Leverage Your Leadership

“Lead as if you’ll be held accountable, because you will.”-Bobby Bowden

Leadership is critical to your ministry effectiveness and success, your own personal sense of fulfillment, and for optimizing the potential of your team. If you don’t lead more, you’ll never be free from the daily grind and unending demands of ministry. Your critical role is leadership, not doer-ship. Improving your leadership effectiveness is a never-ending growth process. Leadership is everything to ministry effectiveness as a church planter!

If you continue to wear multiple hats in your church, you will continue to be diverted from your primary responsibility … Leading !! A ministry can rise only to the level of the leader’s effectiveness. You are 100% responsible for the condition of your flock - the good, bad and ugly. Leaders create clarity – clarity of vision, direction, goals, focus, expectations, consequences, etc. Leaders also create the right conditions for others to succeed. They get people rowing in the same direction.

Leading others properly is essential to a healthy church. Never lose sight of the fact that your primary responsibility as a Strategic Leader is LEADING!

Build Margin Into Your Life

The conditions of modern-day living devour margin. Modern Christians pack their lives so full of activity that they have no margin at all. The result is stress, poor relationships, and a lack of intimacy with God. Marginless living also leaves us empty and joyless. It commonly diminishes our physical, emotional and spiritual health. It also diminishes our leadership effectiveness.

Dr. Richard Swenson describes it this way:
- Marginless is fatigue; margin is energy.
- Marginless is hurry,; margin is calm.
- Marginless is anxiety; margin is security.
- Marginless is culture; margin is counterculture.
- Marginless is the disease of the new millennium; margin is the cure.

In our coaching we help church planters and ministry professionals improve their ministries. But we also help them BALANCE their life! Part of balancing life is learning to build more "margin" into your day and your week. Here are some facts about time -

Your time is limited. You only have 24 hours in a day. Yet, all your time will be spent doing something! You can't save it, store it up for the future, or postpone. Time happens! And you can't stop it. As a result, somebody is going to determine how you spend your time! It may be your congregation, your leaders, your community contacts, your family, your friends, SOMEBODY!

My encouragement to you is to set limits on your workday! Yes, easier said than done. But we must all realize that everyday has limits. If you don't set limits for yourself you will soon discover that there is no margin, no space for rest, reflection, or relationships. The 3 R's (rest, reflection, and relationships) are what give us energy, purpose, and joy in life. But they are only found in margins.

Build margin into everyday. If you need help, get a coach!

Two New Apologetic Resources

I've just recently read two of the most incredible books related to apologetics. The first is Tim Keller's new book "The Reason for God." The other is Chuck Colson's new book "The Faith: What Christians Believe, Why They Believe It, and Why It Matters." Every believer should read BOTH of these!

Both books are very engaging, filled with stories and inspiration - not your typical apologetics book. These would be great small group resources, great tools for evangelism training, and just valuable resources for every church planter. A must read!

The Power of Systems

You've been hearing me talk alot lately about "Systems." This is not just a modern invention. Before God created man He created a universe and a solar system. When God created man, the human body was a system, with many sub-systems. Systems is just how the world functions. We're a part of several different systems all at the same time. The question is, what kind of system are the people in your church a part of?

Sometimes we complain that people don't do what we want them to or what we think they should do. You need to accept the fact that your system is perfectly designed to get the results you are getting. If you want things to be different, analyze and change your system. Systems create behavior, and if you don't address things at the system level, nothing changes.

This week, I want to encourage all of us to begin to think about the outcomes that we see (or don't see) in our ministries. Then begin to think about your system. How is it contributing to the outcomes you're getting? How is it not producing what you want it to produce? If you want something different, change the system!

Faith Journey

Church planting can be the biggest faith challenge our lives. In the very beginning with church planters we ask the question about "calling." Is this something you believe God is "calling" you to? We show planters how to think this through and how to discern what God is saying to them. But at the end of the day, this is a step of faith, and sometimes the risks are very high!

When you go into a new community and start building relationships you begin to discover the "receptivity" of the area to the gospel and to a new church. The truth is that if ANYBODY responds to you and to the gospel, it is because God has prepared or called their heart to respond. So all the prospecting and "farming" and evangelism that takes place in the pre-launch phase is a practice of faith.

Most church planters are raising money and recruiting leaders/workers who will help them in the harvest field. Both of these activites are faith activities. We offer strategies and tactics to help planters, but in the end, God has to provide.

I could go on but I hope you see what I'm getting at. Everyday is a faith journey in church planting. "Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord keeps watch over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late toiling for food - for he grants sleep to those he loves." (Ps 127:1-2)

Start everyday by acknowledging that this is a faith journey. Embrace that reality and draw close to Him!

GET RID OF CLUTTER AND MESSES!

"Clutter" is stuff that fills up my day, but isn't really productive. "Messes" are certain things I keep putting off that need my attention. Let me encourage you to regularly (at least once a month) take a day to identify and eliminate clutter and messes. We've addressed this before, but it is such a significant issue I want to mention it again.

Clutter is all the low-value, low priority stuff that seems to fill our minds, our desks, our thoughts, and our lives. Over time, we tend to become consumed by this "non-essential stuff" (clutter). We get overwhelmed and distracted by details and low-value activities.

When this happens we waste our time and talents on the "wrong" type of work. We get so "busy being busy" that we lose sight of what is most important to us in our ministry and our personal lives. As a result, our lives become complex, cloudy, confusing and stressful. We start to lose focus, miss opportunities, adopt bad habits, get in ruts, and then make excuses. Clutter and lack of clarity reduce our effectiveness, productivity, and joy.

I want to encourage you to stop right now and do this: Identify at least 3 types of "clutter" or "messes" in your life. Make a commmitment to yourself in the next 30 days to complete, eliminate or delegate the responsibility to someone else to rid yourself of this distraction and drain on your energy.

Looking for Church Planters for Austin!

Would you like to plant a church in one of the coolest cities in the nation? We are looking for several church planters to start new churches in Austin, TX. We have the most incredible program for support and funding. If you are interested, or you know someone who is interested, please email me at glenn@nciglobal.org. Email me right away!

Also, don't miss the largest gathering of church planting leaders in North America, April 21-24 in Orlando, FL. Check it out at http://www.exponentialconference.org/! I would love to see you there!

Unfulfilled Longings

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

"The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust them...For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have not visited."
C. S. Lewis

The Importance of Systems

Systems is one of the most misunderstood and overlooked areas of new church development. Yet systems are relatively easy to implement and will add enormously to the effectiveness of your new church. Systems are also the key to building a strong, effective team!

A wise pastor wants his church to become increasingly more systems-dependent and less pastor-dependent. Ideally, you want your church to get to the point where it can basically run itself, and all you have to do is give it direction and monitor the dashboard!

Could you take a leave from your church for a month and come back to find it operating smoothly and effectively? Could you escape for even 1 Sunday? If not, you do not have an effective system; you are the system!

Your church should not depend upon your presence, personality, problem solving and perspiration for its weekly survival. If it does, your church does not work, you do! If everything in your church flows through you and is dependent upon you, then you are dramatically restricting the growth and effectiveness of your people and your congregation!

Keep Your Head Clear!

One of the biggest challenges in church planting is keeping your head clear! We can get very busy with lots of stuff. In fact, over time, we tend to become consumed by non-essential "stuff" - what I call CLUTTER. When our heads and our lives become cluttered, we get overwhelmed and distracted by details and low-priority, low-value activities.

It's easy to get busy being busy, and lose sight of what is most important to us in our work and personal lives. We end up wasting time and talents on the "wrong" type of work. As such, our lives become complex, cloudy, confusing and stressful. Our productivity and effectiveness diminishes!

When we get cluttered we start to lose focus, miss opportunities, adopt bad habits, get in unproductive comfort zones, and make excuses. Clutter reduces our effectiveness, growth, and joy. Let me encourage you right now to identify and eliminate at least 3 types of clutter from your life. What are they? What will you eliminate, delegate, downsize, delay, or redesign? Do it NOW!

Coaching for Post-Launch Planters

• Are you struggling with knowing how to take your church to the next level?
• Do you feel like you’re doing most of the work?
• Have you hit a plateau that you can’t get off?
• Do you have an effective strategy in place to reach new people?
• If your church did double in size next year, do you have the infrastructure and leadership in place to handle it?
• Are you satisfied with the commitment level of the disciples you are making?

These are some of the critical issues that we will be addressing in our New Church Coaching Workshop beginning February 12th! Every other Tuesday evening Chad Clarkson and I will be leading this small group coaching session here in Houston from 6:30pm – 8:30pm. If your new church is less than 5 years old, this is for you!

This group will be limited in size, so sign up today! You will receive 6, 2-hour coaching sessions over the next 3 months that will help you move your church forward. You will learn how to create systems for health and growth. You will develop a powerful strategy for reaching new people, for making missional disciples, and for developing leaders.

Do not miss this opportunity! It will transform you and your church! Email me (glenn@nciglobal.org) if you would like to participate. Space is limited.

