CreativeChurchPlanters.net

5 Leadership Principles

2009-07-09T11:35:00.002-05:00

I was led to an article last week by Benjamin Lichtenwalner on the website CIO.com. The title said "5 Examples of Leadership Success in Troubled Times." As I began reading the article, I began to see that not only were these examples of leadership but they were also examples of leadership principles. Through each example I began to see a defining principle come into focus.

You can read the post here and see if you came to the same conclusions I did.

I saw these 5 principles for leadership and began to figure out how I could implement them in my role at Teen Challenge of the Midlands. I would encourage you to do the same in your leadership positions. Here's how it translates for me.

Respect / Listen / Focus / Transparency / Value

Respect
1. I believe that laying the groundwork for success at Teen Challenge begins with respecting everyone and realizing that some of the guys are just in different stops on their journey. Let people know upfront that respect is something given automatically. Everyone will respect each other and have consequences in place if that doesn’t happen.

Listen
2. It looks like the biggest principle here begins with the leader and that is to listen. I like having the policy of listening first, thinking, and then responding. Having a policy of “Listen First” I think is extremely important especially when dealing with issues around Teen Challenge, whether organizational or student related.

Focus
3. Focus is always important in the life of a leader. With Teen Challenge, the organization, it’s important to focus on the long-term and realize that what’s going on short-term isn’t how the organization is going to end up. With Teen Challenge student related issues, it’s important to realize that just because a student messes up doesn’t mean he can’t make it or overcome whatever the issue is.

Transparency
4. Transparency is one of the most overlooked areas of leadership. In order to get people to jump on board with your vision, you have to let them see everything and decide for themselves if they are going to give some or all of their life to it. This is being real with people. Authentic.

Value
5. You have to see the value in everyone. Many times I can remember seeing someone and not putting a lot of value in their use to the organization I was involved with only to find out they surpassed my expectations of value to the company. Everyone has value.

Let me know what you think!

Adam
10thStreetCoffee Director

This post was originally published on the LeadersHeart Network. Find out more about LeadersHeart here.

Find out more about 10thStreetCoffee at the .com / .net / .org

Prayer Need

2009-05-28T20:08:00.003-05:00

Hey CCP'ers,
I just wanted to let everyone know about a prayer need. Colby Fulfer's Dad, David Fulfer, has suffered some very severe head trauma this morning. We don't really know the full extent of the injuries or the cause as of yet, but we do know that God can take care of this. I'm asking all of you to pray for David as the next 48 hours are critical.

Justin Shaddock

God's Purpose...for My Life?

2009-04-01T11:30:00.000-05:00

I just read a good post by Steven Furtick from Elevation Church in North Carolina about purpose. What's your purpose in life? Rick Warren did a fantastic job a few years ago helping people discover their purpose and why God has someone on this floating rock.

Steven's take is that we don't have a choice of what God's purpose is for our life and makes good points to back it up. Here's the link.

What do you think?

Until next time...

Motivate

2009-03-24T13:48:00.000-05:00

There are many things that can motivate someone to do something. I think what makes the someone do the something is the intriguing part. Why does one man achieve great heights of his success ladder while another man wallows in his pit of despair? I think many things can temporarily motivate us. Money, love, self-interest, people, feelings are all things that can motivate someone.

Napoleon said, "There are two levers to set a man in motion, fear and self-interest." Obviously he had a way of motivating men into action. My disagreement with Napoleon comes because I think there are more than two things that has and will motivate someone. My question today is what motivates you? More importantly, what should be motivating you that isn't?

Do you have a sense that what you're doing matters to God and to others? We will only find satisfaction and deeper motivation in what we're doing when we feel that we are giving our lives to a cause that counts.

Until next time...

Creativechurchplanters.com Regional?

2009-02-27T08:12:00.001-06:00

? More info coming soon.

Read Something Else

2009-02-05T10:41:00.004-06:00

I like to read when I get the chance which has been less of an option in the last month with the new baby, almost house fire and the ice storm that knocked out power for a week. I did get a chance to pick up a couple of new books that are stretching me from outside the "How to Plant a Church" book realm.

A couple of years ago I started realizing that church planting could use a little outside influence as most of you have as well. There are so many new technologies, ideas and innovations in our world that impact the way people do business so why not harness them to impact the way we do church? I'm not going to get suckered into the "be not conformed to this world..." debate right now so don't do the devil's advocate thing on me. But I think you and I understand that there are great opportunities we can take advantage of and implement them into the church planting culture. One of the best ways to do this is through reading and studying some of the most innovative and social transforming companies. So here's a couple of the books I picked up that are great reads that are helping me shape some ideas......

