Planting in the Heartland

Baptism at 2 PIllars

2011-12-28T15:45:00.001-06:00

God in His graciousness drew people to Himself for His glory.

Watch this video of a baptism at 2 Pillars, Lincoln, NE.

Litmus test of preaching

2011-12-28T06:40:00.000-06:00

"The litmus test that I use for myself is that if people walk away from my sermons thinking more about what they need to do than what Jesus has already done, I’ve failed to preach the Gospel." Tullian Tchividjian

What Rod Edmondson learned from Church Planting

2011-12-22T08:39:00.000-06:00

Rod Edmondson gives some food for thought about church planting.

I’m a church planter. I love the process of planting. I love the energy and the enthusiasm a new church brings to a community.
Now in my second church plant, I’ve learned a few things. Some of the things I’ve learned are things I wouldn’t do again if I were planting another church.

Here are 7 things I wouldn’t do again if planting a church:

Limit God’s vision – We started as a church to reach one section of town. Now we are in two locations, reaching two entirely different segments of our community. God has continued to refine and shape our path as a church.

Fail to challenge people to grow in their walk with Christ – I don’t know that I shied away from this; it certainly was my heart and our vision, but in the early days, I was very conscious of reaching the lost, so I may not have been as bold as I wish I had been in saying what needed to be said. I wrote more about this HERE.

Shy away from money talk – So many people think all a church does is talk about money. We avoided this stigma from day one. In the process, we neglected to develop our core givers, we put ministries on hold we should be pursuing, and we robbed people of the opportunity to become generous givers and consequently to feel the reward of trusting God completely.

Resist leaders from other churches – We wanted to plant a church for non-believers, but we needed leadership to do that. When leaders from other churches came, however, we were hesitant to plug them in for fear we’d be seen negatively by other churches. In the process, we missed out on quality leadership, and we denied people the right to follow their hearts.

Expect everyone to be as excited a few years in – The fact is life changes. Some are starters, and some are finishers. Some of the original people grew bored with things as they were. They had a great impact in our beginning but sought opportunities elsewhere in later years…and that’s okay.

Assume everyone is “happy” – I love what God is doing. I love watching lives change. God is doing something amazing among us. Some people just don’t get that excited. It’s not that they don’t care or love our church; they just haven’t received the same call on their lives as I have.

Wait long to reproduce – We were 5 years old when we launched our second campus. I see churches do this in their second full year. There are so many in our city who need hope. Taking a risk on my own comes easy. Sometimes, I’m too careful when representing God…as if He can’t handle something so large. When God leads, I want to move.
And the bonus…very practical one…

Wait too long to hire a business administrator – With a background in business, I was a natural to do this, but I hated it and didn’t do it as well as it could be done. If a church is 400 or 500 hundred in attendance, this becomes a full-time job. We were running well over 1,000 before we hired someone to do this, and it crippled me in leadership. (Thanks, Dennis, for making my life better!)

WANT MORE? I wrote similar thoughts about what I’ve learned as a church planter in THIS POST. I also wrote a shorter post on what I would and wouldn’t do in a church plant HERE. Finally, HERE is a post on planting in a new community.

Does sermon prep make a difference?

2011-12-19T13:30:00.000-06:00

Thom Rainer wrote in Outreach Magazine about 7 indicators of a healthy church. One of the seven items was the importance of preaching. He said,

“Among the churches we studied, preaching was primary for those with healthy conversion growth and meaningful discipleship ministries. Pastors who preached each week spent five times as much time in sermon preparation as those who preached in unhealthy churches. There is a powerful correlation between sermon study time and health of the church.”

May we never neglect the importance of sermon preparation.

10 Ways to Be Missional by Tim Chester

2011-12-17T07:23:00.000-06:00

Tim Chester gives ten very practical ways of connecting with others to share the gospel.

10 Simple Ways To Be Missional

…without adding anything to your schedule

by Tim Chester

1. Eat with other people

We all eat 3 meals a day. That’s 21 opportunities for church and mission each week without adding anything new to your schedule. And meals are a powerful expression of welcome and community.

2. Work in public places

Hold meetings, prepare talks, read in public spaces like cafes, pubs and parks. It will naturally help you engage with the culture as work or plan. For example, whose questions do you want to address in your Bible studies – those of professional exegetes or those of the culture?

3. Be a regular

Adopt a local café, pub, park and shops so you regularly visit and become known as a local. Imagine if everyone in your gospel community did this!

4. Join in with what’s going on

Churches often start their own thing like a coffee shop or homeless program. Instead, join existing initiatives – you don’t have the burden of running it and you get opportunities with co-workers.

5. Leave the house in the evenings

It’s so easy after a long day on a dark evening to slump in front of the television or surf the internet. Get out! Visit a friend. Take a cake to a neighbor. Attend a local group. Go to the cinema. Hang out in a café. Go for a walk with a friend. It doesn’t matter where as long as you go with gospel intentionality.

6. Serve your neighbors

Weed a neighbor’s garden. Help someone move. Put up a shelf. Volunteer with a local group. It could be one evening a week or one day a month. Try to do it with other members of your gospel community so it becomes a common project. Then people will see your love for one another and it will be easier to talk about Jesus.

7. Share your passion

What do you enjoy? Find a local group that shares your passion. Be missional and have fun at the same time!

8. Hang out with your work colleagues

Spend your lunch break with colleagues. Go for a drink after work. Share the journey to work.

9. Walk

Walking enables you to engage with your neighborhood at street level. You notice things you don’t in a car. You are seen and known in the neighborhood.

10. Prayer walk

Walk around your neighborhood using what you see as fuel for prayer. Pray for people, homes, businesses, community groups and community needs. Ask God to open your eyes to where He is at work and to fill your heart with love for your neighborhood.

*******************************
Tim Chester is director of The Porterbrook Institute; a church planter with The Crowded House in Sheffield, UK; and the author of over a dozen books including Total Church and You Can Change.

Check your vision:

2011-12-13T08:50:00.000-06:00

Is your vision so narrow you fail to see the big picture?

2 Pillars Church News

2011-12-10T18:57:00.000-06:00

Building Update 2 Pillars, Lincoln, NE: Todd Bumgarner; Beginning this past April, myself along with a few others (Adam, Cheech, Matt, Zach) began the quest for searching for a new home for 2 Pillars Church. We have been growing and continue to grow and while The 815 has been a great place for us to start, it is not a long-term home for us as a church.
Since April, I have personally been through 17 buildings in the downtown Lincoln area. I’ve looked at scary basements and 100-year old churches and everything in between. We’ve pursued two buildings in particular for two-months each that ended up falling through. It’s been a long, trying, but sanctifying process.
All of this searching has led to a building that we are quite serious about at this time. The following information was conveyed during our members meeting last Sunday and is being conveyed here and expanded upon to all who call 2 Pillars Church their home.
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At this time, we are intentionally pursuing the building at 1430 South Street (corner of 15th and South) as the next home for 2 Pillars Church (aka the Cedars Building).
The space we are looking at is roughly 10k square feet. It would provide an auditorium area that would seat 280. It will have a lobby/exchange area, dedicated (and non dungeon-esque) children’s ministry area, as well as offices, a large kitchen, meeting space, and bathrooms that are not behind the stage area.
While this building is not immediately downtown, we feel confident that God will continue our presence there through doors he has opened with reaching artists via our now involvement with the Grand Manse Gallery as well as the relocation of our work with Artists on the Edge to Indigo Bridge Bookstore (the Sorilla GC continues to head up all of these efforts in both the Manse and Indigo). In other words, we will continue to engage and work with local artists through doors God has opened and will continue to open for us.
Additionally, throwing shows will continue for us as the Grant GC continues that work in the new space once we, Lord willing, get settled there.
I want to use this opportunity to again reinforce that 2 Pillars Church is not a building, it is a people. Buildings are tools for mission. They are necessary tools, but it is not the church. We are the church.
This new building will give 2 Pillars Church a home-base on a high-traffic street and will place us directly on the invisible (but present) social-econmoical dividing line of South Street. It further connects us into a neighborhood and expands our opportunity for mission.
Let me be clear – this move is about one thing and one thing only: mission.
This is not, “if we build it, they will come.” It is about, “He has built, and we must go.”
This is a great opportunity for us as a church to continue the mission that God has put in front of us to reach the unreached for Christ and transform the city of Lincoln by loving God and loving people.
I ask at this time that you all be in prayer for us as we continue to pursue this new space. Pray for the people that live in the area and neighborhoods directly surrounding this new building. Pray for unity for us as a body as we continue to move forward on the mission God has given us. Pray also for clarity and wisdom as we continue to pursue this from a financial and strategic angle.
Again, all of the above was conveyed last Sunday at our members meeting. In addition, we spent some time doing Q&A during that meeting as well helping to answer any and all questions that the members of this body may have regarding this move.
Last Wednesday we held a prayer gathering outside of the Cedars building. Thank-you to those of you who turned out for that.
This coming Monday evening, I will be walking through the building with a group of tradesmen and other key individuals from 2 Pillars whose input, experience, and expertise is valued as we look at this building.
On Tuesday morning, I will hold a financial and strategic meeting with our Financial Team as well as a few other business-savvy and entreprenurial-minded folks as we look at the long-term financial and strategy impacts of this decision.
The final decision on this move will rest ultimately on me and the 2 Pillars Church External Advisory Board.
I state all of that to ask for prayer for all of those involved. Pray for wisdom and discernment for myself and those who have been brought into the process.
It is my hope and prayer that we are able to get to a signed lease agreement on this building before the end of the year. From there, we expect an 8-week renovation process to begin landing us in the space sometime in March.
In addition to all of that; however, we are attempting to work with the building owner to allow us to get into the auditorium area much sooner than March (perhaps mid-January) so that we can begin meeting and worshiping there in early 2012.
Thanks for traveling together on all of this. Please continue to pray for unity and God’s favor on this whole thing and continue to live out the gospel, in community, and on mission together as we march forward on mission for our Lord Jesus.
Pastor Todd.

2011-12-02T16:22:00.001-06:00

Top Ten Reasons Denominations Should Stop Starting New Congregations

by Gary Rohrmayer

George Bullard a Ministry Partner with The Columbia Partnership wrote an interesting article on why denominations 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

2011-11-30T12:46:00.001-06:00

Priorities in Fast-Growing Church Plants - Ed Stetzer

Church plants that grow faster are also intentional about their outreach priorities. For example, 80 percent of fast-growing churches put 10 percent of their budgets toward outreach and evangelism compared to 42 percent of struggling churches committing this percentage. Fast-growing churches also use more contemporary worship styles that are more culturally relevant to the unchurched people they are trying to reach.
Other significant findings that differentiate fast-growing church plants from struggling church plants during the 3-year period following launch include:

Only 9 percent of fast-growing church planters are given salary support past 4 years; 44 percent of struggling church planters are supported past 3 years.
63 percent of fast-growing church planters raise additional funding for the church plant. Only 23 percent of struggling church planters raise additional funding.
Planters leading fast-growing church plants are given more freedom to cast their own vision, choose their own target audience, and they have more freedom in the spending of finances.
Fast-growing church plants have multiple paid staff. Two paid staff members was a majority among the church plants.
A majority of fast-growing church plants utilize two or more volunteer staff as part of the church planting team prior to public launch.
Fast-growing church plants utilize more seed families than struggling church plants.
Fast-growing church plants use both preview services and small groups to build the initial core group.
Fast-growing church plants that use preview services used three or more of these services prior to public launch. A large contingent of these churches use over five.
Fast-growing church plants have children and teen ministries in place at time of launch and offer at least three ministry opportunities to first-time attendees.
57 percent of fast-growing church plants teach financial stewardship during the first 6 months from public launch. By contrast only 40 percent of struggling church plants teach financial stewardship.

2011-11-28T15:23:00.001-06:00

5 Ways Established Churches Should Think Like Plants

by Brandon Levering

Provided by

What would happen if more churches embraced the passion and energy of new church plants?

I have no significant church planting experience. I helped with the launch team of a recent plant in the Chicago area for just a couple months before being called to my present role last spring. Though quite young by New England standards, the church I serve is established. It began a little more than 35 years ago when several young adults from Park Street Church caught a vision for reaching the MetroWest suburbs of Boston. And we enjoy many of the benefits common to established churches: nice facility, stable financial base, variety of ministries, and breadth of generational wisdom and participation.
But there are several key values established churches can and should glean from those just getting started.

1. Church plants clearly define their mission and keep it before them in everything they do.

When you're starting from scratch, almost everything is intentional. The feel of the Web page, the flow of the nursery system, the types of ministries, the shape of the worship service---everything is painstakingly considered and prayed over to retain focus and clarity for staying on mission.
But the longer churches have been doing something, the harder it is to remember why they do it. It's easy to lose focus and become cluttered and fragmented in programs and ministries. This lack of clarity and focus can lead to passionate resistance to strategic changes. We can learn from church plants about recapturing the focus of your mission and holding it clearly and consistently before the congregation.

2. Church plants feel an acute sense of urgency to engage in evangelism.

This is the simple fact of planting a church: if it doesn't grow, it will die. And most church planters are not interested in transfer growth; they want to see conversion growth. So urgency for congregation-wide evangelism is woven into the church's DNA from the beginning.
But the longer a church does its thing and the larger it gets, the greater the pressure to divert attention to the needs of the church itself. We need more programs for families, programs for children, programs for teens, programs for singles. We might have a program for outreach, but the idea that every member is called to be a missionary in his or her own sphere of influence has long since dissipated. Established churches need to think like church plants in regaining the urgency of life on mission.

3. Church plants tend to better understand the culture they're engaging.

Researching the target culture is an important part of every missionary endeavor; church plants are no exception. A lot of work goes into understanding the history and spiritual climate of the area, not least identifying the prevailing cultural idols. When ministries are shaped, hospitality is a key virtue. Everything is done with awareness and love for newcomers and nonbelievers, who are often unfamiliar with church lingo and culture.
Just as established churches tend to increasingly focus inward, they also tend to become isolated from the surrounding culture. Routines that were once strategic and meaningful become rote. Elements of church life and worship that were initially shaped for the sake of mission become part of a cherished heritage that must be guarded at all costs. To even speak of engaging culture can invite an eye of suspicion. And yet God has given us his timeless truths to be proclaimed and applied in ever-changing times and places. Revitalizing our awareness of the surrounding culture and engaging people who live and breathe that cultural air (inside and outside the church) is crucial to our faithfulness in gospel mission.

4. Church plants use a wider portion of the congregation in service.

An experienced friend once commented that planting a church is like trying to build a boat from scratch...when you're already in the water. It's not just all hands on deck---you don't even have the deck yet to lay hands on. The context of urgency and camaraderie that comes from working so closely together at those early stages often creates a more pervasive culture of service in a church plant.
Established churches tend to embody the classic 80-20 rule: 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. When the focus and clarity of the mission dissipate and urgency wanes, it's a lot easier to participate in church as a spectator rather than as a partner in gospel ministry. As established churches work on recapturing focus in mission, that focus should translate into congregation-wide service.

