Recently he was back in town for a visit.  I asked him if he’d been to Elevation.  I couldn’t wait to hear all about it.  He said he made a visit but it wasn’t for him.  I was shocked. It didn’t compute with me.  It was hard for me to believe that the church I pastored was a place he’d like and Elevation wasn’t.

I think every pastor falls in to the trap of peer envy and idolatry.  In the healthy pursuit of looking for role models and church models to learn from, somewhere along the way it takes a wrong turn.  Role models become idolized and church models are placed on par with the authority of scripture. We begin to think, if I could preach like that guy and set my church up like this one, then perhaps I too can lead a thriving ministry.

Time and time again we hear the wisdom of those who say, “be yourself”, “be the pastor God wants you to be”, “plant the church God is calling you to plant”, and “if God wanted that guy to reach people in your community he’d have sent that guy, but God chose you”.  We hear that and nod our head assuming it’s just a well meaning pep talk, but deep inside we don’t believe it.

When someone breaks your idol, it wakes you up.  Maybe I’m not called to be the next Steven Furtick.  Maybe God doesn’t want a church exactly like Elevation church in my city.  Maybe, just maybe he wants me to be me and you to be you.

Related posts:

1. Open But Cautious Church Planting
2. 5 Reasons Why I Failed
3. Networking with Rick Eschenburg

2. Information visitors want to find when on your site:

• When and where you meet: This should be the easiest thing on your site to find. Do not hide this information on an “About” page or somewhere else. Both a 10 year old and an 80 year old should be able to find this information within 10 seconds of being on your site. It should be impossible to visit your website and not know when and where you meet. If you don’t have this information listed on the home page, the direct link to it should be clearly labeled and only one click away.
• Staff: Being that you are a new church, people will be curious to know a little about the person who is starting this venture. Offering a little more than your name is expected. Help them get to know you so they will feel more comfortable coming to your church. Include pictures, family information, why you like living in this town, what you enjoy, where you went to school, etc.
• What to expect when I get there: what to wear, childcare, music style, etc.
• Sermons: Before you launch, you can post some sermons you’ve preached in the past or at preview services. Once you’ve had your first service you can take them off.
• Something to give them a sense of what it would be like to visit your church. When people are looking for a church, there’s nothing worse then showing up at a church and realizing 5 minutes into the service that this isn’t the place for them. Because of this, when they visit your website, they are wanting to get a read on whether or not this is the kind of church they want to visit. Think about what you can do to communicate the look and feel of your church on the website.
• Current sermon series. If I come to your church this weekend, what will you be talking about? Whether you are doing a topical series or book study, make sure you present it in such a way that would compel someone to want to hear more about it.

2. Above the Fold vs. Below the Fold.
This is a concept carried over from the newspaper business. When a newspaper is displayed for sale it is folded in half. The most important information is placed above the fold. On a website there is what someone sees when the site first loads up, and then there is often more content available when someone scrolls down. Make sure the most important information that you want potential visitors to see is above the fold. For instance, don’t make the only place to find your church’s meeting time and location in the footer where it won’t be seen unless someone scrolls down. There is a good chance they might never scroll down to see it.

3. Stock Photos vs. Actual Pictures
While using stock photos may seem unauthentic, it is normally a better choice than using pictures taken by someone in your church. If you have someone who can take professional quality pictures, then by all means use them. If not, find pictures that don’t have people in them or look for realistic looking stock photography that reflects what your church actually looks like. For a small groups page, a picture of an empty couch is better than a cheesy photo of five multi-ethnic people looking like they’re having the best time ever reading the Bible. Here’s the order of what to use from best to worst:
1. Professional pictures taken of people and events at your church
2. Graphic design or stock photos that don’t include people
3. Authentic looking stock photography
4. Really good amateur photography
5. Cheesy stock photos and point and click pics.
6. Photocopy era clip art

4. Keep information current.
Make sure that whatever website company or program you use for your site is one that you can easily edit. There is nothing worse then having outdated content. Since your church will go through many changes in the pre-launch to post-launch phases, it is important that you don’t have old information buried on your site for people to find. An example of this is having a post that mentions that you are only meeting on the first Sunday of every month for preview services after you’ve launched and are having weekly services.

5. Promote upcoming events, but don’t use a calendar.
Potential visitors will not pull up your calendar and click on various dates throughout the month to see what’s going on each day. Instead find a way to either list up coming events or individually promote them with graphics or dedicated pages.

