Church Planting 101b by Bill Walden

This was originally posted on Bill Walden’s Blog: http://pastorbillwalden.wordpress.com/

 

Just a few thoughts here…

The reason for the 101“b”, is that there is a difference (at least to me) in planting a church you are going to stay at versus planting a church that you are planning to step away from. The differences aren’t huge, but they are there.

101a: plant and stay. 101b: plant and pass it on to someone else.

Church planters may gain some insights out of this. All Believers can probably unearth a few nuggets.

We planted Cornerstone in October of 1991, with the intention of staying. It has been different with St. Helena Community Church (SHHC) in that for a while, I thought I might pastor at two locations. I have been with this group for two years. The Lord finally made it very clear that I was not to be their permanent pastor, and my thought processes began to change. Here are a few things that I learned or was reminded of…

1. Foundations are non-negotiable. 1 Corinthians 3:5-10 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it.

The foundation of any Christian ministry has to be Jesus, the Word of God, and the ways of God. Without the foundation, one is building on sand. I thank God that He placed me in the Calvary Chapel movement, where we have been taught to teach the Word, love the people, pray, trust God with finances, and be flexible to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. That is a foundation which will allow for growth and longevity.

2. Emotions versus God’s leading. The two are not always in agreement. God has made me a pastor. That means I love to teach the Word and see people grow in their faith. I love that. I feel that. It moves me. It was a joy to share the Word with the SH folks, but that did not automatically mean that I was supposed to stay there permanently. Those same sentiments existed regarding evangelism, equipping folks for ministry, seeing people encouraged and healed, etc. All the stuff that a pastor is supposed to feel, I felt…deeply. But we are not to be led by our emotions. It took a while for me to realize that God was not going to have me stay. Emotions can lead you to make nice suggestions which are not Spirit inspired. Emotions versus God’s leading call for a lot of prayer and patience.

3. Hold On To The Vision. When I first met the SH folks, I asked them what they wanted. Their response: “We want a Bible teaching, Bible believing church, with a pastor that lives in our community”. That is a very Biblical goal, and absolutely reflects the heart of God. I and they believed that this was what the Lord wanted. That conviction kept us all moving forward, and gave needed perseverance to our souls.

4. How “far” do I lead? This was tricky. When I realized that I wasn’t to be the long term pastor, I wondered about how many of my fingerprints should be on this church. Every pastor has his particular way of doing things. If I overdo it in making it “my” church, then the next pastor might have to make big changes to make it “his” church. If I pull back too much (which I did for a short time), then there is a vacuum in leadership, and the church begins to stall out. I finally concluded that I needed to move forward, and whenever called for, do things the way that God would lead me, trusting that the permanent pastor could build on that, and not need to change things too much.

5. Don’t feel guilty about “double duty”. We can be attacked when we are busy with extra ministry responsibilities. We can think that perhaps we are failing at our “primary” ministry. My primary ministry isn’t Cornerstone Ministries of Napa Valley. It also isn’t my wife, my kids, or my friends. My primary ministry is to obey Jesus, wherever He leads me, and to be there for however long he has me there. Regardless of what else might not be getting done in other areas, I need to obey the Lord, and believe that He will take care of other things that I cannot get to.

6. Passing the baton. One of the sad incidents at the 2008 Olympics was watching runners drop the baton in the relay races. Their timing was way off, and they didn’t pay attention to one another. If you drop the baton, it doesn’t matter how well you ran. My portion of this race is ending, but it’s not done yet. I need to be careful to pass the baton well. For those of us who might be transitioning out of a ministry: you are not done until you are done. Don’t quit early. See it through ’til the end.

 

Launching Ideas

Launching Ideas

By Daniel Fusco

 

No two church plants are alike.  Each new work has a unique set of circumstances.  Some church plants are what I like to call ‘cold plants’.  You have a church planter starting in an area where they don’t know anyone at all.  Others are a bit warmer.  Sometimes a church planter will move within their state.  Sometimes they will be sent from their church because there are a few families who want to see a new work start.  Other church plants entail a church sending their Assistant Pastor with a number of people to the next town to start a church.  As I said, the circumstances are always different.  But one thing remains constant: each one needs to start.  They need to begin meeting in some way and some time.  No way is better or worse than another.  The only thing that matters is what the Lord’s will is for a specific work.  The purpose of this article is to give you some ideas as to the various ways people start meeting.  I’m also going to mention a few ‘cons’ to each method to help facilitate your thinking.