5. Church plants are more likely to think strategically about planting more churches.

Church plants naturally understand the importance of continually planting newer congregations. As Tim Keller suggests, planting "is one of the best ways to renew the existing churches of a city, as well as the best single way to grow the whole body of Christ in a city." Several leading church planting networks hold out this expectation of ongoing involvement from the start.
It's a lot harder for established churches to think about sending away some of their resources, or even some of their best people, for this kind of ministry. Few established churches have a thoughtful plan to keep this strategic investment close to their mission and vision. Passion and commitment to planting new churches is more crucial to the health and vitality of established churches than many of us realize.
The point in all of this is not to foster a "grass is greener" mentality for established churches. Neither is it to romanticize church planting---any planter will testify to the vast difficulties he faces, not least the potential drift toward the very challenges discussed here. Rather, the simple exhortation is for established churches to keep learning and thinking about why we do what we do and to recognize that some of our best tutors will be those who come behind us.

2011-11-23T10:13:00.001-06:00

10 Questions to Rate Your Leadership Health
by Ed Edmondson

I work with a lot of church leaders. One thing I’ve discovered, if they let me get close enough inside their real world, is that many are hurting. They are facing burnout. They are tired. Many are worn down from carrying the stress of everyone else, yet finding few people they can trust with whom to share their burdens. They face the pressure of dysfunctional leadership and the loneliness of being a leader. I suspect this can be found in all fields of leadership (and life) and isn’t limited to being a pastor.

The bigger question is, however…

Does any of this describe you?

Not sure? I’m using my counseling degree for this one, but I encourage you to answer a few questions:

Do you discipline yourself with adequate time to rest?
Do you feel your home life is balanced with your work life?
Do you sleep well at night?
Are you able to accomplish all that is required of you?
Do you make decisions out of confidence? (Or are you living in fear?)

If you answered “No” to one of these there may be issues of concern, in my opinion, and you should consider exploring ways to answer “Yes.” If you have 2 or more “No” answers, please consider taking definite steps to being healthier as a leader.

Still not sure if you are healthy as a leader? Answer these questions:

Do you worry excessively?
Are you having physical problems, such as excessive weight gain, headaches, or muscle tension due to stress or inactivity?
Have you recently or frequently had thoughts that you are inadequate?
Are you more irritable than normal, less patient, or do you have a “short-fused” temper?
Have you been more impulsive, irrational, or felt more scattered with the decisions you make than usual?

Again, one “Yes” answer may be enough for concern, but if you have two or more, I would encourage you to take action for your own well-being.

Here are 5 suggestions, which may help:

Stop everything for a couple days to fast and pray.
Read THIS POST about pastor burnout.
Make (and keep) an appointment with a professional therapist.
Be honest with a mature friend you trust.
Check on the health of your family. (Your stress is most likely having an impact on them.)

How did you do?

Dear Christian leader, don’t risk your calling or your witness because you are unhealthy as a leader. You can drown alone, or you can get the help you need. Make a wise choice.

Have you had times in leadership where you had to get help to keep your sanity? What did you do?

Ron Edmondson is a pastor and church leader passionate about planting churches, helping established churches thrive, and assisting pastors and those in ministry think through leadership, strategy and life. Ron has over 20 years business experience, mostly as a self-employed business owner, and he's been in full-time ministry for over 8 years.

To many words

2011-10-26T11:19:00.000-05:00

Church planters, pastors and leaders like to hear themselves talk. We talk as if our speaking will help people understand our vision better. That may not be as true as we think. Will Mancini in Church Unique said the following about the amount of words we us.
"Leaders of today must learn how to deliver meaning by distilling what they say.
To illustrate this point, consider an historic event designed to memorialize the soldiers who lost their lives in the American Revolutionary War. The year of the memorial was 1863, and the event planner secured one of the greatest orators of the day to be the keynote speaker. His name was Edward Everett. That day, Everett spoke for two hours and delivered an address that consisted of 13,607 words. The president, Abraham Lincoln also spoke that day. He got on and off the platform so fast that the photographer didn't have time to take his picture. The Gettysburg Address was 286 words in length. This perfect distillation and articulation hit the bull's-eye of the nation's heart. Today his words still echo in the lives of millions of Americans. Fewer words had further reach."

Do I need to say more?

Prayer for our kids

2011-03-03T09:18:00.000-06:00

Kim Anderson, a web copywriter for AWANA posted the following article about praying for our children. While a great way to pray for our kids, I also believe it is a prayer for ourselves and all adults as well.

Is Prayer Your First Response as a Parent?
February 8th, 2011

I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.

I can’t take credit for this quote. Abraham Lincoln said it over 150 years ago. But the truth of his words applies to us today, especially as parents.

Parenting should drive us to our knees in prayer on a daily basis.

Does it? Is prayer the first thing you think of during a parenting challenge?

If I’m brutally honest, prayer is not always my first instinct. I mistakenly think I can solve a parenting problem or issue on my own strength, sinking into a pit of self-sufficiency. All along, God is waiting for me to surrender it over to Him and ask for His wisdom.

Sometimes I find it helpful to pray specifically for my two girls. Several years ago, I came across this list of 31 biblical virtues to pray for my kids. Perhaps it will encourage you to pray each day for your kids’ spiritual development.

1. Pray for a spirit of humility.

The willingness to submit—James 4:10

2. Pray for a spirit of reverence.

The fear of the Lord—Proverbs 9:10

3. Pray for a spirit of purity.

A desire to be clean—Matthew 5:8

4. Pray for a spirit of purpose.

A wisdom to set goals—Proverbs 4:25

5. Pray for a spirit of simplicity.

A lifestyle uncluttered—Romans 12:8

6. Pray for a spirit of commitment.

A dedication to the “cause”—Joshua 24:15

7. Pray for a spirit of diligence.

A willingness to work hard—2 Peter 1:5

8. Pray for a spirit of servanthood.

The ministry of helps—Galatians 6:9-10

9. Pray for a spirit of consistency.

The quality of faithfulness—James 1:8

10. Pray for a spirit of assurance.

A depth of faith—Hebrews 10:22

11. Pray for a spirit of availability.

A willingness to go—Isaiah 6:8

12. Pray for a spirit of loyalty.

A zeal for fidelity—Ruth 1:16

13. Pray for a spirit of sensitivity.

Openness of heart—Luke 10:30-37

14. Pray for a spirit of compassion.

Love in action—Mark 8:1-2

15. Pray for a spirit of tenderness.

A willingness to weep—2 Kings 22:19

16. Pray for a spirit of maturity.

The capacity to grow—Hebrews 5:12-14

17. Pray for a spirit of holiness.

Christ-like behavior—1 Peter 1:16

18. Pray for a spirit of reliability.

A depth of dependability—1 Corinthians 4:2

19. Pray for a spirit of revelation.

Learning to listen—Ephesians 1:15-18

20. Pray for a spirit of denial.

A sacrifice to surrender—Luke 9:23

21. Pray for a spirit of confidence.

A baptism of boldness—Philippians 4:13

22. Pray for a spirit of integrity.

The quality of truthfulness—Romans 12:17

23. Pray for a spirit of repentance.

A willingness to change—Luke 3:8

24. Pray for a spirit of trust.

A fearless reliance—Psalm 125:1

25. Pray for a spirit of submission.

Choosing to yield—Ephesians 5:21

26. Pray for a spirit of teachability.

A quality of meekness—Titus 3:2

27. Pray for a spirit of prayer.

A longing to wait—Isaiah 40:31

28. Pray for a spirit of unity.

A respect for others—1 Corinthians 1:10

29. Pray for a spirit of restoration.

A ministry of healing—Isaiah 61:1-2

30. Pray for a spirit of authority.

A capacity to command—Matthew 16:19

31. Pray for a spirit of generosity.

The desire to give—Matthew 10:8

How do you pray for your children?

Outreach from The Table - Kearney, NE

2011-03-02T14:49:00.001-06:00

This Saturday we are taking appointments for 10 cars of ladies who are single mom's. We used a city outreach center to make appts for us. An automotive shop is donating his time and space for our volunteers to do the work. We will do these things for them:

What we will do:
Oil Service
New Oil Filter
Tire Rotation
Check Fluids
Check Brakes
Check Tire Pressure
Check lights and Brake/Turns signals
Air Filter Services
Vacuum Interior
Car Wash

We have church members who are waiting with them in the wait area to meet them and give them a church invite.

15 Gut-Checking Questions for Leaders

2011-01-31T06:26:00.000-06:00

Perry Noble does a great job of asking some gut level spiritual leadership questions. Check out his 15 points using I Corinthians 13. Here is the link. 15 Gut Checking Questions for Leaders.

What do we pray for?

2011-01-20T14:13:00.000-06:00

Ephesians 1:3 states we are blessed with every spiritual blessing, "who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places," If we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing why do we pray for more love when we know, "The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:5) or we pray for peace, while Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you (John 14:27) or we pray for happiness and joy when Christ promised us, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full." (John 15:11) We asked for strength when He promised that we "can do all things through Him who strengthens" (Phil 4:13)

Do we spend time praying for what we have already been given?

Sexual misconduct and restoration

2011-01-17T11:26:00.000-06:00

Often times there are questions about what should happen when sexual abuse happens and how to restore.

Policies on sexual misconduct and restoration now online

Nils Friberg and Rob Boyd of the Minnesota Iowa Baptist Conference have worked diligently over the past several years to prepare written guides on:

Recommended Policy Statement on Sexual Misconduct for Local Churches of the Baptist General Conference
Operations Manual of the Restoration Committee of the Minnesota Iowa Baptist Conference
You can find these listed as Clergy Restoration and Policy on Sexual Misconduct in Churches on the Converge website: www.convergeworldwide.org/policies.

While these are not legal documents, they may be helpful resource tools for your church leaders.

Prayer Event well worth attending

2011-01-10T10:05:00.000-06:00

20th Anniversary Prayer Gathering, March 7-11

The March Prayer Gathering is open to all Converge pastors, missionaries, church planters, chaplains and their spouses. President Jerry Sheveland and his wife Dee join Prayer First in cosponsoring the Gathering, hosted by Faith Baptist Fellowship, Sioux Falls, S.D. Host pastor Dana Olson will facilitate the Gathering, assisted by Prayer First chairman Bryan Moak. Carol Madison, Prayer First communications director, will lead women’s breakout prayer times. Contact info@faithbaptistfellowship.com for more details

2 Pillars Church Plant Lincoln, NE

2011-01-10T09:28:00.004-06:00

2 Pillars, Lincoln NE

Four young men have acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord of their life and want to follow Christ’s example and command by being baptized. Two of them came to know Christ through a para-church ministry and two have grasp the gospel for the first time over the last several months while connecting at 2 Pillars. Join in praying for their walk in Christ as well as two others young people who have expressed interest in being baptized. Praise God for His graciousness.

Opportunities for Pastors

2010-12-27T10:14:00.000-06:00

Upcoming Network Gatherings

Mark your calendar for one or more of these upcoming Network Gatherings, designed to facilitate peer-to-peer sharing and learning in dealing with issues and challenges common among ministry peers. Pastors and spouses attending set the agenda. Prior participants have cited that ideas gained and relationships formed have transformed their ministries.

Detailed information and registration will be available on the Converge Worldwide Web site: www.convergeworldwide.org. For answers to questions, call or email Don Windmiller, director of Network Gatherings, 847.879.3241, or don.windmiller@convergeww.org.

Children’s Pastors and Directors
January 11-12, 2011, Orlando, Fla.
(prior to the International Network of Children’s Ministry Conference)

Pastors of African Descent & Spouses
January 12-14, 2011, Matthews, N.C.

Administrative Assistants
January 23-26, 2011, Orlando, Fla.

Solo Pastors & Spouses
February 13-16, 2011, Orlando, Fla.

Large Church Pastors & Spouses
(churches with attendance of 350+)
February 7-10, 2011, Orlando, Fla.

Multisite/Multiplication Center
February 10-11, 2011, Orlando, Fla.

Breaking the 200/400 Barrier Pastors & Spouses
February 13-16, 2011, Orlando, Fla.

2nd 1⁄2 for Him leaders
April 7-9, 2011. Orlando, Fla.

The Winchester Mystery House

2010-12-26T08:39:00.000-06:00

“Nestled in the suburbs of San Jose, California, is an interesting tourist attraction: an estate built by the heir of the Winchester rifle fortune. In 1884, a wealthy widow name Sarah L. Winchester began a thirty-eight-year construction project guided by a superstitious fear. Evidently, Mrs. Winchester was convinced by a medium that continuous building would appease the evil spirits of those killed by the famous ‘gun that won the West’ and help her attain eternal life. So Sarah kept carpenters’ hammers pounding twenty-hour a day. The Victorian mansion came to the filled with so many unexplained oddities that it is now know as the Winchester Mystery House

. Even thou it has 160 rooms, three elevators, forty staircases, and forty-seven fireplaces, its size alone does not account for the architectural marvel-what does so is the bizarre purposelessness of the design. Stairs lead into the ceiling; windows decorate the floor, and door open into blank walls! Random features reflect excessive creativity, energy, and expense, from exquisite hand inlaid parquet floors to Tiffany art glass windows. Busyness, not blueprints, defined success.

The Winchester Mystery House is an accurate picture of what a church looks like in the absence of vision; there is lots of activity with little progress or purpose. Interesting programs and exquisite sermons do not necessarily lead to a meaningful whole. Structure exists for structure itself and not for life. “ Mancini, Will, Church Unique

How easy to be consumed by other than the vision. Maybe doing good things, but is it what God called you to do?

Christian Accountability

2010-11-29T11:09:00.000-06:00

Barna Group did an interesting study on accountability in the local church, where we are helping members be devoted followers of Christ. Take a moment to read the article.

First Nordic-Baltic Summit meets in Tallinn

2010-11-09T10:40:00.002-06:00

Estonia missionary appointee Crick Porier was among a dozen Converge leaders who participated in the Nordic-Baltic Regional Summit October 12-14 in Tallinn, Estonia. Nordic-Baltic Region director Bill Ankerberg reports: "Our first Nordic-Baltic Summit was blessed by God. Thirty-four church leaders from Sweden, Finland, Estonia and America met for several days to explore greater connections and partnerships. Participants included Doug and Donna Fagerstrom, Steve and Debbie Doggett, Gene Selander, Hal and Marla Lentz and Bruce and Kym Sumner. The summit ended with a dedication and communion service for our new regional office in Tallinn."