What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis - Now, I wouldn't take too many tips on church planting from this guy but that is just my opinion. He basically lets you see the world how Google see it. How does Google determine how and when they do things? This is a great book to gain insight from the way one of the top companies does business. Google's perspective is interesting but I wouldn't copy their strategies. For instance, they depend on the desires of their customers and you definitely don't want to let your church dictate how you operate. But you can take insight from the "Why" factor.

Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
I really like this book. It tackles the new technologies and innovations of social networking and how to use their momentum for positive gains. Blogs, forums and other forms of social networking can be harsh towards your company or business. People can now point out the negative (mob mentality of the internet) but the best example they use on how to maximize these social networks is Jujitsu. Use your oppositions momentum for your benefit. Learn how to use it for your gain. But like i said about the What Would Google Do? book, don't take specific examples and expect to apply them to your church. Ask Why? It's not the how it's the why.

Gotta run. Shoot me an email if I can ever help.

Colby
colby@xnaministries.com

Launch Box

2009-01-26T15:21:00.003-06:00

I wanted to give all of you a heads up on something new coming to the church planting world. A buddy of mine works for Wal-Mart corporate office in Bentonville, AR. About six months ago we were having lunch and we were discussing the difficulties in church planting especially the financial aspect. That conversation started to catch some steam and is turning into a great opportunity for church planters.

Justin and I have lunch once a week if we both get the chance. He's helped me tremendously with media and ideas for XNA OneNight and I Life. To save a lot of reading time I'll just put this out there. He's into helping church plants. He probably did $4,000 in media work just for our OneNight launch. But during that lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings we discussed what a shame it it that so many planters just don't have the financial backing to make things happen. Some of you have ideas exploding in your head but just don't have the cash money to put those ideas into motion. It's raw right now but we may have found a way to help out.

Between the two of us Justin and I are able to help put together options to help new churches get the ball rolling. Justin has a solid financial and media/tech background and I was able to plant a church that launched with 30 people and grew to 135 in eight months. It's not that we're experts but we have experience and a desire to help make things happen and make them affordable to planters.

Right now we're working on "Launch Boxes". Your launch box will look completely different than any other church plants' box. It's something we sit down and customize just for you, your style and your vision. We want to sit down with you, hear your heart and help make it happen. We can cover a multitude of arease such as:

Sermon Toolkits - You do the series and we do the graphics, intro video, micro site, music..... you can pick and choose. You can make it as big or as small as you want.

Design - Relevant eye for the church plant guy. We'll help you design your small group settings, worship area and anything in between.

Small/Community/Cell Groups - Let's face it. They're a pain to set up but are essential to your growth so you might as well do them right. We all know its got to be more than cookies, Bible study and prayer. We can help you add the right elements into your groups that will get people involved.

Media - Don't we all wish we could have Buckhead Church's media guy? I actually did for about a month before one of them did an internship there. Thanks Andy. Seriously, we can make media happen. Whether it's scrolling announcements, Sermon Toolkits, videos, web.... you name it and we'll make it happen.

We want to help you make it happen and one of those ways it to set up a payment plan that works for you and your plant. I'll be honest. When I planted Bridgeway I had no funds. I did have my salary taken care of for a short period of time but no liquid funds for the church. I had to pay for everything out of my own pocket. There were things I wanted to do but I couldn't afford $2000 up front. Justin and I have spent hours trying to find a solution to make it happen for guys that are in the situation I was in. Maybe your plant can't afford $2,000 right now but it's in your budget to cover $200/month. We're willing to take a financial risk on our end to help you make your vision happen. I'll be honest with you. I love church planting but if I could help other church planters out ful time I would. If we can help you or your new church give us a shout. I wish I could offer more to you but it's what we can do right now.

As I said earlier this concept is raw. We've been working on two projects and are about to start helping a church in Springdale, AR with their branding, identity and everything in between. But if we can help you out shoot me an email at colby@xnaministries.com

-Colby

Make it happen

2009-01-06T09:48:00.003-06:00

Hopefully all of you had as much fun over the holidays as I did. Sorry about the void and darkness that covered the face of this blog during the holiday season. Add a baby arriving at any moment and you have complete and utter bloglessness.

I want to recommend a book to you guys. If you're like me you don't go for the recommendations. You want to find that jewel of a book yourself. But do yourself a favor and get a copy of Dr. Ronnie Floyd's book "10 Things Every Minister Needs to Know". I'm re reading the book right now and it's challenging me in different ways this time. This book is all about discipline. Plain and simple. So let me shoot it to you straight.

