Only God Can Get the Glory

March 18, 2011 By nick 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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New Passion Turns 6-Months Old

March 10, 2010 By nick 2 Comments

sixmonthsThis is an exciting Sunday for me.

New Passion turns 6 months old this weekend! Wow, how time flies.

These last 6 months have been incredible, its been complete with our set of difficulties as well as many successes.

We started the church with a launch team of 21 adults and 14 children. Trust me I heard the “concern” for the size of our launch team and I experienced the push back from the so-called experts who happened to never launch a church, and I even wonder if they’ve ever even heard from God. I saw the perplexed looks I got and felt the doubt surrounding me.

It is a good thing we have Jesus on our side and what Steven Furtick would call a “Crack Smoking” launch team, because all we had was a call from God and a vision to lead people to a passionate relationship with Jesus. We had very little equipment (and the majority of what we are using is borrowed), we had very little money (we even had to get a loan), but we had a people who love Jesus passionately and love people.

In 6 months we’ve seen many people begin a relationship with Jesus, many people who have signed up to be baptized (Coming Soon!), our launch team has grown from 35 people to a church averaging 80-85 every week. More than just seeing visitors come check us out, we are seeing them hang around, and several have plugged in to serve in a ministry environment. Our finances have been trending up, the best news is, we’ve never done without, in fact, we have totally paid off our loan. Our new, small church provided Thanksgiving meals for over 20 families and provided a complete Christmas for 4 families, and recently helped pack a local mission’s food pantry with non-perishable foods. I see this as a sign that our people are embracing the vision of our church. We’ve heard stories of life transformation and experienced some amazing things from God. Just this past Sunday, we had a family offer our church .4 acres with a house on the property to help move New Passion towards a new home once our school lease is up. I can list story after story of how God has blown my mind in these last 6 months, no man or organization can take credit for New Passion. God is building it in such a way that only he can receive the glory.

I was checking out what one could expect from a 6 month old baby…because that’s basically what we are, check these 7 things out:

  1. Developing New Skills & a Desire to Use Them – Like a baby, we are pretty uncoordinated with some stuff. However, every week we are improving and as we improve and  develop our skills, you’ll see vast improvement in what we offer to our community and our people.
  2. Exploration – A baby likes to touch, taste, and see new things. They are curious little rug rats. I have said before, we are an experimental church. We want what we do to fit us like a glove, we don’t want to try and be someone else. Sure someone may look at us and say how they would never do it that way…Awesome! That’s why we are doing that way.
  3. Ready to Crawl (Not Walk) – Although a baby at 6 months may be able  to stand or sit up straight, they are not ready to walk. Although some of our natural abilities may allow us to be strong in some areas, as a church, we are keeping it simple on purpose. We don’t have the structure or the finances to do too much too soon. We are okay with taking it slow.
  4. Stimulation Through New Activity – A baby is stimulated through lights and color and sound. We want to make things different and provide different experiences for our people. This goes back to experimenting, but also in unleashing new avenues to live out our HEART in the community and around the world. This does not mean a bunch of programs, but new and different experiences in what we are already doing!
  5. New Strategies – As a baby gets older, there comes a time to change strategies for eating and sleeping, to help adapt with how they are changing. As we grow there will come a place to start new strategies or adjust the ones we already have.
  6. Try new foods – A baby cannot drink milk all of its life. Baby books encourage trying new foods while avoiding others. We always need to be aware of what we can handle and what will hurt us in this stage of our church. We can get new ideas from other places, but we must filter it to make sure it is healthy for our city, our people, and our vision.
  7. Teeth – Some 6 month old babies have them and some don’t! If a 6 month old has teeth, its time to make sure they are properly taken care of. There are some things that we do well and we need give extra attention to  those areas. We need to make sure they are funded properly with a solid team of volunteers.

A lot of these areas build on each other and are connected. Personally, I have to pace myself and remind myself that we are only several months old and there are things we need to improve on and with time, we’ll perfect them. We must crawl before we walk, but while we are crawling, I challenge our people to be passionate about what Jesus is calling us to and to give our all to his plan. I cannot wait to see what happens in these next 6 months!

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UNLEASH 2010: Session 2 Perry Noble

March 4, 2010 By nick 2 Comments

perry-noble1Unleash 2010 Main Session 2

Session Notes

Acts 14:8-

The best thing a church can do is make sure their senior pastor is healthy

Be careful for the crowd….those who deify will crucify. (My Note: Wow!!!)

The problem with a lot of pastors is that we will not admit our humanity

vs 19 – The people stoned Paul…not Barnabas or anyone else. Paul, the Leader. The main guy…that’s it.

3 Words:

1. Awareness -

Many times we make mistakes because we are unaware.

  • Some people’s thoughts is that they do as much as the Senior Pastor and they carry the same load.
    (Its not that they are trying to be mean…they are just UNAWARE)
    (When Satan wants to stop a movement he always goes after the leader)
  • 3 Rocks Pastors Need to Be Aware Of -
  1. Rock of Distractions – Distractions will come our way.
    Pastor, do not get distracted with things outside of Jesus

    • Don’t get distracted by false agendas
    • Don’t get distracted by yourself
    • Don’t get distracted by Pride

    If God is using us, its because we were barren, and God changed our lives, we did nothing ourselves.

