Missional Wednesdays: Understand Your Community p.1

Posted by on Oct 13, 2010 in Missional, Strategy | 0 comments This post is part of a series that seeks to help the church planter understand their community.  The assumption behind these posts is that the work of a church planter is missionary work.  As good missionaries we must seek to understand how to contextualize the gospel for the communities in which God has placed us.  The preface to this series is a post titled: Discovering God’s Work...
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Assimilating the Missing in Action

Posted by on Aug 16, 2010 in Pastoral, Strategy | 0 comments I love a good war movie or book.  A common theme is that you don’t leave a fellow soldier behind.  The US Army Ranger’s creed states in the fifth verse: Energetically will I meet the enemies of my country. I shall defeat them on the field of battle for I am better trained and will fight with all my might. Surrender is not a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade to...
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Research Reveals that Attractional Events Work

Posted by on Jul 20, 2010 in Community Engagement, Strategy | 1 comment I just found a post by the Baptist Press that talks about research they did that proves that attractional events events are an effective form of evangelism.  The study revealed that churches that were growing and were effective evangelistically (measured by number of baptisms) sponsor several attractional events.  It’s worth your time to read.  So do you think attractional events caused...
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Little Wins Build Big Momentum in Church Planting

Posted by on Jun 22, 2010 in Church Planting, Fundraising, Strategy | 0 comments Church planters are home run hitters.  Every time they step up to the plate they swing for the fences.  I love that about them.  It makes them exciting people to be around.  But home run hitters typically strike out a lot too and when they hit a single it somehow doesn’t seem like a good thing.  But in church planting, little wins build big momentum. Let me give an example.  When we...
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Coffee for Your Thoughts: Another Great Use of Craigslist

Posted by on May 15, 2010 in Church Planting, Launch Team, Strategy | 0 comments Bryan Myers, a church planter in Utah, discovered another great use for Craigslist.  He posted an ad titled, “Free Coffee for Your Thoughts.”  From this campaign, Bryan reports that four people want to join a Community Group.  Two of them are formerly LDS and one is currently LDS.  Make you wonder what Bryan put in the coffee.  What a great way to connect with people!  I love...
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I Don’t Like My Church Plant: The Need for Contextualization

Posted by on May 10, 2010 in Church Planting, Missional, Strategy | 0 comments I spent a year in Northern Virginia at New Life Christian Church.  The church planter, Brett Andrews, told me something that has always stuck in my memory.  He said, “I don’t like my church plant.”  This of course let to a befuddled reply of, “What do you mean, you don’t like your church plant.”  Brett replied, “If I had planted this church for me we...
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