If you do not live in the Houston area but are interested in benefiting from our coaching process, contact us at glenn@nciglobal.org.

Success Factors in Fast Growing Plants

I highly recommend Steven Gray's new book Planting Fast Growing Churches. Stephen compared 60 fast growing church plants and 52 struggling church plants to try to understand the factors that enabled churches to grow larger than 200 in their first three years. Here are a few of the things that he found.

• 88% of the fast growing churches had church planting teams
• 63% of the fast growing churches had an initial core group of 26 or more
• 80% put ten percent or more of their budgets toward outreach and evangelism
• 63% of planters leading fast growing plants raise additional funding, compared to 23% of those that are struggling
• 57% of the fast-growing church plants teach financial stewardship during the first six months from public launch; by contrast only 40% of strugling church plants teach financial stewardship.

I would encourage every church planter to study Stephen's book. I would also encourage everyone to go to www.leadnet.org and download the church planting article "Improving the Health and Survivability of New Churches."

Do You Want More Evangelistic Effectiveness?

In the recent research conducted by Leadership Network, there are certain factors that correlated with higher baptisms/conversions in new church plants. These factors do not guarantee evangelistic effectiveness, but they do help us understand something about the mindset and the behaviors of the more evangelisticly effective church plants. A few of the factors were:

• conducting a new member class for church members
• conducting leadership training for church members
• engaging in ministry evangelism (e.g. food banks, shelters, drug/alcohol recovery, etc.)
• conducting a mid-week children's program
• conducting a block party as an outreach activity
• 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

I have also observed that when church planters make a focused effort to develop a "Missional Core" in the pre-launch stage, this also increases their evangelistic effectiveness. A Missional Core is different than our conventional "Launch Team" or "Start Up Team" concept. A Missional Core is a group of people who have been/are being discipled to be missionaries in the context of the church plant. I encourage every church planter to develop and mobilize a missional core to help gather and evangelize. It makes all the difference in the world.

Survivability: Indicators of Church Health

Size is a common indicator used to evaluate the health of a new church. Though size is not a complete measure of health, achieving a critical mass is essential for survivability. A surprising result of research from NAMB (Southern Baptists) shows that church plants are actually smaller than many imagined. The typical church plant does not pass 100 in attendance after 4 years.

Another indicator of new church health is evangelistic effectiveness. The number of baptisms or conversions has a strong correlation to the evangelistic effectiveness of new churches. The average number of baptisms or conversions is 10 the first year, 11 the second year, 13 the third year, and 14 the fourth year.

Many church planters envision their churches growing much larger, much faster. They also envision their churches having a greater evangelistic impact. This is possible with good training and good coaching.

Making Church Plants Thrive in 2008

A few months ago I had the privilege of compiling research conducted by Ed Stetzer and publishing it in a series of articles for Leadership Network. These articles grew out of the exhaustive research that Ed did last year on the state of church planting in the U.S. Ed's research was outstanding (as usual). These 4 articles are available for download at www.leadnet.org. or you can contact me directly at glenn@nciglobal.org.

One of the articles had to do with Health and Survivability of New Churches. Ed's research combined with Stephen Gray's new book Planting Fast Growing Churches gives us some great insight on how to make church plants thrive in 2008. Over the next few weeks that is what I want to write about.

To help us start thinking this week, here are a few of the findings:

• The chances of survivability increases by over 400% when the church planter has a "realistic" understanding and expectation of the church-planting experience.
• The odds of survivability increase by over 250% where leadership development training is offered in the plant.
• The odds of survivability increase by 178% when there is a proactive stewardship development plan within the church plant.

These are just a few of the things we have learned this past year and are incorporating into our training and coaching systems at NCI. Stay tuned for more!

Merry Christmas

This will be my last post this year! I hope you have a wonderful Christmas! Enjoy this video - it's my favorite Christmas video!

Church Planting Is The Happening Thing

Recent research from Leadership Network reveals some exciting new things in church planting. Over the past decade there were between 1,100 and 1,500 new churches started every year in the U.S. However, there were approximately 3,500 churches closing every year. We were obviously losing ground fast. However things are changing.

The latest research shows that there is an increasing interest in church planting all across the U.S. Last year there were approximately 4,000 new churches started! Trends have definitely shifted. There are now an abundance of new books and resources available for church planters. In fact, a google search will reveal more than 1,000,000 web pages devoted to church planting. Interest in church planting is at an all time high!

Unfortunately there are still approximately 3,500 churches closing every year, but for the first time that anyone can remember, we are now planting more churches than we are closing.

Another exciting discovery is that the energy for church planting has moved from denominational structures to local churches and networks. It is estimated that there are now over 100 church planting networks across the U.S.

NCI is helping many of these churches and networks to develop their systems to increase the health and survivability of new churches.

Amazing stuff! If you would like the complete report on "The State of Church Planting in the U.S." go to the Leadership Network website or email me at glenn@nciglobal.org.

Also, if your church, network, or denomination would like help to plant new churches more effectively, our coaching and consulting staff is available to assist you!

Systems for Health - A Leadership Development System

Almost every church I know of compains that "We don't have enough leaders." The truth is that your church can become a leadership development machine! I mean that in the most alive, organic way. If you create a plan (or system) your church can be spitting out leaders on a regular and consistent basis.

The best example of leadership development that I've seen in the business/corporate world is G.E. They have been given the nickname of "The great producer of CEO's." The reason? More CEO's are developed at G.E. than any place else in the country. One example is Jack Welch.

Jack joined G.E. right out of college. He worked his way through their "leadership pipeline" and eventually became the CEO of G.E. However, while Jack was developing through their pipeline, so were numerous others. Now not everyone can be the CEO, so what happened to the others? Several of them became the CEO's of other major corporations such as Boeing and Home Depot. Where did Jack's successor come from? You guessed it, inside.

Why doesn't the typical church have a system for developing spiritual CEO's? Why doesn't the church have a system for developing senior pastors and church planters internally? Much can be learned about leadership development systems from G.E.

As I coach church planting pastors (post-launch), I guide them to create leadership pipeline systems. The only reason your church doesn't have an abundance of leadership (like G.E.) is because you haven't developed them! I guide pastors to create pipelines that develop people. They begin as committed followers of Jesus and move through a process (several steps) until they are leading at the highest level, e.g. senior pastors or church planters or campus pastors.

Do you have an effective pipeline? A good coach can help. If you would like to see a sample of a pipeline in a local church, just shoot me an email at glenn@nciglobal.org, and I'll send it to you!

Creating a System for Spiritual Formation

The Spiritual Formation System is the process designed by the leader to bring non-believers into a personal and vital relationship with Jesus Christ, and guides them to live transforming, missional lives.

As church planters we need to see that our role in the spiritual formation of others begins BEFORE they become followers of Jesus. They are seekers, curious, and willing to be in a relationship with us and our church. That's when the spiritual formation process begins - when they are willing to be in an ongoing relationship with us (e.g. once assimilated - see post on Oct 28th!) The process we design should effectively take them from this starting point to a maturing disciple of Jesus (see post on Nov 10th) who is reproducing and living a life on mission.

Most established churches do not have a well developed system such as this!

I have deep admiration for Willow Creek who recently wrote about their challenges in this regard in the book Reveal by Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson. Few churches seem to be willing to be honest about this issue. Thank you Willow!

My experience has been that spiritual formation typically takes place for a spiritual seeker when 3 factors come together:

1. The seeker experiences a meaningful (encouraging) relationship with one or more Christ-followers that leads to internal processing and accountability.
2. The seeker pursues an interactive relationship with God through His Word, prayer, spiritual disciplines, etc.
3. The seeker engages their natural talents/abilities in service to others to accomplish God's kingdom purposes.

On one hand this is very simple. On the other hand it may be totally new to think that this process can begin with a pre-Christian. We make a grave mistake compartmentalizing evangelism and discipleship. I see it as all one journey. These 3 things do not all happen at once. Many times a person will experience rebirth before experiencing all 3. But don't be afraid to bring seekers along side with you to just "do life" with you as you do it!

A very good resource and story can be found in Bob Roberts' book Transformation. Think about the T-Life Model that he has developed at his church.

Now your challenge is to think through all the steps that need to take place between assimilation (connected in relationships) and mature disciple. Keep it simple, but design experiences (not just classes) for people to plug in that challenges them to the next step. Finally, measure everything! A good coach will help you design, implement, and measure the effectiveness of your system! IT'S A MUST!

Systems for Health - A Spiritual Formation System

Another system that needs to be in place for a healthy missional church is a spiritual formation system. Sometimes church planters are so consumed with "gathering" that they forget what they are gathering people for. Our mission is to make disciples, not just gather people. So how do we do it?

The place to begin is to focus. What does a real disciple look like? Dallas Willard calls this an "Apprentice of Jesus." What does he/she look like? I like to guide church planters through a Biblical study and personal reflection process. You can download my worksheet at http://www.newchurchinitiatives.org/essential%20experiences/documents/EssentialExperience6.pdf.