Bill and Arlie Ankerberg also went to Stockholm with Gene Selander, Converge A2:5 international director (English-speaking church planting), to meet with Anders Blaberg (Evangeliska Frikyrkan) and Karen Wiborn (Baptist Union), leaders of the two largest Baptist groups in Sweden. Bill said: "Both groups have asked us for help in church planting. We are exploring increased levels of cooperation to help evangelize Scandinavia and the Baltics. Continue to support us with your gifts and prayers." taken from Converge Worldwide

Praying for the Persecuted Church

2010-11-04T10:11:00.003-05:00

Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

November 14 is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Learn more at www.idop.org. IDOP is a time set apart to remember thousands of Christian brothers and sisters around the world who suffer persecution simply because they confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

copied from Converge Worldwide

The 6 Types of People You Meet in Church Planting

2010-11-01T09:25:00.000-05:00

Great article by Todd Bumgarner a church planter in Lincoln, NE about the type of people a church plant attracts.

Asking

2010-10-25T14:48:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday, as I was loading up the truck with our AV equipment after the Gathering, I was approached by a man in his mid to late 20s who said he lived in the neighborhood. He gave a story about his sister having a miscarriage and needing money for gas and he figured that he would come ask us for help since we were a church. I knew he was lying about needing the money for gas, but I was pretty pleased to hear that a guy from that neighborhood knew who were and what we were about. I told him to get his car and pick me up and I’d go with him to fill up his gas tank. He looked down, dejected, mumbled “Thanks”, and walked off. He never come to get his gas.
I was bummed that he didn’t come back. I was willing to help him, but not the way he wanted. It’s unfortunate, had he asked for money and been honest about what he wanted it for, I could have helped him. No, not with money. But with what he really needed. Since he asked dishonestly, and asked for the wrong thing, he didn’t get his need met. That’s too bad. I pray that I remember that lesson when I’m praying to God about stuff.

Curtis Young
SoulSearch
Kansas City, KS

Everything you need to know to plant a church in 3 minutes

2010-10-23T13:56:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjHMZKNKbTk

News from Kearney NE

2010-10-20T12:56:00.001-05:00

We're Going To Need More Bricks

Building a church from scratch is much like building a brick wall. It takes the right tools, elements, more time than you think it will, and a lot of sweat equity. The main elements required in building this wall are bricks and mortar. In building a church plant you need two kinds of people; bricks and mortar.

Bricks are people with a firm foundation in Christ. They are the ones you can count on to lead and serve. While not perfect, they are solid. You can put things on top of them and trust that they can take a bit of the load. For The Table, bricks are people who love the vision of the church and devoted to the community so much they are ready to work for it.

Mortar are the people who are seekers. They play a viable part in holding the community together and building it, but they need bricks around them to solidify the building that is The Table.

We have seen God draw people who I would classify as "mortar" to The Table. This is great! It has always been our hope to start growing new disciples from the beginning. However, as I (The Jobsite Foreman???) look at our project I see that we need more bricks. We are working to attract a few more of these committed people to The Table, and I ask as this month's major prayer request you would join us in praying for this.

Tyler Wilterding
The Table
Kearney, NE

2 Pillars Youth Training Information

2010-10-19T08:10:00.000-05:00

The 815 Youth Training and Information Meeting

The 815 Youth is our effort to start a drop-in shelter for at-risk teens here at The 815 on Tuesday nights from 4-7pm. We've been working diligently with both LPS and CEDARS and it has been great to see God bringing the pieces together for this. There will be an informational/training meeting this Sunday, October 17th following the worship gathering. We'll cover the mission and vision of The 815 Youth as well as talk through some goals and objectives and also let you know how you can get involved in this area of ministry. The meeting will be in the lower-level of The 815 and run from 12-1pm. If you are interested in getting involved in this mission in any way, or simply desiring to learn more about it, please plan to attend the meeting on the 17th. The 815 Youth will kick-off on Tuesday, October 26th from 4-7pm.

2 Pillars
Lincoln, NE
http://project2pillars.com/

Time Management

2010-06-29T17:56:00.000-05:00

Here are some great question to consider about how you use your time. Taken from Matt Perman blog.

Questions on Time Management

Here are some good questions from Shopping for Time: How to Do It All and Not Be Overwhelmed:

* Do you plan ahead to maximize your fruitfulness each day, or do you simply let life happen?
* Do you make choices based on Scripture or on what feels good at the moment?
* Do you strategize to use your talents to bless your family and church, or do you employ them primarily for your own personal fulfillment?
* Do you evaluate every opportunity in light of biblical priorities, or do you do whatever it takes to get ahead?
* Do you consider whom God would have you serve, or do you try to please everyone all the time?

Upward / Inward / Outward

2010-05-18T16:18:00.000-05:00

“From the teaching of the New Testament it is easily perceived that the church operates in three relationships: upward to God in worship and glorification; inward to herself in edification, purification, education and discipline; outward to the world in evangelization and service ministries.” Charles Brock, Indigenous Church Planting

As churches we delight in the upward, can bask in the inward but at times the outward becomes a struggle. Christ ministry keep a great focus on all three.

Staff effectiveness

2009-12-27T06:48:00.000-06:00

I like check list and Don Cousins has generate four different list for measuring the effectiveness of a church. Following is his listing for evaluating staff, individual or multiple

"When seeking to measure the effectiveness of the “staff” ask the following:

- Are those in leadership positions functioning as equippers?
- Are additional leaders being raised up and developed within ministry?
- Is the ministry expanding because newly developed leaders are being deployed in additional leadership roles?
- Are more and more servers (those meeting needs) being identified, developed, and engaged in ministry service?
- Is the ministry increasing in its impact because more servers are actively involved in serving?"

(Cousins, Don, Experiencing LeaderShift, David Cook, 2008, pg 140-141)

Measure the effectiveness of the elders.

2009-12-20T17:30:00.000-06:00

Don Cousins in "Experiencing LeaderShift" gives four questions to be asked in regards to evaluating the effectiveness of the elders.

- "Throughout the ministries, services and programs of the church , is the teaching of the Word accurate, anointed, and applicable to life?

- Is the church covered and bathed in prayer?

- Can the Spirit move freely because we're untied and free from the consequences of sin?

- Is the church operating as a true body, fulfilling it biblically stated purpose to one another and the unsaved world?

An important note here: The board doesn't serve as representatives of the congregation. It is not their role or responsibility to represent the people's views or to guarantee that their desires are met. Elders are to serve as representatives of God to the people and to lead the people into obedience to what God says."

(Cousins, Don, Experiencing LeaderShift, David Cook, 2008, pg 136)

Twitter Bible

2009-10-17T11:07:00.000-05:00

Yes, now you can have a "Twitter Bible". Todd Rhodades from MMI talks about this new Bible. It seems to change the mean of whole Bible.

new so-called “Twitter Bible,” which summarizes the over 31,000-verse Bible into nearly 4,000 short-form tweets, is being released at the Frankfurt Book Fair this week.

According to The Christian Post, this project was formerly named And God Decided to Chill. The German language book is the compilation of tweets by more than 3,000 German Christians who participated in the church project earlier this year.

In honor of the Pentecost holiday, German Christians used the micro-blogging service Twitter to summarize 3,906 Bible sections into 140 character messages, according to Berlin-based newspaper “The Local.” Though the project was scheduled for May 20-30, it was completed 37 hours ahead of schedule and achieved a world record.

Do Denomations Have a Future

2009-10-07T06:05:00.000-05:00

Discussion abounds regard the need for or against denominations. Ed Stetzer piped in on the subjected and said,

Two Faulty Assumptions about Denominations

Denominations are a necessary or even integral part of the mission of God.
Attempting to interpret the role of denominations in the life of the local church apart from the Missio Dei (the mission of God)

Denominations might not be necessary, but they are valuable. They are good tools to be used in the mission of the church.

Why Denominations Do Have a Future

Denominations are inevitable. (Whether positively – for missional cooperation, or negatively – for tribal self-preservation)
Younger evangelicals are looking for a sense of rootedness in a fragmented society. (Young, Restless, Reformed / Emerging Church / Deep Church / Ancient-Future / Worship)
Churches that belong to denominations have confessional systems and accountability that ground them in orthodoxy.

What Kind of Denominationalism is Desirable?

We want to see denominations that are missional as opposed to tribal.
We want to see denominations based on confessional consensus.
We want to see denominations that value methodological diversity.
We want to see denominations that assist local churches, not vice versa.

Why I am staying in our denomination:

I believe what we believe.
Churches that belong to denominations are the primary agents of global evangelization.
Diverse leadership environments stretch me.
Because God led me to.
Denominational affiliation is not just about me.

Read the complete blog here

Seminary education

2009-09-23T06:30:00.000-05:00

Bob Thune, in Omaha, has a great post about seminary education. Some may not like it but it is worth pondering. Here are some bullet statements that he made. You can read the entire article article here.

So I’m not denying the importance of sound, rigorous theological training. I’m simply questioning whether seminary is the place to get it. Here are some of my concerns:

Seminary pulls pastors “off the streets” for 3 or 4 years to isolate them in a sterile academic environment. While this might be great for paper-writing, it’s really bad for missional living.
The nature of the business means that seminaries are always juggling the best interests of students, faculty, donors, and accrediting agencies. These players are never in agreement, which means that no one is ever happy.
Seminaries seek to accomplish theological training apart from immersion in a local church. Though most require their students to be active in a church, seminaries tend to be a breeding ground for Monday-morning-theologians who want to critique the church rather than serve it.
Because professors are pressured to publish and gain tenure, the classes they teach are often little more than laboratories for their latest projects. One seminary student in our church told me that every one of his classes this semester uses a book written by the professor.
Seminaries have to pay the bills, which means it’s in their best interests to keep students around as long as possible. Seminaries continue to promote the M.Div. as the “flagship” degree – even though a 2-year M.A. with well-chosen electives is often just as good, and about $15,000 cheaper.
Seminary graduates tend to exit with heads full of theology, but without worshipful hearts or authentic relationships with non-Christians. I am aware this is an over-generalization. But unfortunately it’s an accurate one.
Because of a seminary’s need to cater to a diverse student body, most seminaries can’t offer a truly systematic theological education. Students end up having to piece together the fragmented bits of data they’ve accumulated in so many haphazard, out-of-sequence courses. The idea of a cohesive “body of learning” is all but lost in the modern academy.

Results oriented thinking

2009-09-22T20:41:00.000-05:00

I enjoy this story by Elisabeth Elliot, "One day Jesus said to his disciples: "I'd like you to carry a stone for me." He didn't give any explanation. So the disciple looked around for a stone to carry, and Peter, being the practical sort, sought out the smallest stone he could possibly find. After all, Jesus didn't give any regulations for weight and size! So he put it in his pocket. Jesus then said: "Follow Me." He led them on a journey. About noontime Jesus had everyone sit down. He waved his hands an all the stones turned to bread. He said, "now it's time for lunch." In a few seconds, Peter's lunch was over. When lunch was done Jesus told them to stand up. He said again, "I'd like you to carry a stone for Me." This time Peter said, "Aha! Now I get it!" So he looked around and saw a small boulder. He hoisted it on his back and it was painful, it made his stagger. But he said, "I can't wait for supper." Jesus then said "Follow Me." He led them on a journey, with Peter barely being able to keep up. Around supper time Jesus led them to the side of a river. He said, "Now everyone throw your stones into the water." They did. Then he said, "Follow Me." and began to walk. Peter and the others looked at him dumbfounded. Jesus sighed and said, "Don't you remember what I asked you to do?" Who were you carrying the stone for?"

Wesley's Small Group questions

2009-08-13T08:44:00.000-05:00

John Wesley's Small Group Questions:

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?

3. Do I confidentially pass onto another what was told me in confidence?

4. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work , or habits?

5. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?

6. Did the Bible live in me today?

7. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?

8. Am I enjoying prayer?

9. When did I last speak to someone about my faith?

10. Do I pray about the money I spend?

11. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?

12. Do I disobey God in anything?

13. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?

14. Am I defeated in any part of my life?

15. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?

16. How do I spend my spare time?

17. Am I proud?

18. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisee who despised the publican?

19. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I going to do about it?

20. Do I grumble and complain constantly?

21. Is Christ real to me?

Invation reception

2009-08-04T14:35:00.000-05:00

The percentage of American adults who are somewhat or very willing to receive information about a local congregation from:

Personal conversation with a family member ... 63%

Personal conversation with a

friend or neighbor from church ...................... 56%

Newspaper ads ............................................... 46%

Letters mailed to the home ............................. 45%

Television ads ................................................. 40%

A visit to their door .......................................... 24%

LifeWay Research North American Mission Board.

Kansas City Kansas

2009-07-13T17:41:00.000-05:00

Today, July 13 Curtis Young pulled his car filled with his belongings into Kansas City to begin the great work of planting a gospel centered, missional focused, kingdom minded church that reproduces. The Kansas City area has 11 communities that are growing at a rate greater than 10%. While there are some wonderful churches in Kansas City, KS only 10% of the people attend an Evangelical church. Please join me in praying for God to draw people to Himself using Curtis to proclaim a clear gospel message.

Sunday School Study

2009-07-04T20:22:00.001-05:00

Kent Schaffer has an interesting article about the benefit or lack of benefit of children going to Sunday School. While I have some questions about the study, it does cause me to evaluate and ponder how we are currently doing Sunday School in most of our churches. Take a minute or two and read the article.

Church and community

2009-06-17T07:58:00.000-05:00

"This church across the street has been here sixteen years. In the whole time it has been here, I a have never seen this church do anything to improve the community. The church hasn't tried to improve the poverty situation, hasn't tried to feed the hungry, and hasn't tried to make anything better in the world right next door to it. Why would I want to be a par of that church?"

These are comments record in face-to-face interviews in "Lost and Found" by Ed Stetzer. As I read those words I wonder what I am I doing for my next door neighbours? What would people say about the church I belong to?

I grew up in a church with the attitude that you knock on the door and try to share Christ with them. If they don't listen, to bad for them and go to the next person. In college my evangelism class required that we pass 100 tracts out a week to the same homes. I did what was asked, but was in such a rush to get the job done that there was no results. I was only interested in getting the class requirements finished. The other method that was used was invited them though mass media and they will come.

What is your church doing for the next door neighbour?

Spiritual sitcom or depth?

2009-06-08T08:24:00.000-05:00

Are churches a spiritual sitcom? A sitcom presents a problem, some humour and ends in thirty minutes with a solution. Sermons can go the same way, A great illustration that brings a smile, a problem addressed, and a simple solution is given all in thirty minutes. Walk away and have no more questions because I just gave you the answer. While I agree the Bible gives all we need for "life and godliness" there are time we wrestle with understanding what it means and how it applies. We can't explain eschatology in 30 minutes leaving no questions. We can't resolve election and freewill by a few wonderful verses that support our view. We can't explain why a nine year old boys life was ended when a toolbox fell crushing his head in a few simple lines. Do we allow people to wrestle with scripture? Do we let people know we garble with scripture because we don't have all the answers?

