Planting Churches

Church Planting Will Cause You Pain and Leave You Sifted

Doug Foltz — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:44:08 +0000

I’ve said many times that the one universal of church planting is that you will face spiritual attack. Over the years I’ve seen everything from planters who struggle with depression, to planters who have had experiences that belong in a Hollywood horror movie. These experiences are painful and can either break a planter or make them stronger.

At Stadia, we assess every planter we work with. A common thing we say is that any issues you have will be amplified when you plant a church. Whether these are sin problems, marital strife, parenting difficulties, unresolved childhood issues, or anything else, you can guarantee these issues will be brought to the forefront when you plant a church.

The church planting world doesn’t talk enough about these very real spiritual dimensions of planting a church. We talk a lot about strategy, why we plant churches, resources for planting, etc., but not enough about the stories of pain and brokenness that is inherent with planting a church.

That’s why I’m so excited to see the theme of this year’s Exponential Conference. The theme is sifted. If you’re like me you need the definition. Here it is from the site.

Sifted (v) \ sift-ed 1. Accelerated spiritual growth in times of trouble, 2. Increased trust in God and surrender to His sovereignty, 3. Refined and cultivated seed for increased fruitfulness and multiplication, 4. The seemingly painful process through which every child of God has or will face trials that result in being broken and refined, strengthened and restored, and grown and empowered for God’s glory and Kingdom expansion.

To prepare for this theme, Exponential has launched a special site called “Stories of Sifted.” On the site you can read stories of other planters who have been sifted, get resources to improve your spiritual, emotional and physical health, and you can even submit your own story by emailing sos@exponential.org. If you haven’t registered, get it done. The mobile site is also up and running, so bookmark it on your smart phone today.

I believe this year’s conference has the potential to be a life changing event for thousands. Because of the theme and the importance it has to thousands of church planters, as a community we need to be lifting this conference and its leaders up in prayer. They too will likely be sifted by this experience.

Exponential is days away from launching our Mobile App at m.exponential.org. It is like holding the Exponential Conference Program Book in the palm of your hand. In addition, we are debuting our conference-themed site, Stories of Sifted, designed to help church planting leaders take a next step in their spiritual, physical & emotional development through a variety of leaders’ Sifted stories and Pastoral Resources. Both the Moble App and Stories of Sifted will be highlighted in upcoming letters, emails, Outreach Magazine & partner church planting conferences.

Would you please help us spread the word about the Mobile App & the Sifted site during the second half of January via Twitter, FB & blogs (for those who blog)? I will circle back around to you in the next week and let you know when we are ready to roll out to the public. We appreciate you all!

Three Ways Church Planters Worship Themselves

Doug Foltz — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:44:08 +0000

Spirituality is something I don’t talk about much on this blog, mainly because I want to keep things very nuts and bolts. But I’m realizing that spirituality is about as nuts and bolts as it gets. One thing many people struggle with is self-worship. We put ourselves first in everything. We do what is best for us. We are generous to ourselves. We promote an unrealistic picture of ourselves (I see lots of posts about how far someone has run and very few about the indulgent jelly donut). Here are three ways church planters worship themselves in the name of starting a new church.

Work too much. Lots of church planters are 9 commandment Christians. Surely, the Sabbath was optional. Without being scientific, I’d say 75% of the pastors I work with don’t take a Sabbath and don’t know how to have fun. Working too much betrays the belief that the success lies on your shoulders. It denies the image of God you were created with. God hardwired in us a rhythm of rest and then work. A pastors motto should be rest, work, repeat. Here’s a couple of questions for self evaluation. Do you have a daily, weekly, monthly and annual rhythm of rest? I do good at daily and weekly, but am not that good at the monthly and annual. What do you do for fun that is completely unproductive and not related to growing the church? If it takes you more than a second to think of it, you fail the test. Would your family say you spend enough time with them?
I can do it belief. Matthew 16:18 makes it clear that it is God who builds the church, not a church planter, not a fancy strategy and not the best worship service around. God does. End of story. Church planters tend to be entrepreneurial. There’s a crazy gene in entrepreneurial people that makes them believe they can start something from nothing. We like to hire those people as church planters because they are risk takers. But let me tell you something, you can’t plant a church. Jesus didn’t even ask us to do that. He said make disciples and leave the church building to Him. Even with all the help and funds that a world class organization like Stadia provides, you can’t plant a church. If you think you can, then you are guilty of self worship. Here are some evaluation questions. When you cast vision to potential supporters are they more impressed with you or do they walk away with a bigger picture of God? Do you seek the Lord for strategy or the latest church planting book? If attendance is up do you get excited? If attendance is down do you get depressed? If so, you’re trying to do it yourself. If you take credit for the church being down in attendance and blame yourself, you’ll take credit when it’s doing well too. Just remember that you are the clay, not the potter.
Afraid of failure. The best church planters aren’t afraid to fail. They realize that its not about them. Success is not to their credit and failure is not their fault. If you fear failing, if it keeps you up at night, you might be worshipping yourself. I spoke the other night at the Emmanuel Institutes. I was all calm and cool until I saw video cameras getting set up. I had a moment of panic. What if I fail? It will be recorded for generations to mock me and laugh at my pathetic speaking skills. Why did I care? Because I worship myself. I want to be seen as better than I really am. I struggle to be as honest as Paul in confessing my wretchedness. After a quick time in prayer, my bearings were adjusted. Here’s a few questions for evaluation. Am I worried that this church plant will fail? Does it bother me that I’m not “successful” in the eyes of the church planting world? Do I lose sleep over things finances and attendance?

