Only God Can Get the Glory

March 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I hate preparing a budget. It’s not fun at all. Especially when you have to look at the reality of how much it costs to run a church and the reality of how much money actually comes in to the church; and then there’s the balancing act of budget requests. I never really liked it when I was younger when my dad would tell me that money “doesn’t just grow on trees.” I’ve not only come to realize that as an individual trying to provide for a family, I’ve definitely learned it as a pastor. I could add to my dad’s statement that “God doesn’t just put money in the bank account either, even though its his church.”

I met with our CFO last night and as I was preparing for our meeting I was listing our income versus expenses for the last quarter, laying out some of the things we need to purchase right away, some of the things it would be nice to have right away, and of course the new budget for the second quarter of 2011 (we do a quarterly budget right now since everything is so fluid as a church plant). I was almost tempted to get depressed by what we didn’t have and how little we do have, but in the midst of looking at actual numbers, I was excited and thankful. We are not rich by any means, but we are still breathing and we have what we need to operate and to do a little extra as we need to. See, it wasn’t always this way…

It was only about 22 months ago when things were quite depressing although I made sure to put my happy face on. I wouldn’t recommend starting a church the way I did unless you are absolutely 100% SURE you are called to do it. Most experts will tell you to raise $125,000 or more to do it right, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. At this point I had asked three friends to be as stupid as me and help me launch  the church, two friends couldn’t do it, and the other, Billy Wilson, agreed to launch with me as New Passion’s Mission’s Director. We absolutely had no money. The only money we had was our tithe and the pastor at the church where we were members recommended that I start tithing to New Passion. We had no choice, we had to.

A friend who pastor’s a house church sent me a message and wanted to meet with me. He said that their church wanted to help us, but because they were only a small group of around 8 people and had little money themselves, they could only offer us a loan of $5,000 which would have no due date, no interest, we would just pay them 10% of whatever we brought in the offering every month. We had no money, no building or location to meet, no equipment, we had a CFO outside the church, Billy Wilson and his family was the only leader who had committed, and we had only one other family who was praying about jumping on-board, and I wanted to borrow $5,000. Do you know what you can do with $5,000? A lot with God. I don’t think any of them thought it was a GREAT idea, but they knew we didn’t have too many other options, so they gave me the good ‘ol ‘whatever you think pastor‘ commitment and we signed the papers.

I think I came to the realization at that moment and it has been my personal slogan and motto ever since that “God was going to build New Passion in such a way that only He can get the glory!” Which honestly should be the story of any church. Let me put this into a little bit of perspective though. Between our church logo (one of the first things we bought), our trailer, our first community, “Hey where coming to the area come join us” event, and our mix-matched sound system over $3,800 of that loan was spent. Here’s a few more notes of interest:

  • We launched with a team of 35, oh yeah half of those were children and they can’t serve.
  • When we secured a location, it was an Elementary School, the school board just doubled their rates, we were looking at a lease of $1,740 on a four week month and $2,100 for a five week month.
  • We didn’t have a worship leader until one month before we launched. I asked five other leaders who didn’t work out.
  • We had no other churches partner with us. We had two churches give us $1,000 each and tell us they were praying for us, the spiritual definition of that means, “Good Luck!” :)
  • We did have some individuals give us one time gifts while one friend gave us a re-occurring gift for 6 months.
  • We finally (right before we launched) got $5,000 in start-up funds from the GA Baptist Convention.
  • By the way…Our Church Planting “Coach” left mid-way through our launch process, so we really had no help or guidance in the last couple of months of our launch.
  • All said and done, we launched New Passion with $15,000; $5,000 of which was a loan (oh yeah…and a lot of PVC).
  • Jonothan Powell and his family came on-board as our Worship Leader in August and we launched in September. One of the first things he asked to see was what we had for sound. I showed him our $800 investment, his immediate response was a giggle and a reply, “So, how much money do we have?” We used that sound equipment for a couple of months or more until Jonothan sold his personal motorcycle and used the money to buy a very nice sound board and two very nice speakers.

We were also fortunate to have received a phone call from a guy who I had only talked with a couple of times on the phone and connected with through the internet. His church had some equipment they were not going to be using for a while, so they loaned it to us (cafe items, lights, children’s stuff, etc). This was huge because we couldn’t afford any of it.