6. Don’t Use Flash
Many smart phones and tablets are not able to display sites that use animated graphics.  As of the writing of this post, all iphones, itouch, and ipads are not able to load a website designed with flash.  There’s always the option of creating a separate mobile website, but I’ve always hated these. The user experience is never the same and sometimes I’m not sure I’m on the right site when it doesn’t come up like it did on my computer.  Further, while flash animation may look cool, it’s not always easy to find what you’re looking for on a flash site and often the content you can load up is limited.  Many flash sites are built on templates that only allow you to add text and perhaps a picture to each page in order to conform to the flash template.  Other multimedia elements such as videos and podcasts usually require the use of annoying pop-up windows.  If you want animation on your site, there are plenty of other non-flash ways of doing it that are compatible across all devices.

7. Do not feature a picture of yourself on the home page.
You’re not selling real estate or insurance.

Related posts:

1. WordPress Website Design
2. Church Website Research
3. SEO – Without It, Your Website Is Invisible

If you have planted a church in the last three years, know that you are one of my heroes. What you do day in and day out requires more courage, sacrifice and perseverance than 90% of roles in ministry (at least in North America).

I just had breakfast with a friend who has almost 200 people meeting on Sunday morning after 3 years. He is a strong leader, a great communicator with a unique and compelling vision. But he wishes he was further along. He feels the frustration of many obstacles right now. And he is not alone.

For many planters in similar situations, here are some things I would recommend as “must do’s.”  I would hang all of these action points around the metaphor used by a new friend, Tom Tapping. Tom said, “Planters can so easily focus on the hole and not the donut.” Who walks into Krispy Kreme and asks for 12 donut holes? We must stay focused on the donut.” Think of these actions as donut re-focusing steps.

#1 Spend time with people who will show you the donut. These are the people that breath life and energy and perspective into your soul. They remind you how far you have come and how much you really have. When was the last time you intentionally scheduled some dedicated time with the most positive people?

#2 Take 3 days away (especially if it requires a step of faith). If you feel like you can’t step away right now, this piece of advice is really for you. But first you must repent of taking yourself so seriously. Get away to get see the donut again. Spend one day to do nothing. Have only a half day agenda on the second day. And make an agenda for your third day on the beginning of the third day. Give God control of the time and relax. (Read the recent post on 3 Kinds of Days, which talks about the importance of FREE days.)

#3 Spend a day dedicated to saying “thank you.” Consider all of the people who have given time, energy and money to get you where you are now. Yes, I know there are people who didn’t give or failed to give what they really could have. But stop thinking about all of the “what if’s” for a change.  Drill down into the goodness of the present moment. And then express it. Consider spending the entire day either writing notes or making phone calls just to say thanks.

#4 Schedule a barrier-breaker brainstorm session. Yes, you are facing obstacles and some of them have been around for a while. In fact you have been thinking about the same obstacles for so long you’re probably in a rut. So schedule an entire day to get out of your “mental ruts.” Invite some totally new people to the table who bring an objective, outside perspective.  Look at your challenges differently. Do a creative problem solving session.  You want to get on the solution side of some of your challenges with fresh ideas to stop you from focusing on the hole of the donut.

#5 Believe that weakness and limitation are real assets. Receive the direct reminder that you God is jealous for the glory. Why are you wanting to muscle through this thing with earthly strength and fleshly power. Put the monkey back on God’s back. Your dream was His dream first. All of your weaknesses and limitation are real. You do have  holes. But God’s doesn’t.  So believe again that God wants to infuse weakness with great power and smash your limitations with great creativity and innovation. Whatever way you must, preach to yourself again, the great gospel that God has called you to preach to others.  It’s God’s project. Let him have it and don’t stop dreaming big.

Will Manicini is the author of one of my favorite books: Church Unique. This book is about how missional leaders cast vision, capture culture and create movement.  It was one of the best books I read when designing our church’s systems and structure.

Related posts:

1. Church Planting: Puritans or Seperatist
2. Website vs. Blogging as a Church Planter
3. Church Planting Mistakes

My phone, email, twitter and Facebook have been lit up in the last day with people wanting to know my thoughts on Michael Lukaszewski and all that has taken place the last few days.  I’ve known Michael for around 7 years now.  We worked at the same church before starting the churches we pastored, I’ve met with him more times than I can count, and we both sorta became known online at around the same time.

That said, until about the last month I had not spoken to Michael in around 2 years. I don’t think it is any big secret that Michael and I often didn’t see eye-to-eye on things so I don’t have any insider information for you (and if I did I wouldn’t share it) so if that’s what you came here for, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

I debated back and forth about writing anything about the situation but the simple fact is, I am tired of saying the same things over and over to everyone who calls or emails. I also have been where Michael is today and it is a horrible place to be.  There will be people who say I should say nothing but one of the benefits of being where I am in life is I can move as I feel God leads; so let me give you some uncensored thoughts on the whole ordeal.