Steven Covey tells leaders to "begin with the end in mind." This is critical if we are going to have an effective spiritual formation system. Begin there and then work backwards.

After a church planting pastor completes the worksheet he typically concludes that you can't work on everything all at once. So I suggest that you identify the top 4-6 qualities that need to be focused on in your congregation over the next 12 months. Then refine your qualities by stating them on very concrete objective statements. Once you get your spiritual formation objectives clarified, identify 3-5 measurable behaviors that will give indication that these objectives are being achieved.

Remember, if you can't measure it you can't manage it. A good coach will help you with this. Your coach should be able to guide you and help you define with clarity what it is you're trying to achieve. Next post = how to create the system!

Systems for Health - An Assimilation System

Once your new church is launched and you have begun creating a sense of community among the new people, it is important to start developing your essential systems for health. There are three critical systems that every new church needs to develop:
1. An Assimilation System,
2. A Spiritual Formation System, and
3. A Leadership Development System.

What is an Assimilation System? This is your process for connecting with people who are far from God, and bringing them into "connection" with your faith community. Of course this involves everyone in your church! Everyone should be establishing and building intentional relationships with people who are far from God. I encourage every believer to have an "Impact List." These are people who God has place in your path who you will be praying for, investing in, and seeking to have spiritual conversations.

Think now for a moment - what steps does it take for someone who is far from God to become connected with 2 or more people in your church (other than the one who invited them)? These steps make up your assimilation system.

But when is someone connected? I think it requires at least 2 things. First, the newcomer feels mutual care from 2 or more regular attenders. Second, the newcomer feels like they make a meaningful contribution to the group.

We must think of ways to make these two things happen. Be sure to design your assimilation system for results, and then measure its effectiveness at different points. A good coach will help you think these through. They will help you design an assimilation system that connects many new people every month.

Need Help Gathering a Following?

Most church planters have a difficult time with their initial gathering of people. Conventional marketing strategies work in newer communities that have lots of traditional families who have a Christendom worldview (typically in suburbs). It's usually easy to find a lot of church shoppers unless these communities have been over-marketed by other churches! So how do you gather a following?

We have found that "prospecting" is always effective, even in difficult communities. However, beware, difficult areas where there is high resistance requires time and patience and much prayer. But the approach to prospecting is still the same. We teach on this in our Essentials training.

Don't miss our next training coming up in 2 weeks, Nov 1-2. For more information about our next training go to www.nciglobal.org and click on "events."

For some tools to help you with prospecting see our "Essential Experiences" #4, #4a, #4b, #4c, and #4d at http://www.newchurchinitiatives.org/essential%20experiences/EssentialExperienceIndex.htm.

One Pure and Holy Passion

Possibly my favorite song these days is "One Pure and Holy Passion." It's my prayer almost everyday. You can find it on the One Day Live CD.

I've come to realize the nobody pursues God with passion, no one follows hard after God until they have become thoroughly convinced that there is absolutely nothing else in this world worth pursuing.

The song says "Give me one and pure and holy passion. Give me one magnificent obsession. Give me one glorious ambition for my life, to know and follow hard after You." I so much want this to be true about me. But I'm realizing that it will never be true as long as there is something in this world that I think is worth pursuing. There has to be nothing else in my mind or heart that is worth being ambitious for.

I pray that more than anything else, that the churches we start will produce this kind of disciple.

Do You Value Your Values?

It is common to talk about "core values." Most church planters list their core values in their initial church planting plan. That is important because our values will shape our new church. However, what I see is that most church planters do not go back and evaluate or re-visit their values. As a result, their values cease to be a directional tool and just become words on a piece of paper.

I think it is important, at least once a year, to conduct a "values audit." Every new church (and established church) should step back at least once a year and ask "Do we really value our values? Are we really running hard after what we say we value? Are these things truly important to us, and do they really shape our church culture?"

In my church (www.crossbridge.cc) we state that we value 4 things that are core to who we are and who we want to become. Our 4 core values are:
1. Christian Spirituality,
2. Authentic Community,
3. Sacrificial Living, and
4. Faith Sharing.

These were not our original core values when we planted Crossbridge. They have emerged as we reviewed and evaluated over time. Now we must faithfully ask ourselves, "Are we running hard after these things? If not, why not? Are they really core? Do we really value these values?" I would encourage you to do the same!

Keep Your Head Clear

One of the biggest challenges that each of us face is keeping our heads clear. Every week we tend to become consumed by non-essential stuff, what I call "clutter." It's easy to get overwhelmed and distracted by details and low-value, low-priority activity. BEWARE!

Don't waste your time and talents on the wrong type of work! This is one reason why a good coach is important. Your coach will help you evaluate what you are doing with your time. Often we get so "busy being busy" that we lose sight of what's most important in our day and our week. As a result, our lives as pastors & church planters become complex, cloudy, confusing, and stressful. We start to lose focus, we miss opportunities, we develop bad habits, and we make excuses.

I must take the time each week to stay clear, stay focused, and stay organized. I must also take time every day to meditate on God's unfailing love (Ps 48:9). This is required to overcome anxiety and to be effective.

Rediscovering Ourselves as Exiles

Recently I have been challenged by Michael Frost and his book Exiles. At times I feel like he takes some unfair shots at the Western church and the U.S.. However, I like reading him because I believe he has a good heart and an important message for believers.

Frost is especially valuable to church planters. He calls us to think and live like "exiles." He equates the Western church today to the Israelistes during the Babylonian exile. He draws some very powerful insights that we need to wrestle with today.

It is very important for church planters (and all church leaders) to think of our ecclesiology in terms of a journey, not a destination. We must see ourselves as "pilgrims" passing through this world, not homemakers. If we do not view ourselves as pilgrims (or exiles), we will assimilate into culture and will have little or no transformational impact on the world. Unfortunately, I believe this is the state of the church in much of the Western world.

As we create new churches, we must emphasize this! We will never be missional unless we see ourselves as pilgrims, aliens, and/or exiles. We will not be the "salt" and "light" that Jesus spoke of in Mt 5. To create a missional community it requires us to have this mindset. Are we training our missional core groups to see themselves as pilgrims, aliens, and exiles?

Many of the Israelites became so accustomed to life in Babylon that they refused to return to Jerusalem even when much later there was an opportunity to do so. In many ways, the experience that faced the Jewish exiles mirrors the church's experience today. We are now exiles from Christendom and we are grieving its loss and struggling with being marginalized in society.

So how do we live? How do we disciple our people? How do we think and act? It calls for abandonment to Jesus and to His way of life! It calls for us to live like Daniel did. This is absolutely essential if we are going to truly make missional disciples.

It's a Work of Faith

Church planting is a work of faith. We do prospecting and "farming". We develop systems and processes for outreach & discipleship. etc. But at the end of the day, we are utterly dependent on God to do the work that only He can do. This is what leads me to believe that the most important task in church planting is prayer. Earnest, fervent, desperate prayer. That is why these verses mean so much to me:

But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose HOPE is in his unfailing love; to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in HOPE for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upn us, O Lord, even as we put our HOPE in you. Psalm 33:18-22

We're Making a Difference

Last month I wrote an article for Rev Magazine telling the story of one church in Austin, TX that was making a difference in their city. The article also showed that there were approximately 3,500 new churches started in the U.S. in 2006 while approximately 3,000 closed.

This is the first time that I can remember in my lifetime that we opened more churches than we closed in a year. We're making a difference in cities and the nation.

If you would like a copy of this article from Rev Magazine email me at glenn@nciglobal.org and I'll be happy to send you a copy.

Building a Missional Core for a Church Plant

Most of the church planters I work with plan to develop a "Core Group" to help them launch their new church. I affirm this. I believe it is a much healthier and more effective approach to launch with a good "team." But what is a good Core Group?

Most planters are thinking of a Launch Team, a small group of workers to run the Sunday morning program/event. However, I think that is a small part of what you need for a Missional church plant. I like to refer to the core group as the "Missional Core."

What I mean by "Missional Core" is that this is a group of people who see themselves as missionaries, thus they do the work of a missionary in an unreached context. They engage non-believers and unchurched people. They build relationships. They do research into the culture. They think and strategize about how to make meaningful connections with people who are far from God. They draw these people into a friendship and over time, they create a new community of faith explorers.

The most important role of the Missional Core is not running a Sunday program or event, although many of them may help do this. The most important role is to be a missionary & evangelist, to be a pursuer and a gatherer. Their job is prospecting, and they do this by entering the world of the unchurched, by networking, by serving the community, and by building relational bridges. Research, outreach, relationships, prayer, and evangelism are the focus of a missional core.

Yes, you probably need a launch team (depending on your model). But don't settle for that. Build a missional core!

Raising Up Your Own Church Planters

One of the missional practitioners that I admire and respect is Hal Haller in Port Orange (Daytona) Florida. Hal not only teaches and coaches, but he lives church planting everyday. A few months ago Hal launched his 3rd church plant. Here is what Hal recently shared with me:

Birthing, Developing, and Sending out leaders is at the very heart and passion of our church. For us, success is not measured by how many people attend or how much money you take in or how slick your marketing campaign might be. Rather, success is measured by the people we invest in and mobilize out for the sake of the gospel.