 

The Home Bible Study

 

This method is the least expensive way to launch.  It simply entails beginning a Bible study in a home.  The idea being that as people begin to congregate together around the Word of God and as relationships are built, you are laying the foundation for a potential church plant.  This is often how existing churches plant new congregations.  They begin a home fellowship and see if they will develop into something that can be launched at some point.  The main con to this method, in the 21^st century is that people often will not come to the home of people that they don’t know.  So in order to grow a home bible study (especially in a ‘cold’ plant situation), it can take a very long time.

 

The Non Sunday Morning Public Meeting

 

Many churches are started with a public Bible study at a time other than Sunday mornings.  Often planters choose either Sunday evening or a Wednesday or Thursday night as these are traditional times for worship services.  This is beneficial because you can have a worship service with teaching and you are not bound to have a full program (children’s ministry, nursery, ushers, etc).  By having it on an alternative time other than Sunday morning, you have a lowered expectation.  You really only need a Bible teacher and a worship leader to accomplish this.  The biggest con is that often you will get many members of other churches who come and if/when you want to go to Sunday mornings, you will either lose many folks or force a decision by people who are already committed at other places (neither of which is very much fun).

 

Presentation Services

 

This is a very interesting method.  The presentation method can take on innumerable characteristics but the basis of it is this: a church is going to get started so there is over the course of a few months, events designed to create a buzz about a new ministry.  Let’s use an example.   Let’s say that you wanted to plant a church in a town.  Your target Sunday service launch date is January 1.  So beginning in November, you decide to do outreach for the entire weekend culminating in a presentation worship service on Sunday evening.  The whole focus of the outreach is to let your community know that who you are.  Then you decide to do 2 more presentation services in December with corresponding outreach all of it culminating with the January 1^st Launch service.  This method is great because you have the potential of meeting many people before you really get going.  The greatest con to this method is that you need servants and money to execute the outreaches and services, which is often in short supply in a church plant. 

 

Sunday Morning Service

 

This is simply finding a public place to meet on Sunday morning and simply launching the church.  As I described in the article entitled, ‘The Big Three’, it is important to remember that there are certain expectations that people have about coming to a church on Sunday morning.  I recommend having the Big Three (pastor, worship leader, and children’s ministry) when you begin a Sunday morning service.  The biggest con to this method, like the Presentation Services, is that you need resources and man-power to launch a Sunday morning service.  And as the old proverb goes, ‘You never get a second chance to make a first impression.’

 

In conclusion, this is not an exhaustive list, only the most commonly used methods of getting a new church going.  Don’t forget, these ways are not mutually exclusive.  You can use a hybrid methodology in getting started.  As was stated earlier, really the only thing that matters is what the Lord’s will is for the church that you are starting.  

Tithing on the Tithe by Daniel Fusco

Many church plants are relying solely upon the tithes of the attendees and members to sustain the ministry. Most churches pray that their members will give in order to keep the church rolling along. We have heard often the statement, ‘You can’t out give God’. I believe that statement. When I stepped out to plant the church in New Jersey, I had just had a revival of sorts in my own heart. That revival came in the form of a mission’s vision that blasted across my heart by the Holy Spirit. I was given some books on missiology and found that there were 1.4 billion people who were still considered unreached (without a self propagating congregation that was engaging the culture directly). I was shocked and horrified. Here I was, with a library full of great books and access to thousands of solid Bible teachings via the Internet and mp3, and there were people in the world that couldn’t even read John chapter 3 in their own language. I learned that most of these unreached people lived in an area called the 10/40 window, which exists between 10 degrees and 40 degrees latitude. This area covers Northern Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Asia. 1.4 billion people! That is nearly five times the population of the United States. Then I learned that out of all the missions spending of the Western Church, less than 1% of that money is devoted to work amongst this 1.4 billion people. At that point, I knew that the Lord wanted something to change.

As I began to pray about this whole situation, the Lord ministered to me that we should tithe on the tithe. Just as we hoped that people would give 10% to the work of the ministry, we figured that we would lead by example. From the first day of now two church plants, we have tithed on the tithe. Tithing on our tithe has been one of the greatest blessings that I have known as a pastor. Now I’m not saying that ‘legalistically’ speaking, everyone should do this. I am only offering it up as something to seek the Lord about. Imagine your congregation with an annual budget of $100,000 putting $10,000 into the Lord’s global cause. Imagine your congregation with an annual budget of $1,000,000 putting $100,000 into the 10/40 window. I will be giving you some of the fruit that has come from this spiritual discipline.

1. It furthers along the Lord’s plan as outlined in Matthew 28:18-20.

This is a simple yet profound fruit. Jesus told His disciples to go and make disciples. That costs money (especially in our day and age where hospitality is not a strength). Money is an outlet of spiritual power. When someone goes into another country, oftentimes it is illegal for him or her to get a job there. So there support must come from the outside. Paul was often supported by local congregations, as well as by his own tent making. In order to see Saudi Arabian’s won for the kingdom, it is going to take money. The Great Commission is clear. We are told to make disciples (the only imperative verb in the Greek) and we do that by going, teaching and baptizing. When a local church tithes on their tithe, they are actively involved in seeing the unreached peoples of world won for the kingdom of God.