  2. Rock of Deception –
    • The deception that the Pastor has to do everything
    • The Bible calls those who do not work, lazy; It calls the one who will not rest, disobedient
    • Pastor – Do you have a date night with your wife? Without the kids? Without the cell phone?
    • Pastor, if this world can’t live without you for an hour…it’s in trouble!
    • Pastor, your kids need you!
    • Pastor, your marriage is the most important marriage in the church. It’s got to remain strong.
  3. The Rock of Discouragement -

    • Listen to your coaches, not your critics

2. Unity -

  • Pastor – Be a man worth rallying around
    How to be a man worth rallying around:

    • Lead with Integrity (Be real – Be Sexually Pure – ETC.)
    • Get Big Vision from God (You want great leaders? Have a great vision)
    • Listen to your staff (Ask your staff: What do you think?)
      Your leaders will have a solution, your robots will wait until they are told what to do.
      Pastor, make sure your leaders are resourced, and get out of their way.
    • Keep short accounts – Don’t be bitter at people.
    • Make expectations clear – You can’t keep people accountable to an unspoken rule or expectation.
    • Honor your leader’s time

3. Passion –

  • The average pastor is the SBC is 22 months.
  • Churches are unhealthy because there are men of God who are unwilling to stand when the rocks are thrown.
  • If you can’t support the vision of the pastor, get off his team. If he is disobeying God…God will cut him down, not you.
  • When a man of God has a supportive team or staff gathered around him, he can get back up when the stones are thrown.
  • If a staff will rally around the pastor, no rock thrower is a match for them.
  • Pastor, who do you have standing around you?

…updating

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UNLEASH 2010: Session 1 Perry Noble

March 4, 2010 By nick 2 Comments

perry-noble1Unleash 2010 Main Session 1

Joshua 5

Session Notes:

Many times God takes leaders to a cliff and tells them to jump. If we don’t jump another generation will.

Leaders have to learn to jump.

If someone is going to jump, it should be the church. We should set the example. Problem is churches have forgotten how to jump!

4 Factors:

1. Desperation Factor

Joshua was given the task of circumcising all the men, with a flint knife, and no medicine to numb the pain.

Gen 34: Three men were able to kill an entire village because the men were in pain…

God brought Joshua and his followers to a place where they were completely vulnerable and exposed to their enemy.

He was bringing them to a place where they were marked men, but they would be desperate for Him.

When is the last time we were desperate for God (as leaders)?

Church leaders want safe and predictable.

Church Planter: You WILL be tested financially within your first year of your church plant

God will test you financially. If you are following God you will always have your back up against the wall financially.

Business people in your church want everything to make sense financially, but our God leads us to uncomfortable places.

2. The Sacrifice Factor

Every Israelite man loved the idea of progress…

Everyone loves the idea of progress, but they have a problem with the sacrifice requirements.

Two Things We Have to Sacrifice:

1.  Sacrifice Comforts

Satan is rubbing some leaders’ feet…you are comfortable where you are at…he’s rubbing your feet, setting you up for a fall…all because we want to be comfortable.

  • Giving up personal preferences
  • We are more interested in attendance than repentance

Random Note: Perry preaches about masturbation. Some pastors say they only preach about the “Holiness of God” – Perry, “You can’t get to the holiness of God, masturbating, that’s why we preach about it!”

  • The church has to be comfortable with the lost (coming to our church) and acting like their lost
  • Blended Worship is where we try to make everyone happy and no one enjoys it.

2. Sacrifice Conformity

  • There are too many churches trying to conform to what a a denomination dictates to them rather than what God desires of them
  • Missional is a buzz word that will not be around in 5 years, if you are the church, you should be Missional.

3. The Recognition Factor

  • Some of our problems in the church world is that we no longer recognize JESUS
  • No man is the most powerful person in your church….Jesus is the most powerful person in the church

4. The Strategy Factor

  • One size fits all is a lie.
  • Churches want a one size fits all strategy
  • Some strategies work for some churches while they do not work for others
  • One size fits all…Listen to God, Do What He Says. That strategy will work for anyone!
  • Joshua 5 – Jericho strategy was the only time God used this strategy
  • We need to be more dependent on the Supernatural rather than strategy
  • Vision comes before Strategy not Strategy before Vision
  • People want to get back to Acts 2. That was the foundation, why get back to where Jesus started?
  • If you can fully explain what’s happening in your church, Jesus probably is not involved
  • If we would be on fire for the ONE who called us, there is way more that he wants to offer us, way more than we have already seen
  • Jesus didn’t die so we could do church our way, He died so we could do church His way

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Velocity 2010 Session and Breakout Notes

February 24, 2010 By nick 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 nick 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 nick 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 nick 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 nick 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 nick 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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