One of the things I do at Church of the Highlands Port Orange is constantly scan the people that God sends in our gathering. I’m consciously looking for people who seem to be open, teachable and faithful. I then make time to get to know each one of them. I spend a lot of informal time around meals or golf and my goal is to share with them the things I have learned in ministry and to discover the passion, gifting and desire they have for God. My ultimate goal is to help set their life on God’s mission, infuse enthusiasm for His work, and to show them how they can make strategic investments in the lives of others.

The best way I know to reproduce yourself in others is by simply giving people access to your life. So that at the end of the day, I can hopefully say to each of them like Paul said to the believers at the Philippians church: “Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing.” Philippians 4:9 (NLT) This is at the core of reproducing disciples that eventually reproduce churches. Hal

Gathering Your First 50 People

It has been said that the most difficult thing in church planting is gathering your first 50 people. Of course, the second most difficult thing is gathering your second 50 people. It is also vitally important WHO those first 100 people are because they will shape the culture of your new church. Keep that in mind!

The question is, "How do you gather new people?" This requires a lot of intentionality for most planters. A few have a unique gift for drawing people to themself, but most of us have to work at it. We have to think through who we're trying to reach and start attracting people like this. Usually like attracts like, so if you can start gathering the people you are attempting to reach you will be more likely to be successful in reaching your mission focus group. (I have a firm grasp of the obvious!)

Recruiting a group from an existing church can be helpful (given that the existing church is OK with you recruiting people from them). However, be very careful. This is often times counter-productive because the people from the existing church are usually not missional, not evangelistic, and are typcially looking for a new church that is more convienent or more suitable for themselves. You must only recruit MISSIONARIES from existing churches. If you recruit "consumers" they will usually suck the life out of you, and eventually leave because you're not "meeting their needs."

I don't mean to sound harsh or critical, it's just that church planting is hard and requires a lot of sacrifice from a core of believers. Western Christians are not accustomed to a sacrificial lifestyle (which in itself is sad.) While every church planter needs a few "missionary" believers to help them, I encourage planters to look to the harvest to build your initial critical mass. Seek to build relationships with non-churched, non-believers whom you can encourage and disciple, and hopefully assimilate into your new church plant. I hope to talk more in the days ahead about some specifics regarding how to do this. Just remember for now that the first 100 people will shape the culture of your new church. Make it a missional, new life culture! If you already have your first 50 people, ask yourself what kind of culture they are creating!

Why Pray?

For those of you who have heard me train church planters you know how my church planting experience was a dramatic turning point in my personal prayer life. Since that time I have sought to always stretch myself and deepen myself in the area of prayer. Right now I am reading Philip Yancey's book "Prayer." I want to share with you a quote from it that has really spoken to me recently.

"Why pray? I have asked this question almost every day of my Christian life, especially when God's presence seems far away and I wonder if prayer is a pious form of talking to myself. I have asked it when I read theology, wondering what use there may be in repeating what God must surely know.

"...prayer has become for me much more than a shopping list of requests to present to God. It has become a realignment of everything. I pray to restore the truth of the universe, to gain a glimpse of the world, and of me, through the eyes of God.

"In prayer I shift my point of view away from my own selfishness. I climb above timberline and look down at the speck that is myself. I gaze at the stars and recall what role I or any of us play in a universe beyond comprehension. Prayer is the act of seeing reality from God's point of view. (Yancey, p.29)

I conclude with this thought. Prayer is not so much about accomplishing something through our ministry, but more about God accomplishing something inside me!

A World Class Training Center

A few years ago the Elders from Hill Country Bible Church in Austin, TX embraced the vision of one day having a world class training center for church planters. Today that vision is becoming a reality.

Hill Country has been refining and developing their program now for two years. They have just enlisted a corp of church planting residents for this fall who will be preparing to plant churches in Austin by September 2008. Each year they plan to train and support multiple planters to reach the city of Austin. Their vision is that every man, woman and child in the greater Austin area would hear about the life-changing reality of the gospel through a relationship with someone from a Hill Country church. However, they also understand that a city will not be reached by only one church even if that church has an aggressive church planting strategy. So they are partnering with every evangelical ministry that they can in the city to bring about transformation.

In addition to their partnerships, Hill Country themself is planning to plant 100 new churches in their city over the next 10 years. These will include many different types of churches, a variety of models, and diverse ethnic and cultural focus'.

Hill Country has a 4-phase plan that includes vision-casting & recruitment, immersion & assessment, residency training, residency pre-launch preparation, and a 2-year post-launch coaching plan. If you would like to know more about their plan contact me at glenn@nciglobal.org or contact their church planting director John Herrington at Hill Country Bible Church (www.hcbc.com).

What is Church Planting All About?

This week was a very encouraging week for me. This week I learned of 2 of my church planters, both in the pre-launch phase, who saw people come to faith in Christ! That's what this is all about! These 2 planters are going to be able to celebrate baptisms either before or immediately after they launch their church. Who know, maybe on launch Sunday they will celebrate baptism.

The most important thing that church planters need to be doing in the pre-launch phase is evangelism! They must be building relationships with people who are far from God, praying for open doors, and initiating conversations that can lead to the gospel. They must also be training and encouraging their core teams in evangelism as well. Church planting is about taking the gospel to people who have not yet come to faith in Christ.

We do not need to force anything are try to manipulate something to happen. We just need to be praying, be obedient the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and be good conversationalists. Of course we need to know the truth of the gospel but sharing it can be as simple as telling our story. Everybody has a story, but not everyone's story has intersected with God's story. Listen to their story, then share your story. Train your people to do the same. That's what church planting is about!

ENTREPRENEURS AND FEAR

Entrepreneurs are very interesting people. I work with entrepreneurs in both the vocational ministry world and the business world. I love them. It is true that most people perceive entrepreneurs to be “risk-takers” but I’ve learned that most entrepreneurs are also thoughtful planners!

Yes, they take risks that the average person would not take, but they are more like the wise builder and the wise king of Luke 14:28-33 than probably most people realize. The best entrepreneurs that I have known are not fool hearty people who act impulsively, throwing caution to the wind. They measure the risk. They plan. They envision the end result. But what makes them entrepreneurs is they act with courage and determination.

Do they feel fear? Most of the entrepreneurs I’ve know say “yes.” But fear does not stop them. In fact, they find that acting in the face of fear is exhilarating! They are alive, passionate, ambitious people. Most of them think and plan, but then they act. And once they act, they typically never look back. They remind me of Paul in Philippians 3:12-14.

Church planters are kingdom entrepreneurs. They think, plan, and pray. But then they pull the trigger! They step out. They take risks. They trust their calling and they trust God’s faithfulness. Their fear does not stop them or cause them to look back. Their fear keeps them on their knees and pressing ahead with passion!

How to Train Church Planters

Last fall I had the privilege of doing research and writing for the Leadership Network on the subject of "Models for Training Church Planters." In this article we explored various models that different ministries used around the country. We also touched on some of the critical aspects of planting healthy, reproducing churches. We then explored some of the critical issues surrounding new churches and how these are addressed or overlooked. I concluded with an overview of the Leadership Pipeline that I am helping churches institute in order to raise up leaders from within their congregations.

We've gotten great reviews from readers! If you would like to read this article, email me and I'll be glad to send you a copy. Email me at glenn@nciglobal.org.

A Great Spiritual Formation Resource for Churches

One of the ministries that we partner with is Ascending Leaders. The founder is Dr. Mike Johnson, a great friend. I highly recommend that you check this out. This is a powerful tool for making missional disciples in the church! The website is www.ascendingleaders.org.

Insoluble Problems

One of our planters just sent me this quote by John W. Gardiner: "We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems." I love that!

One of the challenges that I'm facing right now is helping one of my client churches find 3-6 prospective church planters for Austin, TX. Can you help me? This is for a non-denominational church who wants to resource good candidates! Please reply to me at glenn@nciglobal.org if you have any interest, if you know anyone who might have interest, or if you know someone I should talk to who might know someone who might have interest!

Hope to see you next week at the National New Church Conference!

Got Time to Plant?

Almost every church planter I work with struggles with time management. That's understandable! We have a dream of something new and hundreds of ideas to implement. Then, of course, there's people! Relationships are the core of what we're about, and relationships take time! How do we find the time?

Scripture tells us to be "making the best use of the time, because the days are evil" (Ep 5:16). Stress is a sign that we may not be making the best use of our time. What do we do?

The bottomline is this. We only have 168 hours in a week. You can't get more. You can't save it up. You can't postpone it. Time happens. God expects us to be faithful stewards of those 168 hours. In other words, God never expects (nor desires) for us to try to do more than we can do in 168 hours a week. And, He doesn't want us to destroy our health by not getting adequate rest, exercise, and proper diet. He doesn't want us to neglect or damage our families. What He desires is simply that I be a good steward of the time I do have, and trust Him for the rest.

