You Can Know God

Church Planter Wanted

We're not going to wait until we've got it all figured out before we plant another church. Instead, we're going to get involved right now in church planting (and missions, but that's another post). Sometime in the next 12-18 months, we want to go start another church. Here's what I mean.

We're looking for someone that is CALLED and GIFTED in the area of launching a church. We want this person here in Cartersville - to hang out with us, to help us, and to learn from us. We want to make significant investments into this person's life and the church they will lead. We want them to hang out with us for about 9 months, and then we want to send them out. With support, with prayer, with help, with some money, and heck...even with some people.

I was listening to Clark Howard on the radio one afternoon who was giving advice to someone that wanted to open a fast food restaurant. Clark told the guy to go get a job at the chain that he was thinking about buying, and learn it from the ground up. Work the registers, clean the store, see how it really works. What great advice! If you want to start a successful church, then how smart would you be to learn from a real church plant. We've made lots of mistakes, but we've done some things right. I think we have a decent plan and strategy and could be a big help to someone.

We're not locked into a particular city or state, but we're looking for God's person who is serious about planting a church. Serious, as in you're willing to quit your job and work in a fast food restaurant. So, if this might be you, and you're serious...let's talk.

Recipe for Success

In our Lead Team meeting this week, Anthony started us off by looking at Nehemiah. I f you remember the story, this guy went to his king and asked for permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls. It's one of my favorite Bible stories - there are so many leadership lessons in those few chapters. As Nehemiah and his people get to work, they run into a couple of problems. Interestingly, we've run into these same problems at Oak Leaf Church.

1. Tired workers. Some of the people came to Nehemiah and complained that they were tired. They had been working hard. Many worked with one hand and held a sword in the other hand (in case of attack). Wall rebuilding is hard work. So is starting a church. We have so many people that work so hard to make things happen, and it's easy to get tired. One reason we talk about volunteers so much is that we don't wan't people to have two jobs until everybody has one. There will be days that leaders don't think they have enough help. There will be mornings when the 5 AM alarm clock seems like it's going off way earlier. There will be times when the mission seems like it could go on vacation for a week. Yea, we all get tired.

2. Complaining neighbors. Pressure didn't just come from the inside - there were some people that didn't like this construction project and they took every chance they could get to gossip, spread rumors and plan attacks. As a church, we've experienced that, too. We get accused of being soft on sin (though I just taught pretty tough messages on abortion and homosexuality). Some people think we're a cult. Other churches ignore us or talk bad about us. I heard recently about a rumor going around that we didn't take an offering because we didn't want to offend people so that's why we had to borrow money from other churches. People (mostly church people) get ticked at some of our postcards and fliers, because it doesn't look very churchy. There was not a church in town that helped us when we came here - even though I personally met with many pastors. I got so sick of pastors who would say "let me know what you need," and in the next breath, deny our request for help (and throwing in the requisite "we'll pray for you" comment).  I'm a little tired of people that say "I'm a Christian" in one breath, and then take every opportunity they can find to bash or block our church.  The bottom line is that the bigger we get, the more complainers there will be.  Nehemiah experienced this, too.

Solution?

When these two problems reared their head, Nehemiah got the people together for a pep talk and I just love his simple message. He said, "Remember the Lord." In other words, Nehemiah was reminding the people that this wall project was God's project. He reminded everybody just WHY they were doing what they are doing. Never lose sight of the purpose, He told them. Remember the reason that we're all here. Keep the focus on that, not on how tired you are or how loud the complainers get.

Oak Leaf Church - people are going to talk bad about us (mostly because they are jealous or because they don't take the time to understand). You are going to get tired (this is a lot of work and it doesn't happen by accident). When those things happen, the simplest thing you can do is "Remember the Lord." He's the one that called us to do what we're doing. He's the one that gifted you for service. He's the one that is behind this whole thing. This is not some scheme of man, this is a God-sized project.  We couldn't get 900 people at church on Sunday if we tried.  We're not doing anything different than what we did 6 weeks ago, but in the last 6 weeks, 270 new people have started attending OLC.  We cannot explain away what this is...it's a God thing.  Let's stay focused on that.

Where to Start Churches

I want to continue my answer to the rather lengthy but sincere e-mail about the church. Here's the question.

"Most of the emergent churches I've looked at are in upper middle class suburbs not the inner city and rural areas. It is like God only calls you to places of status and affluence. Is this a misperception on my part? Are there emergent churches in the poor inner city areas or in rural areas?"

I don't think Oak Leaf Church really fits that description. I'm not sure we'd fit the emergent mold, and Cartersville isn't really an upper-middle class suburb. When I first moved to Cartersville a couple of years ago to start this church, I didn't like it. I grew up in a big city, so a city of 20,000 in a county of 100,000 seems really small to me. The average household income in Cartersville is less than some of the other places where we looked, as was the level of education, and several other demographic areas.

I can't speak to every church, but I definitely felt called to Cartersville. We did not know anyone when we moved here, and we didn't come here because the people fit us. In fact, part of me felt like I would be a better fit in a place like Marietta or Woodstock, but God had different plans.

