Posts Tagged: church planting

church planting / leadership / ministry / revolution church sacramento / vision — 4 Comments
15
Jun 09

Church Planting & Philippians 1

While in prayer today and reflecting on all that has transpired in the past two weeks with Revolution Church Sacramento, I was led to the book of Philippians. I decided to share my thoughts in the hopes that it may benefit someone else as well. Philippians is four chapters and I’ll work through one a day for the rest of the week…

The theme in Philippians seems to be joy and rejoicing. Not joy in fleeting moments, but continual joy regardless of what one’s circumstances happen to be. One of the things that always tends to overwhelm me is the thought of how Paul faced so much persecution and imprisonment in his time of ministry. Even amongst the Apostles, Paul was not always in their favor. He struggles with his own sin while he speaks publicly against it and suffers at times due to what seems like lack of finances. People hear the gospel through him and churches are formed, yet he gets news of their unruly gatherings and idolatry after he has left some of the cities and continues to advance the gospel. Paul is the epitome of the modern-day church planter. He is someone I can really relate with. This is why Philippians is such a great place to be in my devotion time at the moment, because the church in Philippi was the exception.

Philippians 1:3-6 reads:

    3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

As we are just two weeks into our preview services at Revolution Church, I am contemplating this passage quite a bit. God has blessed this city and our church with some really gifted people. We are a church that worships & loves God and freely give of our gifts to do so. However, I have to wonder how much of this is based on giving of ourselves in areas we are comfortable and talented rather than stretching ourselves and doing what it takes in partnership with each other and with Christ to see the gospel be made known to those outside of a personal relationship with The Creator of their soul. It’s still early and part of jumping into One Prayer and having preview services was to have a chance to experience a worship environment and engage others to share in the journey with us. While we have financial partners outside of our community that have given sacrificially for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, we have yet to have anyone personally embrace this notion yet.

When Paul talks about the church in Philippi and their partnership with him in the gospel in verse 5 above, the context is in regards to financial gifts. Even though Paul is not with them and in prison at the time of writing the letter to the Philippian church, he is thanking them for their financial support. Paul was a tentmaker and as such he would work in order to offset his personal costs and travel while planting churches and preaching the gospel, however the church was being called to help those with need and Paul was the recipient of such offerings at times. The church in Philippi was faithful in that regard. How will we as a new church come to deal with this as we move forward?

Regardless of whether or not God’s people feel compelled to help us financially in reaching others with God’s love and kindness, I am committed to praying and offering deep, heart-felt thanks to my Lord for connecting us with some fabulous people that have really given of their time and effort to help us launch a new ministry. I truly believe God will provide for us as we continue to trust in him and not in men & women. In him, we will be strong where we are weak and persevere rather than let Satan win over any more souls.

In concluding his opening prayer of thanksgiving, Paul writes in Philippians 1:9-11:

    9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

A lot of thought and prayer has gone into these 3 verses for me. As a church planter I have an uncontrollable desire to see those far away from Christ to be reconciled through him. To know that their way isn’t the only way and that if they look to God’s way they can find life and live it to the fullest. That they have a purpose here on earth that is far greater than they could possible comprehend. To let them know that through the cross, Christ willingly accepts all of their burdens and makes them his own. It is not for us to worry. As much as I passionately feel called to share the gospel in this manner, at the same time I recognize that there are individuals out in our community that have at one time repented and been baptized, yet question their faith. There are some that feel left alone to work through their Christianity on their own outside of the church because of past hurts or current irrelevance. These people have heard the gospel, but struggle with discerning it in their lives. Should Revolution Church Sacramento be a place for those that know Christ, yet are weary or seeking fellowship? How do we balance between advancing the gospel to those who have never accepted the message of the gospel and those that have heard it, yet struggle with how it bears fruit in their lives?

