Church Planting Update

About a month ago Ryan Kelly, Desert Springs' teaching pastor, mentioned that I will be planting a church in a couple of years. Since then many have asked questions, such as, exactly when, where and what the church would look like. Not much has been said, by DSC or myself, but much has been simmering. More on that to come in the future, but this picture should give a hint as to what Jesus seems to be guiding us to...

Missional Church Made Simple

What is the Missional Church? Take 2 Minutes for a very simple yet illuminating explanation.



Props: Tim Chester

Rethink Mission: How to Become a Church-Planting Church

I thought this was a great article from Rethink Mission for churches that have not planted, but want to become a church that does.

Here is how the article starts:

You don’t have to have church-planting already in your DNA, however, to become a church-planting church. Let’s say that you pastor an established, traditional church & have never planted a new church or supported a church planter. Where do you start?

CLICK HERE FOR REST

A Great Dream For Albuquerque

From Steve Furtick:

Acts 5:28
“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said.
“Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

That’s what I’m talking about.
If you’re going to accuse us of something, accuse us of that:
You have filled your city with the teaching of Jesus.

Church, let’s fill our cities with the good news of Christ.
Let’s fill the places of poverty with our generosity.
Let’s fill our schools with students who are not ashamed of the Gospel.

The future of our cities is empty and desolate without the power and the presence of God.

Let’s keep preaching, reaching, and giving until our cities overflow and can’t deny it:
You have filled this city with Jesus.

Church Planting Thoughts

Interesting insights and thoughts from Jason Salamun:

A handful of random thoughts on church planting and leadership.

There’s a healthy way to start and lead a church without losing your soul.

Jesus has left footprints to guide us and our responsibility as leaders is to see them and follow him.

Your calling to lead a church will never, ever, ever trump God’s requirements to lead a church.

Rather than starting a church at the expense of your family, include them.

He has called you not because you’re so great, but because he is.

You must be faithful in a world full of fads.

You must boldly pursue him in a world that doesn’t.

The idea of a super-spiritual lone ranger pastor from whom all things flow is unbiblical and unhealthy.

The church is the body of Christ made up of many parts, not a giant robot with you behind the controls.

Funny how I had more answers 3 years ago than I do today.

Like many would-be church planters, I was a bit arrogant and knew it all.

Then I started a church and soon new questions arose that I didn’t even know existed.

We church planters read and learn from the same circle of people.

We live in an age of cookie-cutter churches and copycat church planters.

We look like our favorite churches and talk like our favorite leaders.

We’re not original, we’re posers.

We need to get over our man-crushes on celebrity leaders.

It’s pathetic and needs to stop.

Be a man, not a puppy dog.

Babies aren’t born adults and neither are churches.

Seeds don’t turn into trees overnight and neither do churches.

In a culture that values the speed of the microwave it’s hard to appreciate the the slow bake of an oven.

Yet, which method makes a tastier turkey?

Something to think about.

Ultimately, it’s about the gospel.

The gospel always produces community.

The gospel always compels us to mission.

The gospel always leads to Jesus.

Check out his blog "Live Free"

Why Leaders FAIL.

From Scott Williams:

Below is a list of 4 memorable reasons leaders FAIL in an easy to remember acronym FAIL.