I think of church planting like being a missionary. We're called to this culture, and part of that is understanding it. It's obviously easier for me to plant a church in an English speaking place, with people that are similar to me. I know when missionaries serve a totally different culture, they can adopt that culture, and/or they can reach people from that culture and train them to be missionaries, too. It would have been a different ball game if God sent us to a small town of 1,000 people. We would have obeyed, but I think God wired us for a place like this.

I think God calls people to all kinds of different places, not just the easy ones. I would love to live in a giant city like New York or Boston, but the Lord wanted us here. We're happy here because we're called here.

How did I know to Start a Church?

I've had the opportunity to meet with some potential church planters recently, and this question usually comes up. I also love telling the story to our newcomer's orientation (which we are having this Sunday during both services).

Anyway, before moving to Cartersville to start this church, I was a youth pastor. For about ten years or so, and tree different churches. I had a youth group of nearly 300 people and life was good. Honestly, things had gotten pretty easy. I knew where to get 30 pizzas for $5 each. I had become quite good at planning events. I was teaching and leading worship at our weekly events. It was pretty comfortable.

As time went by, I found myself becoming frusturated about things in the church, not just things in the youth ministry. I started wondering why we weren't connecting some of the parents. I started reading books on church ministry and not just youth ministry. In staff meetings, I found myself caring more about issues that were "over my head" and "none of my business." In short, I think my vision just got bigger.

There was a time when I thought I would be a youth pastor for life. I was happy there, and reaching students will always be important to me. I still have the opportunity through this organization to do some speaking at different youth groups and events. But God had different plans. Though I didn't know anything about starting churches, it was definitely a call of God and leading from His spirit.

We made the decision and zeroed in on Atlanta. Again, this was a God thing because we didn't know anyone here. Through Westridge, we got connected to Cartersville. I didn't like Cartersville the first couple of months that I lived here, but as I began to meet people, I saw that a church like Oak Leaf was definitely needed.

How do you know what God wants you to do? I think it's a combination of reading His word, listening to what He is saying, and examining your gifts and passions. I feel like God has given me gifts of leadership and teaching, and I felt him nudge me towards starting a church. Then, it becomes a matter of obedience.

What is God saying to you? What gift and passion are you not using? What task seems too big or too scary? Because that's the thing that you need to be doing.

Information for Church Planters

For those of you that might be interested, over at Behind the Leaf, I'm posting some of my content from the breakout that I did at the churchplanters.com conference back in February.  You can order a CD of the breakout (and some other great sessions) here.  It's stuff we about how to launch large.  We also post specific info and stats from our weekends on that blog.

Only in a Church Plant

Can you have a record offering the week before and the lowest offering of the year the very next week. It's a good thing God is in control of all this, because I think I just ordered more stuff than this past week's offering. :)

Planning for Growth

I had lunch with David from Mountain Lake Church yesterday.  I wanted to get some insight from a church that is farther along then us and the crew at Mountain Lake is amazing.  One of the tensions I feel in regards to growth comes from this....do we lead the church like it's five months old, or do we lead the church like there are 400 people?  That's a rare combination.  David had some great insight about growth, facilities, land, etc. so it was good to get some perspective. 

I'm also excited about leading a breakout session at the upcoming and nearly sold out churchplanters.com conference.  Registration is nearly double from next year and the lineup looks great.  I think it will be one of the better conferences of the year.  I'm leading a breakout during two of the three slots on "Launching Large."  I've been working on the content and feel like I've got some good insight. 

Mad Breafast

Had breakfast at iHop with fellow church planter (or fellow heretic) Gary Lamb this morning.  We chatted about growth, buying buildings, outdoor Easter services, staffing issues, and crying kids in services.  Gary is the pastor of the two-year old Ridgestone Church in Canton.  Westridge helped them get started too, so that makes Gary and I something like second cousins, twice removed.  Gary and his team are knocking it out of the park, and he always has good insights.

Partnership

Oak Leaf Church is praying about a church plant that we can partner with.  I'm not sure all that partnering means, but for us, it includes sending a mission team to the same place on a regular basis.  We'd love for that to be reciprocated.  From the beginning, we want to be involved in what God is doing all over the place.  We're not going to wait around until we're established to get involved in missions and support church plants.  We're praying and searching for a church plant in a US city somewhere, as well as a country that we can "adopt." Our criteria is:

• It has to be a place we can get to easily.  I don't want to take a boat, train, and a camel.  Not yet anyway.  We need it to be a cost effective place for travel. 
• We want to speak English.
• We want there to be a real need that we can meet.  I'm sorry if
  this doesn't seem spiritual, but when looking at a mission trip, if I
  see the words "prayer walk" that's code for "we really don't have much for
  you to do."

Do you know of a church plant that is knocking it out of the park, or has a team that is about to knock it out of the park?  Do you know of a particular ministry in a country that is doing some good stuff?  If so, let me know.

churchplanters.com

I attended the churchplanters.com conference last year, and they have asked me to lead one of the breakouts this year.  If you're a church planter, you should attend this conference.  It's just $99 and the content will be great (not sure about my breakout though).  There are some solid speakers, and the Mountain Lake crew is amazing.

They have profiled Oak Leaf on their website. (read it here). This is an amazing testament to all the amazing volunteers and staff that have helped Oak Leaf get off to a solid start.