Again, it’s only been two weeks that we have publicly gathered in a dedicated worship space (as opposed to small groups meeting in homes), but so far it seems as if God is sending us people that have been part of the church in the past. Some are part of a healthy church now, yet came to see what we were all about. It seems that God is showing us early glimpses of what to expect in the future and I’m not quite certain how to respond. I tend to be an all-or-nothing kind of person. However, I am feeling as if there needs to be some balance and some patience right now. We need to be open to all people and believe that God is in control and that Christ is at the head of the Church and Revolution Church and that he will bring to us the people he wants us to know and share life with. It’s not about target marketing, zip code sorted postcard drops, or our own personal desires for who we want to see connect with us. It’s about being open to how God leads us and to be “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.” as in Philippians 1:11.

Church planting has it’s ups-and-downs, consistencies and changes, affirmations and rejections, joy and pain, passion and lethargy, love and dislike, comfort and discomfort…through it all, there has to be a vision from God that drives one to keep at it. There are too many things that make it easy to walk away. If the church becomes all about one man/woman, then it is time to walk away. If it gets bogged down because of money or acts of service or lack of resources--if we look to God and do our best to discern his will for the church we will always make the right choices. Some days we look upon his work in us with worldy eyes that see failure and lack, but everything happens for a reason and we will be good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord as we stay faithful to advancing the gospel in spite of what might seek to bring us down. Let us rejoice for the church as Paul rejoiced for the church! We just have to struggle with getting our feelings hurt or feeling like some doors have closed in our face, yet Paul was tortured and imprisoned and remained a shining example of God’s strength through us in the face of severe diversity and hardship. Don’t make it about yourself! Don’t look to pleasing others instead of God! Don’t give up!

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church planting / family / life / ministry — 2 Comments
10
Jun 09

Coming up for air

What a crazy time it’s been for me as I jump head first into the deep waters of church planting. I’m feeling like I’ve been under too long and I need to come up for air. The bizarre thing is that I knew exactly what I was doing and what would happen, yet I kept driving myself to dive deeper and deeper.

Church planting and working to connect people with the Christ is an all-consuming thing. Seriously, when I’m immersed in my passion for the local church and seeing Christ known in the hearts of others I have time for little else. Isn’t that a great thing to be 100% focused on reaching others for the sake of the gospel? Well, not always. Here’s why:

  • My family has suffered because I put the church first
  • My business has shrunk greatly and the financial provision for my household has been significantly reduced (I have not been paid for any ministry work I have done for the past 4+ years).
  • I have spent less time in personal meditation in God’s Word and spent more time in prayer and intercession for others
  • I haven’t had a weekend off in the past 4+ years

Actually, I could add significantly more to the list above, but I think you get the picture already. Unfortunately, as I write this I know I am not the only one in this situation. It’s actually the main reason why I’m writing this. Pastor, it’s time to come up for air!

One of the things that I am so blessed to be able to reflect upon are the words of a friend of mine who helped mentor me a bit back in the early days. Danae Stewart is a go-getter and an enthusiastic, passionate, energetic woman fighting for the kingdom of God on all cylinders. One day in a phone conversation she asked me how old I was. At the time, I believe my answer was 39 years old. She then responded in a loving, yet stern voice by saying, “Dave, what’s your hurry? You’re only 40 years old! You have around 40 more years ahead of you. Why be so focused on starting a church plant now?” Well, 3 years later we finally saw our first public preview service happen. Obviously, Danae spoke into my life in a way that I knew I needed to take heed. I am so thankful she called me out that day and didn’t give in to my will and just encourage me.

So today, as I am feeling a bit overwhelmed and about to go into panic mode after looking at my bank balance and wondering why I’m where I’m at, I am coming up for air. The plan was to start weekly services in late August so no formal budget was in place for our preview service last Sunday. I paid for the sound equipment and all other materials needed for us to partner with LifeChurch.tv and 1,700 other churches in the One Prayer series (I explain more on One Prayer here). I paid for all the time away from my family. I’m now paying for the lack of attention to my business. However, knowing I would be where I am right now when it was all said and done, I wouldn’t have changed anything even if I could. The experience of doing something from scratch, trusting in God to provide the whole way is an experience I cherish because it brings me closer to my Creator. It gives me a story to tell and evidence of God’s hand in Revolution Church Sacramento that I can share with others and let them know he is real.