2. It helps the church have a Global Vision and Impact.

Oftentimes people say, ‘But there are so many unsaved people in my area.’ No doubt this is the truth. There are unsaved people everywhere. The needs are great. But stereotypically speaking, most churches devote the bulk of their budget, not to evangelism and outreach for the lost, but simply to maintain all their things. The apostle Paul, all throughout the epistles, was encouraging believers to have a global vision and impact. These small churches were funding his missionary endeavors. To the church in Philippi he encouraged them that in their giving, Paul was excited about the fruit that was to be attributed to their account. Just as Jesus told His disciples to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth, that should be our vision. Jerusalem is the communities that we live in. Judea is maybe our county or region. Samaria is maybe our state of nation. The uttermost parts of the earth is, well, the uttermost parts of the earth. Are we seeking to have an impact beyond our Jerusalem? Now don’t get me wrong, we are called to devote our very lives to our own Jerusalems, but let us not neglect to have the Lord’s heart for the other parts of this vast globe.

3. It will cast vision for the young missionaries in your congregation.

In every seat of every congregation, there is a vital part of the body of Christ. Part of the function of meeting together corporately is for the identification, nurturing, and expression of God’s gracious giftings. Before a person is called and set apart for missionary service, they are a person sitting in a pew, being ministered to by the Lord. When a church has God’s heart for the globe and it is discussed, it will be the catalyst for those who God is calling to missionary service to identify and nurture their calling. In New Jersey, we would talk about missions all the time. I would purposefully find examples of the concepts that I was teaching on in the lives of missionaries. This would give me an opportunity to tell the congregation about their stories. Oftentimes after the service, folks would come up and ask about these people and I would point them to missionary biographies. We would often share emails and letters that we received from our missionaries that we supported on the field. People would weep and pray for these folks. Before I knew it, we had a number of young people praying about going on the mission field. As we entered our third year as a church, we send three recent college graduates onto the mission field!

4. It will keep the church from getting to insulated in its thinking.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, it keeps the church from getting too insulated in its thinking. The body of Christ is gloriously huge and diverse. Oftentimes, people forget this because we are so focused on the needs and situations within the church walls that we forget that there are believers everywhere. We are part of the body of Christ and she is multi ethnic, multi linguistic and vaster than we can fathom. Jesus wants us to have His view of His church. As a local church tithes on its tithe, we help the congregation see that it is a very special part of the body, which is infinitely greater.

Fellow laborer for the glory of God, won’t you consider to tithe on your tithe? Won’t you consider allowing the church that you have been given stewardship of to have a global impact? Let us join to together and ask the Lord for His heart for the unreached peoples of the earth. And let us link of hands with Him in seeing those people

Seven Random Thoughts on Church Planting by Daniel Fusco

These points are in no particular order and will probably come off as completely unrelated, thus the title, Random Thoughts.

1. Church Planters should be Fully Committed.

Many church plants fail because the planter is not fully committed. They are planting by putting out feelers to see if a work will take off. This proves that a person is not called. When you are called, like Abraham, Moses, and Paul, you go all the way for it. Because of this truth, I do not believe a church planter should continue to fellowship at their home church on Sunday mornings. Even if you don’t have a Sunday morning service, you should be doing missionary work in the area that you are planting in. If you are not fully committed, there has to be a question if you are really called.

2. The Church Plant should get its own Post Office Box as soon as possible.

Unless a church is being planted with a permanent facility (a building that the church plant already owns), the church should get its own PO Box as soon as possible. Many planters make the mistake of having their home address or somewhere else as their address. The problem with this is that most church plants are mobile for a number of years. The old adage holds true, ‘Work smarter not harder’. If you don’t get a PO Box, you will have to be constantly letting everyone know about your change of address. If you get a PO Box to start, it alleviates this issue and also helps to separate the church planter from the church itself (which is important for IRS purposes).

3. Proximity breeds accountability so live in the town that you are planting in.

The title really says it all. Proximity breeds accountability. You want to live, shop, and be about the community that you are called to. There is no better way to be ‘incarnate’ in an area then to live there. You will meet folks everywhere and those relationships can always lead to fruitful opportunities for evangelism. Commuter pastors often don’t ever really connect with their communities.

