Author: nick

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Church Planters Don’t Come In a Box

cardboard-boxI haven’t joined the MAC cult as many of my friends have. I’m very curious about owning my own MAC, but my main decision to stay PC has been solely financial.

One of the things that attracts me to the MAC is the out-of-the-box uniformity. With PC’s we have the good family members and then we have the distant, red headed step cousins that we wish weren’t at the family reunions, no names…E-Machines and the like. With PC there are vast differences between a Toshiba and an E-Machine.

The more time I log in this “Church Planting” journey the more I am coming to realize that church planters and new churches (known as church plants…not the fake green things) are more like PCs and not like MACs. Church planters do not come in a box just as new churches do not come in a box.

I allowed myself to be defeated in the early days of our launch. It seemed like everything I’ve heard in conferences or read in books or listened to on Podcasts simply didn’t happen for New Passion. I allowed myself to have high hopes based on plans I created and from the promise of support and help from groups and individuals and even from the closest of friends. Though I can never control the circumstances around me, I’ve come to the reality that though God uses people in the most powerful of ways in our lives, there are times that he has a specific plan for us where we have to fully rely on and fully trust in him alone. I came to the realization that God was building New Passion in such a way that HE alone would get the glory.

There are things that all church planters experience and have to go through. I understand that. I consider these the mouse and the keyboards of the industry. We all have to have them to function properly. However, there are some things based on each church planter’s circumstances that they cannot learn from just anybody. The sad reality is, some church planters will spend a ton of time looking at attractive “successful” churches and adopting just about everything they do, but they never see or understand the realities that led that “successful” church to adopt those programs or processes. There are some church planters who want to be everyone but themselves and though I  have dealt with the temptation of falling into that trap, I am slowly seeing that many of the “successful” churches I could look at  haven’t dealt with what New Passion has to deal with.

It would be much easier if all church planters came in a box packaged with $75,000-$100,000 to start with, a launch team of at least 100 people,  a partnering organization that fulfills their purpose, all of the equipment needed for success, and every promise made to them fulfilled, and the ability to launch as a full time pastor, etc.  (That DOES happen for some)

My box consisted of…$15,000 ($5,000 of which was a loan & a majority of the remaining amount provided by some amazing generous individuals), 23 adults on our launch team, an organization where my “coach” abandoned his team and that has given no local support, not 1 church supporting us  financially on a monthly basis, several broken promises by other churches and by *gasp* friends, equipment loaned to us by an amazing church for about a year (maybe more), and a job from another Kingdom minded church where I can work and still launch our church bi-vocationally.

I don’t say this to complain. I say this to point out that church planters do not come in a box. New Passion Church is New Passion Church and God has given us this path to travel because I believe he has a specific plan and purpose for our church. If we whine and complain that we didn’t get to launch like other churches or if we whine and complain that life’s not fair, then I believe we set ourselves on a path that will miss what God has for us. Trust me, I am a student of other churches and what they are doing to have success, but I want to be careful not to miss what God has for us! What can’t God do with New Passion Church? I believe he has put us in a place where he can blow our minds, and make everyone else wish they could have a little bit of the credit. 😉

Join the Conversation…What Did Your Box Look Like?

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Praying Small and Selfishly

earth_from_space

“So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” Matthew 9:38

I read a devotion today in My Utmost For His Highest. It was talking about the key for a missionary in carrying out the Master’s orders.  The focus was on prayer and how prayer seems foolish to us. I guess I got a little sidetracked and off focus, because Oswald Chambers said, “From Jesus Christ’s perspective, there are no nations, but only the world.”

I am guilty of praying small and selfish prayers. I see the big need that New Passion has as a new, small church for volunteers and laborers for the harvest in Grovetown, the surrounding area, and the world. I try my hardest to pray for local churches as well as churches throughout the nation and the world. However, when it come to praying for laborers, I fall short of thinking “the world” and I think “my nation” (New Passion Church). I don’t think I’ve ever prayed that God would provide the laborers for churches in Alabama or South Dakota, or China, or Germany, or the church down the street.

My heart desires to be Kingdom minded, but often times I find myself selfishly living out a small view of God. I know that we are a small piece of Christ’s puzzle called the church. We are no greater than any other church and we are no less. May we continue to join arms for the common cause of the Gospel.