• My Heart Breaks For Michael. I know that surprises most of you, but I’m tore up over the whole ordeal.  I can’t tell you the number of people who have called me thinking I would feel vindicated for the way Michael was very vocal about my affair. I don’t.  I found out last Thursday and it was like someone punched me in the gut.  I wouldn’t wish the consequences and hurt of an affair on my worst enemy.  I can’t put into words what Michael is feeling right now.  He has lost his reputation, he possibly has lost his family, he has lost the ministry God called him to start, he has opened himself up for critics for the rest of his life, etc.  The best way I can describe what Michael is going through is it is like someone drops you off at the gates of hell and tells you to crawl back.  With everything that is in me, I hurt for Michael.
• I feel like a failure. Michael confessed. I was caught.  There is a huge difference.  Because I was caught, I can say I felt guilty but I was not repentant until months after I was caught.  It took me time to hit rock bottom because I was angry and wasn’t willing to turn from my sin.  During these months, I pushed most of the pastor’s who tried to reach out to me away.  I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I would have accepted those reaching out to me?  By his own admission of the time line, Michael was involved in an affair before I started or was caught in mine. I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I had not been so full of myself (embarrassment and pride) and made myself available to those around me.  It’s possible, Michael would have seen the consequences earlier and got the help needed sooner.  After my fall, I told several people Michael would be the next one to fall. I just knew it in my heart.  I know arrogance because I was the king of it and I saw too much of myself in him; though it manifested itself in different ways. Yet, I never reached out. Instead, I chose to be bitter and angry at him for the last two years.
• This is a great opportunity for the Church to show grace and love. I’ve learned that pastors love to preach on God’s grace and God’s forgiveness until it is another pastor who needs it.  Michael screwed up.  Guess what?  He knows that.  Reminding him over and over doesn’t help the matter.  Jesus loved sinners and that love is showed to everyone. This is a great opportunity for the church to show that we rally around our own instead of shooting our own.  Brennan Manning in “The Ragamuffin Gospel” says “The Church loves to talk about grace as a theory but is afraid to live it out as a practice.” I’m not saying we condone what Michael did, I’m not saying we sweep it under the rug, I’m not saying we don’t even have the right to be angry about it, but I am saying above all that, now is the time to offer grace, forgiveness, and love.
• Be a friend! One of the most humbling aspects of going through my affair was realizing that I had very few true friends. I had a lot of acquaintances but very few friends when I was at my lowest.  When I was the pastor of Revolution Church, people wanted a piece of me.  When I was the disgraced pastor who left his wife for his assistant, I was forgotten about.  As I approach two years since the affair, some of these people have called to apologize and they always say the same thing:  “We just didn’t know what to say.” That is unacceptable!  If Michael was good enough to be your friend before you found out about his sin, he deserves your friendship now when he needs it more than ever.  Grow up, be a big boy and be there for him!  I understand you are hurt, you feel betrayed and are upset by the lies.  Guess what?  He was in sin and sin does that!  Be there for him anyway.  I know it can be awkward, you don’t know what to say, and it can even be uncomfortable.  Be there for him anyway! I am calling out my friend Chris Elrod publicly and encouraging him to write a blog post on how to be a friend no matter what because he was and has been my friend no matter what. I think he could offer some valuable insight on how to do this.
• Michael’s mistake doesn’t negate his ministry! God used Michael to start a great church, train church planters all over the country and lead many people to Jesus.  Yes, he messed up in huge ways but make no mistake about it, God used Michael.  Thousands of people will be in Heaven because God used Michael even in the midst of him living the lifestyle he was living.  It took me months to realize this after my fall.  Yet to this day, God allows me to run into the people who I know I was used to have a positive impact in their lives.
• God is not done with Michael! I imagine the last thing on Michael’s radar is ministry again but make no mistake about it, God can use Michael again.  The biggest lie in the church today is God won’t/can’t use fallen pastors.  The Bible is nothing but a book of messed up people God used.  Michael has a calling on his life and is valuable to the Kingdom.  I don’t know how long it will take or if it will ever happen, but when the time is right and if God chooses I look forward to seeing how God uses Michael again.
• The worst is yet to come for Michael. Michael thinks he is low right now. He’s not seen anything yet.  There is a common thread among pastors who have affairs. We are ego addicts.  We think we’re above the rules and that everything is about us.  We are addicted to the attention.  Right now, Michael will get a lot of that as people are reaching out to him.  In a month or so, those people get on with their lives and you, who are use to all the attention, suddenly don’t have any.  I’m just being honest, but that was so hard for me.  It was so so needed, but I was literally addicted to being in the limelight and almost went through withdrawals like a crack addict.  To this day, I have a wife who keeps me very accountable in this area.
• The real victims in this are Jennie Lukaszewski and Brian Kase. The pain, betrayal, and hurt they must feel is beyond comprehension.  Please be in prayer for them.  Knowing that I put my ex-wife and Elena’s ex-husband in the same boat makes me ashamed to even post this point.
• Do NOT forget about Tracy Kase – This is an area I am crazy passionate about.  She is no more to blame than Michael.  What happens in these situations is everyone reaches out to the pastor offering restoration, counseling, severance packages, etc. and the “mistress” gets to be the whore everyone forgets about.  Let me say this:  I have no clue if anyone has reached out to her or not, but I do know she needs and deserves the same healing, grace, forgiveness, and love that is being offered to Michael.  I know West Ridge Church is involved and there isn’t a better church to be involved so I’m sure they will minister to Tracy.  I don’t think I ever met Tracy but I do know she ran a lot of Michael’s correspondence and was a great help to many church planters and assistants too.  She deserves to be ministered to as well.
• The community is watching. People love to point out how falls like this are another blemish for the cause of Christ.  I totally agree but I also think they can be a great testimony to the community.  How the people of Oak Leaf respond and treat both parties involved can be a great example of the love of Christ to the community.  Michael and Tracy getting restored and their personal issues on track can also be a great story of God’s 2nd chances to the community.
• Every pastor (or everyone reading this) needs to get real honest with themselves. Michael won’t be the last to fall.  There is a serious issue in the church today with pastor’s and their egos.  I am convinced most of it is rooted in insecurity.  If you are already involved in an affair (emotional and physical) stop it, confess it, and get help for it!  If I can help you, it would be my honor.  If you are not involved in an affair, evaluate your life honestly and make sure you aren’t headed that way.
• God will get the glory! God is the God of taking messes and making something beautiful out of it.  This situation is heartbreaking, tragic, and has left a lot of people hurt.  But make no mistake about it, God wasn’t surprised and He will get the glory from this in a way we can’t yet see.

