Epic Failure

When ever a pastor, a minister, or a ministry leader fails it can come down to a single issue. We have seen over the years great men and women of God have failures. Often they are moral failures. Occasionally they are financial failures. Frequently there are failures to honor the vision God deposited in their hearts. And less often they are failures to launch into ministries that God has called them to. The ultimate cause is a failure to believe the gospel of Jesus.

I know that seems too sweeping a judgment but I have found it to be true in my 3 decades of ministry. At the very core of the gospel we know that we are charged with one work. Jesus said that our work was to believe on the Son. That means to believe what he says about us, to believe what he says about our purpose in life and ministry, and to believe (and practice!) what he says about others. I cannot think of a single failure in ministry that doesn't spring from this failure to believe.

For instance, when a church planter hears the call of God to launch a church in some locality that God has chosen he or she must launch into a faith walk. 2 years later, having encountered severe headwinds, and being buffeted by life, Satan, and countless other resistences... they suddenly "hear a call" to leave this calling. Failing to endure has little to do with the strength of purpose... It, more often than not, reveals a loss of trust in God for the fruit. Or when a ministry flounders from vision whiplash it is usually a sign of deserting the vision that God put in the heart of the ministry leader.

This tells us that every ministry leader needs to examine his heart to find out if he or she is still in the faith. This internal examination is biblical and necessary if we are to have healthy business. A significant portion (THE significant portion?) of ministry is the examination of my inner world, looking at my heart to ask myself significant questions about my faith.

Do I still believe that God will provide?
Do I still believe the vision that God has deposited in my heart?
Am I still trusting that I am destined for failure if I rely upon my flesh?
Do I still believe that God can truly redeem the lives of others around me?

The answers to these and deeper soul searching questions require outward manifestations in my behavior. I must demonstrate that confidence, kindness, and compassion toward others. I must arise from the prayer closet with an answer rather than a list of more questions. I must take the next step in ministry with absolute trust. These externals are reflective of faith on the inside.

If I fail to live with introspection, I will fail. So guard your hearts, saints...

Stealing Sheep

Barna says, “The experience of mainline churches shows that growing a congregation is not a simple matter. There are three options available if you want to increase the size of a congregation: steal people from other congregations (unethical), have lots of babies (takes years), or attract people not affiliated with a church (bingo!)."

Every growing church will, at times, attract disgruntled sheep from a neighboring pastors flock. In the farming community, given the right environment sheep will knock over a fence to get to the greener grass. Over the years when a person has visited our ministry we have chosen not to pursue them if we knew they were from another gospel preaching church especially without discussing their status with that pastor. Indeed, another local pastor and I joke about how we trade families every once in a while. Sometimes it is a stylistic thing, sometimes people are looking for something different, sometimes there is offense involved, and sometimes they just need to change their spiritual diet. None of this is what we would call sheep stealing.

Sheep stealing is the intentional picking off of members of a congregation other than your own for the purpose of building your own ministry. It is unethical and I don't see how God could bless a ministry based upon sheep weak enough to steal. In agricultural life, the farmer breeds his strongest sheep for reproductive stock. When a pastor begins his role pilfering from another ministry it cannot invoke the blessing of God. Further, the foundation of that ministry will be the weakened stock of the pilfered sheep.

So why do church planters find themselves so vulnerable to this temptation? It may be because we value the appraisal of men over the appraisal of God. When another man says "success" do we really value that higher than what God thinks of us. Paul said he didn't want to build upon the foundation of another man's work.The enemy uses this to divide and hinder relationships between pastors, making more difficult to do kingdom work together in the future, filling hearts with distrust, and filling the body of Christ with strife. Often that strife lasts long after these sheep have stuck around-leaving a lasting hindrance for the kingdom of God in that locality. By the way, that transfer growth isn't real growth when you have a kingdom perspective anyway!

So don't compromise. Do the right thing and call the pastor of the church, tell him that you have one of his sheep that has wandered. Let him reach out to retain those folks and keep what he has invested himself in. And build the relationship with the local pastors. Once trusted you will have a lasting bond that effect your ministry in that place. And just maybe, the loyalty you sow will be paid back to you when others are trying to steal from you. Think about it!