Some great thoughts taken from Lost and Found, by Ed Stetzer

"Here are a few practical 'take-aways' that will help cultivate depth in your ministry.
- Teach the entire Bible, even the difficult sections.
- Foster discussion in Bible Study and teaching.
- Address tough topics and answer difficult questions.
- Do no be afraid to say, 'I don't know'
- Empower everyone to look for answers.
- Place a priority on Scripture memorization.
- Distribute the responsibility of spiritual growth to both leaders and learners.
- Provide opportunities to learn about worldview and other regions.
- Make apologetics a priority.
- Provide exegetical Bible teaching.
- Sing theologically sound music.
- Promote life application to Scripture.
- Establish climates of honesty and openness.
- Provide multiple bible study options per week.
- Encourage examination.
- Pray

Thoughs about the unchurched

2009-05-09T09:18:00.000-05:00

I am currently reading “Lost and Found” by Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley and Jason Hayes. This morning as I read in it I was challenged by some of the data.

Here is one chart that was listed in the book. (pg 38)

“What Can Churches do?

“If a church presented truth to me in an understandable way that relates to my life now, I would attend. 63% agreed.

“If people at church cared about me as a person, I would be more likely to attend. 58% agreed.

“I would be willing to join a small group of people to learn more about the Bible and Jesus. 46% agreed.

“If music at church sounded similar to my favorite type of music, I would be more likely to attend. 31% agreed.”

Just from these questions and responses it is clear that keeping a focus on a clear gospel message has a great impact. The great “show” is not the answer. We seem to put a high priority on music yet, while important, it is not the answer.

Another statement on page 43 said that 77% of those surveyed “think Christianity today is more about organized religion than about loving God and loving people.”

One last comment about the Christians reputation. When asked, do Christians get on your nerves, 46% agreed that Christians do get on their nerves.

How does the unchurched person see my life?

Are the unchurched willing to hear about Christ?

2009-04-29T08:42:00.000-05:00

I am currently reading the book, "Lost and Found" by Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley and Jason Hayes. In their study they made a statement that is very encouraging. Here is what he said on page 37, "Almost 90 percent of the unchurched twenty to twenty nine year olds said they would be willing to listen if someone wanted to tell them about Christianity.
"The stakes are raised when a friend talks to an unchurched person. Three our of five younger unchurched respondents agreed they would be willing to study the Bible if a friend asked them to do so.
"The Christian conversion of a friend may directly impact an unchurched person. Just under half of the unchurched in their twenties agreed that a friend becoming a Christian would have a positive effect on their relationship."

Keep sharing the gospel message.

Changing times

2009-04-23T11:11:00.000-05:00

Take a look at this video. My question is how are we impacting this changing world with the unchanging gospel message.

Question evanglism results?

2009-04-21T06:22:00.000-05:00

Gary Rohrmayer has a great post regarding evangelism. It is worth reading.

Church Planting Books

2009-04-21T05:33:00.000-05:00

Ed Stetzer published a great list of books about church planting. Here is Ed Stetzer's list

The books:

Allen, Roland. Missionary Methods, St. Paul's or Ours? Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962.

Though not directly related to North American church planting, this is a seminal book in missiology. Allen posits that the key to evangelizing the world is the adoption of "Paul's strategy." Paul relied on trained lay leadership as pastors and elders. Allen's prescriptions can be applied to the North American scene with the development of lay church planting strategies. His focus on the Holy Spirit's role is also key to fostering church planting movements today.

Amstutz, Harold E. Church Planter's Manual. Cherry Hill, NJ: Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, Inc., 1985.

This book starts as a standard manual with forms, procedures, policies, and the like. The second part of the book then provides five examples of planting situations. Each of these examples is taken from international fields but have application to North American contexts.

Becker, Paul. Dynamic Church Planting. Vista, CA: Multiplication Ministries, 1992.

DCP is a three-ring binder/workbook (not a paperback or hardback). It is intended as a guide for a church planter to move through the planting process sequentially. It includes a large section of checklists for the plant. It is a helpful resource for church planters looking for a step-by-step guide.

Becker, Paul. Dynamic Daughter Church Planting. Vista, CA: Multiplication Ministries, 1996.

This is the only book of its kind and is much needed. It provides church planting churches with the step-by-step guide that they need to reproduce themselves. If you are planting a daughter church, you need this resource.

Brock, Charles. Indigenous Church Planting. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1981.

Brock's resources are time-tested and valuable. However, they do reflect a paradigm used more frequently in decades past. His ideas often come from his years of church planting in the Philippines among tribal people. As such, they will often relate well in a lower socio-economic bracket in North America, but not to all contexts. The greatest value will be for indigenous lay persons seeking to plant churches in center cities or rural North America.

Bunch, David, Jarvey Kneisel and Barbara Oden. Multihousing Congregations: How to Start and Grow Christian Congregations in Multihousing Communities. Atlanta, GA: Smith Publishing, 1991.

This resource is the only widely published resource available on planting churches in multi-housing congregations (in apartment buildings, trailer parks, etc). Since the vast majority of residents will only be reached by a ministry based inside the multi-housing facility, this is an essential resource. Although multi-housing ministry has declined in visibility in the last decade, the ministry remains essential since 60% of unchurched North America lives in multi-housing settings.

Chaney, Charles L. Church Planting at the End of the Twentieth Century. Wheaton, Il: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1993.

In the early nineties, Chaney's book was the best available resource on the topic of North American church planting. Since it is out of print, it has been largely replaced by Malphur's church planting book. The most recent revision adds contemporary methods like the "big start." This is one of the five best books specifically related to planting.

Cheyney, Tom, J. David Putman and Van Sanders, eds. Seven Steps for Planting Churches. Alpharetta, GA: North American Mission Board, SBC, 2003.

This resource is a small book that contains a seven-step process for planting a church. The steps are principle driven ("enlist a team" rather than "start a cell group," etc.) It answers, in a simple and practical way, "how" to get started. Since I am constantly asked by prospective planters, "If I want to start a church, how would I do it?," this book is a good starter resource for them. The authors are clear that it is only intended as an introductory piece and they offer suggestions of where to go deeper. This book can be downloaded free from www.churchplantingvillage.net.

Comiskey, Joel. Planting Churches that Reproduce. Moreno Valley, CA: CCS Publishing Company, 2009.

Planting a "church planting church" is often promised and rarely implemented for many in the world of church planting. In the search for a model that is culturally effective and highly reproducible, Comiskey has offered a level-headed approach to house and cell church planting. His book offers a guide to the "root system" of a new church and how simplicity leads to high reproducibility. (Full disclosure: I wrote the foreword.)

Conn, Harvie, M. ed. Planting and Growing Urban Churches: From Dream to Reality. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1996.

Conn's book is not a "how-to" resource for urban planting. It is an advocacy book, not a practitioner's book. If taken as advocacy, it does well. Conn points out the importance of having an urban strategy to reach the burgeoning inner cities of the world.

Dale, Felicity. Getting Started: A Practical Guide to House Church Planting. Karis Publishing, Inc., 2003.

There are many house church books out there. (I list many of them in the house church section of www.newchurches.com.) This one is unique in that is provides a clear and reproducible (dare I say "simple") method for planting churches that meet in homes. As Felicity describes it, anyone can do it, which, is sort of her point!

Faircloth, Samuel D. Church Planting for Reproduction. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991.

Faircloth's book starts as a survey oriented textbook, but quickly becomes a systematic church planting strategy. It is not geared toward North American planting, but this is not a shortcoming. This is one of the few principle-oriented books available that relate to North American planting. In this case, Faircloth calls his system PERT (a system of Program Evaluation and Review Technique). Regardless of the terminology, this is an important missiological resource for discerning North American planters.

Francis, Hozell C. Church Planting in the African American Context. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.

Hozell's book is one of the most recent texts published in church planting. It is a valuable resource in a field with limited literature. Unlike the other texts dealing with African-American church planting, Hozell actually focuses less on the mechanics of planting and more on the sociology of the African-American church (preaching, ministry, leadership, etc.). These are helpful materials, but further study of "how to" plant in the African-American context would add to the strength of the book.

Galloway, Dale and Warren Bird. Starting a New Church: How to Plant a High-Impact Church. Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press, 2003.

Galloway and Bird are veterans to church growth. Their new resource is about planting "large" churches using contemporary methodologies. It comes as a manual with a CD, but it is a little pricey (about $100). If I was planning on using contemporary outreach methods like direct mail, seeker-sensitive worship, and contemporary worship, I would invest in the resource before I invested thousands more in an outreach campaign.

Griffith, Jim and Bill Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts. Chalice Press, 2008.

Griffith and Easum are professional advice givers though their writing and coaching. But, more importantly, their advice is good. This book points out the most common mistakes--but also proposes good solutions to avoid (or work through) them.

Harris, Richard H., compiler. Reaching a Nation through Church Planting. Alpharetta, GA: North American Mission Board, SBC, 2002.

Richard Harris is the Vice President of Church Planting for the North American Mission Board (Southern Baptist). For this book, he assembled several high profile leaders and several church planting experts and asked them to "write what they know." Thus, the book covers a broad landscape from town and country planting, to postmodern, to being a mother church, to mentoring planters. Since the authors are so diverse, they bring a great spread of knowledge and experience. This was not intended as a "how-to book," but rather is a "why we should" book that does a good job answering that question in a multitude of contexts. The book is also available for download from www.churchplantingvillage.net.

Herron, Fred. Expanding God's Kingdom through Church Planting. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2003.

Herron is from a Vineyard background and that is reflected in his writing. The Vineyard folks have done a great job in church planting and Herron demonstrates why with this effective book. He lays out a thorough church planting strategy with lots of detail and helpful suggestions.

Hesselgrave, David J. Planting Churches Cross-Culturally: North America and Beyond, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 2000.

Hesselgrave's book is a step-by-step guide to planting a church in a culture different from one's own. Though systematic, it avoids being simplistic. Instead, each step is explained in practice and in theory. This is the most valuable resource available for cross-cultural planting.

Hiebert, Paul G. and Eloise Hiebert Meneses. Incarnational Ministry: Planting Churches in Band, Tribal, Peasant, and Urban Societies. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing House, 1995.

On the surface, this book would have little to do with North American church planting. Understandably, its primary focus is planting in the developing world. However, it is a not a book about methods or biblical underpinnings. It is about the sociological structures that make up a society. Since the book's primary focus is urban societies, it provides great discernment for inner-city planters seeking to understand the urban context.

Hurn, Raymond W. The Rising Tide: New Churches for the New Millennium. Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press, 1997.

Hurn is former superintendent of the Nazarene denomination and this text is geared toward Nazarenes. One strength of the book is the historical overview of Nazarene church planting. The book is primarily an advocacy work.

Jackson, John. High Impact Church Planting: You Can Lead a Harvest Directed Ministry. Visionquest Ministries, 2000.

I had mixed feelings about High Impact Church Planting. The book was self-published and has too many errors in it (for example, Gallup never said there were 195 million unchurched, etc) and lacks the proper footnotes (no reference on many stats), and I disagree with several parts (you don't need $100-200K to start a high impact church). However, it is a good primer to help church planters who want to plant churches that start with over 200 (Jackson's idea of a high impact church plant). It is short (95 pages) and includes a large number of appendices (examples from the author's church).

Jones, Ezra E. Strategies for New Churches. New York: Harper and Row, 1976.

Jones writes about church planting from a mainline denominational perspective. The book was ahead of its time, particularly in its attempts to quantify personality characteristics in effective planters (as Ridley has done today). Unfortunately, it is not up to date with today's technologies and strategies.

Jones, Tom, ed. Church Planting from the Ground Up. Joplin, MO: College Press, 2004.

Here is a brief excerpt from my foreword to Tom's book: I have always found learning practical skills from theorists to be an odd thing. Hearing experts on church planting and growth who have never planted and grown a church always seemed strange. I prefer to learn about carpentry from carpenters. Church Planting from the Ground Up is just that--a wealth of wisdom from a diversity of practitioners.

Keller, Tim and J. Allen Thompson. Church Planting Manual. Redeemer Church Planting Center, New York, 2002.

Keller and Thompson. What more can you say? Thompson was writing on church planting movements when I was in grade school. Keller is helping lead a movement of church planting and city transformation. This is an excellent resource. It is a workbook, not the typical book, so it has projects and assignments to work though. It also has an urban focus that is appropriate for their passion.

King, Fred G. The Church Planter's Training Manual. Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1992.

This is a manual / book primarily geared at church planters in the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church with a small amount of universally applicable material. It consists of articles, forms and examples. It will not be of great value to the non-CMA planter.

Lewis, Larry L. The Church Planter's Handbook. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1993.

Lewis is former president of the SBC Home Mission Board and now involved in the Mission America project. He is an experienced planter. Though the book is out of date technologically and methodologically, it provides excellent resources related to time management and the priority of evangelism in church planting.

Logan, Robert E., Be Fruitful and Multiply. ChurchSmart Resources, 2006.

Here is a brief excerpt from my foreword to Bob's book: There is little that is done in North American church planting leadership that was not developed or influenced by Bob Logan. Few realize that before his keen insights and organizational acumen, church planters did not go through assessment, boot camps, and coaching networks. Why did Bob do these things? Because he cares about church planting and church planters... For thirty years we have taken baby steps toward true biblical church planting--but books like these will help us break through to movements.

Logan, Robert E. Beyond Church Growth. Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1989.

Though the title can be misleading, the book is a great resource for church planting. It provides resources for all churches, but is a great supplement for Logan's "Church Planter's Toolkit" available from www.churchsmart.com (the best widely-available resource). Bob Logan is the most significant church planting leader in the last 50 years and every church planter needs to be aware of his writings and his toolkit (see below).

Logan, Robert E. and Steven L. Ogne. Church Planter's Toolkit. Pasadena, CA: ChurchSmart Resources (www.churchsmart.com), 1995.

The Toolkit is the most widely known resource in North American church planting today. It is a twelve-tape series that provides guidance through each step of planting a high impact North American church. It is widely known because there is no other resource as effective for practical preparation. Its two disadvantages are that it is only available in tape format and Logan is a bit dry in his presentation (though the content makes up for that).

MacNair, Donald J. The Birth, Care and Feeding of a Local Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1976.

As can be guessed from the publishing date, this book is out of date. Redford's book is equally dated, but it provides the same resource information with more clarity. The section on "Locating Seed Families" is probably the only part of the book that would be helpful for planting today.

Mannoia, Kevin. Church Planting: The Next Generation. Indianapolis, IN: Light and Life Communication, 1994.

Mannoia provides a "systems" book. He describes the system of his denomination (Free Methodist) which mirrors that used by many others (and created by Bob Logan, see above). Mannoia divides the system into the following categories: Parent Church Network, Profile Assessment System, New Church Incubator, Recruitment Network, Pastor Factory, Church Planter's Summit, Maturing Church Cluster, Strategic Planning Network, Harvest 1000, and the Meta-Church Network. This will be a particularly helpful resource for groups and denominations that do not have a church planting system.

McNamara, Roger N. A Practical Guide to Church Planting. Cleveland, OH: Baptist Mid-Missions. 1985.