Church planting is hard work no doubt. But read what I'm about to say with an open heart and don't worry about who's whatching or what other people think. This church planting movement is spreading like a wild fire in this country but the fact is very few survive. One thing I've noticed among a large portion of the churches that survive and ultimately thrive is a disciplined leader. Show me a successful church plant and bet me whether or not the pastor is working diligently around the clock to make that baby of his do something.

Just off the top of my head I can name half a dozen guys that have done very well and they're busting their rears to do everything they feel God wants them to do. I'll confess something. I'm a bit of a church plant stalker. One of the first things I do every day is check on church plant sites, blogs, pod casts..... you name it. I want to see what's going on in the world of church planting. I'll be posting a few Church plants that I keep track of but I'll start off with one that is local here in Northwest Arkansas.

Keypoint Church in Bentonville, AR - Pastor Casey Henagan
http://www.keypointchurch.com/

If Casey knew how much I kept up with his church he's file a restraining order. I know a few guys on his staff pretty well so I'll either call them or drop by to see what's going on. Those guys at Keypoint know what they're doing. Have you ever noticed the churh that seems to be having fun all of the time? This is that church. Cool guys that bust their butts and work hard but the end result is a blast. All of these guys on staff tell me how hard of a worker Casey is. That's the first thing they'll tell you about him. If you ask about their new campus starting in Springdale the conversation shifts to Casey, his vision and how hard he works. The guy is disciplined and does what it takes to make it happen.

This brings me back to Dr. Ronnie Floyd's book. It's all about discipline. As a planter you're entrusted with a lot of time on your hands. This book will help you to see what things are important and what things are not. How much time are you spending each day with God? Are you disciplined enough to balance family and ministry? Are you disciplined in your relationships? This is just the tip of the iceberg. Let me put it to you bluntly if you haven't interpreted what I've said so far. XBOX 360 will not grow your church.

I'm sure I'll get a few "If you don't have XBOX you're not relevant" emails. I'll be sure to share them with everyone. I've got one in the living room just like everyone else reading this but you get what I'm saying.

Great things are happening in the church planting world. Shoot me an email and let us know what's going on in your world.

The Launch of XNA

2008-10-29T10:49:00.003-05:00

XNA Ministries launched this past weekend and it was just about what we had hoped for. What's really cool is that we were within 3 people of what I said would be a "win" for us. I've received a few emails asking things such as....

What is a soft launch as opposed to a hard launch?
What is the difference in your Ministry and your Church?
Is XNA OneNight your church or a service?

... so I'm going to try to explain this complicated strategy to some extent. Then I'll talk more about what happened at our service.

I have a friend, Tim Bach, that told me about this really great church in Ft. Worth and their pastor's heart for church planting. Through a chain of events I was able to meet with Bob Roberts Jr and share what I thought was a great church planting strategy. I still think it is but BRJ opened my eyes to a concept that I had never considered. If you want to understand it in depth go buy all three of his books which are incredible... Glocalization, Transformation and The Multiplying Church. You won't "get it" just by reading this blog. You'll "get it" after reading these books. I "got it" and now I'm reworking the ideas I set out with. So here is the basic concept.

In the New Testament the first Christ Followers weren't dead set on starting a "church". They were set on ministering and sharing the gospel. The church was the natural byproduct of their ministry to all the people. We build churches to minister to people and hope they come. What if we ministered to people in our communities to the point we HAD to start a new church so we'd have a place for them to go? When BRJ first said this to my face I wanted to slap myself. I was spending all my time trying to attract people to something new as opposed to ministering to people which is what we're all really called to do. Duh. So I decided to tweak some ideas I had about starting churches throughout Northwest Arkansas.

I designed a system to minister to people in the Northwest Arkansas communities. It's called I-Life (I know, complete rip off for a name. It's not like you haven't used Life Church Open or Ed Young Jr's stuff so back off). I'm not going to get into the guts of I-Life but you can email me about it if you want. It's designed to minister to the entire person through relationships, discipleship, serving their communities and sharing their faith. We want to engage people and minister to them so effectively that there is more than just a commitment. We're gunning for life change. I-Life is done through community groups throughout Northwest Arkansas. NWA is a unique area. We have four main hubs that are within a 25 mile radius and a population of over 400k. As a result, those four hubs have I-Life community groups. People from that hub or bedroom communities can attend the group. The long term goal is to have each hub evolve into their own church but that's a different story in itself. I've said all of that to say this. We're trying to effectively engage people through our I-Life system so that there is an actual need for a church. So we've established XNA I-Life. Now we go into XNA OneNight.