So the pressure I sometimes feel is a sign of either poor stewardship or a lack of faith, or both. My daily task is to make sure I am being a faithful steward - of my time, my family, my health, my calling. Jesus did it and I never see Him in the Scriptures running around frantic like I sometimes do. He's not wringing his hands, uptight about me handling all the demands; because those demands that are stressing me aren't coming from Him.

Slow down. Take a breath. Learn to live a quiet and peaceable life in the midst of church planting. It can be done! Need help? Get a coach!

Houston - Emerging Culture Seminar!!!

InterVarsity is sponsoring this excellent seminar on April 10th. Jimmy Long, author of "Emerging Hope" will be presenting on emerging culture in North America. I highly recommend his book and this seminar!

This seminar will be held at Grace Presbyterian Church in Houston. The time is 9:30-3:00. This is a $75 value that IV is offering to pastors, church planters, and Christian leaders for FREE! Thank you IV staff!!!

For more information contact Lanae Webel, the regional IV director at lwebel@gmail.com or call 713-426-2871. Also, check out http://www.ivpress.com/videos/emerging_culture.php.

Don't Miss the Nat'l New Church Conf.

I am planning to attend the National New Church Conference in Orlando the week of April 23rd. I want to invite you to join me there! This will be the largest gathering of church planting leaders in North America. The line up of presenters is unbelievable. Check it out at http://exponentialconference.org/.

I hope to see you there!

Some Upcoming Training!

Dear Friends,
Just want you to know that we will have our Essentials - Third Day Training in Houston on March 22nd. We are also having our 2-day intensive "The Essentials for Starting a Missional Church" in Austin on March 23-24. Check out our website for more details, http://www.newchurchinitiatives.org/events/index.htm.

Also, don't miss the National New Church Conference in Orlando, April 23-26. Click here for more details, http://exponentialconference.org/.

Hope to see you in Houston, Austin, or Orlando!

A Powerful God: Draw Close!

O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind. He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants. He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.

These words are from Psalm 104:1-5. They remind us of God's power and greatness. As church planters, we take risks. We step out in faith trusting God to do things that only He can do. At times we feel fear and anxiety. "What if God doesn't come through?" we ask ourselves. "What if I leave a secure, salaried job and this doesn't work?" "What if no one comes?" On and on our flesh and our adversary put these kinds of questions and doubts in our minds.

The psalmist goes on and reminds us further that God provides for all His creation. These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. (104:27-28)

As I've reflected on this psalm this week I thought back to significant steps of faith that I've taken in my life. Over the past 15 years I can identify at least 6 bold steps that required me to trust God in profound ways. Church planting was one of those experiences, and they all had to do with obeying God in the start up of new things.

God can be trusted. He is greater than any challenge we face. If He set the earth on its foundations, starting a new church on this earth is a piece of cake for Him. Our fears do not reflect a lack of power or desire on God's part, only a lack of intimacy with Him on our part. Draw near to Him!

Finding Joy & Gladness in Church Planting

This morning I've been reflecting on Psalm 100. The psalmist tells us to "Shout for JOY to the Lord" and to "Worship the Lord with GLADNESS." Sometimes, though, I just don't feel joy or gladness. Why? What do I do?

Verse 5 gives us a clue: "KNOW that the Lord is God." The truth is that God is in control at all times - He reigns, he's all-powerful, and He is good - so of course, I should come to Him with joy and gladness. If I'm not experiencing joy and gladness it is because I have forgotten (or maybe never really known) that He is good and He is in control!

Joy and gladness is not a result of my circumstances but a result of God's nature and character, and my deep awareness of who He is. So the psalmist says "Know that the Lord is God." He concludes with "For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." If I really believe this (deeply), I will have joy and gladness no matter what challenges or trials I face in church planting. Be encouraged! Be joyful! Be glad!

The Essentials for Starting a Missional Church - 2007 version

This coming week we will be offering the "2007" update of our core course, "The Essentials for Starting a Missional Church." This will be in Houston on Thursday (22nd) and Friday (23rd).

This training is different from most church planter training in that it challenges you to think about your ecclesiology and to consider what a missional church really is. We make a careful examination of Western culture and it's influence on our understanding of the church. We explore the critical theological issues behind the concept of "missional" church.

What's new in 2007? We have updated our units on "Calling" and "Evangelism," and we have made major changes to our unit on "Putting the Plan Together." Plus all of our bibliographies have been updated with the latest and best resources for church planters.

If you're an alumni, you can attend at no charge, but please make a reservation so we will ensure a space for you. For more information see http://www.newchurchinitiatives.org/events/index.htm.

Are We Coaching or Mentoring?

This week a friend of mine asked some questions that provoked my thinking about the difference between “coaching” and “mentoring.” Most people (including myself) seem to use these words synonymously, but is there a difference? I believe there is a difference, as does most of the literature on the subject.

The NASA Business Coaching Handbook gives a good distinction between business coaching, training, mentoring, consulting, traditional supervision, and counseling. See http://nasapeople.nasa.gov/training/coachmentor/businesscoachingHR.pdf.

Their definition of “Business Coaching”: A coach concentrates on personal and professional success. How effective is the individual at achieving their goals and getting what they want out of life? Coaching is future-focused, aimed at identifying and understanding barriers and designing strategies and action to eliminate those barriers and improve effectiveness. Knowledge resides with the individual being coached.

Their definition of “Mentoring”: A mentor provides knowledge, information, and personal advice based on his/her experience. The focus is on passing on guidance that helped the mentor be successful in a similar situation in the past. The experience resides with the mentor.

I like this distinction and it is consistent with other literature on the subject. This is what I teach in our basic course for church planters “The Essentials for Starting a Missional Church.” However, in practice, I am realizing that I probably do more “mentoring” than “coaching.” When I work with experienced pastors and experienced church planters, my role is more of a coach. When I work with inexperienced church planters (which is the norm for me), my role is more of a mentor and trainer. When I am working with churches and organizations that want to become more effective in church planting my role is more of a “consultant.” For more on this see the NASA Handbook, page 4. There you will find an excellent chart describing these various roles. Another good resource is the book Connecting by Paul D. Stanley and J. Robert Clinton (NavPress).

See And Experience The Miraculous

One of the things I love about working with church planters is that these are men and women who live on the edge, learning to trust God in deep and powerful ways. This morning in my devotional reading I read 2 Kings 4. I love all these stories about Elisha because he too was a man who trusted God in deep and powerful ways.

When I read stories like the widow who had to pay a debt (4:1-7) I think of some of the unconventional ways that God provides for the financial needs of church planters. When I read about the Shunammite's son (4:8-37) I think about how God shows favor to his planters and how God performs miracles in families and individuals through the ministries of these new churches. When I read about the "stew" in 4:38-41 I think about how the enemy tries to poison people and undermine church planting teams, yet God brings life out of potentially horrible relational situations. When I see the feeding of the hundred (4:42-44) I'm reminded of how God always provides, always!

Church planters and others who are doing new missionary type works have to live on the edge of faith; and if God doesn't come through, they're sunk! But that's when we see God and witness His miraculous power. I love our sovereign, omnipotent God and I love church planters - a great formula for experiencing the miraculous!

One Of My Church Planting Heros

This weekend I had the privilege of speaking at the midwest regional conference of the Church of God out of Findley, OH. This is a small denomination that has embraced the value of "Healthy, reproducing churches." They asked me to speak several times on church planting, particularly as it relates to our increasingly diverse American landscape. These were wonderful people and it was a great time.

One of the church planting leaders in this group is Fran Leeman. Fran planted and pastors Lifespring Community Church in Plainfield, IL. Fran is one of my church planting heros.

One of the things I appreciate about Fran is his passion to be the church that God wants them to be. This is sometimes difficult living in the shadow of such mega-churches as Willow Creek and Community Christian. Those are great churches, but all of us have a tendency to measure our success by comparing ourselves to mega-churches. Consider 2 Corinthians 10:12.

Fran has faithfully pastored this young church, experiencing many ups and downs. As I ate lunch with him yesterday in Champaign, IL, I listened to him talk about person after person whom he (and others in his church) have reached out to - men and women who were far from God, some who had no clue who Jesus was or what Christianity was all about. I listened to him talk about the lay leaders (some of whom were also sitting at our table) and he described their journeys from a pre-Christian era to today when they were each taking significant roles of responsibility and leadership in the church. My heart was deeply moved. In fact, my eyes water by just recounting the experience with him yesterday.

In American culture where we measure success by size, it is easy to miss how God measures success. A few years ago I heard of a local pastor who had led his church for over 30 years, growing it from several hundred to several thousand in that time. At his retirement he made a statement like this, "In my 30+ years of pastoring we have learned to grow large churches, but I'm not sure we yet know how to make disciples."

Large churches are a great blessing to our cities in many ways, and I highly value their contribution to Kingdom work. However, I hope we can measure success not by the size of our church but by the lives that are transformed through the power of the gospel. Fran's church is not large (though it may become large in the future), but he is a success. He has story after story of life change that have emerged from his church and ministry, and he shares them humbly. He is one of my church planting heros.