McNamara is writing from the perspective of starting an independent Baptist church in the fundamentalist tradition. The book is very detailed and provides example constitutions, services, etc. It will be of limited use to others.

Malphurs, Aubrey. Planting Growing Churches for the 21 Century: A Comprehensive Guide for New Churches and Those Desiring Renewal, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998.

Malphur's book is the most commonly used church planting text in academia. The book is often accused of being too focused on large church planting with large mother churches. However, this is the best resource available. (I am a little biased since I wrote a study guide on the book, available at www.seminaryextension.org.) Aubrey tells me that he is working on a third edition that will incorporate more strategic planning information. This will make the book even stronger.

Moore, Ralph. Starting a New Church: The Church Planter's Guide to Success. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2002.

Ralph is the founder of the Hope Chapel movement and currently pastors a Hope Chapel in Hawaii. The book is packed filled with good ideas and practical advice. He writes as a seasoned church planter dispensing advice to new church planters. I particularly like the chapters on relationships. Also, the section on teaching and preaching is a necessary corrective to some trends in church planting today. This is a great book.

Moorhouse, Carl W. Growing New Churches: Step-by-Step Procedures in New Church Planting. Chicago: Standard Publishing Company, 1975.

Moorhouse provides a workbook-like text that is primarily made up of example forms, publications, and brochures. It is out of date.

Murray, Stuart. Church Planting: Laying Foundations. Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 2001.

The author explains, "This book is not a training manual. It does not engage with all the practicalities of church planting. But it is written for practitioners rather than hearers." This is an excellent work that, I hope, will help prompt others to think missiologically and theologically about church planting. The book was originally (1998) available only in Great Britain but now has a North American version. The book is one of the few books that analyzes the criticisms of church planting and gives solid answers (not just refutations). There are some excellent references to postmodern church planting without the typical obsession with "nifty" ideas and methods. I have some theological differences (see Timmons below) but it is a helpful resource.

Nebel, Tom. Big Dreams in Small Places: Church Planting in Smaller Communities. St Charles, IL: ChurchSmart Resources, 2002.

Most church planting books tell the story of church planting in suburban areas. A few address urban contexts. This is the first that address rural areas and it does it well. The book points out some of the unique challenges and opportunities in rural church planting and provides several helpful principles for successful ministry.

Nebel, Tom and Gary Rohrmayer. Church Planting Landmines. ChurchSmart Resources, 2005.

Here is a brief excerpt from my foreword to Church Planting Landmines: Tom Nebel and Gary Rohrmayer have provided a service to the church and her planters. As I read the book, I repeatedly thought, "He is right about that one." In most cases, a former planter came to mind that fit each example... and I was grieved as I thought about each loss. But these losses can serve as the foundation for future church planting success if the courage exists to examine those failures. This book can spare many church planters and teams from stepping on the landmines of ministry--or at least prepare them to respond well when they hit one.

Nevius, John L. Planting and Development of Missionary Churches. Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1958.

Nevius is not well known in North American church planting for good reason. His influence is primarily found in Korea. However, his ideas influence North American planting. His emphasis on indigenous ministry (three-selfs) helped spark the remarkable growth of the Korean church.

Payne, J.D. Missional House Churches: Reaching Our Communities with the Gospel. Colorado Springs, CO: Paternoster, 2007.

In the North American context on the new millennium, house churches are becoming a more standard model of religious expression than in the previous generations of those on our continent. Payne's book is both a result of careful research and biblical ecclesiology to help us understand the role of the house church within the current church planting environment. Through solid methodological survey work and a keen understanding of the culture, this book will aid us in understanding how this simple model of church planting can influence both the church universal and the world in need of the gospel.

Rainey, Joel. Planting Churches in the Real World. Missional Press, 2008.

Current research shows that church planting is not for those easily discouraged. In Rainey's book, he draws his experience of planting churches and training others to plant. The lessons gleaned from real life experience will aid any planter in assessing themselves, their plan for planting, and how to thrive in the midst of the church planting experience. This is a book about church planting where most of us live. (Full disclosure: I wrote the foreword.)

Ratliff, Joe S. and Michael J. Cox. Church Planting in the African-American Community. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1993.

Church planting is always difficult, but (according to Ratliff and Cox) it is even more so in the African-American community. In the African-American context, church planting is often perceived as an insult to the established church and its pastor. This work is intended for Southern Baptists, but is widely applicable in other situations. It provides advocacy, examples, and practical suggestions.

Reddin, Opal. Planting Churches that Grow. Springfield, MO: Central Bible College Press, 1990.

One of few women (or Pentecostals) writing on the topic of church planting, Redding provides an excellent resource. First, she provides insight into some of the growth in the Pentecostal movement by emphasizing spiritual gifts and the power of the Spirit. Second, she provides some interesting insights into planting churches targeted at cults and new-agers.

Redford, Jack. Planting New Churches. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1978.

Redford's book was, at one time, the most influential book on Southern Baptist Church planting. His "Nine Steps" were the paradigm adopted by the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Though dated, the book is still a valuable resource today for the mother church seeking to start a daughter congregation. Its "steps" should not be followed by the pioneer pastor. Instead, they are intended to be followed by the involved mother church starting a daughter congregation.

Ridley, Charles R. How To Select Church Planters. Pasadena: Fuller Evangelistic Association, 1988.

Ridley's writing and training have become the standard used in North America to evaluate potential church planters. This book, though difficult to find, is the standard writing and should be required reading for everyone who selects church planters.

Roberts, Jr, Bob. The Multiplying Church: The New Math for Starting New Churches. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008.

Bob Roberts asks the question of the Western world: why are we not seeing the rapid expansion of church planting here as is evident in other parts of the world? With his normal wit and excitement about God's kingdom, Roberts unearths the principles of church planting from the early church. Presenting the principles in clear fashion, both the novice and experienced church planter will benefit from these lessons and exhortations from a seasoned veteran. (Full disclosure: I wrote the foreword.)

Romo, Oscar I. American Mosaic Church Planting in Ethnic America. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1993.

Romo describes the current ethnic church planting system in place among Southern Baptists. This system includes ethnic fellowships and intentional ethnic planting and training. He does advocate the need for planting by describing an increasingly pluralistic society. He then provides suggestions and worksheets to develop an ethnic planting strategy.

Sanchez, Daniel R., Ebbie C. Smith, and Curtis E. Watke. Reproducing Congregations: A Guidebook for Contextual New Church Development. Cumming, GA: Church Starting Network. 2001.

This book is a textbook and has great value for academic use. The authors show a strong grasp of the available literature and it is heavily footnoted. I am a big fan of Dr. Sanchez and his thorough approach comes through. Because it is geared toward an academic setting, it may be too detailed for the average North American church planter. The book covers all of church planting, not just the North American side, so it moves from starting one church, to catalytic roles, to other topics. Honestly, I wish it were two books with more information in each. Dr. Sanchez tells me that they also have PowerPoints and accompanying notebook.

Schaller, Lyle E. Forty-Four Questions for Church Planters. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1991.

In Schaller's typical 44 question format, he addresses many surprisingly contemporary issues related to church planting. (The book was published in 1991.) Unlike many how-to books, Schaller uses his question format to explore in-depth the background of many issues.

Scoggins, Dick. Handbook for House Churches. [on-line], accessed 1 December 1999, http://genesis.acu.edu/cplant/archive/contr036; Internet.

Dick Scoggins and the Rhode Island house churches are the best known home-based church planting movement in North America. The book describes the indigenous church planting methods of Fellowship of Church Planters, a network of house churches in Rhode Island and southern New England. It is the only resource this reviewer knows of that deals with indigenous house churches from a North American perspective.

Searcy, Nelson and Kerick Thomas. Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch. Regal Books, 2007.

Nelson and Kerrick provide a blueprint for planting contemporary churches using a large launch methodology. The book is highly practical and will be helpful for those planning churches that intend to launch large and grow rapidly.

Shenk, David W. and Ervin R. Stutzman. Creating Communities of the Kingdom: New Testament Models of Church Planting. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1988.

Shenk and Stutzman consistently look to the same place as they explain their model: the Scriptures. This resource is the best in dealing with scriptural issues and application in church planting. The model is thoroughly biblical while remaining practical. It is among the best five books available on church planting.

Sjogren, Steve and Rob Lewin. Community of Kindness: A Relational Approach to Planting and Growing a Church. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2003.

Steve Sjogren is probably better known for his Servant Evangelism strategies as described in Conspiracy of Kindness. However, Steve is an experienced church planter and church planting mentor. The approach is dialogical--with 106 thought provoking individual ideas (like small chapters). The authors say that the book might be subtitled, Church Planting Through Servant Evangelism.

Halter, Hugh and Matt Smay. The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2008.

Halter and Smay are real-life church leaders who record their lessons learned regarding the establishment of small missional communities of faith. The emphasis of the book is the need for believers to leave the safe communal "bubble" we tend to establish for the real-world experience of God's kingdom arriving among the culture. With a strong focus toward ancient practices of faith regarding hospitality and friendship, this book can enhance a person's view of how the church interacts with their city on a pedestrian level.

Stevenson, Phil. The Ripple Church: Multiply Your Ministry by Parenting New Churches. Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2004.

There are few books that are focused on "churches planting churches." Phil has provided a tool to help churches get involved--it is an advocacy book with many helpful tools. It won't tell you how to plant, but it will help you gather some partner churches on the journey.

Steffen, Tom. Passing the Baton: Church Planting that Empowers. La Habra, CA: Center for Organizational & Ministry Development, 1997.

This book can fool you. It is "about" international church planting, but it is very applicable to U.S. planting, particularly in the inner-city. (Steffan does training for World Impact, a pace setter in planting indigenous churches among the urban poor.) His emphasis on empowerment is an important addition to the training of every urban church planter.

Stetzer, Edward. How to Plant a Church, A Seminary Extension Study Course. Nashville, TN: Seminary Extension, 2001.

It would be a little odd to review my own book, but it might be helpful to be aware of it as a resource for church planters. This is a study course for church planters published by our denominational agency that provides external education. It can be taken as part of a certificate program or transferred to an accredited college for credit through their system. I used Malphurs' Planting Growing Churches as the textbook and that book would be necessary to take the course.

Stetzer, Edward J. Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age. Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2003.

Again, a little odd to review my own book... and, besides, this is the first edition. Planting Missional Churches is the second. See below.

Stetzer, Edward J. Planting Missional Churches. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishers, 2006.

Rather than reviewing my own book, let me tell you what it covers. The book basically addresses two issues: the nuts and bolts of how to plant a church in North America and what many new churches are doing to reach emerging contexts. The focus is to plant churches that are biblically faithful and culturally relevant. The companion web site is www.newchurches.com.

Sullivan, Bill M. Starting Strong New Churches. Kansas City, MO: New Start, 1997.

The book is a smaller text that provides some basic church planting information. It is intended primarily as an advocacy book geared toward Nazarenes. The strength of the book is the chapter that deals with objections to planting.

Suarez, Gustavo V. Connections: Linking People and Principles for Dynamic Church Multiplication. Friendswood, Texas: Baxter Press, 2004.

Gus' book is available in both Spanish and English and is a worthwhile read. The title is very descriptive--it is about making the right connections for church multiplication. As such, it has a lot of direction about how to involve partners in the work (the strength of the book). It is primarily geared toward Southern Baptists, but not exclusively so.

Sylvia, Ron. Starting New Churches on Purpose. Purpose Driven Publishing, 2006.

Ron has written the definitive book on planting Purpose Driven churches. If there is an official "manual" for PD churches, this is it. It has a good amount of practical advice and step-by-step processes. If you want to plant a Purpose Driven church, this is the book to get. This book was previously published as Starting High Definition Churches.

Thomasson, George. The Church Blueprint: Practical Helps for Building the Body. Columbus, GA: Brentwood Christian Press, 2002.

This book is a compilation of resources that will assist the new church in the effective establishment of its ministry program. It takes a church from inception through the first three years of early development. The book includes contributions from 15 different authors, all who are Southern Baptist and relating to the SBC context. A strength of the book is the included practical worksheets for implementing the steps in the book. The book can be ordered by e-mailing blueprint@bellsouth.net.

Tidsworth, Floyd, Jr. Life Cycle of a New Congregation. Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1992.

Tidsworth, former director of the Home Mission Board's church planting department, has provided a planting handbook. The title is misleading since the text deals little with the actual life cycle. Instead, it primarily focuses on the birth of a new church and then its reproduction--with little about the life cycle in the middle.

Timmis, Stephen, editor. Multiplying Churches: Reaching Communities Through Church Planting. Hearn, Rossshire, England: Christian Focus Publications, 2000.

This book is an advocacy, rather than a "how-to," book. The authors are quite clear about their intent: "(T)his is not a 'how-to' book... What the book is trying to do is to move church plating up the church agenda, and focus upon the principles rather than the practice." I believe they accomplished the former but I am not sure about the latter. Their book is strong on encouraging people toward church planting but it is really too small (128 pages) to address the principles. The chapter on ecclesiology and is excellent as is Timmons closing chapter. It includes much review of Murray (see above) and correctly points out and corrects some of his theological issues.

Tinsley, William C. Upon This Rock: Dimensions of Church Planting. Atlanta, GA: Baptist Home Mission Board, 1985.

Tinsley's book is an advocacy book for Southern Baptists. Long before other denominations began to promote planting, Tinsley (and Redford) promoted planting among SBC churches. The book is out of date, but was a genuine forerunner that still contains some helpful principles.

Tinsley, William C. Breaking the Mold: Church Planting in the 21st Century. Dallas: Creative Church Consultations, Inc., 1996.

This book is more up to date than Upon This Rock (and a better book, I believe). Tinsley displays a strong grasp of church planting principles but also deals with some of the new issues that began to emerge in the late 90s. Tinsley is unique in that he has not just written church planting books, but has also ventured into some good devotional material as well (see his publishing house, http://www.veritaspublish.com/). Tinsley has planted churches and has spent his life in mission service. He is director of a new missions agency, WorldConnex.

Towns, Elmer L. Getting A Church Started: A Student Manual for the Theological Foundation and Practical Techniques of Planting a Church. Lynchburg, VA: Church Growth Institute, 1985.

Towns' book has been published in various forms. (The latest is a workbook that contains the full text of his book and tapes presented at a recent church growth conference.) The book remains the same. It is geared toward the independent Baptist. It is highly sequential and provides an effective list of tasks that will provide the planter direction.

Towns, Elmer L. and Douglas Porter. Churches that Multiply. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press. 2003.

This book is a little different than many others listed... and that may be its strength. It is a series of Bible studies written in the down-to-earth style of Elmer Towns. It is not a "how-to" book. Instead, it is a series of Bible studies geared toward lay people in the church. Dr. Towns showed me an early version that was entitled "Our Church Planting a Church." That describes the book well.

Wagner, C. Peter. Church Planting For a Greater Harvest. Ventura: Regal Books, 1990.