4. Although Core Teams are Great, Expect to Do the Work Yourself

Most church planters struggle with their core team’s lack of commitment. Realistically, the church planter should expect to do almost all the work by themselves. I know that doesn’t sound fun, but it almost always works out this way. If the Lord sends you help, praise Him. If He does not, praise Him still. But if you are called by the Lord to plant a church in an area, think it not strange that He hasn’t sent you help. Remember, He called you so walk worthy of that calling.

5. Playing Guitar or Piano will always Be An Asset.

Finding a worship leader is often very hard. Buying a guitar (or a piano) and getting some lessons from someone is a good idea. Even if you have a worship leader, people get sick. If you can learn to be a substitute worship leader, it will make your life easier. When I was an assistant pastor, my pastor told me that I should play the guitar. So I got one for $50 and learned. Even though I wouldn’t say that I’m a gifted worship leader, it sure beats ‘Karaoke’ styled worship.

6. Guard Your Family

Church planting is not only stressful for the church planter, but it’s also stressful to the planter’s immediate family. For this reason, church planters need to guard, protect, and care for their families. A man’s first ministry is to his family. If you don’t tend to them, how can you tend to the flock of God? If the enemy can’t get directly at the planter, he’ll go hard after the planter’s family. Make sure you keep your date night with your wife (and if you don’t have one, you might want to think about starting one!). If you’re a single planter, make sure that you have some accountability as the temptations will come in ways that you never imagined.

7. When You Don’t Know What To Do, Do Nothing.

This is just a great lesson. Oftentimes, we don’t know what we should do and like all humans, we feel that we should be doing something. When you don’t know what to do then you shouldn’t do anything. It’s an amazing thought, but it is God’s will that we do nothing sometimes. We often feel that as church planters that if we have a lot of things to do that the church is going well. But oftentimes we make ourselves busy because WE want to be busy. You don’t have to have a Midweek service to be a successful church. You only need to do what God is asking you to do. But if you don’t know what that is, then realize that you actually DO know what He is asking. He is asking you to wait patiently and not create any Ishamels.

Is there anybody out there?

Hey Everyone,

I’m hoping to be putting out a few new articles this week.

If you are stopping on by, why not say hi?

Tell us about yourself and maybe some topics you would like to see covered or discussed

How to Plant a Church in a Foreign Country by Jeff Jackson

I. Be sure YOU understand the following:

A. That the church is rooted in the character of God
B. That it His chosen entity in this time to represent Him on earth
C. That Jesus builds it, it is built on Him and the truth about who He is.
D. That it was created to be on a “mission from God.” It has a purpose
in the world AND it has a purpose in the life of its members

II. Because you’ll be planting it in a foreign country, keep the following principles
in mind:

A. You have a specific goal that is measurable–the “4 self” standard

1. Self-governing—-making decisions for themselves and leading
themselves, following their own leaders, not outsiders

2. Self-supporting—shoulder ALL of their own financial responsibilities

3. Self-propagating–devoted to winning souls and reproducing
themselves both locally and internationally–Global vision!!!

4. Self-theologizing—understanding, applying, and communicating
who God is and His truth in culturally appropriate ways.

**SPECIFICS on how to meet these goals:

A. Everything you do sets a precedent–don’t expose the people to or
set precedents that cannot be maintained without foreign resources.

B. Always be concerned about DEPENDENCY on outside resources.

1. There is no biblical model of a church being dependent on outside
resources for its day to day operation or leadership!

2. There is a biblical model for relief from outside, but that is only
under desperate circumstances brought on by nature.

C. They have the Holy Spirit too, bring at least a few of them in on your
decisions as soon as possible. Give them OWNERSHIP as close to
the day of inception as possible–this is crucial for the church’s
self-image….them seeing themselves as the church of Jesus Christ
in their own community.

1. If there is a need to change locations, let them decide
where to go.

2. Challenge them with the task of outreach in the community.
You must be an example and impart the passion to do so,
but let them choose the people you should target, the area
you should target, the method you should use. They know
their city and their people better than you! And, they will
take into account cultural considerations that you wouldn’t
ever think about.

III. Basics of actually doing it:

A. You must GO and share the gospel with the people

B. From the day they get saved, impart a “missions” mindset–
–Jesus calling disciples to Himself, but in the same sentence
imparting “mission” Matt. 4:19 Focus them outward and impart
God’s heart for the world from day one. NEVER let them focus on
their relationship with Him alone, always put it in context of “mission”
as God did with Abraham and Jesus did with the disciples.

C. Be willing to not only teach them publicly and house to house, but
concentrate on relationships, not numbers….just like Jesus.

D. Model interconnectedness in your relationship with them–using your
resources to be a blessing to others, but always in a wise, non-precedent
setting, non-dependency creating way.