Join the Conversation…What’s your biggest struggle in being Kingdom minded?



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Revolutionary Change through Water

blake-mankinI visited Iamsecond.com today thanks to my friend Dan who tweeted about a video for Sam Bradford from the Oklahoma Sooners. As I was surfing around the site, I found a video for Blake Mankin. Honestly, I’ve never heard of him, but keeping with Sunday’s theme from New Passion and Monday’s blog post on Revolutionary Change through our local and global influence, I liked what I heard. Here’s a little bit about Blake…

In 2007, Blake started Hope for Africa at his school. The club raised more than $6,000 by selling buttons during homecoming. The money paid for two wells in Southern Sudan that now provides more than 10,000 people with daily access to clean water.

It all started with Blake asking a friend “What If?” – I wonder how many people are creating revolutionary change around the world because of those two words? “What If?” – I love that Blake said he believes “Jesus is the Ultimate Thirst Quencher.” Blake is not driven for change based on a desire for personal fame, rather he is out to create revolutionary change so that Jesus might be made known to those who are far from him.

Go check watch Blake’s video on Iamsecond.com HERE. You can also follow Blake on Twitter HERE. You can help Blake create Revolutionary Change through Water HERE by donating to his fundraiser!

Join the Conversation…Who do you know that’s creating revolutionary change either locally or globally?

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Revolutionary Change

106Sunday we complete week 5 of our Rediscover Church series at New Passion. This week we discussed how we value creating Revolutionary Change through our Local and Global Influence.

We focused on 3 main questions after looking at 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

#1 What am I Becoming? – Paul said he became all things to all people. We looked at the story of Dorothy from Entertaining Angels and how she chose to live poor in order to reach the poor, the homeless, the prostitutes, and the drug addicts. Her effort to create Revolutionary Change required that she bring herself on the level of the people she reached out to versus elevating herself above them.

#2 What is my Motive? Paul said he made every effort to reach out to those who were different than him and to become like them for one reason…to lead them to a loving relationship with Christ. His goal was not to become famous or to build his own following, his motive was to lead people to Christ.

#3 What am I Changing? Paul and Dorothy alike saw people embrace their vision of Revolutionary Change and they too took action. Change can only happen if we decide to start influencing the change.

I was reminded of the trip I took with a former church after Katrina hit Biloxi, Mississippi. It started with a simple idea of taking water down to the victims, within a few hours we were on the road with water and a few groceries in hand to do what we could, our desire to be involved led into 4 total trips, three to Biloxi and one to Texas. I’ve posted video of our first trip and our second trip. The video from trip #1 is 18 minutes long. We used it as a part of the following Sunday’s message to show the need in the area, the second trip is the relief trip we took our church on. We were literally larger than the Red Cross relief effort in the same area. The point is this, what may start as a small idea or a small effort, God can use for Revolutionary Change in the life of those you are  investing in and influencing for Christ.

Katrina Relief Trip #1 from Nick Carnes on Vimeo.

Katrina Relief Trip #2 from Nick Carnes on Vimeo.

Join the Conversation…How are you participating in creating Revolutionary Change? What are your dreams to see Revolutionary Change happen in our world?

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Under Construction

construction_road_closedLast night I was driving back from the Bloggers Meet-up in Atlanta with Billy, when I had a typical thought that comes to my mind as I drive through Atlanta.

“I’ve never been to Atlanta when they have not been doing some type of road construction” – Or at least that I can remember!

If you’ve ever been stuck in rush hour traffic in Atlanta, you would understand why they are continually having to improve the roads, expand them, and create new paths to help get people where they are going.

It made me think, which is not always a good thing, but I believe this time it was safe. Shouldn’t that be how we are as Christ Followers? Always under construction? Always growing and expanding. Always improving. Always finding ways to be more effective in what we are called to do in our faith journey?

I love the verse 1 Peter 2:2

“Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation…”

“…so that you will grow into…”

A clear indication that we are not all where Christ wants us to be. At salvation we are given a totally brand new life, but that does not mean every habit, every sin, and every struggle will magically disappear. Becoming like Christ is a process…it takes time. Don’t get frustrated when you realize that you still have a ways to go.

Join the Conversation…What is an area that you’ve seen God working on in your life lately?