Wagner's book is an advocacy book. It is an excellent resource for the person seeking to convince a church or denominational leader why church planting is important. It has limited methodology, but contains a good amount of denominational research.

______________________________________________________________

The opinions expressed are mine alone and may not reflect the opinions of the schools where I teach or the agencies I serve. This annotated bibliography is copyrighted. It may be reproduced (without alteration) but only with this entire section included:

©Edward J. Stetzer, 2009, www.edstetzer.com

Assimilation for Growth

2009-04-01T16:12:00.000-05:00

How is assimilation in your church? Win Arn lists eight characteristic of what he calls an "incorporated member."
1. New members should be able to list at least seven new friends they have made in the church. (These friendships could be and often are with other new members.)
2. New members should be able to identify their spiritual gifts.
3. New members should be involved in at least one (preferably several) roles/tasks/ministries in the church, appropriate to their spiritual gifts.
4. New member should be actively involved in a small fellowship (face-to-face) group. Many churches keep their new member groups together indefinitely.
5. New members should demonstrate a regular financial commitment to the church.
6. New members should personally understand and identify with the goals of the church.
7. New members should attend worship services regularly.
8. New members should identify unchurched friends and relatives and take specific steps to help them toward responsible church membership.

Church Planter Assessment

2009-03-23T06:21:00.000-05:00

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.

The Calling of the Planter

2009-03-20T06:13:00.000-05:00

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)

Prayer video

2009-03-18T20:40:00.000-05:00

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

Will Evangelicals be gone in 10 years?

2009-03-12T21:41:00.000-05:00

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.

USA Today

2009-03-09T18:27:00.001-05:00

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

2009-03-09T17:00:00.001-05:00

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.

Leadership Learning

2009-02-26T07:21:00.000-06:00

Ed Stetzer has a great download of Leadership Nuggets from bloggers. We can all learn about leadership. Enjoy.

Attractional or Missional

2009-02-21T05:29:00.000-06:00

Jeff Gauss presents some great thoughts about attractional vs missional models for church plants and churches. It is worth reading.

Staffing

2009-02-16T15:34:00.003-06:00

Fellow pastor Gavin Retzer sent a great link that talks about staff hiring. Take a quick read of this little article from Pastor James McDonald:

"How About If You Learn from My Mistakes As An Employer"

Orlando and Connect 09

2009-02-16T15:26:00.000-06:00

I just spent 3 great days with five awesome couples in Orlando at Connect 09. Four of the couples are praying about planting gospel centered, missional focused and kingdom minded churches in the heartland. God used our time in Orlando to connect with over 200 church planters as well as being challenged by several great sermons. We were challenge to live and proclaim a robust gospel. Someone needs to do something with the robust gospel was the second challenge.

What we do is done for His glory.

Church planting news from Corsica, SD

2009-02-13T05:08:00.000-06:00

Following is Jon and Julie Lane's newsletter about what God is doing in Corsica.

Hello and greetings in the name of the Lord who alone has immortality, dwelling in unaproachable light..." 1 Tim. 6:16

Once again praying that this letter finds you in the joy of the Lord and in the service of the King Jesus Christ. It seems to be that time again to attempt to give a brief update of what the Lord is doing in our lives and this part of the world. Let me just state a few things.

1. As of December 7th, we moved into our new building for fellowship. At the present we are working (all volunteer labor) to finish the basement. The classrooms have been sheetrocked, painted and cleaned and we are presently having Sunday school in them. Also, our Wednesday night "kids club" has officially been moved over there. What needs to be done is the carpeting of the floor, completing the office and kitchen. Please pray for us in this matter as several of the men have given up most of their Saturdays and evenings to get this completed. In addition, please pray that the Lord would continue to lay it upon people's heart to give as we do not believe in debt. We have seen the Lord move in incredible ways to see this come about. He is so faithful and so confirming that all we can do is praise Him.

2. On January 14th, three of us from the church went on a mission trip to Romania and Muldova. It was my daughter, Allie, Shawn Jerke and myself. We met another friend from Iowa (Tony Allen) and then joined two other friends (Jesse and Jamie Boyd) over there. We worked with two churches in evangelism training and street evangelism. Numerous people heard the Gospel, including many Gypsie villages that seem to be forgotten or shunned, thousands of tracts went out and Bible believers were inspired and encouraged to continue to sow the seed of the Gospel. We worked with incredible translators who loved the Lord and their people. They will continue to do follow-up and minister to those who rsponded to the Gospel. One of the Pastor's openly admitted to starting to become somewhat lukewarm in their evangelistic efforts and was refreshed and empowered to reach out to the lost as the early church did.

It was neat to see my daughter adjust to the culture and see the world from God's perspective. I think we will have to send her off someday to the mission field, but praise God for that as there is no place better to be than in the will of God. Also, I saw Shawn come out of his shell. It was incredible how he boldly gave testimony of Christ, urged people to accept God's gracious offer. I have seen the Lord work in his life in such a powerful way lately which is such a blessing for a Pastor to see.

3. Several new families have come to the Lighthouse and we see so many hungry for the TRUTH of God's word and to live lifes worthy of the Gospel that the working of the Holy Spirit is evident. In a day when the church would rather court the world, than proclaim truth, we feel so blessed to be a part of this. The Lord has raised up men who feel the call of God on their lives for ministry and are growing in their gifts and being mentored. We are also praying and seeking the Lord with another church plant as he has raised up a family for that very purpose. We are seeing the children grasp the truth of God's word and really becoming His disciples.

4. Alomost last, we are wanting to see God move in a powerful way as far as souls for Christ. Please join in praying for this in the area. There are very few Bible believing actual preaching and teaching churches left, so these towns have grown cold and comfortable in their man-made religions, as Pastor's are more concerned about being politically correct than standing up and proclaiming "thus saith the Lord."

5. We are praying and looking into possible outreaches this summer for evangelism, including a mission trip to either Nepal or Ukraine. If this interestes you please let me know. We would love to have you. Also, coming up the weekend of May 17th we are having a PAstor, church planter from India coming and speaking on missions both in the morning and evening. Please join us as it will be encouraging, challenging and Christ centered.

Well, I hope that sums things up and keeps you posted on life in our family. We also take no credit in this, but give the glory to God and are just joyful that we can be used in some way to exalt Christ. May the Lord bless you and the peace of Christ surround you.

for the cause of Christ,

yours at the lighthouse

Personal update

2009-02-12T15:17:00.000-06:00

I am spending a few day in Orlando, FL with over 200 other church planters from ConvergeWorldWide. Beryl and I took a walk this morning at about 7 in shorts and t-shirt. We took a swim last night, OUTSIDE, at 9:30 and it felt great. Oh, yes this is about church planting in the Heartland.

This morning as we meet we talked about the vision for Kingdom work between 2010-2015. The question is being asked how can we get all of our churches involved in church planting? We all agreed that not all churches will plant a church, but all agreed that every church can have a part in planting. I am excited to join in what God is doing. I will have more to say later.

Know that I am suffering for the Lord in Orlando.

Church Planting opportunities in America

2009-02-05T13:23:00.001-06:00

I have seen the data before listed in this video, but it they made a great presentation of the opportunity the church has today. The opportunity to proclaim the gospel message is great today then it has every been. See the video here.

Growing communites in the Heartland

2009-02-04T13:49:00.000-06:00

In doing some planning for a group of guys providing great insight into church planting in the four states that I work with I located all the communities above 6000 people in the four states on GOOGLE MAPS. You can click on the pin and it will tell you the community, size and it growth or decline. Red means it is declining, green is growing between 0.1 and 9.9% purple is growing at a rate of 01% or greater.

Improving Church Plant Survivability

2009-02-04T13:37:00.000-06:00

Leadership Network recently gave several reports on the state of church planting USA

From the reported titled “Improving the Health and Survivability of New Churches (if you have problems getting the full report let me know and I will attached it with an e-mail) the following observation were made.

“Certain factors, when present, correlate with higher baptisms (the report does not suggest baptism is a mean of salvation, but is using it as a mean of measuring a decision and some spiritual growth). Over 100 factors were tested and the following were found to be statistically significant:
- Engaging in ministry evangelism (i.e. food banks, shelter, drug/alcohol recover)
- Starting at least one daughter church within three years of the church plant
- Having a proactive stewardship development plan enabling the church to be financially self-sufficient
- Conducting a mid-week children’s program
- Sending out mailers for invitation to services and church events
- Conducting a block party as an outreach activity
- Conducting a new member class for new church members
- Conducting leadership training for church members
- Receiving church-planting training in terms of a boot camp or basic training by the church planter
- Working full-time over part-time as the church planter
- Being assed prior to the beginning of the church plan as the church planter
- Delegating leadership roles to church members.

“Interestingly, the chance of survivability increases by over 400% when the church planter has a ‘realistic’ understanding and expectation of the church-planting experience. On the other hand, conducting door-to-door or cold-calling evangelism in church planting decreases the odds of survivability by 59%.”

“The NAMB study also focused on the value of peer groups. Odds of survivability increase by 135% when the church planter meets with a group of church planting peers.”

Stephen Gray is a researcher who compared 60 fast-growing church plants with 52 struggling church plants. Here is some of what he found (his book is Planting Fast Growing Churches)
- 88% have church planting teams
- 63% have a core group of 26 to 75 people
- 75% use a contemporary style of worship
- 80% put ten percent or more of their budget toward outreach and evangelism
- 16% have a higher rate of full-time pastors than struggling church plants
- 63% of planters leading fast-growing plants raise additional funding, compared to 23% of those that are struggling.
- 74% of fast-growing church planters receive one or two weeks of training.
- Over 90% of struggling churches work with only one paid staff member. Only 17% of fast-growing plants started with only one paid staff member.

What is God doing in the Heartland?

2009-01-13T04:47:00.001-06:00

I was doing a little reviewing of the last several months. I was surprised to learn that I have averaged contact with one possible church planter ever week. Not all of them merited more than a reading of their resume, but people are finding Converge and asking questions. Currently there are 6 guys that I am at some level of discussion about planting in Converge Heartland. God is good. Praise God for his greatness.

questions for the new year

2009-01-01T21:03:00.000-06:00

Here are a few questions that are good to ask when you consider what God wants to do through you in 2009. Read them here.

Sticky Church

2008-12-27T06:44:00.000-06:00

This was written by Dan Maxton/Terry Martell who are the BGC LEAD Team Coordinators. It gives a great overview of STICKY church. I am currently reading this book and believe it has some great ideas that need to be implemented in most churches.

What does it mean to be a STICKY church?

Here is an interview of Larry Osborn, pastor of North Coast Church in San Diego about his new book written about assimilation.

What are one or two things that you've learned about STICKYNESS? The first is that stickyness starts and ends with significant long-term relationships. It's not about providing better programs. It's not about developing a slick assimilation process. It's about finding practical ways to velcro people to one another to create long-term relationships.

What is unique about what you have to say in STICKY Church? I show what STICKINESS looks like, and explain why so many of the things we currently do to "reach" and "assimilate" people actually hinders the process.

For instance... programs and ministries are not very STICKY. They're sort of like Post-its; they do connect people to the ministry; but the connection is easily removed. Or how about small groups? Most of the models we're using today are broken. They work far better in theory than in real life.

Who is the book for and why should they read it? It's aimed primarily at pastors and church leaders. It's the sort of book that a pastor or leader can work through together with their staff or lay- leadership team. That's why we put a study guide and reflection questions in the back.

Share one idea from the book that's been helpful for pastors. I'm challenging some of the most widely held and seemingly unquestioned bits of conventional wisdom about assimilation, special programs, and small groups. I've had lots of people tell me, "I always thought that, but I didn't know anyone else did."

What do you hope the reader takes away from the book? It's about church health... It's simply about keeping them connected to the church long enough to fulfill the second half of the Great Commission: "Teaching them to obey all things I have commanded you." Retention matters--in everything. If we're not STICKY, it's hard to be healthy.

Church planting formula

2008-12-24T08:34:00.000-06:00

I found this in material from my good friends with the NAB. I like the formula for Godly success in church planting.

CV(over)BV + WS X BIP = GS

CV = Compleing Vision
BV = Biblical Values
WS = Wise Strategies
BIP = Bathed in Prayer
GS = Godly Success

Kansas here we come

2008-12-23T16:19:00.000-06:00

As a district we currently have no churches in Kansas. There is some history behind why we don't, but my prayer is that we plant churches across the state of Kansas. There are many other great detonations working in Kansas, but with only 22% attending (American Church in Crisis) a church on any given Sunday I believe there is room for ConvergeHeartland. Here are city over 15,000 and outside of Kansas City. (We have church in the Kansas City Metro area)

Kansas
Olathe – 96,000*
Overland Park – 146,000 *
Leavenworth – 35,000
Topeka – 122,000
Lawrence – 80,000 *
Emporia – 26,000
Manhattan – 44,000 *
Hutchinson – 40,000
Salina – 45,000 *
Wichita – 344,000 *
Derby – 17,000 *
Hays – 20,000
Dodge City – 25,000 *
Liberal – 19,000 *
Garden City – 28,000
Great Bend – 15,000 *
Newton – 17,000 *
Pittsburg – 17,190 *
* Indicates growth in the community.

A gift from God

2008-12-23T10:09:00.000-06:00

This morning as I was lying in bed praying, fighting the desire to get out of bed, but not doing so because it was earlier than my normal early rising, I was struck once again with the reminder that each day is a gift from God. The way all the parts of the body function together is not some random chance of cells holding a meeting deciding how to work better together. God’s hand is clearly seen in putting us together. Reading in scripture you see God hatred of sin, and at times his destruction of the sinners. Yet, I woke again this morning, not because I was so sinless yesterday, but because of God marvelous grace. In the very beginning God saw my sin, and announced the promise of the birth of Jesus to take away the sins of the world. Why did he allow me, or you, to hear the gospel message, recognize our salvation is based completely on His work, and acknowledge Him as Lord? I don’t have an answer others than God sovereign plan, His grace. Another day of life, a gift from heaven above. God may I treat this day as a gift from you.

Improving our Gospel Communication

2008-11-20T06:03:00.000-06:00

Tony Reinke has a great post about how we can improve our gospel message. The following is from his blog

Improving our Gospel Communication

In the last post I wrote: “Showing people sin is the easy part. Showing people the grace of God is not so easy.”

A profound—but plagiarized—thought.

The simple truth is that convincing someone of personal sin is not hard. I remember reading the story of a horror film writer on opening night of his movie sitting in the front row and watching the ghastly evil on the screen and realizing that this entire movie had been born in his heart. It was a sort of Ah-ha moment of his own sin. He was no Christian and I’m not certain he ever became a Christian. Every sinner knows that they are sinful, this is a truth none of us can escape–we can only suppress its reality.