Fortunately there is a cure for self worship. It’s the worship of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Worship regularly. Follow and obey His commandments. Meditate on His word. Confess His character regularly and ask for his forgiveness, guidance and protection. You’re not a very good god. Quit trying to fill His shoes.

The Church Planting Supersite

Doug Foltz — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:26:23 +0000

I just learned about a new resource for church planters. It’s the church planting supersite at www.churchplantingsupersite.com. It’s billed as the ultimate gateway to all things church planting. It has three main resource sections.

Directory of vendors and service providers for just about anything you need for church planting from Bible Study to marketing to coaching. It’s not exhaustive but its a great start for such a new site.
Free Stuff. All planters love free stuff. Unfortunately this area is empty so far. It’s intended to be a place where you can post items you’d like to give away.
Garage Sale. This is like Craigslist for church planting equipment and resources.

This site has potential and is worth checking out just for the directory listing. It will be interesting to see how this site grows and how the church planting community embraces it. Check it out.

How to Be Discipled by Committee

Doug Foltz — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:13:19 +0000

For years the church in the West has been guilty of abandoning babies. Not actual babies, but spiritual ones. From the outside looking in one might think that the end of the spiritual journey was baptism rather than the beginning. But that conversation is changing as more and more churches are beginning to focus on discipleship.

Most of the literature on the subject focuses on how to create a discipling culture or how to disciple a person. Some of these books, like Mike Breen’s Building a Discipling Culture, have been especially helpful for me. My assumption though is that if it is good to disciple others, it’s probably good to be discipled as well. This is something missing from the lives of many pastors.

In seminary, I had it hammered into me that it was important that I have a spiritual mentor. I developed this understanding that I needed some kind of spiritual guru or coach that would instruct me in how to live the Christian life. So I prayed for and sought out such a person. I even asked a few people along the way to play that role only to come up disappointed each time. Despite this void, I continued to grow in my faith.

Last year, I went through a Life Plan process with Marcus Bigelow. I shared my angst over not being able to find a spiritual coach to disciple me. Marcus began to help me explore where my spiritual influences had come from. There were many. Several men and women along the way that I had spend time with, observed, studied alongside that had a role in discipling me. There were even authors that I’d never met, but still had a significant influence in shaping me. What I learned was that discipleship happens in committee. The picture of who had discipled me was not a snapshot of one person, but a collage.

This understanding has helped me greatly. God has placed many Christians in my life who serve to disciple me. Some have close proximity to me. Others play this role from a distance. Some know they are discipling me and some have no clue. Some are around only for a season and others have been around my whole life.

So as you work out your discipleship plan both for your life and for the church, consider discipleship by committee. After all, the Church is the Body of Christ not one super-spiritual person. We can become more like Jesus by submitting to the discipling of the body of believers that God has blessed us with.

Do you agree?

Why I Stopped Blogging

Doug Foltz — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:53:54 +0000

I haven’t blogged since July. I haven’t heard a single complaint, which is probably good. More on that in a minute. Here are my good excuses:

I broke the backend of WordPress. I had no clue what I had done. Big thanks to Aaron Box who recently gave me a few suggestions for troubleshooting. Turns out I had a bad plugin, WP TimeMachine. I removed the plugin and the site works fine.
I got busy. I took on two new roles with Stadia mid-2011. I’m now serving as Director of Project Management, Director of Coaching and I’m overseeing our development systems. I’m on cruise control when it comes to project management, but coaching and development are new to me and I’ve had a lot of learning to do.

Now for my bad excuse and one I’m a little ashamed of.

I was prideful. I started getting hooked on checking my site stats and felt great when I hat lots of hits for a day or when a post was getting lots of views.