ACCELERATE! It Happened!

This past Friday and Saturday approximately 150 church planting leaders (mostly from the city of Houston) gathered together for worship, inspiration, and instruction at Accelerate! My friend, Ed Stetzer, was our key note speaker.

Ed challenged us to plant Biblically faithful, culturally relevant, counter-cultural communities of faith! It was a rich and powerful time! However, the most amazing part of the experience was that the leaders of the three largest denominations in our city drafted a "Church Planting Manifesto" in which they covenanted together to plant churches that will transform our city. It was a covenant that honored their differences theologically, yet affirmed their unity around church planting and saturating our city with the gospel. It truly was an historic moment!

These leaders signed the manifesto and then invited everyone to join them in signing it. I do not yet know how many signed on but it looked like the majority of the participants. God was present! I'm still in awe of what happened. May this be the beginning of a new wave of church planting in Houston, and around the world.

Why We Do This

This morning I was meditating on Psalm 84. As I was reflecting and praying over this passage I realized that this is why we plant churches. The psalmist says "How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." (84:1-2)

He goes on to say "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked." (84:10) We plant churches so that more people might experience God, so that they might discover and experience His presence forever.

As I read over this passage I realized that something in my soul cried out "Yes, I yearn for God's presence just like the psalmist did." I treasure these moments when I am acutely aware of God's presence. I want the people I minister to to increasingly experience God. I want them to know the joy of His presence and to have the opportunity to experience this for the rest of their life (here and in eternity.) "O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you." (84:12)

Coaching: A Discovery Process

Coaching focuses on promoting discovery. A good coach will not tell you what to do, but instead will ask you the right questions to help you discover what you need to do. As Christians we have the added benefit of the Holy Spirit indwelling us to guide us into truth. A skilled coach will help you find untapped potential within yourself. A good coach thinks about you and your needs. He focuses entirely on you.

Jane Creswell (a coaching expert) says "The best image for coaching is a vehicle. The word coach derives from an old British word meaning 'horse-drawn carriage.'" She encourages us to think of the coaching process as a journey, "one in which you are caught up in the process as you move toward a specific, targeted destination." The goal of the coach is to help you find direction and enjoy the ride, while maximizing all the resources at your disposal. The skilled coach helps you be the best you can be.

I said it before, every church planter needs a coach. In fact, I believe that every pastor needs a coach. Do you have one? If not, get one!

Are You Sure You Want to Plant a Church?

Several months back a friend of mine said that half of the church planters he works with in his state quit within 18-24 months of starting their new church. I can only imagine a hundred reasons for this phenomena; one of which is a lack of clarity about one's own calling to church planting - the kind of clarity required to sustain you through the hard times.

People plant churches for a lot of different reasons - some very good, and some probably not so good. The truth is that church planting is HARD WORK and on top of that there will always be spiritual resistance from the evil one. Just before Christmas I was talking with a local church planter who spoke about losing over half of his core team before the church was a year old. (This is not uncommon - again for many reasons.) When the going gets tough, the faint of heart quickly begin to re-assess the risks and commitments required to plant a new church!

Almost every church planter I know experiences some measure of this kind of questioning, including myself. One of the key scriptures that has helped me is found in Psalm 73. Here's what God says to us:

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (73:22-26)

Meditate on these words and let them encourage your heart!

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior into this world. I am aware that many of my friends are suffering grief or pain as we enter this holiday weekend. Our family has the incredible blessing of getting to be together. We pray for our dear friends and we trust that God will bring peace, comfort, and grace in this time. I am deeply grateful for a wonderful year of coaching many men and women. I am grateful for our NCI staff and many new church plants that we had the privilege of serving. I am grateful for my family and our material and physical blessings. I am most grateful for the opportunity to know many of you who read this and to serve together in God's Kingdom work. Merry Christmas.

You Need a Coach

Every church planter needs a coach. However, not just anyone is an effective coach. Granted, some people are good coaches intuitively, and they may not even know that about themselves. However, my experience has been that most pastors are not really very good coaches - although they could be with intentionality. But if it is not a person's passion to coach and help others through coaching, then they are not going to be a very good coach!

When my children were small I use to coach their sports teams - one coach with a dozen kids. However, when they grew older their teams required more coaches than just myself. In fact, when an athlete competes on an olympic level, there may be 4 or 5 coaches for one athlete. Professional golfers all have a coach to help them continue to improve their game. If you want to be the best you can be, you need a coach! If you want to be a good steward of the talents and opportunities God has given you, you need an intentional coach!

One of the things our staff team is intentional about is becoming increasingly highly effective coaches. Do you have a coach? You need one - we can help you! Is God calling you to be a coach? We can help you. I have a couple of coaches myself, do you?

Celebrate Small Wins

Having worked in business and church I can say with conviction that in the church we generally do not know how to measure success.

It’s easy in business, you must make a profit or you will not stay in business. You can celebrate small wins because you know they are the things that move you toward making a profit. However, in ministry “profit” is not the goal. In fact, many churches continue to generate income through tithes and offerings while never accomplishing much toward their mission. This is partly due to the fact that we are not clear on our mission!

In his excellent book 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, Andy Stanley states “It is possible for a church to become very efficient at doing ministry ineffectively.” This is because we do not have a clear picture of the end. We must work with the end in mind, or as Andy says it, we must clarify the win!

Yogi Berra once said “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” That characterizes many (if not most) churches in North America. When we don’t know where we’re going, we never know what or when to celebrate! We don’t know what the “small wins” are if and when they come. Without celebration, people lose vision, hope, and motivation.

In a church plant, we must have a plan of action! That plan must move us toward a clear vision and it must identify small wins along the way. These should be the focus of our intercessors (please tell me you have an intercession team), and they should be markers for celebration. I encourage planters to maintain a 90 Day Plan and to update it monthly. At least monthly you and your team should celebrate the small wins!

ACCELERATE!

On January 19-20 we are sponsoring an unprecedented event here in Houston. It is called "Accelerate." See http://www.newchurchinitiatives.org/calling/accelerate/acc_web.html for details.

Why is this unprecedented? We are pulling together the major denominational leaders in the area to lock arms to serve the city through church planting. I am deeply appreciative to co-sponsors such as Tom Billings (Union Baptist Association), Bishop Janice Huie (United Methodist Church Conference), Mike Cole (General Presbyter of the Presbytery of New Covenant), Jim Herrington (Mission Houston), and many others who are working together to make this event happen! Ed Stetzer will be our key note speaker and there will be over 20 different workshops (including a Spanish language track).

We will not only be joining all of the major denominations around church planting, we will also be joining all racial/ethnic groups and all church models (brick & mortar churches, cell churches, house churches, etc.) Our vision: unity for the transformation of our city through church multiplication!

Everyone is invited to experience this historic event that I hope will be replicated in cities all across America!

Tell Your Story!

Every church planter needs to write and communicate his/her story!

People are drawn to passion and they are moved by stories. Every church planter has a story and they should be communicating that story with passion. To get focused and clear on it, you MUST write it down!

What is your story? Your story should answer the questions:
• Why are you planting a church instead of doing something else?
• Why are you planting in the location that you’re planting?
• What has led you to this place?
• What do you hope for/dream of?

Your story should define your calling. It should express your passion. It should articulate your dream. You must understand that stories touch the hearts of people. When you touch the heart, people will join with you to make this new church a reality.

To succeed as a church planter, your new church must have at its foundation a story that drives and directs it day by day. And that story begins with God’s story and your story! A compelling story will answer the “Why?” questions and cause others to want to become a part of that story.

Have you written your story? You should be able to do this in one page. Have you communicated your story? You should be writing letters, articles, blogs, etc. every week. Have you engaged others with your story? You should have 10 face to face appointments every week sharing your story with someone new!

You are not ready to plant a church until you have written and begun articulating your story!

A Confusing God

Our God is both terrifying and tender, compex and simple. He is holy yet accepting, just but merciful, majestic and personal. His a God of wrath and a God of compassion. He is a God who stretches us way out of our comfort zones and the God who provides for every need. He is the God who puts us in the middle of the fray, yet who is our refuge and deliverer.

As church planters we are walking hand in hand with Him. He typically will not let us forget that. We must never fear. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging (Ps 46:1-3).

The Ride: Hal's Reflections on the Past 10 Years

I asked my friend Hal Haller from Daytona, FL to share some thoughts on my blog. Hal is now in his third church plant, so here are his reflections on his last 10 years of planting:

Jubilation. Disappointment.
Victory. Defeat.
Energy. Exhaustion.
Spiritual Transformation. Spiritual Casualties.
Faith. Hopelessness.
Provision. Poverty.
Delight. Disappointment.
Freedom. Pressure.
Hopeful. Helpless.
Success. Failure.
Possibilities. Dead Ends.

I have experienced all of these emotions and experiences and more. I have ridden the rollercoaster of highs and lows in church planting. What’s been wild for me to think lately is that I’m glad I’m on the rollercoaster. The ride is a confirmation that I am following God and an affirmation that he is with me on this life jolting adventure.