Let me close out by saying, Michael I’m for you as you deal with this horrible situation.  I know you’ve shut your phone down, your email down, and you are offline but if you should come across this, please know if you need anything I would count it an honor to stand by you during this time!

Related posts:

1. Pastors and Affairs
2. Disconnect: Permission for Pastors to Power Down
3. Top 10 Reasons People Leave Your Church

I know of five pastors (yes you read that right) who have resigned from their churches due to affairs in the last month, so I thought it might be worth the repost.  I have edited a little of it so it makes sense, but I’m telling you that the Church better wake up this problem, better get their heads out of the sand and start addressing some of these issues.

A little over a year ago (now two years), I made a decision that cost me everything. After years of neglecting my marriage, I entered into a physical affair with a lady who wasn’t my wife. Needless to say, that was a life-changing decision and it cost me greatly. Though God has blessed me greatly in the last year (now two years), I will pay a heavy price for my actions for the rest of my life.  Make no mistake about it, I have no one to blame but myself and I take 100% responsibility for my decisions and actions.

One of the doors that God has opened to me since the affair is having the dubious honor of talking to many pastors across the country who have entered into sexual affairs with someone outside their marriage.  Not a week goes by where I don’t get an email from a pastor who is involved in an affair and has nowhere to turn or someone who understands. Just like me, these guys have no one to blame but themselves, however that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck that they are dealing with this issue.

It breaks my heart each time I hear about or speak to a pastor in an affair. It breaks my heart every time because I know the dark days they are about to go through. I know how many of the people they served with are going to treat them and most of all, I know the pain and guilt they feel. I had a few people I had never met reach out to me during this time and I count it an honor to be there for these men as their world is falling apart.

According to the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, 50% of women and 60% of men will have physical affairs while married. Since most of these people having affairs aren’t married to each other, the study concludes that 80% of marriages will involve an affair.  Those stats are shocking to many but having been through it, I’m not surprised in the least.

You would think pastors would be the least likely to fall into this snare but I actually believe that pastors are more open to affairs than almost any other profession.  I’ve been an “outsider” in the Christian leadership world for over a year now and I’ve had a lot of time to reflect, observe, and pray about this and I just wanted to share some reasons today why I think pastors in today’s churches need to wake up and realize why they are open to an attack from Satan in this area.

My goal is not to bash pastors or the church, but my prayer is that some guys might see the path they are headed down and get help before it’s too late.  I honestly wouldn’t wish what I went through on my worst enemy.

1.) MOST PASTORS STRUGGLE WITH SOME FORM OF INSECURITY

It’s true.  When I planted Revolution Church, I was a great example of an insecure leader.  In the last year, my network moved from mostly being pastors and Christian leaders to being “regular Joe’s” and it has truly opened my eyes to how insecure pastors are.

