Illinois- Toxic for Church planters?

Perhaps the most difficult thing to swallow as an Assembly of God pastor in Illinois is that there are so pitifully few Church plants in the IDCAG. I conjecture that the reason for this is that Illinois has become a toxic environment for Church planters in the AG, especially so in the city of Chicago. In order for that to change it must be addressed.

I call the environment toxic because of the following reasons.
Despite statements to the contrary- church planting is on the back burner. As an outsider looking in one cannot help but notice that there are no church plants happening, there is little attention given to directing/coordinating church plants, and there is no recruitment for church planters. Currently I am unaware of any attempts to help church planters as they are coming out of our schools. Why couldn't we (IDCAG)pay their school loan payments as they are serving as church planters? This way if they are bivocational pastors they have one less bill to worry about. That moves Bible College Educated church planters toward Illinois. And it is less likely they will be wooed away by other church planting organizations (Many of which offer a salary of $30K for church planters)

There is an unwillingness to invest in the salaries of church planters.Due to a history of failed attempts to plant churches, we have grown gun-shy in investing in the salaries of laborers. I have heard it said that IDCAG would be "more comfortable in investing in buildings". Does this not communicate to the planters that they are not a valued asset? If you are about the failure rate then I suggest that you have little faith in the assessment process of the AG. If that is so then it must be changed too. In addition to supporting financially the pastor mentorships could be developed as well as oversight teams. The purpose would be to develop and encourage the planter in whatever way necessary.

The form(s) promoted for church planting are not contemporary.
These might have worked a while ago, but they were not without problems. Economic tension and spiralling costs of planting threatens the church planter with extinction. While I had very little financial support from IDCAG, I was able to work a trade and develop a business while planting. The economic pressure on the trades makes that less likely these days. So bivocational pastors are less workable than teams or other concepts. Our framework has to be flexible.

There is a general impatience with church plants. Church planting takes time. How many years does it take to raise up a strong self supporting and sending church. 5, 10, 15? The road is hard. The drumming sound from friend's and overseer's fingers on the desktop can add additional pressure.

We continue to emphasize the man versus the team.There is no Biblical justification for a church planting individual- rather they (in the Bible) planted in teams. Without going into the verses to cover this, it is likely that we will have to change our paradigm in order to be faithfully reaching the this world.

There must be an environment of support. Salary should be the beginning of support. Neighboring pastors in the region should be partnering at some capacity to insure the success of the plant and the planter. Why couldn't the local churches around the plant be a resource? Why is competition the model and not commaraderie?

There must be willingness to invest in "faithful men" who have the goods. Apostolic giftings aren't as rare as some think. But where they exist they must be nurtured. Instead of giving lip service alone to the 5 fold ministry we should be raising up apostolic planters who will develop networks of churches. Loyalty flows both ways. For the person who is supported on the plant, there will be more loyalty that flows back from them toward the brotherhood of believers that carried them.

Those are my thoughts. What do you think?