XNA OneNight is our big event. It's where all of our XNA I-Life groups come together and bring friends/family to have a kick butt worship service. We feature a musical guest each time. Sunday night we had Chris Sligh from American Idol season 6 come and lead worship (AMAZING). I spoke and he followed up with a mini concert. It was a hit. Attendance wasn't what some expected but I had been telling everyone that I'd be the happiest guy in NWA if we had 250. We had 247. But I was more than happy with that number. We had a great response and over 100 people asked, through our visitor guide, to be notified of the next XNA OneNight and wanted more info on XNA I-Life. To me, that is the biggest stat of the night aside from the 5 that responded to salvation.

This week I'm working on some web stuff to get people plugged into an I-Life group near them. We need to do this asap so we don't lose interest. I'll post about I-Life turnout after next week. So now I'm plugging in over 100 people into I-Life which will hopefully start to multiply because of the I-Life structure. I designed it to multiply instead of add. I want it to be viral. All of the sudden we have multiple people being ministered to and in turn are ministering to their communities through the 3rd step in I-life and it goes on and on. Now the I-Life groups can serve as a base for the next XNA OneNight. Instead of 15 volunteers hopefully I'll have somewhere in the ballpark of 100.

One of the keys to XNA OneNight was quality. I have a friend that works with Wal-Mart at their HQ. He would work during the day and then meet me at the office and often work til 1:00 or 2:00 AM. Some new concepts are coming out of that working relationship that I'll talk about later. But we made sure everything was quality. Soon you'll be able to see all the media (visitor guides/videos/intros/web/promotional/tickets/) as part of a portfolio. But the one thing we knew had to happen was this. People needed to leave that night saying "That was a great event. I'll be at the next XNA OneNight". Whether we want to admit it or not we're competing with a very advanced society and culture. We'd better put on our A game in everything we do.

So XNA I-Life drives the ministry and XNA OneNight brings them together every couple of months. We're ministering to people to the point we need a service to bring them together. In the not so distant future we'll be launching XNA TV which will be our gateway into the homes of most of NWA. The viewers will be able to come to an established XNA I-Life group and/or an XNA OneNight. At that point XNA I-Life, OneNight and TV are all fueling each other. Then we launch XNA Church. See, the church is only launched after there is a need. If I would have launched XNA Church none of this would have worked. I would have been banging my head against the wall wondering why I wasn't attracting people. Instead, I minister to people so that in a year or so I will need to plant a church.

That's it in a nutshell and the dumbed down version. I'd love to share some ideas with you if you ever want to chat about it. Let me answer a quick question I've had asked quite a bit.

Q: What is the difference in a soft launch and a hard launch?
A: A soft launch is launching a segment of your church or ministry as opposed to the "parent" church or ministry. Other people will probably tell you a different definition but that's the way we use it.

Thanks for all the emails and Facebook messages of encouragement and support. God is doing something cool here and we're excited about being part of it. Please let me know if I can do anything to help. If you need help with any type of media or production for a launch let us know. Justin and I are building "Launch Boxes" to help church planters who are having a difficult time making a launch or media happen financially. We'd love to help out.

colby@xnaministries.com

Guest Bloggers

2008-10-13T22:51:00.002-05:00

We are excited about some of our new guest bloggers. Soon you'll be hearing from one of my former teachers who has planted multiple churches. His latest church was just launched days ago. He's going to be coming on and sharing some insights into his launch and what is and isn't working. I don't want to give you all the info at this point so I'm being vague but be ready to hear some great church planting insights from church planters from all over.

If you're launching soon or have launched recently we'd love to hear about it. Shoot me an email so we can get you set up as a guest blogger. Thanks for the support everyone.

-Colby
colby@xnaministries.com

XNA OneNight

2008-09-20T20:03:00.003-05:00

I usually don't use this blog to promote my ministry but I'm going to make a quick plug. XNA Ministries (XNAM) is the ministry that my wife and I started here in the Northwest Arkansas area. Instead of starting a church we're starting a ministry that has different components. But that's another blog in itself. One of the extensions of XNAM is XNA OneNight. It's a service we're putting on for the entire Northwest Arkansas area. I'm going to be speaking and each time we have a OneNight we'll be featuring a musical guest. I'm pretty sure we've got the band nailed down but we want to make sure it's a 100% go before we announce it.

The reason I'm posting about XNA OneNight on Creative Church Planters.net isn't to advertise but to offer you some insight into a different way of planting churches. If you want more info on how we're making this even happen or what it is please email me at colby@xnaministries.com I hope to hear from you.