And for those of us who are Christians, who have openly and honestly looked into the eye of that heinous beast of sin residing in all our hearts, a preacher can convict us of sin with little trouble. But if we are more aware of sin than grace the conviction of sin can easily dominate and suffocate a more important truth of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

In the last post, this led Tom post this comment: “As a pastor I desire to present Christ in all His goodness and glory in such a way that He is beautiful desirable, attractive and appealing, and yet I feel I so often fall short. You would think that it would be easy to present Christ in such a way that people would have a natural hunger and yearning for Him, yet I find it to be a great challenge and am frustrated that I fall so short of proclaiming Christ’s glory winsomely, fruitfully and effectively.”

Great thoughts, Tom. Its worth taking a moment to understand how we can better communicate the grace of the gospel.

And I begin by realizing that I will never sufficiently communicate the glorious gospel. We live by faith now, which has its inherent limitations. But one day we will look at Jesus and be overwhelmed with affection like never before. Yet the promise holds true to us that although “you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Pet. 1:8).

But how?

Three topics come to mind when I read your comment.

1. Study the Gospel

It may be that the content of messages could be improved. And for this the solution is fairly straight: Read Scripture and read excellent books on the cross. What better way to saturate our words with grace than by filling up our hearts and affections with appreciation for what Christ has accomplished for me on the cross!?

Thankfully there are dozens of excellent books on the gospel. My friend C.J. Mahaney—the author of my personal favorite book on the gospel, Living the Cross-Centered Life—has published a list of recommended books on this topic of supreme importance. Reading these books frequently, and slowly enough to be personally affected by the gospel on a regular basis, will fill your soul with love for the cross and that will be communicated.

But I would caution us from thinking that the key to better communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ is only about speak more frequently, affectionately, clearly, or eloquently about the gospel. I think there are two other critical factors that help determine (promoting or limiting) the effective transmission of the gospel to others.

2. Assault Legalism

We are all prone to think God is pleased with us to the degree we pleased him during the week. If I didn’t do so well, I’m more likely to be shut off from the gospel and words of grace. And if your hearers do not understand the depth and severity of legalism in their hearts they will be gullible to a hardness towards the grace of God (and may not even know it). A while ago I posted an outstanding excerpt from Sinclair Ferguson on the importance of ministers preaching strong indicatives (the gospel) to support the imperatives (commands) of Scripture. I encourage you to read it.

Because the simple truth is that if we think God’s approval of us pivots upon our spiritual performance—and not what Christ accomplished on the cross—our appreciation for the gospel will never seriously affect us.

3. Communicate Christ’s Affections

Paul tells the church in Philippi that he loves them with the affections of Christ Jesus. His exact words: “For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:8). Paul’s affections towards the Philippians is an extension of the affection of Christ to the saints. Which means (if I’m reading this correctly) that ministers have an opportunity to communicate, to some (obviously) imperfect level, the affection of Christ to their people.

A genuine Christian who is unfamiliar with the joy of Christ and the gospel may (notice I said may) have a pastor that does not reflect, model, and communicate a Christ-centered love to them. Those people with loving, caring, humble, sacrificial pastors who tell them how much they love them—and from an unconditional love unhinged from their responsive performance—will more likely be familiar with the unconditional love of Christ displayed in the gospel.

So could it be that a church unfamiliar with the unconditional love of Christ—as displayed in the gospel—have not experienced the affection of Christ through their pastor?

Two great questions to ask yourself are these: (a) Upon what condition does Christ’s love for me depend? (b) Upon what condition does my love for ______ rest upon what he/she does or does not do? And this love is obviously one that has first escaped the entrapment of legalism.

Conclusion

So those are three categories I would raise for your consideration, Tom. Read and study fill your own soul with the gospel, assault legalism in your heart and church, and seek to incarnate the love of Christ in caring for your flock. In all things praying the Holy Spirit would burn hot so your church will gather and sing with tear-filled eyes:

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

LEAD team update

2008-11-17T09:53:00.000-06:00

LEAD teams are part of the BGC network for pastor. I post this hear hoping for feedback on the ideas that are shared (BGC or not please comment). What will work in our area? Are there things we need to implement or change to allow it to function in a God honoring way that allows His kingdom to expand?

The LEAD Team Update BGC LEAD Teams Nov 2008

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Greetings!
Thanks for reading this issue of the Update! We're Nat'l Coordinators helping LEAD Teams thrive in our movement. We welcome your input and questions. Click on the unsubscribe button if you wish to be removed. - Dan Maxton/Terry Martell

Deaf Church to Start in Wisconsin

The hearing impaired are a significant unreached group in America today! Henry Blackaby's principle - "Find out where God is at work and then join Him!" - helped some WI leaders trace God's hand in starting a deaf church.

Six years ago, Bethany Baptist (Schoefield, WI) pastor and Head Coach - Kim Swenson - first saw God working when four deaf people walked into the church foyer. A deaf interpreter, Carol Fourman, walked up to them and signed, "I remember when you come to faith in Christ 10 years ago!"

"When God is at work, he usually raises up a leader!" notes Swenson. Maverick Martin and his wife started spending time with the deaf community and suggested, "Why don't we start a church?"

Soon the group connected with a deaf evangelist Don Ketter from Kansas City, MO. Later, he met Executive Minister, Dwight Perry and Church Planting leader, Dan Parmalee to forge a ministry partnership.

Delegates attending a recent Annual Meeting (Oct 23-25) in Ashland, WI called Don Ketter as their first hearing impaired church planter in the Great Lakes Baptist Conference (GLBC).

The Grand Opening for the new church is planned for December 7th. Fifteen deaf adults along with their children will meet for worship at Bethany Baptist. Future midweek bible studies will utilize video relay (Skype-like conferencing) to connect with other deaf communities in Medford, Stevens Point, Marshville, Merrill and Rhinelander.

"It's amazing how God is providing," observed Swenson. "This is one of those ministries that just took off! God really seems to be at work when people, resources and plans just fall into place with minimal initiative on our part."

What are LEAD TEAMS?

LEAD Teams bring together pastors and planters who connect 4-5 times a year to ignite a movement. They discover and send out future pastors and planters to lead transformational churches.

Leaders Learn principles, Encourage growth, Achieve mission and Dream about opportunities. They live out core values and mobilize kingdom resources to reproduce the life of Jesus.

Current National goals:

Initiate regional training events that equip Head Coaches.
Assist district leaders to launch new Lead Teams.
Share regional ideas working in one area with other leaders across the country.

10 Things I Wish I Would Have Known...

Ever wished someone would have shared insights about your job before you started? Church Planter, Gary Lamb blogged some great insights that you can bring up in your LEAD team.

"These aren't the top things I would tell a church planter, just the top 10 things I wished I had known before we launched," explains Lamb.

Be secure in your calling. There are days when nothing will get you through the day but your calling. The one thing that will comfort you (and not much) is the fact that you must KNOW you are called to do this thing.
People who come on time and act like you are the greatest thing in the world, want to sign up for everything after one visit, talk about how they are called to the ministry after one visit, etc. are the ones that won't last long. It happens every time.
You can NEVER cast vision too much. Volunteers do what they do because of the vision, not because they need something else on their schedule.
Small groups are a lot of work and NO ONE is doing them well especially if they are reaching unchurched people. However when they run right, there is nothing greater.
Who you do this thing with is so important. Do it with friends and people you enjoy being around.
Don't be afraid to talk about money. The bible talks a lot about it and it is part of spiritual growth. Big vision takes big money and God uses people to fund the vision.
Be yourself. The world doesn't need another Ed Young, Andy Stanley, Rob Bell, or Erwin McManus. It does however need you to be you and who God created you to be.
Don't be afraid to lose people. I never want to see people go, but there are times when people need to leave and in the early days I was too afraid to lose people that I kept people around that needed to leave.
Take time off!!!! Starting a church is a marathon, not a sprint. You are in this thing for the long haul so take care of your body, your mind, your soul, your marriage, and your family now so you can be doing this thing later.
Enjoy the ride. Quit worrying about the next growth barrier, the other churches in town, the critics, etc. Just enjoy what God is doing. Stop and smell the roses. If you don't do it now, you never will. Keep pushing to reach more people, but enjoy what is happening while it is happening.

Key Vital Signs of LEAD TEAMS

LEAD teams discover financial resources that achieves their vision. Member churches put LEAD Teams in their budgets. Congregations make monthly gifts to multiply churches in their regions.

LEAD Teams mentor and coach potential pastors and planters. They encourage apprentice leaders to attend meetings, network with others and learn new ways to equip churches.

Lead Teams collaborate around mission. They challenge themselves to be teams that fulfills God's vision to reproduce the life of Jesus in people and churches.

LEAD Teams look for future planters from within their church ministries. They avoid relying solely on regional partners (districts) to do the hard work of recruiting. Instead, they discover future planters in their own churches and harvest fields of their communities.

Yours for the Cause,

Dan Maxton/Terry Martell
BGC LEAD Team Coordinators

10 Things I wish I would have known

2008-11-17T09:21:00.000-06:00

I copied this from Dan Maxton, who copied it from Gary Lamb. I thought is was worth reading again.

10 Things I Wish I Would Have Known...

Ever wished someone would have shared insights about your job before you started? Church Planter, Gary Lamb blogged some great insights.

"These aren't the top things I would tell a church planter, just the top 10 things I wished I had known before we launched," explains Lamb.

Be secure in your calling. There are days when nothing will get you through the day but your calling. The one thing that will comfort you (and not much) is the fact that you must KNOW you are called to do this thing.
People who come on time and act like you are the greatest thing in the world, want to sign up for everything after one visit, talk about how they are called to the ministry after one visit, etc. are the ones that won't last long. It happens every time.
You can NEVER cast vision too much. Volunteers do what they do because of the vision, not because they need something else on their schedule.
Small groups are a lot of work and NO ONE is doing them well especially if they are reaching unchurched people. However when they run right, there is nothing greater.
Who you do this thing with is so important. Do it with friends and people you enjoy being around.
Don't be afraid to talk about money. The bible talks a lot about it and it is part of spiritual growth. Big vision takes big money and God uses people to fund the vision.
Be yourself. The world doesn't need another Ed Young, Andy Stanley, Rob Bell, or Erwin McManus. It does however need you to be you and who God created you to be.
Don't be afraid to lose people. I never want to see people go, but there are times when people need to leave and in the early days I was too afraid to lose people that I kept people around that needed to leave.
Take time off!!!! Starting a church is a marathon, not a sprint. You are in this thing for the long haul so take care of your body, your mind, your soul, your marriage, and your family now so you can be doing this thing later.
Enjoy the ride. Quit worrying about the next growth barrier, the other churches in town, the critics, etc. Just enjoy what God is doing. Stop and smell the roses. If you don't do it now, you never will. Keep pushing to reach more people, but enjoy what is happening while it is happening.

Church states of reporduction

2008-11-12T06:52:00.000-06:00

JD Pearring describes the different stages of church reproduction. I believe God's goal for the local church is to always be reproducing.

Stages of Reproduction
JD Pearring

Part of what we’re about in the GHC Network is helping churches partner with and parent new churches. Some churches are excited about the possibilities and are on board with reproducing. Others seem disinterested in church planting. Still others find themselves in the middle of those options.
In working with churches and pastors over the years I’ve come up with, what I call, the different Stages of Reproduction:

Resisting
Some churches are currently resisting reproduction. Like couples who have decided against having children, these churches do not want to reproduce. Church Planting expert Bob Logan uses the term “hostile” to describe how some pastors and churches respond to the idea of parenting a daughter church. One famous pastor of a mega-church in our country once remarked, “We came dangerously close to planting a daughter church.”

Questioning
Other churches find themselves grappling with the clear Biblical command to “go forth and multiply.” They are starting to wonder why this hasn’t been part of the natural development in their church. They are asking questions, checking studies and beginning to realize that they do not want to be, as multiplication specialist Red Ensley put it, “a dead-end link on the chain of Christianity.”

Not Now
Many, if not most churches find themselves in the “Not Now” stage. They realize that health leads to reproduction. They know that they need to parent someday. But they are caught up with other things right now. These folks typically say things like, “As soon as we get our facility built we’ll consider a plant.” Or, “We’re not large enough yet.” Or, “When we get our staffing, program, or financial issues remedied, we’ll look into it.”

Something
Many churches have moved to the stage where they are actually doing something. They might be financially supporting a church planter or two. They may open their facilities to a church plant in their area or perhaps they’ve given gently used equipment to a new church in the region. They have jumped into the game.

Aunt/Uncle
Other churches have moved to the point of being an Aunt or Uncle church. They might not feel ready to parent, but they are willing to generously support a planter. They’re having planters up front in their services and are growing in support of a church planting movement.

GodParent
Some churches have moved a bit farther along the reproduction journey. They’ve become that special Aunt or Uncle--the GodParent. They are praying and giving and are available for special appeals by church plants for one-time gifts over and above previous commitments; to send people to help out to a preview service; or to have a baby shower to buy items for a church plants nursery. My church in Elk Grove, Discovery Church, has a special relationship with a plant back east. We’ve told them to consider us to be a rich uncle who lives in California.

Parent
Some churches have actually moved to the point of daughtering a church. Like having kids biologically, this might be a deliberate, planned, thought-out strategy. A parent church might have the clear approach that they will give $50,000 to $100,000 and 50-100 people to get a church launched. Or it might be more of “an accident.” They might only be able to give a few bucks and a few people, but they are responding to God’s personal call to them to be parents. They may or may not be joined by another parent church, but they’ve taken responsibility to help a church get going.

Baby Machine
Some churches have had such a good experience in parenting, that they are having plenty of kids. My four sisters have had seven kids, seven kids, six kids and four kids respectively. And I’ve joked that they are baby-machines, constantly pregnant. Some churches are like that--they’ve become multiplication centers.

Mini-Denomination
And some have multiplied so much that they’ve approached becoming a denomination unto themselves. Their kids are having kids. Some are reproducing like wildfire, leaving a lasting legacy.

Churches range throughout these stages, from resistant to rapid reproduction.

The application is clear: let’s identify where we, where our church currently finds itself along the reproductive journey. Is your church resistant? Questioning? Waiting? Involved? Moving toward parenting? Cranking them out?

After identifying where we are, there’s one last application I’d like to challenge you and your church to take: consider making some movement further along the reproductive line. If you’re thinking, “Not now,” I’d encourage you to rethink that and at least do something--support a church planter, give something. If you’re doing something, consider taking the challenge on of being a GodParent. Or perhaps its time to daughter that first church--or that second one. Let’s move along the reproductive journey.

Steve Addison’s blog World Changers

2008-11-10T22:01:00.000-06:00

The future of the Australian Baptists
(you can read his blog here)

I’ve just finished an unofficial report on the future of my denomination, the Baptist Union of Australia.

The good news is the BUA has a future. The bad news is if that future is more of the same then the Baptist are headed for long term, gradual decline in relation to the Australian population.