We’ve made church a competition.  We judge pastor’s success by attendance, by the size of their buildings, by how “edgy” they are, by how many people they baptized, by how many people read their blog, who they run with, etc.  As a result, we have a bunch of guys who are simply insecure in their calling because they don’t “measure” up.  Instead of feeling secure in their calling, they feel insecure because their church isn’t big.

It’s almost comical to read pastor’s blogs and tweets.  Pastor’s talk more about trying to be cool than they do reaching people for Jesus.  Because we’re pastors, many times we are people pleasers and that leads us to do superficial things to make us have confidence in ourselves.

Pastor’s talk more about shopping at the Buckle, their hundred dollar jeans, their cool new preaching shirt, their P90X workout, their “hot wife”, etc,. etc., more than any other people I follow online.  I often laugh at the way pastor’s dress at conferences and at church because they brag about being casual but in reality they dress like they are going out to the club.  As I watch people in the “real world” I hardly ever see this.  Most pastors are middle aged men trying to be cool and all it does is come off as insecure.

The internet fuels this as well. Every person with the internet can post anything they want about you and most pastors I know read this and become consumed by it.  Again, pastors want to be liked. I remember when a 1000 people could tell me they loved my sermon but I would only focus on the one person who didn’t.  Most pastors brag about how they don’t read the stuff but trust me, they do.

Because of this insecurity, we open ourselves to finding validation in things outside of Jesus Christ.  Jesus isn’t enough and so we look to get our validation from other things and that opens us up to getting our validation from the opposite sex.

It would serve us well, as pastors, to quit trying to be something we’re not and to study WHO WE ARE in Christ.  This is an area that I still struggle in but I have made leaps and bounds in the last year.  It starts with being open about our insecurities.

2.) MOST PASTORS HAVE NO ACCOUNTABILITY

Pastor’s can talk all day about elders, accountability boards, Board of Overseers, etc. The large majority of pastors have zero accountability.  This isn’t a knock on those offering accountability, it is a knock on us pastors.  We think we are above answering to someone.

Accountability does NO good if you aren’t willing to be honest.  I had a Board of Overseers but I only spoke to a few of them once a year when it was time to get a raise.  The others, I could have went to at any time but, I didn’t.  I lied to them and never told them about my problems until it was to late.

We as pastors hate accountability.  Being accountable means being real, honest, and willing to lay it on the line because you know your marriage, ministry, and testimony is at stake.  In the last year, God has put a couple of men in my life that I KNOW I can tell anything too and they will hold me accountable.

I don’t always like it, but it is actually one of the most freeing things I’ve ever experienced. My wife, Elena put Covenant Eyes on our computer and I hated it. I didn’t hate it because I was looking at porn, I hated it because I was a 34 year old man and I didn’t feel like I had to answer to anyone. I’ve had it almost a year and it is actually one of the most freeing things ever. I love when the reports come in because it lets those who see the reports know I’m not looking at what I shouldn’t be and it keeps me from doing it in the times I am tempted.

By the way pastors, your staff isn’t going to keep you accountable.  Like it or not, they know you are the boss, they know you sign the paycheck, and this makes it hard to keep you accountable.  I was out of control for years and no one on my staff had the balls to call my “stuff” out including my wife.  Accountability will not find you, you have to find it. You have to do whatever it takes to be honest and open with those God has placed in your life or you WILL fall.

3.) MOST PASTORS LIVE THEIR LIVES SERVING EVERYONE EXCEPT THEIR WIFE.

Pastors are servants. We don’t do it for the money. We are in ministry because we want to make a difference in the lives of people.  Deep in the heart of every pastor is the desire to serve others.

Sadly, we spend our lives serving others but forget to serve our wives. The truth is, we expect our wife to serve us. I had zero problem doing whatever the people in the pews (or chairs!) needed. I was at the hospital, I would meet one on one with them, I would be there when they fell off the wagon, etc.

However, I would come home at night and expect my ex-wife to serve me.  After all, I “gave” to others all day and I deserved it.  I preached that she came first but in reality she didn’t.  Long before my physical affair, I was cheating on her with the church.  I remember when everything happened, Perry Noble called me out on this.  He was right but I didn’t listen.

I’m now remarried and what I have learned is marriage is hard. I love Elena and I am glad God has taken our horrible start and given us another chance.  But it doesn’t matter who you’re married to, marriage is hard work and I’m learning to serve her even if I don’t feel like it or she doesn’t do it back.

Elena and I have talked a lot about this and I realize – now that I’m working on my marriage to her – that I was to blame 100% in my first marriage. Does that mean my ex-wife did everything right? No, but I’m responsible for my own actions and I should have served her and if I served her like Christ served the church then I would still be married to her today.

I can’t go back and change that, but I can make sure it doesn’t happen in my marriage to Elena.  My call as a pastor is still to serve people, but I will make sure I lead by example by serving Elena first.