E. Demonstrate the church is more than just an occasion for teaching–initiate
the 4 components of Acts 2:42 as soon as possible

F. Begin looking for potential leaders as soon as possible. These would be
people who really get into the word, come early to the services and stay
late, are demonstrating servanthood and other-focusedness, and have
changed significantly enough that those who know them best can see
they are different.

G. Learn the language: preferably before you start, if not, while you are
in the midst of ministry, which is difficult

H. Encourage them to write their own worship, not just translate our songs.

I. Let them know from day one that your goal is to turn the church over
to their own leadership as soon as possible and that you are confident
they can do it.

Wisdom from Mark Driscoll by Daniel Fusco

Mark Driscoll is the controversial pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. Although I haven’t listened to much of his teaching, what I have listened to has been very solid theologically. I had had his book, ‘Confessions of a Reformissional Rev.’ recommended to me on many occasions. When I finally bought it, I must say that I enjoyed reading it. He is funny and sarcastic and brash. I’m from New Jersey so I appreciate all the elements involved. There was something that he wrote on page 101 of that book that really got me thinking.

In speaking of reaching out as a church, he asked,

1) Who we are reaching out with?
2) Who are we reaching out to?
3) How will we reach out?

These three questions are just brilliant as it helps to focus a church planter in fulfilling their calling. Oftentimes, we make outreach decisions not based on ‘reality’ (which is what these three questions lead us to), but on some past experiences. We often do outreach the way we saw the churches that we were apart of do it. But it often doesn’t translate.

Let’s look at each one:

1) Who we are reaching out with?

Who do you have to do outreach. Oftentimes church planters ‘burn out’ their new fellowship by trying to do something too big with too few people. The people feel burdened to do too much and often they feel that the outreach was unsuccessful in light of the energy exerted. This is the business principle of ‘over promising and under delivering’. It never goes well.

Be honest with yourself. Who do you have who will help? What are their giftings? A good leader and church planter will harness the gifts that the people have and use them for the furtherance of the gospel in your community.

Let me give you an example. I minister in Marin County, California. In Mill Valley, people are serious about their bike riding. Excuse me, their cycling! They get all done up to go out on their bikes. I realize that a cycling ministry in Mill Valley could potentially not only produce fruit, but would also get our name out in our community. I want a cycling ministry. But the problem is, at six months into this church plant, we don’t have any riders in the fellowship. So it would be silly, at this juncture, to do a cycling outreach when none of us even own a good road bike.

2) Who are we reaching out to?

I find this to be the hardest point to really understand for church planters. Who are the people that you are trying to reach? How do they think? What are they concerned about? Oftentimes a Christian’s idea of outreach is to get a cool Christian band and a good Christian speaker. But what is funny is that, most times, only Christians want to hear a good Christian band and a speaker. When the last time one of your unsaved friends came to you and said, “Hey do you want to go hear this lecture?” I thought so. The apostle Paul in Acts 17 met the Athenians where they were at. We need to do the same. We need to know and understand our intended audience.

To further my example, where I minister in Marin, it is one of the richest counties in the entire country. As I said the people love their outdoors activities. I am ministering to predominately affluent, upper class families. Most of the time both parents work high stress jobs for a prime salary. It’s is common for the men to be significantly older than their wives. Oftentimes this means that you have men in their mid to late forties having young children. They are politically liberal (as left as it gets) and are more ‘new age’ than in most areas. They are a sophisticated group, preferring jazz, wine and cheese. We need to know our target audience.

3) How will we reach out?

This third question is the outgrowth of the answers to the first two questions. Once you know who you have to be reaching out and you understand who your target audience is, now the question is, ‘How will you try and reach them?”

Now with my example, knowing everything that I have shared about Marin County, it is not hard to see why trying to do an indie rock outreach doesn’t make much sense. Because of the population of Marin love the outdoors so much, we have an earlier Sunday morning service (9 am). We realize that if we do church later in the morning people would less likely come as it would cut into their outdoors time. We also do a more elegant style of decoration at the church. We often have fresh flowers on our information table. Our approach to evangelism incorporates the people’s openness to ‘spiritual things’ and seeks to point to Jesus.

Conclusion

I have found that these three questions help to focus the outreach ministry of a church. When you understand the reality of who you have to reach out with and who you are trying to reach, then you can tailor the ministry to the specific people group that God has called you to.

The Use of the Internet by Daniel Fusco

We live in a digital society. More than 70% of Americans have Internet access at home. This makes the internet a major mission field. Every church planter should utilize the internet to help promote the church. Most people look at a website before they visit the church. As church’s still spend thousands of dollars on Yellow Page ads, newspaper advertising, and radio broadcasting, the new generation of planters are abandoning what seems to be the way of the past and devoting almost all their resources to using the internet. And what is amazing is that you can do quite a lot for a little bit of money.