The Apostle Paul, church planter extraordinaire, experienced severe hardships and disappointments. Shipwrecked, jailed, beaten, broke and abandoned. Yet Paul also experienced great joy – people’s lives changed and churches multiplied.

I know the Lord takes us through the highs and lows to remind us that we must be completely dependant on Him. Don’t lose sight of what God has called you to do. Be at peace that God is taking you for an unpredictable ride. It will be scary, difficult and yet exhilarating all at the same time. As a close friend always says to me, ‘Enjoy the Ride’.

God's Working On the Problem

I’m currently coaching about 20 church planters. I love these people – they are my heroes! Their’s is a challenging task. Like me, they often struggle with anxiety – Is anyone going to show up at our meeting? Will we have the money we need to pay bills, to pay me? Will my leaders hang with me? Am I really making a difference? Are we going to make it?

As I read Psalm 44 this morning I realized that God is always faithful, but sometimes He takes us through difficult or uncertain times. This is our call to seek Him more intensely and to trust Him more deeply, and to listen to Him more carefully. We must guard our hearts and minds so that we do not become pessimistic or defeated. We must guard against negative or limiting beliefs.

If we believe Romans 8:28 we will know that there is no problem in our life or ministry that God is not aware of and that He is not using for His purposes. I love Isaiah 64:4, “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him.” Amazing, God is at work for us in every problem we encounter. As church planters, we must remember this. We must seek Him earnestly. We must maintain hope and confidence in Him. God's working on the problem!

Will I Ever Escape Anxiety?

God has always - without exception - been faithful to me! He has been faithful through all generations. I know this and have experienced this. I have no experiential reason to doubt this. Yet I still feel anxiety almost daily. WHY?

I read the Psalms daily and everyday God comforts and reassures me. Again, He is so faithful. So why do I keep feeling this way? Why can't I trust Him? Why can't I abide in Him? Why can't I rest in Him?

Honestly, I love living on the edge to some degree. I love taking calculated risks. That's part of why I love church planting. Sometimes I think I torture myself. I guess I have a love-hate relationship with myself. Church planters are my heros! They are missional entrepreneurs. They are risk takers. The one thing I know is that God is faithful and He continues to be faithful. Maybe my human condition is simply to keep me on my knees.

A Coaching Moment

Today was one of those highlights in coaching church planters. One of my planters has been struggling to gather a following and achieve a critical mass to begin his new church. Today he shared with me that the past month has been a time of soul-searching. Some major breakthroughs have been occurring in his heart and mind.

For example, he realized that passionate prayer had been absent from his last several months of work. He realized that he had not seen any significant spiritual breakthroughs or answers to prayer. Over the past two weeks he has devoted himself to intensive prayer, seeking God’s direction and provision. He reported to me today that he has just experienced two very significant “God-things”. He has clearly seen God at work in his efforts. More importantly, he shared with me how God has been changing him!

That’s significant, because God is more concerned with what happens in US than what happens in our church. Why? Because little will change in our church (or our church planting efforts) unless something significant changes in us. My dear brother is now beginning to experience God in powerful ways.

A Future Church Planter

Well, I just can't help myself. I'm a proud grandfather. If you didn't meet her a couple of blogs back, this is my granddaughter Sydnie. She's an easy baby and full of life. Very curious about everything. Maybe one day she'll be a church planter! Who knows.

My Personal Mission in Life

I feel like God has called me to love Him with passion & devotion, to love & shepherd my family, and to advance His Kingdom on earth through personal disciple-making and church planting. I believe that God is calling individuals into relationship with Himself and onto mission with Him. This calling is both individual and collective.

I believe the church was the NT strategy, the vehicle for the continuing mission of Jesus. Definition: The church is a community of Christ-followers who are continuing the mission of Jesus. However, new churches may not fit our institutional mental models of church.

The church is a lighthouse in a dark world. The church is an outpost or beachhead for the Kingdom in the midst of a cultural struggle. God's Kingdom is not a political or governmental or military kingdom. Instead it is a grassroots movement of the love and grace of Jesus Christ, fueled by the Holy Spirit, transforming its followers, their faith community, and the world.

However, the world/culture is always going to decay and deteriorate faster than transformation will come. But where sin abounds, grace does much more. As the culture deteriorates we will see greater and greater expressions of God's transforming grace.

We must be faithful to be the "salt" and "light" of the world even though we see more darkness, knowing that one day Jesus will return, sin will be ultimately defeated, and He will create a new heaven and new earth - He will make all things right. (Remember the power and promise of the resurrection!)

My responsibility is not to turn the world into a utopia - that will never happen. My responsibility is to faithfully express His love and grace in a darkening world, to be a faithful messenger of the good news of the Kingdom among people whose lives are being ravished by this increasing darkness, and (with other Christ-followers) be an agent of hope and transformation in a dark place. Every church we plant must become this kind of outpost for the Kingdom by making transforming, missional disciples.

Meet Sydnie Rae!

This is Sydnie, our first grandchild. She is now 10 months old and she occupies much of our attention. As I think about planting churches, I want to see more churches that will be relevant to my kids and grandchildren. Western society is moving further away from Christ. We desperately need more churches to reach the emerging generations.

Missional Church and Mass Marketing

Church marketing is a debated topic. I have to confess that some of the church marketing I've seen has not been helpful in sharing the gospel with some of the skeptics that I talk to. In fact, they either ignore it, make fun of it, or are antagonistic toward it. My question is, can marketing be an effective tool of a missional church?

Eddie Gibbs in his book Church Next talks about how we need to make a shift from being market-driven to mission oriented. Does that mean we should not use marketing as a tool if we are missional? I think Eddie raises a good point stating "Our post-Christian, neopagan, pluralistic North American context presents crosscultural missionary challenges every bit as daunting as those we would face on any other continent."

He suggests that there are some faulty assumptions inherent in the marketing mentality of the North American church. He goes on to say "Most pastors and church leaders have no missiological training. Consequently they resort to marketing strategies in place of missionary insights in their attempts to reach out to a population that is becoming increasingly distanced from the church.

Eddie doesn't totally dismiss marketing; however, he suggests that most of our church marketing is rooted in a weak ecclesiology. He continues saying "marketing insights and tools will prove increasingly inadequate as North America moves still further into its postmodern, post-Christian and neopagan phase." What do you think?

The Gospel: United in His Resurrection

The gospel is about being united with Christ in His resurrection - but what does that mean? For me, in the past it has meant that I will experience life after death, I will see my loved ones in Christ, and I probably have power available to me that goes beyond any human power. But in the book Stormfront, the authors said "The resurrection is all about whether God can be trusted, even though God's faithfulness and justice may not always appear in this life, and God's sovereignty may seem utterly absent."

The resurrection of Jesus is our ground for hope and confidence. The resurrection affirms that God is faithful to all His covenant promises. It affirms that there will be justice in the end because He has power over death - it demonstrates His sovereignty.

In light of this, we as a community of faith must be faithful to one another and to our Lord. We should not fear death nor be anxious about its reality. We can also stand with confidence in the face of opposing powers, whether they be human or spiritual. To me, to be united with Him in His resurrection is to live with confidence, peace, and hope.

I should be celebrating Easter everyday! Whenever I'm down emotionally, I live as if the resurrection never happened. To be united with Him inHis resurrection is to live with a confidence and security that transcends normal humanity. I think I'm just beginning to understand the gospel.

An Invitation Into Communion - "Fellowship of His Suffering"

The gospel is an invitation to participate in God's kingdom activity, but it is more. It is also an invitation into communion with Him (Ph. 3:10). Specifically, it is an invitation to unite with Jesus in His way of life - particularly His death and resurrection. This has always been a hard concept for me to grasp. Participation in God's kingdom activity is much more than joining a religious organization. We are invited to unite with Him in His death; but what does that mean?

Jesus' experience of death was probably the most humiliating and torturous means of death known to man. The methodology of the cross was offensive and repulsive, yet it speaks powerfully of radical love and radical trust. It is the example of sacrifice that Jesus calls us to - "take up your cross and follow me."

When I reflect on passages like this I feel uncomfortable. What do I have to give up? What will I lose? In my humanness I will never get beyond these hang-ups. However, this is where the promise and help of the Holy Spirit become reality in my life. It is the Holy Spirit who transforms me and forms Jesus in me. I would have no hope of this kind of identification or communion apart from the Holy Spirit. It is so not-human!

When I sacrifice things that I humanly desire (and could have) for the sake of others, I am participating in His death. And no matter how great my sacrifice might be, it will never be greater than His! I want my life to be increasingly characterized by this "fellowship of His suffering" (Ph. 3:10).

What's the Gospel About?

If you've been reading my blogs you know I believe that Western culture has skewed our view of the gospel. As Western Christians we tend to place ourselves at the center of the world and then try to make God and church fit around us. We tend to do the same thing with the gospel. Thus the gospel has degenerated to something that is about me, about meeting my needs.

