but never hurts anyone’s feelings.
He works from 8am until midnight and is also the church janitor.
The perfect pastor makes $40 a week, wears good clothes, drives a good car, buys good books, and donates $30 a week to the church.
He is 29 years old and has 40 years experience. Above all, he is handsome.
The perfect pastor has a burning desire to work with teenagers, and he spends most of his time with the senior citizens.
He smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his church.
He makes 15 home visits a day and is always in his office to be handy when needed.
The perfect pastor always has time for church council and all of its committees.
He never misses the meeting of any church organization and is always busy evangelizing the unchurched.
The perfect pastor is always in the next church over!
If your pastor does not measure up, simply send this notice to six other churches that are tired of their pastor, too.
Then bundle up your pastor and send him to the church at the top of the list.
If everyone cooperates, in one week you will receive 1,643 pastors. One of them should be perfect.
Have faith in this letter. One church broke the chain and got its old pastor back in less than three months.