What is Church Planting to You?
Is it about. . . coolness being hip small groups glorifying God rental property making disciples starting a worship gathering keeping the 4 billion in mind beginning in the harvest fields marketing, mailers, and music reaching the unreached peoples developing the best web site in town preview services and grand openings looking at the field [...]
Your Church is Closer to Planting than You Probably Think
One of the reasons why most churches do not participate in church planting is that they believe it to be something grandiose and outside of their reach. Pastors often listen to the exceptional, ten-talented, high capacity church planter and assume that one must be like him to do church planting the “right” way. “We don’t [...]
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Church Multiplication Begins with Middle C
I can’t read Hebrew; it is too hard. So, the professor begins his class with, “Let’s not attempt to read the book of 1 Chronicles today, but let’s start with the Hebrew alphabet.” Dad, I can’t ride your bike; it is too big. So, the father begins with, “Maybe we need to get a bike [...]
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Call Your People to Marketable Skills and Degrees
We pastors often forget that stewardship extends beyond the realm of giving money for gospel advancement. For the longest time, we have allowed the notion of being a wise steward to be defined according to money. And while the issue of finances does exist within the jurisdiction of stewardship, stewardship embraces all of the Christian [...]
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When Talking About Church Planting Feels Like Witnessing to Mormons
When I share the gospel with Mormons, one of the first things I do is establish our definitions. Without cutting to the chase and recognizing our definitional differences, it is difficult to then evaluate what we each believe in light of the Bible (the KJV of course!). Discussing church planting in most North American circles [...]
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When the Ordinary Does the Extraordinary
We want to start with the extraordinary. Iron Man. The Incredible Hulk. “We want the high caliber, high capacity-type to lead this ministry. For apart from these we can do nothing. We want Superman, not the Greatest American Hero!” We want to use the extraordinary to reach the world. “If only our church had some [...]
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When a Biblical Model is Viewed as Unusual
I recently spoke with a church planting leader for a particular denomination. As we talked over coffee, he inquired about the direction of our church when it comes to church planting. My response was to describe our future missionary labors in terms like we read about in Acts 13-14; 16; 20; 1 Thess 1:2-10; and [...]
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Least Reached Metro Areas in the U.S.
In my last few posts, I have been drawing our attentions to the recently released data regarding the 2010 U. S. Congregational Membership Report. If you are interested in catching up, see my posts HERE and HERE. Previously, I pointed out the least evangelical counties in the United States. Doug Black later created a visual [...]
SEND North America Conference
I am very excited about an upcoming meeting sponsored by the North American Mission Board for Southern Baptist Churches and leaders in the United States and Canada. Lord willing, on July 30-31, the SEND North America Conference will take place in Atlanta with the focus being on church planting. This is one of the most [...]
When Church Planters Want to Drink Sweet Tea from a Garbage Can
On Monday and Tuesday of this week I was in Auburn, Alabama with a group of interns with Lakeview Baptist Church. Over the course of this semester, they took a church planting class with me. It was a blessing to be with these outstanding guys. I am a lover of Bar-B-Q and sweet tea. Of [...]
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