-Colby

2008-09-19T22:20:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to a couple of my friends. Jason Bowman launched his church recently and they had a great first day. Also, Bobby Hawk called me today and gave me some great news about his church in Kansas City. We'll have him guest blog and give updates to you on what God is doing in his church.

Be looking for XNA OneNight. It's an event I'm putting on in Northwest Arkansas. It looks like we may have found our musical guest for OneNight. You can get updates at xnaonenight.blogspot.com

Keep in touch. Let us know what is happening in your church plant. We want to hear from you and guest blog for us.

-Colby

FREE Email Posts

2008-09-02T12:52:00.004-05:00

Have you noticed the new box in the top right corner? Now we have the ability to email the CCP posts to your email address. And let me put your fears to rest at the beginning, we are not selling your email address to anyone, and I mean no one. We will never give your email address to anyone.

We know how sometimes it's hard to remember to go to CreativeChurchPlanters.net to get the latest posts. This is the easy way to get posts because it's mailed to you every morning. If we have a new post today, it gets emailed to you tomorrow morning. Here's how it works:

1. Put your email address in the box

2. Hit the "Subscribe" button

3. A new box pops up

4. Re-enter your email address

5. Enter the verification code

6. Hit "Complete Subscription Request"

7. You're Done!

Emails start coming to your inbox. Let us know what you think!

P.S. Want to know how to set this up for your church plant or planter's blog? Afterall, it's FREE to do and your budding congregation will love it! Email me. That's what we're here for, to help you succeed in ministry. Let's face it, church planting's tough, we can help:)

mail@creativechurchplanters.com

Adam, Creator
CreativeChurchPlanters.com

Looking for leadership

2008-08-29T22:46:00.002-05:00

About six months ago I had a meeting with a really great pastor who is completely sold out to church planting. I mentioned his name in a previous blog that links you to a lot of what he does so go check his stuff out. I'll be honest with you. I don't freeze around a lot of people. But this guy about made me wet my pants. No kidding. It wasn't an interview but I felt like the CIA was putting me through rigorous testing to see if I was legit.

He didn't wast time and told me what he though. But he made a comment that I'll never forget. He said "I don't look for guys who are looking to be leaders." Now, you can argue that point to an extent and take it into another context if you wish but the basic essentials of that statement showed me the purity of a guys heart that wants to be part of what God is up to in the world. His point wasn't that we shouldn't read John Maxwell or Marcus Buckingham. What I took from that statement was that people like Moses, David and others weren't "looking" for leadership positions. I think there comes a point where we're looking so hard that we veer off course from what we need to be doing.

Some guys have aspirations to reach the top. I'm learning to be content with what God gives me and to focus on the ministry He's called me to. I've been caught up in trying to figure out my next step "up" and I think most reading this can relate to that. Church planting almost keeps you grounded because you're not on top. You're at the bottom of the barrel. Focus on what God is putting into your hands. Vision is a great thing to have for ministry as long as God is at the center of it and not us.

If you want to find more info about Bob Roberts Jr. you can check his blog out at www.glocal.net
He's got three great books out as well. Great insight.

email me sometime ~ colby@xnaministries.com
Colby

What Elmo taught me about Church Planting

2008-08-23T22:02:00.002-05:00

I know, sounds weird but hear me out before you head off to check your Facebook. This is going to be short sweet and to the point so bare with me. Let me say it loud and clear. God, Family, Ministry.

I've been working 15+ hour days for the past week. I'm usually up around 6:00 and have been getting home around 5:00 or so. After Rachel and I put Abigail to bed I'm back at it until midnight or so. But today was a little different. My sister is in town with her kids for a visit. Her and her husband Mark pastor a cool church in Auburn, AL. So on her visit we decide to load up everyone and head out to see Elmo and the rest of the Sesame Street characters put on a big musical production. My daughter Abigail is an Elmo fanatic. Now, she didn't understand a lot of things today. She didn't understand that programs were eight bucks or that there has to be an intermission regardless of whether or not she wants them to have one. But here's what she did understand. That big freaky red thing she knows as Elmo was standing about 20 feet in front of her face today. She went nuts! I'll never forget her expression when she saw Elmo. It reminded me of another special moment a couple of months ago. On her first birthday you should have seen her face when everyone was singing happy birthday to her. Abigail is an attention freak. She'll do anything to get someone to look at her and say "hi" when they walk by. So you can imagine the expression on her face when everyone's full attention was on her before she smashed her cake.