I'm realizing in a new way that the gospel is not about me, but about God! The gospel is about God's presence and power breaking into the world of sinful humanity in a new and dynamic way. Jesus speaks about the gospel in terms of the kingdom of God or the reign of God. The other New Testament writers speak about the gospel in terms of what God has done in Jesus! The gospel is not a commodity to meet our needs. Instead it is an invitation to participate in God's gracious action in the world. Of course we benefit as humans from the gospel but it is not about us. It is about God, His power, and His presence in the world.

The Gospel of Meeting My Needs

I'm wrestling with the question "What is the gospel?" I realize that I have been shaped dramatically by my Western culture. We have been deeply embedded in the thinking of Maslow and his hierarchy of needs. In our prosperous land I'm not sure we know the difference between a "need" and a normal (but mostly inconsequential) human desire. For many Westerners, everything becomes a "need."

Maslow is quoted as saying "Life acquires its energy and dynamism from our relentless attempts to meet these needs." In other words, whatever we define as our "need" becomes the thing that we live for. Meeting our needs becomes the central purpose of life. Thus the gospel for many (if not most) Westerners is the "good news that Jesus will meet your needs."

Now it is biblically true that Jesus meets needs (Phil. 4:19). Our God is "Jehovah Jirah," the God who provides (Gen. 22:14). However, I believe that the problem is that in our intensely marketed, consumeristic culture, we do not know how to define "need." It seems like whatever we desire, it becomes a "need" and God must provide it!

The result is self-absorbtion and narcissism. Salvation and spiritual growth becomes all about meeting my needs - e.g. serving me. I am the center of my world. Could it be that the gospel is much more about the redemption of the world (including creation) than about me and my needs? I'm still wrestling with "What is the REAL good news?"

What is the Good News of the Gospel?

The gospel is good news. But what is the good news in North American culture? Is it different in African culture? Latin culture? Asian culture? What is the good news in an oppressed country like Sudan? How about a communist country like Vietnam or China? How about the impoverished regions of India?

In the West we quickly think like consumers - e.g. how will this improve my quality of life? We see ourselves as consumers whose sole purpose in life is to satify our "needs." This cultural mindset permeates the church in such deep and unconscious ways that we are oftentimes unable to distinguish and accurately reflect the gospel.

In our culture (Western) the gospel becomes all about serving me, helping me, and making my life better (e.g. meeting my needs.) When many churches talk about "meeting needs" what they are really talking about is "satisfying the customer." Is that what the gospel is about and for? James V. Brownson in his book Stormfront says "It is almost impossible for most people in North America even to imagine any other way of living."

This runs so deep in us that we have difficulty seeing that this contradicts biblical faith. The gospel is not "good news that Jesus will make you happy, healthy, wealthy, and without need." The gospel is not "good news that you can be self-actualized and independently satisfied." I want to think much more deeply about this. I plan to blog about this in the coming weeks. What do you think about my observation?

A Faithful and Compelling Performance of the Gospel

I just finished reading an interesting book in which the authors state that there should be (as they describe it) “a faithful and compelling performance of the gospel.” I immediately reacted thinking “What is that?”

This phrase struck me because I have never thought in those terms (e.g. a “performance” of the gospel.) The authors were quick to point out that their usage of this term is not in the sense of entertainment. Nevertheless, it was both engaging and almost sacrilege for me to think of a “performance” of the gospel.

As I reflected on this, Romans 1:16 quickly came to mind, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.” The gospel does perform, and it should perform powerfully! But how is this power manifest? Would that be the gospel’s performance? What does it look like for us to live the gospel? What does a faithful and compelling performance of the gospel look like? Does anyone know?

Maybe if we could answer these questions we might also be able to state what the “good news” really is. What is the gospel? What do you think?

The World Is Flat

One of the most intriguing books I've read lately is Thomas Friedman's The World Is Flat. Friedman (who also did an excellent job with his previous book The Lexus and the Olive Tree) powerfully illustrates the reality of globalization. He identifies 10 "flatteners" that have connected us to the entire world, as well as important implications of this reality.

His first flattener is 11/9/89. That was one of the most significant dates of my lifetime - it was the day the Berlin wall was first breached which led to the fall of the Iron Curtain. That was the beginning of globalization.

Friedman points out that some thought that Ronald Reagan brought down the wall by bankrupting the Soviet Union through an arms race; others thought IBM, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates brought down the wall by empowering individuals with information. But a world away, in Muslim lands, many thought Osama bin Laden and his comrades brought down the Soviet Empire by their victory against the Russians in Afghanistan. Everyone was empowered by this - the good and the bad!

It was strange to me at times to experience the freedom I felt on my recent trip to Russia, with memories of the cold war in the back of my mind. For many, 11/9 marked the end of the 20th century, while 9/11 marked the beginning of the 21st century. The world is now flat, almost seamless! It will never be the same again, though I sometimes miss Mayberry!

The missional church must have a global vision! We must not just plant churches for a local community, but we must plant churches to reach the world. These are more exciting days and more dangerous days. There is great opportunity before us but it requires courage! Globalization is a reality that is here to stay. We must be global pastors, global church planters, and global disciples! I highly recommend Friedman's book to help us gain that perspective.

Reflections on Training in Russia

What a wonderful experience it was to be with the Russian people last week. I worked with over 70 pastors and church planting leaders in 2 days of intensive training. I then preached in one of the Russian churches.

One of the pastors in the training commented that he had been talking to his associate about aggressively planting churches. However, as he and his associate talked to others they said he was crazy. He told me "This training is confirming what I believe God has been telling me to do, even though others have been telling me I'm crazy. It also gives me some tools to obey God and move in this direction."

The pastor who hosted our training event told us that this was confirmation to him that God wanted his church to plant 100 churches. Many other comments like these affirmed that we were doing what God wanted us to do.

We now have our training material "The Essentials for Starting a Missional Church" de-Westernized and translated into Russian. Before we left, there were 3 new invitations to come back and offer this training to Russian leaders. God's church is alive and well all over the world. What a blessing and priviledge to fellowship with and serve His Body from other parts of the world!

Missional Church Planting in Eastern Europe

This coming week I will be in Nizhny Novgorod (Russia) leading a national church planting conference. I’ve been researching the situation in these former Communist cities and my heart breaks for the people. There appears to be great need and great spiritual hunger. There appears to be significant leadership needs in the churches. There is great oppression from the Orthodox Church toward all evangelicals and most of the evangelical churches are struggling greatly. There is enormous social need.

One of the most striking things to me is that it appears (in my pre-trip research) that the evangelical churches are trying to be more “Western” than relevant in their culture. It reminds me of Sherwood Lingenfelter’s book Transforming Culture. Lingenfelter made this observation:

A few years ago some missionary colleagues and I attended a Sunday morning worship service in a large evangelical church in Cameroon’s capital city of Yaounde. The African pastors led us in a familiar service, selecting songs from a standard evangelical hymnbook and preaching an inspiring, doctrinally sound message, given in English and translated into French. We missionaries, a few white faces in a sea of black believers, enjoyed the service thoroughly.

As I walked away praising God, it suddenly occurred to me that this service was almost identical to those I had experienced in North America. Momentarily stunned, I wondered why I should feel as comfortable in Africa as if I were at home.

Lingenfelter goes on to raise some important questions. He says, Why is it that in the process of establishing churches in non-Western nations we transfer our culture of the church? Are missionaries planting biblically founded indigenous churches, or are they transferring their culture of Christianity to every nation of the world?

He concludes, It is difficult to find in the two-thirds world a truly indigenous church. Most churches reflect more the culture of the missionaries who planted them than they do the culture of the new believers. Missionaries have succeeded in bringing a biblically informed worldview, but one that is thoroughly contaminated by their culture. Is it possible to bring a truly transforming gospel, or are we always limited to reproducing our own cultural reflection of Christianity wherever we carry the message?

As I prepare to train these Russian pastors I’m asking the question, “What does a missional church look like in their context?” It certainly should be grounded in Scripture but how can I present the Word without my Western spin? Is that even possible?

This week I was at the GlocalNet Conference and one of my friends said that when he started working around the world and studying other cultures he began to discover and underline different portions of the Bible. He said that he realized that reading the Scriptures through Western lenses caused certain passages and teachings to stand out to him more than others. However, when he began to read the Word in other cultures, with lenses influenced by other cultures, different passages and teachings began to stand out. He concluded that we need believers from “all nations” and all cultures to help us truly comprehend the full counsel of God. We need the whole Body of Christ to inform our hermeneutic.

My conclusion is this. Missional churches must be global – they must be engaging the world as much for their benefit as others. Missional churches must be indigenous and contextual, but in order to do this we must increasingly realize how our immediate culture contaminates our understanding of the gospel. Only then will we be faithful to the gospel and culturally relevant too!

Finally, missional churches should have a noticeable transformational presence in society. There appears to be a resurgence of interest in communist socialism in some sectors of Eastern Europe because the influx of Western culture and Christianity is not necessarily making the world a better place for these struggling people. What would it look like for God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done among these people?

Global, contextual, and transformational, by being faithful to the gospel. That’s my understanding of a missional church. What do you think?