I can go on and on and on and tell story after story of small and big risks we took and how we shouldn’t even be breathing as a church. If it were up to the belief others had in us, we’d be dead. However, there is only one thing I have had to cling to over the last 18+ months, this is what I know God called me to do.

Sure we aren’t running thousands of people. This isn’t an Elevation story. This is the story of New Passion in Grovetown, Georgia that has about 15,000 residents. We’ve seen God take a team of 35, most of which have gone back to their own churches, and turned it into a weekly average of around 110 (including children), he took a group of nine people $5,000 in debt to a church that is averaging approximately $6,000 per month in giving (which could literally be doubled if more people would embrace Biblical Giving). We’ve already been able to send more financial support to two churches each, one in Baltimore, MD and the other in Surfside Beach, SC, than we received total from any other church to help us. Most importantly, we’re seeing lives changed by the gospel

God is literally building this church in such a way that only he can get the glory. There is still a lot of stuff we cannot do as a church, but we will be able to in God’s timing. I have nothing to complain about, I can only stand amazed at what God has done in 18 short months.

Happy 18 months New Passion. May God continue to always receive the glory from our church.

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Velocity 2010 Session and Breakout Notes

February 24, 2010 by 1 Comment

velocity-buttonVelocity 2010 Church Planting Conference

Mountain Lake Church was not able to ramp up their bandwidth for the WIFI network in time for the Velocity 2010 Church Planters Conference. This was like a forced Blogging and Twitter fast for me, but it wasn’t a bad thing. All of my attention was on the speakers and taking old school notes :)

Here is a landing page for all of the notes I was able to take (now posted on my blog) for each session, except session 5, and for the Breakouts I attended, some of the notes may not make any sense to you, they probably will not make much sense to me once I go back and review some of them, because several of the speakers had in-depth studies and terms that I couldn’t record before they moved on:

Main Session 1: Shawn Lovejoy
Main Session 2: Alan Hirsch
Main Session 3: Steven Furtick
Breakout Session 2: Pete Wilson
Main Session 4: Dave Gibbons
Breakout Session 3: Tony Morgan
Main Session 6: Rick Warren

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Velocity 2010 – Rick Warren

February 24, 2010 by 2 Comments

rickwarren-buttonVelocity 2010 Church Planting Conference

Session 6 Speaker: Rick Warren

If God has called you to be a church planter, do not STEP down to do anything else…not even the President of the United States. This is the greatest calling.

1,000 Years from today, if Jesus does not come back, all Kingdoms will have fallen, but the church will still be standing.

If you can grasp that God created me to love me, I should never struggle with inferiority again.
No need for posing, masks, being cool, etc. Because God chose me.

Nothing matters more than the church.

Do All for the Global Glory of God.

The more important your job, the more humble you must be.

What the church is doing will outlast anything Bill Gates, Any Country Leader, Famous Musicians, or Famous Athlete does.

We need new churches for new generations.

Spread the major mistakes around. Challenge staff to make 1 major mistake a week J

Rick’s Rules for Church Planting:

1.    Don’t take early losses seriously – They don’t determine the outcome of your church.
-Ignore your early losses…Rome was not built in a day, neither is a church.

A mushroom takes 6 hours to build; an oak tree takes 60 years. Do you want a mushroom or an oak tree as a church?

Legitimate growth is conversion growth.

Focus on membership & discipleship, not on the crowd or the numbers.

The measure of a church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity.

It’s not a sin to be a small church, it is disobedient to be a small minded church.

If you want the anointing of God in your life & his blessings; your life must be built on humility, integrity, and generosity.

These are the antidote to the three Greatest Traps of Ministry and Leadership:

The Kingdom of God needs us to FINISH WELL. It does not need us to flame out.

Satan is entirely predictable. His main 3 temptations are:

1.    Lust of the Flesh is the temptation to Feel – Anything that makes you feel good. (Hedonism) (Pleasure) [Sex]

2.    Lust of the Eyes is the temptation to Have -
(Possessions) [Salary]

3.    Pride of Life is the temptation to Be – Desire to be worshipped, envied
(Position) [Status]

(I John 2:16, 18)

Never confuse your self-worth with your net-worth

Jesus was tempted to use what was given for ministry to feed him-self.

Satan wants to tempt us to use our gifts on ourselves, verses for the ministry and what God has called us to.

Jesus was tempted to be spectacular with the gift he was given.

Satan will tempt us to be spectacular.

Glory comes from suffering, not showing off.

You don’t have to be original in everything that you do.