Here’s a summary of the trends

Baptist membership has been falling since 1992.
The gap between membership and population growth has been widening since 1911.
Church attendance has been growing since 2003 but the numbers may not be accurate.
The number of churches is increasing.
The gap between number of churches and population growth has been widening since 1911.
Mainline Protestant churches are in serious decline which outweighs the growth in evangelical churches.
The Australian population is growing at unexpectedly high levels and will continue to do so.
Conclusion: More of the same will result in steady long-term decline in relation to Australian population growth.
So what is to be done? Apart from a new logo I suggested we need to:

Confront the evidence
Keep returning to our evangelical heritage
See our future through Great Commission eyes
Release pioneering leadership
Build a church planting movement
Keep learning
Exercise faith
If we do nothing, we’ll survive. It may take decades for the full impact of our inaction to bear fruit. There will be a long journey of gradual decline in relation to population growth. The denomination will probably still be around in 100 years time—unless Jesus returns.

Life in Christ

2008-11-04T08:10:00.000-06:00

I have been impressed with Acts 1:8 recently. While a common verse that I memorized as a kid, the impact of God's power through the Holy Spirit to be a witness is really challenging me. We have the power of the Holy Spirit as believers. In any type of work we always look at past performance to understand what will happen in the future. The power of God in the past blows the mind. He can and will do it in the future. Do I really believe I have His power to share what Jesus Christ did on the cross for the ungodly? Peter, Anannis and Paul are just a few of many examples of the practical working of the power of the Holy Spirit at work to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the unchurched.

Belief brings a change. Do I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to witness? I sure want to say yes, but how how verbal am I? I am so thrilled that God uses "simple", well know verse, to remind us once again of who He is and what He wants in our life. It is not a new idea, it is not an unheard claim, but because God word is living it takes new impact again and again.

Planting in KC

2008-10-27T08:47:00.000-05:00

I just returned from Kansas City talking with two men about the possibilities of planting a church in Kansas City targeting Vietnamese people. There are about 10,000 Vietnamese people in the Kansas City area with one small church doing there best to reach them. I am excited to see how God will open the door for us to connect with this group of people that need Christ. While we were there we went to the Asian market. If you ever go to Kansas City you need to stop in and shop. It is a learning and delightful experience. Please pray with me for the Andrew and Phiet as they seek God timing and calling for the Kansas City area.

Does size of a church make a difference?

2008-10-17T08:13:00.000-05:00

We have all read the discussion about big church vs small church. Which one is more effective? Which one helps the person growth in their faith? Which one has the most committed people? Warren Bird gives some great insight into the large church small church discussion.

Here is a part of what he posted (go to his site and read it all).

It turns out that as church size increase, people's beliefs are more certain. For example, on the question of whether heaven absolutely exists, 92% of people in larger churches said yes, while 79% in smaller churches said yes. Does hell absolutely exists? The replies were 90% and 69%.

What about people's practices? Those in the larger churches attend services weekly or more often (46% and 39%), more of them tithe (46% and. 36%), and more of them attend a Bible-study group (52% and 43%). So personal commitment is higher with church size.

Is there a lack of intimacy as churches grow larger? When asked if half or more of their friends attend their congregations, survey respondents said yes 41% for larger churches and 25% for smaller churches. The same point is made when when the opposite angle is taken: do they have no friends in their congregations? Agreement was 12% and 22%.

Tell me what you think about this study.

Belief review by Ed Stetzer

2008-10-14T21:06:00.000-05:00

Check out Ed Stetzer and is numbers about what people believe today

2008-10-09T07:12:00.000-05:00

Technology is a wonderful thing, but do we allow technology to take time that could be used proclaiming the Gospel. Here is the link to a new service that is coming for churches that made me think about how technology fits into our life. I must admit that I enjoy and often will defend the use of tracking information, but this made me consider the advantage of "information" verses just doing what God has called us to do. What do you think?

Short Term Missions trips?

2008-10-06T20:37:00.000-05:00

George Barna found some interesting statistic related to short term mission trips. After reading it how can we improve on the long term affects of short term mission trips?

Who takes short term mission trips?

9% of American adults
>> only 3.5% of American adults went in the last 5 years
11% of churchgoers
23% evangelical Christians
12% of Mosaics (ages 18-24)
9% of Busters (ages 25-43)
7% of Boomers (ages 44-62)
9% of Elders (ages 63+)
How do short-term mission trips affect those who go?

75% say the experience changed their life in some way
25% say it helped them become more aware of other people’s struggles
16% say it taught them more about poverty, justice, or the world
11% say it increased their compassion
9% say it enriched their faith
9% say it broadened their spiritual understanding
5% say it boosted their financial generosity

How are we doing in planting?

2008-10-01T16:48:00.000-05:00

I understand and agree that numbers are not the major indicator of our spiritual health. While saying that I also know that it is ones means of putting our hands to the fire to see how hot the flames are burning. While not all the district in Converge Worldwide reported, of those that did we found that we planted over 200 churches between 2000-2005. There was an average weekly attendance in 2007 of 154 people which impacted 22,847 individuals. In our church plants we baptized 1,916 in 2007. God is gracious to us. The fields are still golden ready for harvest. Pray for labors of the harvest.

Missional Church

2008-09-30T09:05:00.000-05:00

I am enjoying reading Ed Stetzer's book, "Planting Missional Churches". In reading this morning he provided some head scratching thought about how we do church plants. First he list five items that are part of a church to be a church: 1. A covenant Community (is one that holds one another accountable for godliness and growth) 2. Meeting, 3. Biblical Leadership (leaders called "pastor/elders" and deacons" 4. The Ordinances, 5. Preaching. Easy to agree with.

The form this takes is not given in the Bible. One of the forms that Ed Stetzer talks about is being incarnational "not attractional, in its ecclesiology. By incarnational we mean it does not create sanctified spaces into which unbelievers must come to encounter the gospel. Rather, the mission church disassembles itself and seeps into the cracks and crevices of a society in order to be Christ to those who don't yet know him."

Incarnational church planters work in the neighborhood they are planting in. Stetzer says, "Missional/incarnational church planters do not need a prospectus, strategy plan, and time line; they need a job in the marketplace."

Vocational pastor are needed, but using his explanation of "missional/incarnational" church planters do we need to do some adjusting?

DA Carson

2008-09-29T21:14:00.000-05:00

ACTS 29 has some great insight from DA Carson about five trends of the church today.

God at work

2008-09-24T10:13:00.000-05:00

Meet with 10 pastors in the Kansas City area and talked about church planting. We had some great discussion as we talked about "Why should we plant a church?" Here are some of the answers but not all.
- Obedience to what God has told us to do
- It is the most effective means of evangelism
- Extending the Kingdom of God
- Growth of our people
- God's calling on our life.
- Health of the mother church
- Great way to train leaders
- God loves people
- Strengthens and stretches our faith
- Community needs Biblical values
- We can stress Kingdom issues not individual person or church

We also talked about barriers to church planting
- to old
- not organized
- comfortable with what we have
- fear of failure
- fear of money
- fear of burnout
- we get use to life

What could be added to either list?

Baptism

2008-09-22T18:45:00.000-05:00

I took these pictures this summer, but just found the software to get the picture of the camera. They are taken from the church in Clear Lake. A small town with a pastor that has a heart for people to encounter Christ. The baptism was at a local lake. The man is 61 years old. It is exciting to see God changing the lives of young and old.

Essential Church

2008-09-22T08:12:00.000-05:00

If you don't want to buy the book Essential Church you can download it for free for a limited time. It is well worth the read and will help sharpen your church in how it does ministry. Yes, they will put you on a mailing list, but the book is worth the a few e-mails.

Traveling

2008-09-16T16:05:00.000-05:00

I spent last week in Omaha and Kansas City and this week I head to Chicago and then to Grand Island for Converge Heartland's annual meeting. I am excited about the 10 pastor that meet with me in KC as we talked about church planting. ConvergeUSA (BGC) has no churches in the state of Kansas so it will be fun to watch how God uses the pastors there to start a movement through Kansas. In Omaha I meet with 9 pastor as we talked about the possibilities for the Omaha area. How does a church know when it is ready to plant? Maybe the better way to ask the question is how to you help churches understand that we are always to be praying and working toward reaching the unchurched with the good news of Jesus Christ and the most effective way of reaching the unchurched is through church plants?

Character of a church planter strategist

2008-09-10T07:22:00.000-05:00

Gus Suarez list 10 characteristic of a church planting strategist.

Is doctrine important to the unchurched?

2008-09-09T11:01:00.000-05:00

Thom and Sam Rainer say yes. In their book "Essential Church?" they write that in their research they were surprised to learn "Of these formerly unchurched, 91 percent told us that the doctrine of the church was important to them before they became a christian." They had enough unsure events or things in their life and was looking for a solid, sure belief. A great reminder as we ponder how do we connect with people that softening our doctrine is not in anyones best interest. God honors solid, confident, bibically based beliefs.

Worth reading

2008-09-08T21:00:00.000-05:00

Ed Stetzer has a great post about the church in America and our need to foucus on the misson. Take time to read the article.

Should you be a church planter?

2008-09-07T14:37:00.000-05:00

I found this link from Andy Wright regarding 20 questions you can ask about being a church planter. I will send you directly to Ardian Warnock blog for the questions.

Essential Church part 2

2008-09-03T08:55:00.000-05:00

Thom and Sam Rainer state "Of those who left the church between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two, 97 percent left because of a life-change issue. Read that percent again: 97 percent left because of a life change issue.
Most of the dropouts did not leave their families during this time.
Most of the dropouts did not leave their social networks during this time.
Most of the dropouts did not leave the educational system during this time.
But most of them did leave the church."

How in the establishment of a new church do we generate a known need to stay part of the church which should be the stabling factor in any "life change issue"?

Essential Church

2008-09-02T08:04:00.000-05:00

I made it back from Ord. My wife and I were reminded that God is in control of the weather. The wind blew and blew and blew some more. We had gust up to 45 according to the weather man. Since we camp in a tent, it was difficult to get a break from the wind.

I did have time to read the majority of "Essential Church" Rainer's research found the top 10 reasons why the 18-22 year old age frame stop going to church
1. Simply wanted a break from church
2. Church members seemed judgmental or hypocritical.
3. Moved to college and stopped attending church.
4. Work responsibilities prevented me from attending.
5. Moved too far away from the church to continue attending.
6. Became too busy though still wanted to attend.
7. Didnt feel connect to the people in the church.
8. Disagreed with the churchs stance on political or social issues.
9. Chose to spend more time with friends outside the church
10. Was only going to church to please others.

I will talk more in future notes, but their basic solution is
Simplify: Getting the structure right
Deepen: Getting the content right
Expect: Getting the attitude right
Multiply: Getting the action right

As churches are planted we need to consider where we can make sure we are strong to prevent any age group from walking out the back door unnoticed.

Camping

2008-08-28T19:40:00.000-05:00

I am headed to Ord, NE for several days of camping and riding the bicycle with my wonderful wife. I plan to read "Essential Church" while I am away.

Launch team or core team

2008-08-28T14:20:00.000-05:00

My friend Andy Wright has a great post about developing a core team or a launch team.

Customers or rules

2008-08-27T10:20:00.000-05:00

Todd writes some good though provider for what we do as churches. How do you make a church plant a "customer keeper" while never bending on theological issues?

Are You a Customer Keeper or a Rule Keeper?

from MMI Weblog by Todd Rhoades

Alan Nelson writes, "The other day we were in a restaurant that created a truly enjoyable experience. The waiter went out of his way to bend the menu rules in order to satisfy our preferences. Then he continued this empowering table service by providing us with a taste test of a dessert and finalized it by taking an item off our bill because it wasn't quite right. Compare that with the typical service you get at any number of eateries where the frontline people provide less than enjoyable service because they follow their workers manual to a T.

The big question is "Are you a rule keeper or a customer keeper?" An empowered team understands the importance of providing front-end people with the authority to make the right decisions for the customer in a given situation. Translated to the church, the question becomes "Are my team members told that they're empowered to make decisions that make sense?" Do you affirm this by telling stories of people who do?

Every church culture is different. I've been in some churches where I could tell that the fear of the senior pastor, board, or treasurer thwarted people from being creative, flexible, and responsive to people as needs arose. Of course, the antithesis of this is a church where there are no rules and everyone just sort of does his or her own thing...

The typical result is mediocrity, sloppiness, and haphazard ministry. But there’s a powerful place in the middle where you don’t have to create a million rules to follow but keep it simple.

One of the ways my wife has done very well in our home is by conveying to our sons these three primary principles:

1. We don’t hurt people.

2. We don’t hurt things.

3. And we don’t hurt ourselves.

Pretty much everything can fit into one of these three categories. Teaching these simple principles is far more effective than teaching a multitude of rules.

One time I was on staff at a large church in the Midwest. I coordinated the first Super Bowl party they’d ever done, as a community outreach. When the crowd overwhelmed the seating, I instructed the team to go into the halls and push in the comfy couches from the lobby. The next week in staff meeting, I heard about it. I responded, “It seems like we care more about the furniture than we do about people.” My brashness may have been unnecessary, but the point was true. I later convened the first fun day on the well-groomed lawn of the church, located on a busy street, to help create a buzz in the neighborhood. People loved it. Administration frowned. Needless to say, my tenure at that church was short.

So what are you doing, inadvertently, that promotes rules over people? What do you do to make ministry difficult in your church? Have you empowered your team to do what is needed to get the job done, as needed? Accountability means you deal with a misuse of freedom, but not by creating a list of rules and restrictions. Develop customer keepers, not rule keepers.

Alan Nelson is the executive editor of Rev! Magazine, the author of a dozen books, and has been a pastor for 20 years. email him at anelson@group.com.

25 and under morality

2008-08-26T05:39:00.000-05:00

George Barna gives some startling information about those 25 and under. Read about their morality. How best can we reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Ed Stezter commenting on Randy Smith and age of people in church plants

2008-08-25T08:01:00.000-05:00

Old People and Church Health
My New Jersey friend, Randy Smith, Lead pastor of Discovery Church, says too many believe the elderly have "cooties", and that this belief is damaging our churches. He is a church planting and in many plants, we don't see a good diversity of age. Randy explains,

We are missing out on something when we ignore the older generation. There I've said it. I like old people! When it comes to church, I don't like their music, I don't like their formality, and I don't like a lot of their traditions but I like the people.

...I think we hurt ourselves when we exclude the oldsters. They have wisdom, they have time, they have energy (for short periods of time!) and for all you pastors, they usually are good stewards! I'm not advocating that you haphazardly appoint five or six AARP members to your Executive Leadership Team. Actually, I'd warn you not to do such a thing with any age group. But I am saying that we need to find ways to marry the wisdom and years of spiritual growth of the old with the energy and adventuresome spirit of the new. How that's done is your job to figure out - you're the leader...lead!

Church growth or decline

2008-08-18T08:44:00.000-05:00

Dan Garland writes a great review about a study done regarding church growth and decline. In short most growth or decline is not based on external factors but internal factors. We often blame external issues, but this study would indicate that the greatest factor in growth or decline is internal.