Pastor or future church planter, don’t ever let anyone rob you of your passion to enable God’s love to be expressed through the local church. However, please go into this with both eyes open and surround yourself with people that aren’t afraid to tell you the truth, even if it hurts your feelings. You do a good enough job lifting yourself up, so keep people around you that will keep you humble. Know that God doesn’t need you to be the savior of his people in your city. No matter how great you think your new church is, God is always going to raise someone else up to plant a church in your backyard that will: have a nicer building; draw in more people; get more publicity; seem to have more favor. However, your family can only have one husband, father, son, grandfather, brother (or only one wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister) that is embodied as you. Stay focused on God, but know that he has called your family to come before you church. Don’t think that you’ll make up for it on the back end by giving time to the church now and then taking time off for your family once things get going. The church will never get going enough for you to take that time you promised with your family and get away.

I am so blessed and honored to have the friends that God has surrounded me with. Their words continue to be what I reflect upon in time of need and cause me to pause and get back to being inspired through God’s Word for me. They make me stop diving deeper and deeper and retreat back to the surface to get some air so I can go back to into the water and continue my journey rather than suffocate and seeing my journey end in despair. Always, always remember to come up for air.

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church planting — 2 Comments
19
Mar 09

Church Planting: Spiritual Warfare

Not only do I believe that men and women called to plant a church are also called to live their lives to a higher standard, I also believe that we are raised in the sights of the enemy (Satan) that wants to come and destroy our good work. Anytime we are moving forward to do our part to share God’s love and see others come to know the presence of the Lord, Satan rises up to challenge that work.

It’s an interesting issue and one that I admit I don’t have a lifetime of understanding about. Coming from the perspective of being an atheist for my first 37 years of life, I had no conscious presence of God or Satan, heaven or hell.

From my first session at my seminary I was introduced to the concept of spiritual warfare. Seemed like an odd thing to hear prominent pastors in Christian Church leadership circles discussing their battles with the enemy and how important it was to have some serious intercessory prayer warriors on their team. However, the more I pursued my education and ministry the more I came to understand the seriousness of Satan’s efforts to thwart what God had set into motion. I had my first major battle during a trip to my seminary where everything that could prevent me from getting there was thrown at me. In the end, God’s strength got me through it all, even when I wanted to just abandon my broken-down car and catch a bus home. I was beaten, but came out stronger in the end having seen first-hand what can happen when Satan tries to take people out. That 14 hour drive to my seminary was a very real battle and the moment Satan became very real to me.

I feel as if I was called into the war zone once again this week. It has been a difficult time of struggle, and a lot of it was caused by my actually losing sight of the enemy and allowing him to sneak up on me. I was not in my Ephesians 6 mode. I was not hearing the voice of God telling me to prepare myself. I was in my own world. Trying to forge ahead and keep the momentum of our church plant going. Trying to bring some sanity back to my house where chaos has reigned supreme in some matters with my wife & step-daughter. I was so focused on trying to resolve some things that I was blindsided by enemy attack. Honestly, it got the best of me. I was beaten up, dragged down a path of darkness, and feeling helpless. I was physically and emotionally drained.

As embarrassing as this may be to admit, I was ready to give in and let Satan ruin the work we had started by letting his stronghold get the best of us here. I had no more energy left. It’s something that has been addressed and festering for over 8 years. Enough was enough. In my desperation, I called upon some friends to pray for me via twitter--probably not the wisest thing to do as it revealed a weakness within me and my family--but my friends responded in favor and love and faithfulness and I feel God woke me up to what was going on. I had lost track of the work of the enemy because I was so overwhelmed at God’s favor and blessings upon our church plant. Complacency prevailed.