E-mail

If you aren’t doing e-mail, then you’re missing out on connecting with virtually everyone. I get aggravated when I here pastor’s say, ‘I’m too busy to email’. If Jesus was alive today, I guarantee that He’d have a slamming email ministry. If Jesus wrote the Seven Letters of Revelation 2-3, I’m sure He would have emailed them.

A Website

Every church should have a website. Period. For the younger generation, if you don’t have a website, you are already antiquated. A church should have a good, up to date website. And pick a simple, short web address. When I first planted Calvary Chapel New Brunswick, NJ, it was called Reason to Rejoice Christian Fellowship. We had ‘www.reasontorejoicefellowship.org’ as our website. What a lousy web address! It was too long and people would always mess up the spelling and have a hard time finding us. Add on that my old email address of ‘pastordaniel@reasontorejoicefellowship.org’. A nightmare. www.reasontorejoice.org was much better. A church should have no excuse. Get a website.

You can also put up sermons and videos on your website, as long as you have enough bandwidth. This is a great way to get people to know about who you are and what you’re about.

For good insight into a good website, look at websites like www.cnn.com, www.yahoo.com, www.espn.com. You’ll notice that they all run with a certain style and it’s that way for a reason. They have spent virtually millions on marketing and research to try and get people to spend time on their website. Instead of spending millions, study what they did and recreate it for the glory of God.

Blogs

In our digital world, people still crave community. Blogs (short for weblogs) offer that. Popular blog locations include wordpress and blogger. You can have a blog up for free. This is a great way to help build community online. I am presently using www.danielfusco.blogspot.com as a sort of online diary about the planting of Calvary Chapel North Bay. The big drawback is that someone has to do some policing of it. Sometimes blogs can get pretty nasty as people can be that way. But it is a great opportunity to promote community online. As I said, blogs are free, so you can’t really beat the price.

MySpace

The much maligned MySpace is actually a tremendous internet resource for churches. You can connect with people in your area simply by doing a search of your area. You can add friends and people can choose to either allow you or not. We have a blog for our Sunday night ministry, Liquid, www.myspace.com/liquidmarin . You can do bulletin blasts and all of your ‘friends’ can find out about the new things that you are doing. Oftentimes, churches have MySpace pages for their Youth Group. I highly recommend it for both Youth Groups and the Churches themselves. Again, MySpace is free. You have to love the price.

Craigslist

Born here in San Francisco, if you live near a city, everyone is on Craigslist. It is a great opportunity to let people know about your church. Now we tried to use it here in the Bay Area but we were flagged and removed because the people here around San Francisco are generally hostile to the Gospel. But it wasn’t like that in New Jersey. It’s a great opportunity to let people know about what you are doing. Again, the ads are free so you can’t beat the price.

Google Ads

A lot of ministries are using Google ads to promote their churches. I personally have never used it, so I can’t speak on it from experience. I’ve been told that it fee is nominal (you pay by the number of clicks your website gets) but I’m not sure if there is any real return on your investment.

As the world becomes more digital and connected via the Internet, the body of Christ has got to stay on the cutting edge of technology to get the Gospel out. Don’t be left behind. Have a strong web presence.

Five Ministry Lessons for the Young Planter by Daniel Fusco

Planting a church is hard enough. But planting a church when you are young (I mean less than 35 years of age) can make it even harder. There are less life experiences to draw from, people’s perceptions, as well as, to be honest, the fact that younger people have a tendency to be more ‘green’. I say this because I was (am) one of those young planters. I was taken on staff at a church at 24 and I stepped out to plant a church at close to 26. I am presently on my second church plant and I’m still only 30. My hope is that this article will be an encouragement to those of you who are younger.

In The Ministry
1. Let no one despise your youth
Therefore, you shouldn’t either

Paul wrote 2 letters to Timothy that we have in our Bibles. Timothy was a young pastor and Paul exhorted him to “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”(1 Timothy 4:12). Paul told Timothy that it was not about your age but it was about your walk. Young church planters will often hear a lot of misgivings by older people about their age. I sure did. But we need to take the Word of God to heart. We should be an example of godliness. Let no one despise your youth. Oftentimes a younger pastor will despise his own youth. Listen, if the Lord has called you into the ministry, than you should trust Him. We have tremendous examples of young men who were mightily used by God: David with Goliath, Stephen in the Book of Acts, and our Lord Jesus. Oftentimes, the Sovereign God can use the zeal of youth powerfully.