I said all of that to say this. I'll never forget that expression on her face when she saw her favorite character. If I would have been working on creativechurchplanters.com or xna ministries I would have missed that sweet face she made today. As important as your ministry is put it aside and love your family every now and then. Don't miss out on those special memories. Love your wife and kids on a constant basis so they don't get confused as to what your true passion in life is.

Now, go tell your church planting buddies that you learned something from Elmo other than the fact every song he sings is jingle bells rewritten.

-Colby

Does Your Church Get It?

2008-08-18T22:00:00.002-05:00

Does your church “get it”? What’s “get it” you may ask? Get it is understanding that what’s most important is reaching people and seeing their lives changed because of what they got. Seems easy enough doesn’t it? So what got me thinking about getting it? Todd Rhoades gave ten observations of great churches he’s visited who “get it”. See what you think, and then ask the tough question, “Does my church get it?” Or since we're planters, "Will my church get it?"

Here are the first 3 to get you started.

1. Each church has a pastor with a vision. And it’s not just that these pastors have a vision… it’s that they have a gift for communicating that vision to their staff and their entire church. While it might not be a surprise to anyone that churches that ‘get it’ have pastors who ‘get it’, it is a glaring similarity among these churches: their pastors are great leaders with a great vision.

2. Each church hires almost exclusively from within. Most every staff member of these churches was hired from within. When asked if this was intentional, most said that it was. Here’s the deal: most of these churches do a tremendous job of training leaders and empowering people in ministry. When that happens, the cream rises to the top, and that’s how they find their best staff people. Most do not have church staff experience, but rather bring their expertise from another area of business or commerce. And, I have to say, these are some sharp people.

3. Speaking of staff, the staff of these churches ‘get it’ too. The staff in these churches are very loyal to their church and to their leadership. These are people that have a long history with the church; and they are totally sold on the mission, vision and values of their church. They also view their job not only as to serve God, and the church; but also to come along side and support the vision and leadership of the senior pastor. These churches have very loyal staff.

Read the enitre article HERE. Thanks Todd for the article.

Until next time.

Shout out to Northwood Church in Ft. Worth

2008-08-17T15:32:00.002-05:00

Check these guys out. They're an amazing group of people. Recently we became one of their daughter churches. They're helping us plant our ministry located in Northwest Arkansas. We're using TV as the catalyst for church planting and they dig the idea! Thanks to Pastor Bob Roberts Jr. for his support and to Bobby Vaughn for getting us connected. You can see their blog at www.glocal.net

Also check out Vision360. An amazing church planting network based out of Orlando. Check the out here ---> http://www.vision360.org/

Thanks for partnering with us.

-Colby

Relevant is a relative term

2008-08-17T14:39:00.002-05:00

I've sat here for about 20 minutes trying to find a polite way to communicate what I'm about to say. No such luck! I even tried to make up a fictional conversation between a friend and I over Starbucks coffee but I couldn't make him say what I wanted him to say so I'll have to spill it.

One of the tag words we hear in church planting circles on a frequent basis is "relevant". It's how we engage the culture to some extent. How can we ever connect with people if we're not relevant? Look at all the examples of the gospel being relevant in the New Testament. You can easily spot instances where the gospel was presented in a relevant way to different people. Look at the contrast in evangelism in Acts through the stories of Simon the Sorcerer and the Ethiopian. Peter and Phillip used drastically different methods to reach these men. They were relevant to their situation. Being relevant is important but as church planters we need to understand that what is relevant to us is irrelevant to others.

Adam and I were driving to Dallas, TX from my house early one morning. We were going to be around a fairly large group of church planters for a few days so we started discussing some of the topics that were sure to come up. We had a little side bet going on. We both chose a word that would be used most frequently throughout the conference. I chose relevant and Adam went with Saddleback. Actually he chose money. Every time someone describing their church said relevant or money we would get a +1. Whoever got the highest total by the end of the first day had to buy dinner. It was close but Adam got a porterhouse steak from Saltgrass. (You need to eat there if you haven't yet. It will change your life)

Everyone had a relevant church, website, worship leader, music, kids ministry, building, marketing campaign, banner, media ministry, coffee bar, parking lot, microphones, lights, messages, stationary and vision. Including me. Sometimes it's not what you say it's what you aren't saying. In my first church plant I found myself suggesting that we were THE relevant church in town........... as if nobody else was. Tell me if I'm wrong but I'm under the impression that there's a crack in the door for competition and pride that a foot could slide into easily. Don't get me wrong. You should be relevant in your church. You should want to connect with today's culture. But we also need to understand that being relevant isn't only for our modern culture and the cool middle to upper class people that we want tithing in our church.