I’m starting to get back on track today, but am scarred and weary from the fight this week. Through my prayer request, I was reminded by another brother-in-Christ that is planting a church that the warfare is continually going on and that the more we discredit it as coincidence or nothing to be concerned about, the more of a stronghold Satan gets in our family. If you’re a church planter, please…please…please realize that the power of Satan is great because he attacks our weak points. He will invade through our families and cause strife and uncertainty to pick away at us and cause us to question our call. He will use divisiveness and lies to get us to quit. He will bring sickness into our midst to weaken us. Satan has no power our authority over us as we walk with Christ, but he can sure work to get us sidetracked and overwhelmed with his lies.

Do you have a team of spiritual intercessors that will stand at the gates and sing battle hymns of victory over you and your family? Can you get to the point of humility where you will even call upon your prayer team to intercede? This is not a game nor random acts of chance. There is a very strong force of darkness out there and you are his target. He will stop at nothing, but if you prepare yourself and continue to look to the heavens, God proves to us that he will prevail. We can put our hope and trust in the Lord to see us through. However, it’s a messy and ugly journey at times and we can’t believe the lies. We must have our eyes open to the darkness that tries to suck us in. Satan is real and the more you try to cause him to lose his grip on the world, the stronger he will fight back. May you never be blindsided by the efforts of Satan to take you out of your ministry. May the authority of Christ rule over victory and your battles strengthen you and better-prepare for running the race and finishing strong.

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church planting / Dave (personal) — 4 Comments
7
Nov 08

Signs of a church planter?

Another blog I caught up on was Matt Sweetman’s. He interviewed Steve Nicholson, the church planting director of Vineyard USA. Here are two of the questions:

Matt: How do you go about finding guys who are church planters and then training them to do so?

Steve: For me, I tend to start fairly young. So, with some guys I figure out that they are a church planter when they are still in high school. Even though they may not plant for another 10 years. But you are looking for people who are leaders, who can articulate themselves, who know how to put a team together, who can break a vision down into steps which they can actually do. You are looking for catalytic people who tend to start things and lead people everywhere they go. A good church planter looks like a good business entrepreneur.

Matt: Do you find that you get a lot of guys from the business world who are interested in church planting?

Steve: Sometimes we do, later in life. They spend time in business and then feel like they are ready for a change. They always make good church planters.

Well, even though my personality test may have revealed otherwise, I know that within my inherent nature the above-used words do describe me. Does it mean I should continue as a church planter? That is completely and solely up to God, but it’s a bit of encouragement I could use today :)

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29
Aug 08

it’s all about teamwork, baby!

Just found a great post on Matt Sweetman’s blog. This was another find through twitter (you can follow matt here). Matt interviewed fellow church planter Rick Kuhr. Rick planted as a bi-vocational pastor in Chicago that started in 2007 and they are seeing around 15-30 in attendance at their services. After reading the interview it’s obvious numbers don’t matter--Pastor Rick is a success story!

The last question Matt asked Rick had a surprise answer, but one that resonates loud & clear with me. It’s been kind of a mantra of sorts:

Matt: I am doing a church planting internship, in St. Louis. You are already doing the stuff, out in the field. What would be your advice for me?

Rick: I would encourage and challenge you to have a team. The research that has been done shows that if you don’t have a team you are setting yourself up for disaster. So, I would challenge you to bring a team, people that will help you along the way. Make sure you love God and loving Jesus and loving people as the main thing. Also, maintain that balance. We are useless as followers of God if we forget that we are following God. It may sound obvious, but if we are not receiving, others can’t receive from us as easy. We need to be able to have a balance with our family, our wives. There is a huge witness in loving our wives and loving our families. That responsibility in the community needs accountability. You need an established overseer. Those would be my advices. Go with where you are strong. My most recent blog is about we as individuals are meant to live in co-dependence with God and others to advance the kingdom.

It’s all about teamwork, baby! …But *every* piece of advice from Rick is mandatory wisdom for a planter. I am very encouraged by the work God is doing through Pastor Kuhr and Near West Vineyard Church in Chicago.

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