2. Shut up and Listen.
God may have blessed you with teachers

One of the biggest mistakes that young pastors make is talking too much. Let me give you an example, you teach a sermon on Creation. Then someone who is a college level physicist comes up to you and begins to call you to account on your bad science. Most young pastors will start to argue and walk away and think, ‘This guy doesn’t trust the Lord’. I have found that God will put people into our fellowships that know a lot more than us about many things. We are called to teach the Word and love the people. But that doesn’t mean that we have cornered the market on all forms of knowledge. When someone in your fellowship is taking the time to correct you about something that they know more about, shut up and listen. Ask questions. Learn from the people that God is asking to learn from you. In my life as a pastorate, I have been blessed to have men and women in the fellowships that are significantly smarter than me in many areas. I have learned, grown, and been shaped by the wisdom that God has given to these precious people. Don’t forget to shut up and listen!

3. Honor your Elders
People in different life places understand things uniquely

This point is very similar to point 2 in many respects. When I say honor your elders, I mean it in two distinct ways. 1) If the Lord has given you elders in leadership in the fellowship, honor them. This is both Biblical and rational. Elders will often keep you balanced and sharp. They will be the first to stop you from making a major mistake. They should have opportunity to speak into your life. 2) People who are older (and in different life places) than you should be honored. Before I was married, I honored the married people in the fellowship by learning about the experience of marriage from them. For the parents, I would ask them about the application of the Bible to their parenting. I honored them by seeking to understand how the Lord is leading them in their respective office. I have been blessed in both church plants that I have been involved with to have godly elderly people involved. They are invaluable resources of wisdom. Honor them.

4. Let all Criticism be Constructive
Even when it wasn’t meant to be

As a pastor, you’ll hear tons of criticisms about everything. The fishbowl of public ministry can be grueling to even the thickest-skinned pastor. I have learned that every criticism that I have ever received has some merit. I remember one time; an angry woman told me that I had no love because I refused her request. She said it in anger and I could have easily dismissed her. But in reality, I don’t love nearly as fully or perfectly as Jesus does. So her criticism drove me to seek the Lord for more of His love. Rather than dismissing criticism out of hand, why not take a moment to bring it before the Lord to see what He might say. I have often found that the best thing I can do when someone levies a criticism is to ask him or her to pray for me right then and there. The Lord almost always ministers to my heart at that time.

5. If you Defend Yourself, God will let you
So don’t be defensive and let Him be your defense

I’ve heard Pastor Chuck Smith, the founder of Calvary Chapel say ‘if you defend yourself, God will let you’ a myriad of times. It’s so true. If you go to defend yourself, God will let you. Being defensive is simply pride on display. David let the Lord be his defense. So did Jesus. You don’t have to defend yourself. If you are in the right, the Light of the world will reveal it in due time. If you are in the wrong, well, the Light of the world will reveal it in due time. Until then, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Repent when needed and rejoice in His grace.

Ten Things I Wish Someon Told Me by Daniel Fusco

Being in the midst of my second church plant, I often try and think about the things that I wish someone would have spoken to me about before I made a ton of mistakes. Yes, I grew from these mistakes and the Lord always brings beauty out of ashes, but if only someone would have told me certain things. Now that I think about it, it would be better aptly titled, ‘Things I Really Took to Heart Before Church Planting” as I’m sure some of these concepts I had heard about before planting.

These will be in no particular order and I’ll probably have to have a few more of these 10 Things I Wish Someone Told Me articles. But here goes…

1. God is more concerned with the Minister than the Ministry.

I was shocked to realize that God was more concerned with the state of my heart than He was with the perceived success of the plant. I know a pastor who told me that the first five years was for the pastor’s growth, the next five years is for the fellowship’s growth. He even went so far to call his first church plant’s people ‘the poor practice sheep’. When God calls a man to go and plant a church, He loves that man enough to kill him. It often takes some time for us to realize, but God is more concerned with making the church planter like Jesus than He is in blessing the work. Don’t get me wrong, He’ll do an amazing work in the fellowship. But He’s more concerned with your growth, than the church’s growth.

2. Visit the Local Pastors, not the Local Churches.

It is important for a church planter to visit and meet the pastors in the area that he is moving into. I’ll speak in point 3 about the major pitfall of most church planters in this regard. But relationships with local pastors are invaluable. Those who have been in the area for awhile will have a unique perspective, an experiential perspective, about an area. You can learn from them. But don’t visit their churches. I would say even if they invite you, don’t go. Why? Because if you have a heart for people, you will build relationships with them and when they hear that you are going to plant in the area, some will want to come. And then the ‘sheep stealing’ discussion starts. Church planting is hard enough and the last thing you want is to get off on the wrong foot with people that you want to be close to. I made this mistake personally, so I know.