So not only was my site broken, I was broken too. I’ve watched the emotions of church planters rise on fall on the number of people in attendance on Sunday. I’ve told them that God grows the church and if they take blame for when attendance is bad, they’ll take credit when it is good. I’ve told them that discipleship and life change is more important than attendance. And yet, I was caught in a similar trap. I repented of this sin and ignored the blog for a while. Stupid I know, but it now seems even more stupid that I would find self worth in page views rather than in my identity as God’s child.

So I fixed the backend of the site yesterday and I turned off the stats plugin. I’ll start blogging again. Maybe not at the same pace, I’ve still got the busy excuse. I miss writing though and I enjoy contributing if only in a small way to church planters. You are my heroes. And my calling is to serve you.

Church Planting Fundamentals

Doug Foltz — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 20:14:53 +0000

Championship teams in sports are always great at the fundamentals. Right now all over the country kids are being coached in the fundamentals of football. Every team starts the season out with an emphasis on these fundamentals. So what are the fundamentals of church planting? At Stadia, we measure 5 key vitals of church planting, or the fundamentals.

Team Players. Commonly called a launch team, Stadia classifies team players as being people 16 or older who are actively serving in a ministry role and/or giving financially. For years, research has suggested that at a minimum 40 team players are needed to launch a healthy church plant. Some of the research has suggested this number is 50. You can have perfected systems, lots of money, a great facility and state of the art equipment, but none of these things make a church. People are the church. According to research by the Leadership Network (see below for link) it takes the average church plant 4 years to reach 100 people. This time can be greatly reduced with a healthy group of at least 40 team players before the church starts.
Potential Team Players. This vital seeks to measure the impact of a new churches networking, community outreach and marketing in a community. These are difficult things to measure and we are still learning. A potential team player is anyone that you have contact information for in the community. I would suggest setting a goal for at least 500. This can easily be reached by leveraging team players, networking with community leaders and serving the community.
Team Readiness. We have each church planter create a volunteer matrix of every role that needs to be filled in order to carry out the vision of the new church. This matrix should show the value of reproduction ingrained in the DNA of every church plant. We set a goal for each church plant to fill 80% of these roles prior to starting the church. Often times team players assume several roles within this matrix. It is essential to the health and sustainability of the church that new people are equipped and released to assume roles within the matrix. This ensures that the initial team players don’t get burned out and that newcomers to the church can get connected.
Stewardship Development. Church plants costs money especially up front. This is one of the biggest advantages that missional communities have over launch large churches. Towards the beginning of the planting process, a Stadia project manager takes the vision of the church planter and builds a budget to support it. This budget gives the church planter a figure to shoot for in fundraising. Each month fundraising is measured to ensure that the vision for the church isn’t being stifled by lack of funds. Planters often overlook the importance of stewardship development with team players. While outside funding is necessary, sustainability comes when team players give. The church planter should develop a plan for discipling team players in the area of giving.
Project Task List. A church planter’s vision is the desired result of planting the church. The Stadia project management team comes alongside the church planter and works backwards to develop a project task list to take the new church from where it is today to that desired result. Each church plant typically has a few hundred tasks that must be accomplished in order to reach the vision. It requires attention to detail. Entrepreneurial visionaries, which most church planters are, do not excel at the details. They need help. That’s why every Stadia church gets a trained and experienced project manager to keep the planter on task and to accomplish many of the administrative tasks for them. Each task on the list is assigned a due date and progress on the list is measured monthly.

In addition to the Stadia’s key vitals, there are also some widely held best practices that we hold to. Many of these best practices are found in Leadership Networks’s research called Improving the Health and Survivability of Church Planting found on their site. They are:

Coaching. Each planter is provided with an experienced church planting coach for 18 – 24 months.
Assessment. Each church planter is independently assessed prior to being hired by the church plant.
Training. Stadia conducts two training events. One is a pre-launch training that focuses on the nuts and bolts of church planting. The second training happens 12 – 18 months after the church has started and focuses on reproduction, leadership development and other issues the planters are facing.

Stadia also adds:

Accounting Services. Stadia provides accounting services for the church plant for the first 18 months through an independent vendor.
Project Management. Stadia’s project management team helps the church planter by freeing them from much of the administrative burden of a church plant and serves as a treasure trove of information for all things church planting. Having worked with over 100 church plants, the project management team has seen most everything.

