Blog
Discipleshift Book Recommendation
I received a copy of Discipleshift in the mail last week while at the Exponential Conference. The book is written by two guys who know a lot about discipleship, Jim Putman and Bobby Harrington. I remember my visit to Jim’s church well. It wasn’t because of awesome music or preaching, but because while I was in the foyer, I had three people who greeted me and they all asked if I was plugged into a small group. I knew then it was a church that understood discipleship and after spending a little time with Jim I knew why. Bobby...
read moreYour Faith Isn’t Meant to Be Safe
I’ve known Vince Antonucci through my work with Stadia for years. I’m so excited about his new book, Renegade: Your Faith Isn’t Meant to Be Safe. If you’ve read any of Vince’s books you know they are equal parts challenging and entertaining. I know few guys that have a passion to reach people for Jesus like Vince and I know few guys that will make me laugh as quickly. Below is a short interview with Vince about the new book. You can just skip the interview and go grab the book. It will be well worth it....
read moreHow to Be Missional on a Bike
I’m an introvert by nature. Because of this tendancy I’ve never been the best evangelist around. But over the years, I’ve learned to build real connections with people through my niche hobbies. First, it was owning a dog. I lived in an apartment complex in Longmont, CO and literally new no one for the first six months. I got a dog and then suddenly all sorts of doors opened up and I developed some good friendships. Embarrassing as it is to admit, there was even a beanie baby phase where I was able to connect with...
read more3 Reasons Why the Foyer is Important in a Church Plant Facility
A while back I blogged on how to calculate what constrains attendance in a facility. It’s been a popular post on the site and one I find myself returning to as I work with church planters. Last week, I had a great conversation with Craig Whitney from ELI. They have started a new online training/coaching platform for planters called Church Planter Cultivate. It’s worth checking out. Craig is a bright mind in discipleship and church planting. In our conversation, Craig was picking my brain about facilities. During our...
read moreHelp Stop Child Hunger in Your Community
Three years ago I worked with Ron Klabunde to help him start a new church in Sterling, VA. One of the surprising things we learned was that in this affluent Northern Virginia community, there was a significant population of children who were hungry. Burdened by this fact, Ron worked with people from the church he started, Restore Community Church, to become a part of the solution and Generosity::Feeds was born. Others began to ask how they could do this in their ministries as well and the what started as a local initiative has grown to a...
read more5 Shifts We Can Make to Be Better at Discipleship
5 Shifts We Can Make to Be Better at Discipleship The 2013 Exponential conference is underway. This year, Exponential expects more than 5,000 church planting leaders to come together in Orlando, April 22-25. The conference will focus on the theme DiscipleShift—five shifts we can make to become better at making and releasing disciples. All 15 of the Main Session speakers will explore in-depth what it means to be a disciple and how we can continue to grow and get better at engaging people with the mission of Jesus. Each of the sessions will...
read moreValues Are Shared Best through Story
As a church planting project manager, I spend a lot of time working with church planters on crafting their vision. When we are done, the planter will have finely tuned value statements that provide a boundary for making decisions and living life in the new church. These values often form an early sermon series in the new church and find their way in print to the website, brochures, bulletins, etc. I believe though that the most effective way of imprinting these values in the DNA of the church is through sharing stories of people living...
read moreFundraising vs People Raising
When I was in seminary, one of my professors mantras was “It’s all about relationships.” It’s stuck with me all these years and is one of the best pieces of ministry advice I’ve ever had. If I could sum up William Dillon’s updated People Raising book, I’d say, “It’s all about relationships.” Fundraising is easily the biggest fear factor pastors have in starting a new church. People Raising is a very accessible fundraising system that every church planter will find valuable. The...
read moreExponential announces 2013 Theme – Discipleshift
Each year, the Exponential conference focuses on a theme and explores that theme at the conference and throughout the year leading up to it. They recently announced that the theme for the 2013 conference is DiscipleShift focusing on five crucial shifts the church must lead to make and deploy biblical disciples. Here’s a summary of the shifts: Shift 1: From Reaching to Making We need to shift to a clear definition of “disciple,” and then ask if our church is making that kind of person. It’s not enough to reach people if we are not making...
read moreAutomate Your Social Media with IFTTT.com
Have you ever followed someone on Twitter and then shortly afterwards received a “Thanks for the follow” Tweet? Don’t jump to the conclusion that this Tweeter is glued to the screen waiting for those follows to come in. It could simply be that the use ifttt.com. It stands for If This, Then That. With ifttt, you create recipes out of your various social media channels. Here’s a couple of examples: If Facebook profile pic changes, then update Twitter profile pic. If I receive a new follow on Twitter, then tweet...
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