Church Planting in the Recession

What does it mean to "seize the day" for Jesus? I suppose that it means that we need to take advantage of the circumstances that confront us each day. Right now church planters find themselves in an economic downturn. That seemingly threatening news may not be as bad as one might think. It is true that gas and utilities are more expensive and inflation is hitting some food items. But is there an upside of the recession?

Frankly, as I was preparing a message on the rich young ruler it occurred to me that there are some forces working in affluence that hinder the gospel. When things are going well we often tend to lean on "our own understanding" rather than completely trust the Lord in our church work. As the young ruler found, riches hinder full obedience to Christ. David Beckworth , in his study "Praying for a Recession" found that Evangelical churches grew at 55% faster rate in recessions. Is that because people are more open to reaching out to God for help? Is it because we are at the end of ourselves more often?

How should it affect the church planter? Well, those in a close knit group like a start up church are likely to make greater sacrifices to keep the church thriving because of the buy-in factor. In larger churches it is easier to fade into the woodwork. So there might not be immediate financial constraints. Evangelism is easier in that there are many avenues of outreach. And people have an awareness of their need for God (or at least help). We use a pantry ministry to connect people to the ministry here. In spite of snow, there are often hundreds of people lined up outside the doors on Thursday evenings. There is much need, and while there might not be piles of money to use to meet that need, we can join in prayer with people at the place of their need. Letting God be God, and watching the miracles happen!

So don't freak out about the economy. It is an open door. The question is will we answer the opportunity at our doorstep?

How Do We Hire?

What happens when we let gifts and relationships define our organizational structures?
John Ortberg from leadership mag

Monday, March 29, 2010


The single most powerful organizational step your church can take—at least on a human level—is to be organized around the gifts of the Spirit. That means that a church is to be led by people with leadership gifts, taught by people with teaching gifts, shepherded by people with shepherding gifts—the whole nine yards. And that vision is about to change my life.

I'll tell you how in a minute.

I serve as a senior pastor. But I'm not one of those multi-mega-gift guys. I can do about one thing right—and that's on a good day. Whatever gifts I have are primarily centered around communication. So I have been looking and praying for a partner who has great leadership gifts to do ministry with. I love the era in which we get to work. I think it is a time of great innovation in the church. There is something God-like and energizing about creating.

Ron Johnson, the guy who started the Apple stores, says his favorite phrase is "In the beginning … " Part of that innovation involves the people leading in a church. When I was growing up, a group of people forming a church would hire the 'minister' who would do the 'ministry.' But no one would ask what his (it was always a 'him') actual gifts were. The pastor's job description was so big that only Jesus could fulfill it. And I'm not sure even he would want it.

Increasingly churches are recognizing that shepherding and teaching and leading and administrating rarely come in the same package. We have to break old models of church leadership—not to go to new models, but to go back to an even older model—organization around gifts.

So for many years I've been praying, and for the last year we've been doing a formal search for a leadership partner—not for a traditional 'executive pastor.' I've thought about it this way: I tend to communicate recreationally. We need someone who leads recreationally.

We got a fabulous search team to help. It was led by a woman named Lisa Carhart, who is such an effective team-builder and vision-caster that she got people of remarkable octane to help. In fact, a few weeks into the process, it became clear that if we could get a candidate who was anywhere near as strong as the search team was, we'd be home free.

But the search turned out to be tremendously difficult. We were looking for someone who had Big Dog leadership skills, but they had to have a calling to use them for a local church. They also had to want to use them at our particular, 137 year old, Presbyterian church. Some great leaders are gravitating toward local church leadership, but generally they want to do start-ups, not turn-arounds. We needed someone who fit us theologically and culturally. Plus it had to be someone with whom there would be great chemistry.

It was like looking for a needle in a hay super-stack. There was simply no pool to fish in. Executive pastors didn't have the right leadership temperament; senior pastors were already leading; marketplace people didn't have the call to a church. It became apparent that we didn't so much have to find someone as convert someone.

And then, a little over a month ago, it just happened. We ran into a guy named "Blues" Baker—actually a (relatively young) retired admiral. (Though he's older than me by many weeks.) He had leadership skills coming out the wazoo, he loved Jesus, he wanted to serve a local church, he's ready for an Ultimate Challenge, and the first phone call we had was energizing enough that I was walking around the parking lot talking on the phone.