Church planters need to study a lot of the first 1500 years of the church for deep roots.

Jesus was tempted with things.

Satan will tempt us to develop a spirit of expectation that we deserve things because of what we’ve done.

Antidotes to these 3 Temptations:

1.    Integrity - From Integer “A unit of one” – Our life is one, we are not separated into sects, we are one.
“Titanic Trap” – - You cannot compartmentalize your life. If you try, you lack integrity.
A hole in your life is a hole in your life and it will sink
You never sin privately, you are affecting your family, your church, and others you influence.
You don’t have to be perfect to have integrity, you have to be authentic.

2.    Generosity (antidote to the lust of the eyes) -
The way you spend your money shows what you value.
The more I give the more I become like Jesus.
You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
Every time you give you break the hold of materialism in your life.

3.    Humility – (antidote to
It means you don’t give yourself the title “Apostle”
If you have to have a big title you’re not humble.

Titles mean nothing, what matters is do you love people?

Don’t give in to false humility:

God created you, Jesus died for you, the Holy Spirit lives in you. You are not junk.

Humility is not denying your strengths, but being honest about your weaknesses.

We grow fastest and best through models.

It’s better to have someone following a person who is trying to do right versus someone who isn’t trying at all.

Someone who is not teachable is not humble.

Be humble or you will stumble.

Lesson from the whale – When you get to the top and get ready to blow, that’s when they harpoon you.

How do you bring people through the front door and out the back to get involved in missions? You better have an intentional process.

It’s not about looking cool, it’s about meeting needs.

If you are going to last and make it to the end…you must understand the 6 phases of faith:

When God does any miracle…he takes it through 6 phases of faith:

God…

1.    Gives a Dream

2.    Decision (choose to go after it) – Dreams are unimportant if they are not moved on.

3.    Delay – Always a delay (New Passion 3 years) – God is not a vending machine. God is more interested in the individual than the dream.

4.    Difficulty – You will face all types of problems (Critics, Lack of Resources)

5.    Dead-End – The death of a vision

6.    Deliverance - God likes to turn difficulties into possibilities; He then gets the glory, not us.

Every time we hit a dead-end, God does not want to help us, he wants to do a miracle.

I got to meet Rick Warren, one of my all time Spiritual Influences

Velocity Conference: Main Session 1 Highlights – - Main Session 2 Highlights – - Main Session 3 Highlights – - Breakout Session 2 with Pete Wilson Highlights – - Main Session 4 Highlights – - Breakout Session 3 with Tony Morgan Highlights

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Velocity 2010 – Tony Morgan

February 24, 2010 by 2 Comments

tonymorgan-buttonVelocity 2010 Church Planting Conference

Breakout #3 Speaker: Tony Morgan (Twitter)

“The Giant Inflatable Blue Monkey”

You can’t have a clear communication strategy without a clear discipleship strategy

People enter the church at Point A and hopefully we’ll move them to Point B (A fully devoted follower of Christ)

The steps that happen between Point A and Point B helps determine the effectiveness of people moving from Point A to Point B

*The churches ministries & processes are the “Steps” to get from Point A to Point B*

Too many choices make decisions more difficult – which can lead to paralysis (or sitting in neutral)

Complexity Creep – We keep plugging new things in, without unplugging old things.

It helps by first defining what a fully devoted follower of Christ looks like for your church.

Our message should be focused…Jesus’ message was focused.

Questions Each Church Should Ask:

  1. What Event or Program requires a pulpit announcement in order for it to succeed?
  2. What would you NOT participate in if you were not the pastor or leader?
  3. Does this program reach people outside the church? Or does it satisfy insiders?
  4. Where is the fruit?

Are the next steps clearly communicated?

When all ministries of a church are communicating about their ministries at the same time, it produces chaos!

5 Basic Communication Strategies:

  1. Clarify Missions, Vision, & Values
  2. Develop a Focused Strategy
  3. Consistency in Branding & Voice
  4. Prioritize your Message
  5. Be Intentional to Eliminate Competing Messages

It is possible to do the work of God, without doing the work God has called you to do.

Every time we say yes to things outside our vision it pulls us away from what we are called to do.