At Stadia we value holy discontent. This means we don’t have it all figured out and are always trying to find better ways to plant churches. What do you see missing from our church planting fundamentals? What can we learn from you? For further reading see:

Improving the Health and Survivability of Church Plants. http://leadnet.org/resources/download/improving_health_and_survivability_of_new_churches_state_of_church_planting
Planting Fast Growing Churches by Stephen Gray
Church Planting Landmines by Tom Nebel and Gary Rohrmayer

Thinking About Planting a Church in a School? Read This, First

Doug Foltz — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:16:35 +0000

A buddy of mine sent me this article written by USA today Religion editor Cathy Grossman on the controversy surrounding churches meeting in schools. The question on the table is the constitutionality of church’s meeting in public school facilities. On the side against church’s meeting in schools they say:

It’s unconstitutional because of the separation of church and state
Leasing a school to a church effectively subsidizing churches who would pay more on the open market.
The practice is biased to Christian groups as the schools are most available on Sunday mornings while other religions traditionally hold services during times the school is already in use.
If you allow evangelical groups to use the facility you also have to allow any other religious group that may not be as appealing.

The main argument on the side of those who are for churches in schools say:

Churches shouldn’t be discriminated against simply because they want to rent a public facility like other groups can.

The article also points out that the five fastest growing and largest school districts in the US permit religious groups to hold services on weekends. Some school districts are getting very creative by writing in their contracts that the facility can only be rented regularly for a short period of time effectively eliminating new churches from being able to consider the schools as an option. This resistance to renting schools to churches isn’t just being felt in big cities. I’ve experienced problems with planters renting school facilities in the Bible belt as well.

Here’s a few things to do before you try and rent a school.

Read the USA today article. It’s loaded with some good facts.
Do a little research to see if church’s already meet in schools within your district.
Go meet the principals of the schools in your area. You should meet them anyway to learn about your community. When you do, ask them what the schools policy is on renting the facility and get a copy of the contract. If possible, start serving the school in some tangible way. You’ll want to do this regardless, but it will help show the school that you aren’t all words.
Determine who the decision maker is. In some cases this is the principal, sometimes it’s decided on the superintendent level, other time the school board has to approve. Once you know who the decision makers are, begin to have talks with them. Make sure to meet the principals first though. Chances are the decision makers will consult the principals. A good impression goes a long way.
Bathe every conversation in prayer asking God to give you the words to say.
Don’t try and force open a closed door. Legal actions might get you in, but its going to also create a bad impression. Better to find a different facility and serve the school rather than get in the facility and close doors to be able to communicate the gospel in word and deed to the school and its families.

What would you add to the list? What would you tell a church planter who is trying to get into a school facility?

Win a $20000 Grant for Your Church Plant at NEXT Nuts and Bolts

Doug Foltz — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:40:40 +0000

I met Ron Silvia and Jan Greggo a few years back while attending their NEXT church planting conference. I went to several of them while I worked with Passion 4 Planting. They are very practical and will dig into the how tos of planting a church. NEXT has partnered with Exponential to offer the NEXT Nuts and Bolts. They have to be losing money on this because the conference is only $29 and that includes lunch. It also gets you a chance to win a $20,000 grant for your church plant. I’d go for that alone.

Below is a write up on the conference from Jan. At this price it’s a no-brainer to go. But if $29 is too much for your budget, how about free? NEXT was kind enough to give Stadia 10 free tickets to the event. If you would like a ticket let me know in the comments. First come first serve. The only request is that if you take a ticket you please go.

NEXT Nuts & Bolts will be an affordable 2-day, cross-denominational, how-to training for planters and pastors starting a new church or needing a re-launch. This training is no hype, no theory, no breakouts, just solid step-by-step teaching from speakers who are experienced, in-the-trenches pastors/planters donating their time to this project.

We expect conference attendees to be predominantly church planters seeking their next step in the planting process as well as pastors seeking re-launch direction. Here are the basics:

Cost is only $29!
Lunch & snacks provided both days
Free resources galore
Immediate free one-on-one coaching
Ample time for networking with other planters
Host homes available (Or Hilton $89 incl breakfast)

In addition, we’ll choose one planter from this event and provide $20,000 to help fund his plant. Details are at our site, but a great Master Plan, assessment & interview are the 3 components to be chosen.

Politicians Attempt to Manipulate the Church’s Message

Doug Foltz — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:29:12 +0000

I don’t blog about politics often mainly because it doesn’t directly relate to church planting and secondly because someone always gets made. But I’m making an exception today. The IRS is very clear that the churches are not allowed to attempt to influence legislation or support candidates. A church can lose their status as a 501c3 if they do. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois doesn’t care about that rule as long as churches are promoting his agenda. He’s calling on churches to set aside time this Fall to talk to their congregations about the Dream Act. See this article by Fox News. The Dream Act is a piece of legislation that gives permanent US residency to illegals who entered the country before age 16, have been in the US 5 years, and agree to attend college or the military.