And eventually he said yes. We're calling his position Directional Leader—a title we got from Heartland Church in Rockford Illinois. From there we're making it up as we go along.

We're on a partnership adventure. People have been asking—what will the org chart look like? Where are the solid lines and the dotted lines?

I have no idea.

But I do have a conviction that when it comes to getting leadership right, 98 percent of the ballgame is relationship. I believe where there is a relationship of joy and commitment and mutual submission and trust and authentic love—then the division of labor issues can flow freely and effectively. But where the relationship is broken, all the org charts in the world can't save it.

So we're going to be a place where leaders lead and teachers teach and it won't look quite like anything else we know. Which is the most fun part. And Lisa, the woman who led the search team, ended up doing it so well, and liking it so much, that she's coming to work here too.

Equipping the Church Planter

What do you think about the conclusion of Ed Stetzer in this final few paragraphs of his Enrichment Article?

Twenty years ago the parachute drop was the dominant church-planting method. This occurs when a sending denomination or church drops a church planter and family into a community with little training or support. By the grace of God, many of these church planters succeeded in planting healthy, growing, and reproducing churches; however, many did not. In fact, many of the alarming statistics regarding the survivability of new church plants may simply be outdated.

Imagine being asked to begin a business with only a city to face and a dream to make reality. No one gave you any resources and no one trained you how to accomplish this task. The person who said yes to such a request would either be a supreme hero or an utter fool.

Now, imagine being asked to start a church without knowing if you possessed the gifts and calling to do so, without any specific church-planting training, and without any field support in the form of a mentor, coach, supervisor, or peer network. The task would be daunting to say the least. Many church planters experience this scenario and many subsequently fail. Let us not fail these God-called church planters. Instead, we need systems to help them be a part of a growing movement that is penetrating the darkness and bringing many people into God’s kingdom.

We have learned over the past 20 years that support must be given to those entering the mission field. The support must come from us. It is difficult to plant a church. Not everyone can do it. A church planter should be gifted, called, trained, and supported. Church-planting systems were developed by church planters to address this great need. Assessment, training, mentoring, and support groups have proven to provide valuable assistance enabling church planters to plant larger, healthier, and more successful churches. We have learned that church planters perform better when surrounded by a team committed to their success. Church-planting systems provide an excellent framework for such a team to function. We believe Christ has sent us to every city and every nation. Let’s prepare one another for the task of reaping God’s harvest through church planting.


Read the Whole article here

Boot Camp

Research has shown that churches have a 90 percent survival rate after five years if they are planted using a proven and intentional system. Churches who do not use a proven system have only a 50 percent survival rate.

We offer three strategic BootCamp tracks:
BootCamp

Coaches Training: An introduction to basic coaching principles to prepare you to serve as a 'table coach' during the BootCamp process.

Church Planter Training: A weeklong strategic planning event that prepares the multipliers for the early stages and eventual maturing of a church. We will equip the multiplier to recruit and mobilize workers, communicate vision and be a strategic planner.

Church Health Component: This track is designed for churches that are declining or have reached a plateau but desire to renew their vision, strategy and passion.

Illinois District Boot Camp Info

church planting in tough times

We are in tough economic times these days and it surely isn't very enticing for new church planters to gather steam for their vision. What should we do should we hunker down or push forward? My thinking is that there must be alternative strategies for the church planter that could be engaged rather than abandoning the idea of church planting all together.

Here's a few...

meeting in homes longer as opposed to meeting in rented space.

minister to the poor in the target area- you'd be surprised how many affluent people care about the poor.

keep the vision out front where people are more compelled to give to it- after all ministry takes money!

be transparent in funds collected and funds needed.

go to a monthly bulletin- it's way cheaper- but you need to be organized!

weekly prayer for employment needs in your body

tent making- get a job...do -da-do-da...

spend less on the launch- really, avoid the hype!

pot Luck congregational meetings

be economical in your use of AC and heat.

invest in building community

Finally, two words... sugar daddy

Remember, We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.


Can you think of any to add to the list?