75-80% of people come to a church because of an invitation from a trusted source (friend/family)

Build through relationships not through promotions (promoting things)

Velocity Conference: Main Session 1 Highlights – - Main Session 2 Highlights – - Main Session 3 Highlights – - Breakout Session 2 with Pete Wilson Highlights – - Main Session 4 Highlights – - Main Session 6 Highlights

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Velocity 2010 – Dave Gibbons

February 24, 2010 by 2 Comments

davegibbons-buttonVelocity 2010 Church Planting Conference Session 4

Speaker: Dave Gibbons

Deconstructing Illusions

7 Shifts in Modern Culture:

1.    Moving from Multicultural framework to a third cultural framework

2.    Economic Shift

July 27, 2048 – The date that India and China will have more per capita income than the western world.

Inequalities begin to shape with an economic shift. New power (because of increase in income) produces injustices. It can lead to war, because of the increase in power.

Isolation is a norm in economic shifts

3.    Technology Shift

Millennials do not see a separation between technology, they see it as something all together. It is the norm, not something amazing.

4.    Vision Dissemination Shift

Vision dissemination begins from the fringe, the outside, not just from one source.

5.    Majority to Minority

By year 2042

Is the church prepared for a shift from Majority to Minority.

6.    Professionalism to Activism

This generation is sick of preaching.

Quit asking what will offend people and ask what will they be offended about.

Harvard Study, people can only pay attention for 18 minutes before their mind starts to wonder.

7.    Shift from the West to the East

You have a different impression of God when you live in oppression.

Americans are not used to being servants, but that’s what Jesus calls us to be.

God uses the community of the church to lead us. The pastor is to equip the saints.

Are you equipping the saints? Or are you building large numbers?

Move campaigns for buildings to campaigns to building people.

What would the church look like if God was not contained?

What would the church look like if the budget was not 70-80% for building but 70-80% building people.

Strategic Responses:

1. Leveraging the power of the Holy Spirit

The church in America  does not believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, if they did, they would pray more.

Jesus only did what he saw the Father doing.

How are you teaching on the Holy Spirit? How are you living it out?

2. Communal Living

As a pastor how often do you hang out with your people?

You can impress people from afar but you can only impact them up close

3. Third Culture Focus

Are you teaching people to adapt?

You cannot be creative with only homogeneous people.

How much of church budget is R&D (Research Development)

4. Campaigns for Building People

“If you treat your wife, like your Iphone, you’d have a great marriage.”

America is fascinated with “forms” of doing church.

Be Fascinated with the flow of the Holy Spirit

5. Mindset Shift

Proverbs – As a man thinks in their heart, so they become.

Define success up and to the right…(line on a chart…)

Jesus starts up top and moves down to the left (line on a chart…)

You don’t have to be huge to be potent.

Our job is to PLANT the seeds and be faithful. God’s job to GROW it.

6. Have to have a New Target

Problem has been how we define the “Target”

The half breed Samaritan was someone that would be hated. That was Jesus’ definition of neighbor.

Maybe the test is not our numbers, but how many people are we loving that are not like us?

Has crime gone down in our city?
Is there still homeless?
Are there still foster children in our area?

7. Fathers Coming Home

A true Father sees his children.

Affirm a child’s special destiny. You have to know them, hang out with them.

Roles as a pastor is sometimes to be a father who is home.

If you want to reach the next generation? The world is crying for a father to be home.

Velocity Conference: Main Session 1 Highlights – - Main Session 2 Highlights – - Main Session 3 Highlights – - Breakout Session 2 with Pete Wilson Highlights – - Breakout Session 3 with Tony Morgan Highlights – - Main Session 6 Highlights

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Velocity 2010 – Pete Wilson

February 24, 2010 by 4 Comments

petewilson-buttonVelocity 2010 Church Planter’s Conference

Breakout #2 Speaker: Pete Wilson (Twitter)

“Everyone’s Welcome, Nobody’s Perfect, Anything is Possible”

Churches Desiring Transformational Community -

Studies Show:

  • One thing that separates happy people from unhappy people is the simple idea of being connected in community.
  • The level of satisfaction in churches is determined by the level of community experienced.

Someone said…”I’ve never known anyone who has failed to love & succeeded at life.”

Genesis 2:18 “It is not good for man to be alone.”

You were created with the capacity for deep relationships

Develop a Philosophy of community before you develop a Strategy of community.
(What is the Heart behind the strategy?)

*Your Church MUST understand that Everybody is Welcome.

Luke 15:2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Romans 13:8

* Has your church created environments where people can belong before they believe?