I'm going to be blunt for just a second. Young church planters (guilty) have a tendency to think that churches with a traditional style aren't relevant. Now, growth is another topic for another day. But who's to say the traditional church I grew up in isn't relevant? They're relevant to about 500 more people on Sundays than I have in my church at the present time. There needs to be a relevant church for Sister Wiggins who helped start that church 70 years ago. There's no way she would be able to sit and listen to the worship in a lot of our church plants. She wouldn't know what hit her. But her church IS relevant to her and a lot of others. I think this new generation of church planters may need to reflect on the thought that the churches they deem as irrelevant are in fact relevant to a certain group of people. Don't look at traditional churches as the old, out of touch group of people that will never expand the Kingdom. That's far from the truth.

The crowd that most church planters are trying to reach are very similar. Not all but quite a few. It's the suburban well to do group. That's only a portion of the population. There's quite a few other people groups that need relevant pastors to be relevant to their group. I'll bring it to a close before I make too many enemies. I think we need to recognize that it is going to take a multitude of churches and styles to reach all people. We're urging some pastors to become more relevant and change who they are. That's far from what needs to happen. Let him be who God created him to be and reach the people in his community. Sure, that population that he's been able to reach with his style is dwindling but they still need him to be their pastor. Some new guy will come along and be relevant to the new crowd. But lets not sell the old school short. This may be a first. But I'm rooting on the old school to be relevant to the people God entrusted you with. And to the new guys be relevant to the people God is entrusting you with. At some point you won't be relevant to the majority anymore, ha ha. Let's just hope the generation after us doesn't rub it in our faces! Be relevant but recognize that relevant is a relative term.

email me sometime.......
colby@xnaministries.com

10 Ways

2008-08-16T21:54:00.000-05:00

Joshua from churchredone.com gives a great post on 10 ways to not get someone to visit their church. Find the post here. What do you think, agree or disagree? Are these important for a church planter to think about?

Until next time.

Time to get Flashy

2008-08-14T21:35:00.001-05:00

For anyone who wants to have a superstar church website but isn’t real sure about how to even start with it, I have found a site. It’s great for teaching you the basics and what basic stuff you need. So HERE you go. Did you catch it? That was the website for Flash tutorials. Good stuff, since I’m just learning the basics myself. Anyway, hope that helps.

Until next time.

3 Potent Questions

2008-08-12T21:28:00.003-05:00

Craig Groeschel just posted a great article on LifeChurch.tv’s blog Swerve. He poses 3 important questions that were asked of him, I also will ask the same 3 questions. Find the whole article HERE.

1. If you weren’t on staff at your church, would you worship there?

2. If you didn’t know ANYTHING about Jesus, what would you know about him after a normal weekend at your church?

3. If you had a loved one who didn’t know Christ, and they had one week left to live, would you take them to your church or another?

I like to pick up things (usually sayings) from effective leaders. Some of my favorites are Blaine Bartel’s “Sweat in Preparation so you don’t Bleed in Battle.” And of course, there’s John Maxwell’s “Everything Rises and Falls on Leadership.” I’m not positve, but I think these 3 questions are going to rank up there with these other quotes. Because these are questions effective church planters need to be asking themselves as they plan for the future.

These are pivotal questions about the future effectiveness of your church. I won’t tell you my answers because I don’t always like them. These 3 questions are a good start. I challenge you to ask them to yourself and find out what your honest answers are.

It’s not about being BIG, it’s about being EFFECTIVE.

Big is just the by-product.

Until next time.

McCafe Anyone?

2008-08-10T15:01:00.002-05:00

Have you head of the McCafe? About six months ago I read an article about the largest fast food chain's attempt to rival Starbucks. Good luck with that. My favorite Irish restaurant decided to start going beyond the beloved iced coffee that I have each morning. They offer a small handful of drinks including lattes and mochas. So much for rivaling Starbucks.

Don't get me wrong. I love the iced coffee. But the options McCafe gives you is like saying Striper or White Cross are about to give Phil Wickham a run for his money. In fact I was expecting McCafes to be a coffee shop. In all actuality the new McCafe is an updated McDonalds. Talk about disappointing. I know. Some of you are wondering who in their right mind would get excited about McDonalds offering coffee. Hey, it was going to be cheaper and I liked the iced coffee drink. But nevertheless I was disappointed.

