Church Planting for the Rest of Us

As I mentioned last week, I am going to try to start sharing some of the best of what I read the previous week for your benefit as well. I will post them at the beginning of the week and call it “Best Blogs of Last Week” or something similar. Let me know if this is helpful.

The Church has Almost Nothing to Learn from Starbucks

10 Things That Drive Me Crazy About Working for a Church

Free Discussion Guide for The Trellis & the Vine

Send Your Best Men Out on Mission

10 Church Planter Qualities

Though I may not agree with everything the author said, I do think the content is largely helpful and would be worth your time.
Enjoy

At the recent AMBITION Boot Camp, I talked with Scott Thomas about two things that he has lots of experience with–replanting churches and dealing with criticism.

As expected, Scott offers some sound counsel for both.

Watch, learn and help us spread the word.

few weeks ago, I moderated a panel discussion as a joint event between the Sojourn Church Planting Center and my ministry “Church Planting for the Rest of Us.”

This is a great excerpt from my friend and A29 Pastor, Kevin Jamison, sharing what he considers the top 5 church planting mistakes guys often make.

The rest of the video is available HERE and HERE.

Videos like THIS are why YouTube was created.

I was laughing so hard I couldn’t hear the guy’s “thoughtful commentary.” So if there is anything objectionable in it, sorry…

Last Fall, at the Houston Boot Camp, Acts 29 interviewed me about my call to church planting and pastoring my family. Hopefully this will encourage you to consider your own calling and pastoring your own family.

BTW, this is NOT me ; ) and though I didn’t create this art, I think it is HILARIOUS.

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I just realized I have a new spiritual problem.

Truth be told, I have had it for a while, but the light bulb just finally came on in my soul that illuminated what has been going on. I can get so caught up in trying to figure out why I sinned that I forget to repent of my sin.

Getting to the Root

As a “gospel-centrality” guy who believes that all true change begins at the heart level, I consider it a goal not just to stop doing something evil, but to try to figure out why I was doing that evil in the first place. My hope in doing so is to be led to as specific of an application of the gospel as possible, and to cut off the snake’s head and not just shorten his tail.

Theologically speaking, I believe this effort to deal with the root causes of our sin (Matthew 5:29) is a good practice modeled by Jesus, Paul, Keller, the Tripp brothers, and all of us who follow in their footsteps. However, practically speaking, even a good tool in the hands of sinners like us can do significant damage.

Gazing at Your Navel Instead of Jesus

I have found that in an effort to get to the root of my sin, I can become so navel-gazing that I cease to be cross-focused. I have found that I can get so wrapped up in the complexities and nuances of my sin and ‘how deep the rabbit-hole goes’ that I forget to repent of the fact that it was my fault that I climbed into the rabbit-hole in the first place.
I have also found, perhaps worst of all, that I can become so despairing or despondent because of my sin that I cease to be dependent upon the only One who can save me from that sin—Jesus.

Who Will Deliver Us?

And in those dark moments, thankfully, I am confronted afresh with the good news of the gospel: Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25) Most of us reading this can agree that we are wretched. But who or what is to save us from this wretchedness? Our self-evaluative introspection? Our repentance?

No. Neither is strong enough.

In Christ Alone

But Jesus is strong enough. And worthy enough. And holy enough. Only Jesus can save us from our sins and ourselves! In the midst of Paul’s own spiritual angst, this is the good news of the gospel that Paul himself is retelling and praising God for. In the midst of our own angst, we would be wise to follow suit.

So when you sin, repent—first! Then evaluate and seek to get to the root of what is going on. And when you find yourself confronted with yourlatest spiritual problem, whether it is like mine or not, ask yourself, “What good news am I retelling? Mine or Jesus’?”

If you are in a groups based church, you MUST watch this video. I laughed so hard I almost had to turn it off. I have been doing groups for years now and these guys are right on the money with their “tips.” ; )

I am just full of suprises this week, apparently. Must have been the Christmas ham…

As we speak, I am working on a short ebook about dealing with something nearly all of us can relate to–the difficulties of the transience implicit within most of our modern ministry contexts.

It will be called “Losing Your People Without Losing Your Mind.”

And as a gift to the Church, I want to try to give it to as many pastors, planters and future planters as possible.

This project is being undertaken in addition to all of my other duties as a husband, father and pastor (in the midst of leading our church into its first “permanent” facility), so the release date is still TBA, but things are coming along nicely and I hope to have it out in the next month or so and hope to put it out through several other outlets as well.

When it drops, I want you to have a copy and I would love it if you would help me spread it around as far as we can. I will keep you posted with updates here and I will post it here when we have it finished.

In the meantime, I would appreciate your prayers as we work hard to bring this project to fruition. Thanks!

At the recent AMBITION Boot Camp sponsored by Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY, I had the opportunity to sit down with A29 Pastor and Blogger Joe Thorn. In this short conversation, Joe shares part of his own story and in the process gives us some great counsel. Watch and learn. And pass along.