4.) THE CHURCH HAS MADE PASTORS INTO ROCK STARS INSTEAD OF REGULAR MEN CALLED BY GOD

Make no mistake about it, I was a rock star at my last church.  The church grew very large and I got whatever I wanted, when I wanted it. I walked around in expensive clothing with armed security and I answered to no one.  My blog got more hits than the church website.  People knew me all over the country and the system in our churches today fed that ego inside of me.

I’m honestly fearful for so many pastors today.  The church culture has these men on such a pedestal that it’s setting them up to fall.  I’m all for taking care of the pastor and treating him with honor but remember, they are just people. I saw a tweet yesterday from someone that said “Honor Your Pastor, Don’t Elevate Him.” I thought that was great!

Many pastors live in such a fantasy world that it leads to them thinking they are above the rules.  I got to the point to where I thought I could do what I wanted, when I wanted because I thought everything was about me.  I thought my church couldn’t make it without me (I’m happy to say I was proven wrong).

I’m afraid there are so many pastors trying to make a name for themselves that they’ve forgotten that we’re called to make much of Jesus  Don’t believe me? Go check out some of your pastor’s favorite tweets. You’ll learn very quickly what they’re about.

When I launched my previous church, I wanted to change a community for Jesus. In the end, I would have said that was still my goal but what really became my passion was making a name for myself, speaking at conferences, and being known. I did the opposite of John the Baptist - I increased while Jesus decreased.

Here is the bottom line: This isn’t going away.  Pastors need to wake up. The Church needs to wake up. And they need to do it before they find themselves in the position I found myself 2 years ago.

Related posts:

1. Pastors and Affairs (Part 2 of 2)
2. Perry Noble Coaching Network
3. Disconnect: Permission for Pastors to Power Down

The resurging interest in church planting has prompted a growing number of pastors and churches to ponder the value of planting new churches. Part of this deliberation inevitably involves the merits of planting independently versus partnering with other churches or networks. Many have found that church planting partnerships provide strengths and opportunities their efforts might not have experienced otherwise.

So why partner now? Here are 10 reasons to partner for church planting sooner rather than later.

1. The current economy is a perfect opportunity.

The current recession will force people to make hard decisions about where they place their values. It is not unprecedented to discover many anecdotal reports that say people are more open to church during such times. According to a recent Texas Tech study, economic growth and evangelical church growth are counter-cyclical. As the economy goes down, church attendance goes up. This reality can be traced back historically as well. America’s greatest church planting season, 1795-1810, occurred during a time of economic hardship. More recently, the planting boom led by the Vineyard and Calvary Chapel movements occurred during the economic malaise of the 1970s and early ’80s.

The consequential reason for this is simple: when our money and possessions disappear, we are forced to face our spiritual crises. Just as the prodigal son “came to his senses” after he’d squandered it all (Luke 15:17), the prodigals of our nation are primed to face their spiritual needs since they can no longer mask the need with their material wants.

The problem for the church is that our planting models are driven by economic realities that existed two years ago. But if we share resources and wisdom, we can more quickly and effectively respond to the needs of lost people.

2. Plants do better when local people are sent out.

Research tells us there is a correlation between the significant involvement of a “mother church” and the success of a church plant. Consequently, more leaders are embracing the concept that churches plant churches.

Local churches that recruit, train, and send out planters to their own communities cultivate larger and healthier churches. The principle of churches planting churches has resulted in consistent success over centuries. The results are even surprising when multiple churches get together, sharing people and resources. Such indigenous cooperation makes for quicker and healthier starts.

3. Churches get healthier as and after they plant another church.

Although counterintuitive, sending out people for church planting support not only benefits the church planted but it benefits the church planting church. In a Leadership Network study, “The State of Church Planting in the United States,” we revealed:

Significantly, all surveyed churches have experienced growth in their own
attendance as they faithfully continued to pursue outreach and mission
as the priority for their existence.

And according to the research conducted by Jeff Farmer in his Ph.D. dissertation, “Church Planting Sponsorship: A Statistical Analysis of Sponsoring A Church Plant as a Means of Revitalization of the Sponsor Church,” a “mother church” ends up in better condition six months after it plants a church than it was previous.

4. Shared DNA is better than solo DNA.
Let’s say a popular, resourceful megachurch gets excited about church planting and sends out a dynamic planter. The new planter will likely work at replicating the sending pastor’s gifting or the megachurch’s culture. A healthy church plant has its own DNA; it’s not a clone. If that planter partners with local people or additional local church communities, the new plant will pick up local DNA.