1. Fake- A leader who attempts to be someone they’re not instead of simply being themselves has a difficult time succeeding, at some point it just catches up to them. This also applies to the leader that has a different face, different persona, different tone, different everything… when certain people are around. In other-words when the big boss comes around they put their fake-face on. Not to say a leader might not make some adjustments when company comes around; however the super-fake-face comes from insecurity of how they act normally. Remember: Don’t be fake, be yourself… “Do You! It’s A Statement… Not A Question!” Fake Leaders Fail!
2. Attitude- One of the primary reasons that a leader fails is because of a poor, negative or a no-can-do attitude. If a leader thinks he can fly and has a positive can-do attitude; even though they may not be able to fly they will come darn close. The reason why attitude is important is because that leader’s attitude will rub off on their team members and their followers. Remember: “Attitude reflects leadership, Captain.” ~Julius in Remember The Titans
3. Integrity- If a leader doesn’t exhibit a high degree of integrity they will fail. The integrity issues will either catch up to them (what’s done in the dark, will come to light) or those that follow them won’t respect them. If team members or followers don’t respect the a leader, it puts the leader in the place of pushing a snowball up hill… it’s a difficult task. These integrity issues run the gamete: profanity, lying, cheating, stealing, affairs, flirting, yelling, substance abuse, pride-filled decisions etc. I have worked with many high capacity leaders in both the secular world and ministry that have failed because they allowed their integrity to get off track. Remember: Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching.
4. Lacking- Although I believe that everyone has potential for some degree of leadership in them; the bottom line is that some leaders fail because they are either: a.) Not the leader they think they are, or b.) Promoted above their leadership capacity/leadership role has outgrown them, or c.) Not a visionary, or d.) Not a leader at all! They are lacking what it takes! Remember: Just because someone has an office, role, title or responsibility doesn’t mean they are a leader. Leadership is an art, a skill, a craft, a gift… and it must be developed!

What do you think? Are there others you would add to the list?

Top 3 Characteristics of a Church Planter

From Acts 29:

Acts 29 church planters were surveyed on 10 qualifications of a church planter and 60 microskills. I wrote a blog that detailed these characteristics more fully.

The top three characteristics are (in order):

1. Spiritual Vitality
2. Strong Marriage & Family Life
3. Theological Clarity

The top three microskills from those surveyed:

1. He gives evidence of a personal relationship with Jesus and a transformed life. (Spiritual Vitality)
2. He models a lifestyle of following Jesus. (Spiritual Vitality)
3. He professes healthy sexual relationship and purity in his marriage. (Strong Marriage & Family Life)

What do you think, would you add any others?

Confessions

If you are a church planter or ministry leader I highly recommend watching or listening to this sermon from Darrin Patrick Teaching Pastor at The Journey Church in St. Louis, MO. Lauren and I watched it last night and it was convicting and eye opening to me as I lead out The Well and look towards one day church planting.

Click Here to Watch or Listen

Click Here to Learn More about The Journey Church in STL, I have been there it is a great church.

Revitalizing a Church

J.D. Greer over at Resurgence has posted some great points and thoughts about how to revitalize your church. And I think what he means by revitalize is good and needed, it has less to do with how to pack people in rather more to do with how to make disciples. You know, making disciples, kinda the main mission of the church this side of heaven.

Click Here to see all 4 parts

Driscoll on "The End of Christian America"

Mark Driscoll pastor of Mars Hill Church will be at City on a Hill soon to be Mars Hill Albuquerque tonight at 7pm discussing church unity in Albuquerque for he cause of Christ, as well as preaching on Sunday (11am and 7pm).
We are planning to get a group to head over there Sunday night at 7pm if you would like to come.

Below is a great article from Fox News from Pastor Mark about the Newsweek issue that proclaimed the end of America being a "christian nation".

Here is a quote:

Has Christian America come to an end? That question has been hotly debated since Newsweek published their recent feature story reporting that the number of Americans claiming no religious affiliation has nearly doubled since 1990. Additionally, the percentage of self-identified Christians has dropped ten points in the past two decades.

As an evangelical pastor with one of America’s fastest-growing churches in one of its least churched cities, I do not find the report surprising or discouraging. Newsweek missed the subtle — but vital — difference between Christian America and Christendom America.

Click Here for the rest of Driscoll's comments

Mark Driscoll-iPod Idol

Mark Driscoll pastor of Mars Hill Church will be at City on a Hill soon to be Mars Hill Albuquerque this Friday (7pm) discussing church unity in Albuquerque for he cause of Christ, as well as preaching on Sunday (11am and 7pm).
We are planning to get a group to head over there Sunday night at 7pm if you would like to come.