Let me be clear. I believe both theologically and politically the US is mishandling the immigration issue. The issue of illegal immigration is largely our own fault for not enforcing existing laws. In large part, our nation has taken advantage of illegals by creating a system where they work in conditions and for wages that we don’t allow for our own citizens. It’s allowed because it makes people money. It hurts Americans who lose jobs to lower paid illegals. It hurts our social services because a large population of people don’t pay taxes to support them. It hurts illegals because they are not afforded the same rights as an American worker. There is an easy fix to the problem of illegal immigration. But that’s for another post.

Here’s the real problem. A sitting senator is asking churches to promote his agenda. In effect, he’s asking churches to help him get the Dream Act passed. If this type of behavior is allowed, expect it to get worse. Because I’m sure there are those on the other side of the aisle who oppose the Dream Act. Are they too allowed to lobby churches asking them to influence their congregations to not support the Dream Act?

Here’s another example from the Christian Post. This week Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois has attacked the Catholic Church over the issue of same sex marriage. An Illinois law was passed allowing same sex couples in civil unions to adopt. Catholic Charities expressed a religious objection. The result of standing firm to the doctrine of the Church? Quinn is supporting a state decision to not renew a contract with Catholic Charities. The message: Either get in line with our agenda or your money gets cut.

Both of these examples are bold attempts by politicians to manipulate the church’s message. Let’s be clear, there is a double standard here. If the church attempts to manipulate political messages, they cry foul play. But apparently its ok for politicians to try and shape the church’s message. I’d like to say to Senator Dick Durbin and Governor Pat Quinn to please leave politics out of the church. To church’s I’d say it’s time to leave politics out of the church as well and to reclaim issues such as immigration, environmentalism, and marriage. These aren’t political issues but Christian ones. God teaches us in his Word very clearly how we should treat the foreigners among us. He very clearly teaches us our responsibility to the environment and He very clearly defines marriages. Let’s stop making these political issues, taking sides based on our political affiliations and start studying Scripture to see what God has to say about it. Even if that means thinking contrary to our party of choice.

No related posts.

As a Church Planter You Will Be Uncomfortable

Doug Foltz — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 17:59:53 +0000

So last Saturday night at Skateland, I was that guy. You know the one guy at the rink who can’t skate. The nice thing about being 200+ lbs is that rather than laugh most people were just afraid I’d kill them and so they stayed away. To make matters worse I was wearing a pink shirt. I don’t wear pink. I don’t even own a pink shirt. Well I do now. I had to wear one for the roller derby match I went to earlier in the evening. It was paint the rink pink night. Apparently I was the only guy who got the message. So there I was a 6’3″ ungraceful man flailing around a skating rink like a new born horse discovering its legs. I couldn’t turn so every time I kind of just crashed into the wall, righted myself and kept going. I did this about 20 times in front of this same lady and bless her heart I don’t think she has laughed so hard in years. When they blasted the music and everyone started dancing, she told me to get out there and “get my groove on.” She said, “You just need to feel it.” I replied, “The only thing I’m feeling is my sore butt every time I fall and even if I had shoes on I’m not sure I’d know how to get my groove on.”

So why did I spend Saturday night dressed in pink at a roller derby match and then later at Skateland making a fool of myself? Simple. It was for love. These were things my wife enjoys. I was willing to look like a fool and endure a few new bruises because I love her. It reminds me of 2 Samuel 6 when David brings the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. V. 14 says that David danced before the LORD with all his might. Apparently he was half naked while at it. His wife Michal was less than thrilled and David says in v. 22 “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.” David was willing to be humiliated for love. Granted it was for the love of God not his wife, but its a close enough parallel.

As a church planter you are going to face similar humiliating and uncomfortable situations. You are going to have to do things that you aren’t good at and at times it will feel like you are flailing around on skates embarrassing yourself. For many church planters, this would include things like fund raising. You’re probably no good at it and the constant waves of no or simply being ignored is hard. For others its networking with community leaders. The role of a pastor isn’t exactly exalted like it used to be and introducing yourself to the movers and shakers its easy to feel like you don’t measure up. You can feel a little embarrassed at saying you’re a pastor.

Regardless what it is, every church planter is going to experience it. But you gladly humiliate yourself out of love. Love for the community and the people who need to be restored to God. Love for God who sent you on this mission. And because of love, we can stand with David and loudly if not awkwardly proclaim, “I WILL BECOME EVEN MORE UNDIGNIFIED THAN THIS!”