According to Stephen Gray’s research published in Planting Fast Growing Churches, 88.3% of church planters involved in fast-growing church plants weren’t flying solo but were part of a church planting team. Recruiting local leadership increases the connection a new church will have to its new community.

5. Planters who partner benefit from increased accountability.
The increased interest in church planting is a good thing. But this intense interest can create a zeal that, if left unchecked, can become a train wreck. Planters most often possess hard-charging personalities which benefit from the spiritual discipline involved with accountability. This type of relational environment provides both assessment and training to minimize burn out. Additionally, partnerships create an environment of encouragement and accountability. The result will be a planter ready for the marathon of church planting. Sharing the load and submitting to accountability leads not only to a healthier plant, it leads to a healthier planter.

6. Partnerships lessen the financial and resource burdens.
One of the most obvious needs of a new church is money and resources. Often these jugular issues are left to chance. When a planter partners with a church or a planting team, the financial burden and the workload is distributed more evenly. Working with multiple partners also increases the financial network to draw from in order to fund the church plant. It’s not good for the pocketbook or the physical health for man to plant alone.

7. People in the community need to reach their community.
In one common church model, we have people driving 30 minutes (or more) to worship every week. And that can be okay. But it is still a hindrance to those people reaching others in their communities. This is why we need more people attending local churches. Some churches have tried to solve this problem with the multi-site model, and some have experienced success. But nothing beats a local team exegeting its locale, living incarnationally in the locale, and leading the church to serve in the locale. If this isn’t happening, people invite their friends to church, but once the friends know they drive 30 minutes or more, they sometimes lose interest.

It’s hard to be missional if your worship and training always involves separation from your context. Proximity is key. So, planters should seek a community within which to start a church. The local community is the best location for creating partnerships and cultivating disciple making. It’s too difficult to pastor from afar.

8. You can take advantage of more effective exposure.
The math here is simple: if you spread out the responsibility, you spread out the news your church exists. We have found that people in other churches are often eager to help another church start strong. For instance, in one of our plants, we invited our partner church to go on a “$44 Mission Trip.” This basically involved helping us create 5,000 hand-addressed notes that we mailed to homes in our target community. Instead of hiring somebody to mass-produce a slick postcard for us, we enlisted help in creating actual notes in which one person from the partner church stuffed, addressed, and placed stamps on 100 envelopes.

These days slick postcards just blend in with the junk mail. If you’re like me, you always open hand-addressed mail first. So we got other churches involved in helping us. We discovered the more the project required hands-on participation, the more excited the volunteers got. When you partner with other churches, it takes less time to create buzz, cultivate enthusiasm, and build momentum.

9. It creates a vivid witness.
What the lost world often sees is churches setting up shop, like independent retailers. They see different brands: denominations, traditions, styles. They wonder why they should listen to anything we have to say when it sure looks like we won’t even listen to each other. But when churches partner, especially across “brands,” it creates a wonderful picture of Gospel reconciliation. And it communicates to the community that what unites us is greater than what divides us. Partnering with other churches is a brilliant witness to the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17.

10. It is ultimately Kingdom-minded.
Partnering isn’t only a witness to the lost world; it is a testament to the universal reign of Jesus. By setting aside our own preferences and ambitions, we create a new story for people to consider. When we submit to each other and honor each other in loving cooperation, we do much more for the spread of the kingdom than when we cultivate our own private enterprises. Many times, church planting, even inadvertently, becomes about planting our own flag rather than flying the banner of the kingdom of heaven. When we work at having “all things in common” in church planting partnerships, we find ourselves more faithful to the presence of the kingdom.

When you survey the current realities in America, one would conclude these are not the best of times to consider church planting. Yet a survey of history would verify God does His greatest work during difficult times. People are looking for new realities beyond money and personal assets. As churches hear from God, work together, and plant new churches in their local communities, we present a timely picture of God’s activity in the community. So, I think it is a great time for your church to partner with others to plant churches together.

Ed Stetzer is president of LifeWay Research. Read more at www.edstetzer.com.  A Southern Baptist Convention entity supported by the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering®
©Copyright 2009 North American Mission Board, SBC

Related posts:

1. 5 Reasons Why I Failed
2. Open But Cautious Church Planting
3. Is Church Planting for Me?

So what do you call yourself? How about a “Pre-Church”. Instead of calling your group “Pathways Church” when it’s a collection of 15-30 people meeting in a home, call it “Pathways Pre-Church”. The name better communicates who you are at that point. It’s also likely to make someone ask you, “What’s a Pre-Church?” That will give you an opportunity to cast vision, define who you are, and set expectations you can meet.

Further, it keeps the core group you are gathering continually aware of the fact that you haven’t arrived; that you’re working towards something. Many core groups loose site of the fact that they’re supposed to be working towards becoming a church. Since you’ve been calling them a church, they think they’re a church. They start enjoying the intimacy of the small group and don’t feel the need to become a actual church. So call it what it is, a pre-church. Then continue to cast vision for the day whey you become a church.