Check out Pastor Mark's wisdom on how not to use your iPod as a time to show the world how good or bad you can sing. (Although anytime you wanna rock out to Journey I say go for it!)

Mark Driscoll-Don't Be Google For God

Mark Driscoll pastor of Mars Hill Church will be at City on a Hill soon to be Mars Hill Albuquerque this Friday (7pm), and Sunday (11am and 7pm).
We are planning to get a group to head over there Sunday night at 7pm if you would like to come.

Below Mark shares about what to do when people ask tough questions about God, and how to be able to say "I don't know, but I'll find one", and actually doing the research.

Mark Driscoll on Charles Spurgeon

Mark Driscoll pastor of Mars Hill Church will be at City on a Hill soon to be Mars Hill Albuquerque this Friday (7pm), and Sunday (11am and 7pm).
We are planning to get a group to head over there Sunday night at 7pm if you would like to come.

Below is a excerpt about Mark's personal hero (other than Jesus) Charles Spurgeon.

The Gospel For ABQ-UNM

From Church Planting Novice:

I was recently asked to write up an explanation of the “good news” for a newspaper as a part of JR Woodward’s Good News Series. I wrote up a contextualized expression of the gospel for Austin, the gospel for my city. I’ve also submitted it to our local paper. This is a good exercise for all church planters. Thanks to JR for stimulating this good line of thinking. I hope you’ll do something similar for your local newspaper.

Jonathan Dodson gives us something very important to think through. How does the Gospel speak to our city? How would you explain it to a student at UNM, CNM or a young adult at Starbucks?

Big News From City On A Hill

City on a Hill today announced some rather big news. City on a Hill's Lead Pastor Dave Bruskas is a dear friend, and I am really excited for them. In the coming school year The Well looks forward to teaming up with City on a Hill which will be a Mars Hill campus to reach UNM and CNM in new and exciting ways.

Greater things are yet to be done...

From Mars Hills Blog:

At today’s services, Pastor Mark is making a few significant announcements, including news of multiple Mars Hill pastors preparing to start new churches, and multiple new Mars Hill campuses in the works. The latter includes our first out-of-state campus in New Mexico.

This summer, City on a Hill Church in Albuquerque will become a Mars Hill campus. We will partner together in an effort to reach as many people as possible with the gospel of Jesus. Over the past three months, the Executive Elders of Mars Hill and the pastors of City on a Hill have spent many hours in discussion, prayer, and study in order to reach this unanimous decision.

Dave Bruskas is the lead pastor at City on a Hill, which has been a part of the Acts 29 Networksince 2007. He is a proven, seasoned pastor and a gifted teacher. He is a loving husband, and a devoted father to his four daughters. Dave will be the Albuquerque campus pastor and serve as a regional director for both Acts 29 and Mars Hill, starting new campuses, starting new churches, and continuing to lead the local congregation.

The transition from City on a Hill to Mars Hill Church will be official in the next few months, and the new campus will celebrate its grand opening this fall. In the meantime, the local leadership will help shepherd the congregation through the transition, and Mars Hill pastors will spend some time onsite to provide training and fellowship as we get better acquainted with this new extension of our church family (for example, Tim Smith, our lead worship pastor, will visit next weekend, and Pastor Mark will preach live at City on a Hill on May 24).

Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Albuquerque, and the work God has called them to lead in their city and region. We are encouraged by their faithfulness to the local mission, and it is an honor to come alongside them in the cause of the gospel.

As we follow Jesus across state lines, none of us know quite what to expect. But we trust him, we love him, and we want people to know him. We are incredibly excited to see him bring unity and fruit within the body of Christ, and salvation and new life throughout the world.

Visit MarsHillGlobal.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more updates related to new campuses, training opportunities, and resources to serve the greater church

Click here to learn more about Mars Hill Church.