Some Church Models = Believe, Belong, Behave

Church Models adapting to Current Culture = Behave, Belong, Believe
(It may be that people enter your church by participating in a church service event for the community rather  than through the Sunday morning Worship Service)

Your Church Must Accept that Nobody is Perfect.

Matthew 7:1

Luke 18:10-12

The sins you find the most appalling to God are the ones you don’t struggle with.

Your Church Must Believe Anything is Possible.

It’s the church’s job to create environments where we help people discover their new name.

Secular businesses & organizations understand that “Everyone is Welcome” and that “Nobody is Perfect” – There is nothing overtly “Christian” about that. The church has to believe in addition that “Anything is Possible!”

If our churches are a true “Just As I Am Churches” – We would not be able to put out enough chairs for the people who would come and we could not plant enough churches.

Velocity Conference: Main Session 1 Highlights – - Main Session 2 Highlights – - Main Session 3 Highlights – - Main Session 4 Highlights – - Breakout Session 3 with Tony Morgan Highlights – - Main Session 6 Highlights

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Velocity 2010 – Steven Furtick

February 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment

stevenfurtick-buttonVelocity 2010 Church Planters Conference

Speaker: Steven Furtick (Twitter)

“Jesus Told Me To”

“Imitate the faith of others, not their miracles”

“The most important criteria that will determine your church plants success (outside of God’s power) is your ability to sense what God wants you to do next along with the courage to do it & the leadership to get others to do it with you.”

There is no substitute for the gospel

Mark 11:1-6

[Jesus tells the disciples to go get the colt...if confronted, reply "Jesus told me to..."]

If Jesus didn’t tell you to plant a church…DONT!!!

Jesus May Be Telling Us To:

1. Make a Costly Personal Sacrifice as a Leader -

Velocity is not generated from the outside in, its generated from the inside out.

“Its the things you do when no one sees that produces the results (fruit) that everyone wants.” – Craig Groeschel

- – There’s a cost to your calling.

2. Painful Relational Shifts –

Some people cannot go to the places where God is calling you.

If someone can walk away from you, let them walk.

Steven Furtick – “I live by the value, leave people in better condition than you found them” [Do not use and abuse people. Love them, but don't let them hinder you from doing what Jesus tells us to do]

3. Repent of Secret Sin –

4. To Take a CS (Crack Smoking or Christ the Savior) Step of Faith –

Its valuable to have a team that says I’ll go get the colt with you, even if we get arrested, we’ll go to jail together.

Steven Furtick had 7 “crack smoking” families help him launch elevation

[MY NOTE] New Passion – - We had 20 “crack smoking” adults plus our children help us launch New Passion. We had VERY little money (even had to borrow money), we had no guarantee of success, very little equipment (and what we have is mostly borrowed), very little skill (that’s me!). All we had was “Jesus Told Me Too…” Thank you all for Embracing a Faith Bigger than Ourselves…I can’t wait to see what God does through all of us! He’s already changing lives :)

Velocity Conference: Main Session 1 Highlights – - Main Session 2 Highlights – - Breakout Session 2 with Pete Wilson Highlights – - Main Session 4 Highlights – - Breakout Session 3 with Tony Morgan Highlights – - Main Session 6 Highlights

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Velocity 2010 – Alan Hirsch

February 22, 2010 by 4 Comments

alanhirsch-buttonVelocity 2010 Church Planters Conference

Speaker: Alan Hirsch

More of the same will not bring fundamental change.

Our decisions make a difference in the world.

Why do we need to be Missional?

It’s not a cute new term. Not another cool buzz word.

Concepts:

1. Cultural Distance:

m0…….m1………..m2…………m3………..m4

Each ‘M’ signifies one significant cultural barrier to the effective communication of the gospel
(M0 is easier – M4 is more difficult)

Significant Cultural Barrier to Communicate the Gospel Meaningfully:

  • Language
  • Worldviews
  • Other Religions

Culture is heading in the direction of becoming more difficult. Closer or at m4, not at m0.

Church must become cross-cultural missionaries again. (This is HUGE for Grovetown)

“Attractional” Church works well in sector m0, however it doesn’t work as well in sectors further out.

When people plug into church, they have less connection in the sectors outside of m0. This is a problem.

“Extractional” Church – It extracts people from their networks of people outside the church.

We are asking the disconnected from Christ to do the cross-cultural work and move from their sector to the m0 sector.

Christians are all missionaries, we are obligated to take the gospel message to other sectors.