Related posts:

1. You’re not a church….yet (part 1 of 2)
2. What do ya’ll think about that?
3. Introducing the Church

• worship music/leader
• full band
• nursery
• kid’s church
• youth group
• women’s/men’s ministry
• meeting Sunday morning between 9-11am
• consistent public meeting location
• leadership structure

When you’re at the core group stage, you can’t possibly offer any of the things that people think of when they hear the word “church”. I have seen several church planters do a public launch before they were ready and able to sustain it. What happens is they start calling themselves a church and unknowingly create expectations they can’t meet. When you fail to meet expectations, people don’t stick around. This makes it very difficult to build a core group/launch team.

Here’s how it happens.  Let’s say the name of the church plant is going to be “Pathways Church”. When the planter is out trying to gather and form a “core group” they tell people about the church they are wanting to plant. They invite people to come to an informational meeting. Once the core group forms, they make the mistake of calling their group by the future church’s name.

They start sending out emails and writing blogs talking about what happened at the last meeting of “Pathways Church”. They start inviting people to what is a “core group” gathering, but end up saying, “Hey, I’m the pastor of Pathways Church. We’re meeting at my house this weekend, do you want to come?”

In doing this, they’ve unintentionally misled the person they are inviting. Pathways isn’t a church yet. It’s a core group. It’s a launch team. It’s a Pre-Church. Call it anything but a church!!!

If you call it a church, you’ll find that the people you invite will start saying things like, “Let me know when you start having Sunday services and I’ll come.” You told them you were a church so naturally they’re expecting you to be a church with music, child care, the works. What often happens is the planter continues to struggle to generate a critical mass in their core group and thinks, “I need to do a public launch so all the people I’ve been inviting will come.” They do it, and it kills the plant before it had a chance. Most of the time, you only get one shot at a public launch. If it fails to make it, the core group gets discouraged and starts to drop out.

So if you’re not a church yet, what are you? We’ll discuss that tomorrow.

Related posts:

1. You’re not a church….yet (part 2 of 2)
2. Tools for the Missional Church
3. Church in the Making (3 of 4)

• Creation Swap: most of the materials on this site are free.  Church creatives upload artwork to share with other churches.
• NewSpring.cc/resources: Sermon series graphics from New Spring
• Resources.ElevationChurch.org: Sermon series graphics from Elevation Church
• Open.LiveChurch.tv: Sermon series graphics from Life Church
• MuddyRiverMedia.org: Free graphics and some videos and countdowns
• StuffICanUse.com: Amazingly great quality sermon series graphics from Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY
• TheChurchBox.com: Best sermon series graphics I’ve seen anywhere from Four Corners Church in West Chester, Ohio
• WorshipGraphics.com: There is a free section with some useful stuff
• OpenResources.org: Materials include sermon audio, countdowns, promotional design graphics and opening videos from a wide variety of message series and churches.

Related posts:

1. Great Graphic Design Without a Designer
2. Website Design Principles
3. WordPress Website Design

Most of the time, the laws of leadership and the needs of discipleship will coincide.  Jesus modeled the laws of leadership throughout most of his ministry. But, in those rare exceptions when the laws of leadership and the need for discipleship collide, always choose discipleship.

I have heard some pastors over spiritualize pastoral leadership. They are skeptical of leadership principles that are common in secular organizations. Often they create a false dichotomy as if one has to choose to either be a good leader or be like Jesus. Hybels points out that Jesus practiced the laws of leadership most of the time. Therefore, to reject sound leadership principles isn’t following Jesus’ example. The danger comes when we allow ourselves to get so caught up in being a good leader and growing our church, that we fail to follow Jesus’ example to care for the least of these.

First and for most we need to honor God and remember that he’s the one we are seeking to please. But we must also be committed to doing everything we can to fight the good fight and lead with all our might.

Hybles ends the book with this:

As you face your daily responsibilities as a leader… Remember God, who is great and awesome. Remember God, who is faithful and true. Remember God, who is ever-present in times of turmoil. Remember God, who promised to pull you through.

And then the second part: Fight with all your might. Fight for the lives and hearts of people far from God. Fight to recruit volunteers. Fight for resources for the poor and the forgotten…Fight with all your might for your church to become a full blown  Acts 2 expression in your community.

I’d encourage you to pick up a copy and read it for yourself. It’s only 68 pages and can be read in about an hour. Well worth your time.

Related posts:

1. Book Review: When Leadership and Discipleship Collide (Part 1 of 2)
2. Five Characteristics of a Missional Community
3. Getting Voted Out