3. Don’t let your Calling Drive a Wedge between You and Other Pastors.

Almost all first time church planters make this mistake. I made a reference to this in my second point. Here’s how it happens… You sense God’s call to an area and you are rightfully excited. Upon your arrival, you are filled with ideas and vision. You meet with another local pastor and as you speak of your ideas, you make them feel as if they are in God’s doghouse. They will automatically resent you. An example of this is when a planter says something like, ‘God has called me here because He wants to see a Bible Church here’. That says to most people, ‘You are not a Bible teaching church.’ Humility is not learned, it is a consequence from being broken. Because He has broken you, you will be humble. So although you are just getting started, and you probably haven’t been broken much yet, try and respect your brothers who have been plowing the field that you are going to work in. Remember this, ‘You are not God’s gift to the area that you are called to! Jesus is. You are just an unprofitable servant doing what you were asked to do.’

4. Don’t even Think about Quitting for at Least 4 Years.

They say that 80% of church plants fail. Why? They fail for numerous reasons, I’m sure. I think one of the main reasons is that guys quit too soon. Before you even step out, you should be prepared to commit 5 years of your life to it. If God is calling you, what is 5 years anyway? As I said, you should not even think about throwing the towel in until you’ve been laboring for 4 years. It takes time for a church to get established (most people will say that a church is still a baby at 10 years old). God will work in His timing so be patient. I don’t have statistics to back it up, but I imagine of the 80% that fail, most of them shut the doors within the first few years.

5. The Attacks Will Come so Don’t Freak Out When They Do.

When the children of Israel left Egypt did they just coast to the Promised Land? Nope. They had attacks from the outside (the Egyptians and the Amalekites). They had attacks from the inside (Korah, the Golden Calf, the 10 scared spies, etc). The same holds true for the ministry of our Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul. The attacks will come. If you sign up for the front lines of a battle, don’t freak out when bullets start flying. When you are called to plant a church, you just signed up to be on the front lines, expect there to be issues. They will come from people on the outside and they will come from people on the inside. Expect them and when they arrive, don’t think it’s strange.

6. Before You Become the Senior (or Lead) Pastor, Be An Assistant Pastor.

I believe that this is so crucial and I am soo grateful for my training as an assistant pastor. In every field, you have to learn the ropes before you take the reins. As a doctor, you don’t just jump from Medical School into the Operating Room. First you do your residency. Same is true of business. The guy from the mail room never gets hired as the CEO. Never. Why? Because they first need to learn the ropes of business. I have found that the ministry is caught (much like a cold). I learned soo much from catching the ministry from my pastor. I learned things to avoid, ways to handle situations, how to gracefully let someone leave the church, how to handle a wounded sheep, etc. Most pastors who have never been Assistant Pastors normally hurt a lot of people because they need caught the ministry from another pastor. My advice would be, “If you want to be plant a church, get on staff at a church first.”

7. Get a Mentor, You’ll Need Him.

My pastor, John Henry Corcoran, told me before I left to plant the first church, that the next set of lessons that I need to learn can only be learned as the pastor. But once you step on out, you are in uncharted territory. You want and need someone who you can bounce ideas off of. You want to have someone who can say to you, ‘Whatever you do, don’t do that.’ I did that once and …’ You’ll also need someone who can support you personally. Once you step on out, the enemy will be gunning for you like never before. You need accountability as most church planters feel isolated from people. Make sure that you have someone who will ask you the hard questions and keep your struggles and issues before the Lord.

8. The Key to Church Planting – Discipleship

There are a small percentage of church plants that take off like wildfire. Most of them are slow going. Like Jesus, discipleship is the key to building the kingdom. Discipleship involves relationship and relationship takes time and energy. You need to pour into the people that God has brought to you. You need to be available and open with them. You need, like the apostle Paul, to be a poured out offering. Discipleship builds solid churches.

9. Beware of Friends and Family Who Want to Help with the Church Plant.

I know, this statement is a bit shocking. I have found from my own experiences and in talking with many other pastors that one of the biggest hindrances to a pastor’s joy is the well meaning friends and family members (extended) who want to be involved. I often tell men to discourage their close buddies and families members from being there at all in the early stages.

10. Make Sure That You Keep Feeding Your Soul.

For most church planters, they are used to going to church. Even if you are in service at the church, you are often hearing the Word taught a few times a week. Once you step out, you need to make sure that you are still sitting under the teaching of the Word. I have found that the best way to do this is to pick a ‘Pastor’ for the next three months. It can be anyone you want. But listen to a few Bible studies a week from a certain pastor. Maybe study through a book or sermon series with a certain pastor. As I am writing this, I am presently studying through the book of Colossians with Pastor Tim Brown of Calvary Chapel Fremont and am being absolutely blessed and convicted. If you let this lapse, you will sense the leanness of your soul.

Okay, that is my first 10. No doubt there will be more to come.

God bless you all