*Research in Australia, what non-churched people thought of: God, Jesus, Spirituality, Church

Results: God; positive, Jesus; positive, Spirituality; positive, Church; negative*

The Church can work with the fact that the “basic message” of the church is viewed as positive.

What has to change? The Church. – It must adapt itself to deliver the message.
(My note 1 Cor 9:19-23)

The contemporary church is carrying the load.

America: 40% of Americans would be attracted to the contemporary model of the church.

Strategic Problem… 95% of churches are trying to become what will only reach 40% of the population.

2000+ Churches have over 2,000 people in attendance. There are over 400,000 churches in America!!! Big strategic problem.

Missionary Problem:

60% of Americans will not go to the contemporary style church.

Plus…the 40% is not increasing, its decreasing.

**More of the same will not get fundamentally different results**

More of the Same?

  • Organizational Insanity
  • “The problems of the world” – The problems in the church cannot be solved by things that created the original problems (What got you to 40% will not get you the 60%)
  • Digging holes

(The church of Christ was built for ADVANCE, not Defense)
(A message makes you a MESSENGER)

Solution – The church will have to look different than the contemporary model of the church.

The in Western Culture battle will be won at the level of imagination…or it will be lost at that level.

Einstein – “I value imagination more than I value knowledge.”

Missionary has to go amongst the people. “You know nothing about church”

Ask 2 basic questions:

1.    What is church to these people? – You cannot assume the answer to this.
(Churches have to be much more diverse – A thinking of the church vs. a model of the church)

2.    What is gospel to these people? – You cannot assume the answer to this.
(The church does not have a mission, the mission has a church)

If the only thing you have is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail.

Will the reformation model work? It was formed from a culture where people felt guilty for their sin. Do people now feel guilty for their sin?

The church is supposed to be the Good News people, not the guilt bearing people. That makes us become the Pharisees, which Jesus reserved his harshest criticisms for.

You plant the gospel, not churches.

People are enslaved to idols: work, money, sex, etc…that offer everything and give nothing.

The churches decisions matter!

Church planters should be missionaries first before we are planters.

Velocity Conference: Main Session 1 Highlights – - Main Session 3 Highlights – - Breakout Session 2 with Pete Wilson Highlights – - Main Session 4 Highlights – - Breakout Session 3 with Tony Morgan Highlights – - Main Session 6 Highlights

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Velocity 2010 – Shawn Lovejoy

February 22, 2010 by 2 Comments

shawnlovejoy-buttonVelocity 2010 Church Planters Conference

Speaker Shawn Lovejoy (Twitter)

Satan knows if he can get the leader to doubt themselves, he has them on a slippery slope.

When leaders get insecure in their own skin:

1. We start comparing ourselves to other leaders –

The Challenge is, with technology, we can look all around the country and see what is happening everywhere else and start comparing our church to others and ourselves to other leaders. This brings a great deal of negativity.

2. We start copying other leaders -

We’ll use their logos, their sermon series, etc.

We become afraid of becoming or being the leader God’s called us to be.

Copying leads to envying other ministries and leaders.

3. We Condemn other Leaders -

When condemning others does not make us feel better, we start getting down on ourselves.

(Either God called you, or he didn’t…If he called you…don’t quit, don’t give up!)

2 Timothy 4:1-5, 6-7

[Francis Chan] “I can build a church bigger than Jesus with enough money and slick marketing. (Large crowds are not always attracted to the commitment Jesus calls us to)

  • Be Patient
  • Do Your Ministry
  • Use Your Gifts
  • Be Self-Disciplined

1 Samuel 17:38-40

Pastors try to wear someone else’s armor:

  • Copy their personality

(God wants to use MY personality in MY community)

  • Copy their gifts

Someone else’s armor could be someone else’s testimony

A lot of churches look good and look the way they do, because they reflect the testimonies of the leaders of that church.

(We cannot duplicate the testimonies of other churches)

**God wants to use OUR testimonies in OUR community!**

Could God be limiting our voice in our community because we are trying to duplicate everyone else in our church?

Are you willing to take off someone else’s armor?

Velocity Conference: Main Session 2 Highlights – - Main Session 3 Highlights – - Breakout Session 2 with Pete Wilson Highlights – - Main Session 4 Highlights – - Breakout Session 3 with Tony Morgan Highlights – - Main Session 6 Highlights

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Church Planters Don’t Come In a Box

October 21, 2009 by 5 Comments

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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