Here's what is really funny though. It reminded me of church planting. Seriously. For two years I visited every church in my area that I could find that defined themselves as "contemporary" or "modern". There were some great churches and if I wasn't planting a ministry myself I'd attend those few churches. But quite a few times I ran into slick advertising, branding and great one liner mission statements. It was almost like the outward projection of the church was similar to a canned message. Something you do enough times to master it. But what was inside was far from what was advertised. It started to become a weekly let down. You could tell that some churches had put much time and effort into who they were. But it seemed like it was the newer churches that weren't who they said they were.

I ran into the same problem myself. In my first church plant we decided to come up with a list of seven things that we were. The only problem is that only about half of it was true. Most of it was who I wished we were. There's a transition that has to take place or people will see right through it. You have to become the church that you, as a church planter, have the vision to be. We come up with logos, slogans, advertisements, brand and marketing plans for what we want to be. Then we wait for people to come through the doors to help us get there. Wrong answer. You've got to be the example for those who are just beginning the journey of church planting with you. Let them see what your church will look like by letting them see you live it out.

Don't be a McCafe church. Don't get caught up in trying to compete or rival other churches only to be a let down to your community. Be the church planter that God led you to be. If you focus on competing you're chances of failure are great. Focus on reaching your community by being kingdom minded. When people walk through your doors they should be able to see and feel what you advertise. I have a gut feeling that a lot of people are walking out the doors with a different impression that want was presented on your website. It's like walking out of McCafe, the "Coffee Shop" and smelling quarter pounders with cheese.

Be who God is leading you to be. If your church isn't authentic you'll focus on being better than the other church down the road. It takes the kingdom out of the picture and glory from God. Add that up and see how far you get.

-Colby

So, you're not planting anymore? Uh huh

2008-08-09T11:17:00.003-05:00

Let's face it. At some point all of us, as church planters, face obstacles that can quickly kill the dream. Be honest. We've all had that moment where we threaten to walk away. It's that silent conversation you have with yourself while sitting in your "home office" and say "That's it. I'm OUTTA HERE". We've all done it. But the reality of it is, we know we're not going anywhere. It's not like Mars Hill is busting our chops for not sending in our resume to fill in for Pastor Driscoll.

You and those on your team committed to do what you're doing just like me and my wife did. So why, all of the sudden, are things different? Because the funding isn't there? You can't have the cool theater you thought was yours? The music guy, who was amazing until he turned you down, decided to take the gig that paid at least $100/month? Let's cut through the bull. You accepted the mission God gave you. You and your family made huge sacrifices to be in the position you're in (no sarcasm intended). Now isn't the time to cut and run. This is the time in your life that will define you and your church. How do I know this? Because I was in your shoes just a few years and and now I'm back in them.

I'm going to save you a lot of time by condensing my story. If you want to know more about it you can always email me. In late 2002 me and my wife Rachel planted a church... so we though. In all actuality it was what I call a transplant. Transplants are new churches that go south in a hurry which require new life immediately. I remember getting excited about the idea of planting. How hard could it be to create something that everyone would want to come to? Right? You know you've thought it too. The giddiness quickly wore off after our arrival. I was under the impression that our denomination had asked us to come plant a church with a core of fifty people ready to go. When we arrived I found out that twenty two were in a drug and alcohol rehab and were forced to attend the services. I later found out that one of the core group had been incarcerated for misconduct with children. One family proceeded to tell me that they didn't really want me as the new pastor. Needless to say, it wasn't the picture that was painted! I could go on and on about our situation but I think you get the point. And let me say this before I move on. Some of the original core group are amazing people that I still love to this day. A few of them were instrumental in growing our church from 30 to 135 after the transplant took place.

Remember when God had Abraham look up to see the vast number of stars representing his promise of descendants and nations? Imagine those stars representing how many times I wanted to walk away. It was the most difficult experience I had been through. My wife Rachel and I joke about the time she really freaked me out. We were driving to church early on a Sunday Morning. We had just gone through some issues with some of our core people. She looked at me and said "I hate Sundays". Oh, that's great! The pastor's wife hates church! Nice. The truth is that I did too. I dreaded seeing some of those faces week after week. Nothing I did was up to their liking. I spent too much time trying to reach young people. I did away with the bluegrass worship that is so cherished in Southeast Georgia. We just couldn't win. But God deposited something in me that I'll never forget. He made me realize that I was doing this because He called me. I realized that I wasn't planting or transplanting this church to have one of the fastest growing churches in North America. He was teaching me things and building up perseverance and determination. Those are key ingredients that I found to be essential in planting.

After two years of uphill battles and all out wars of the direction of the church I made a decision. I was either going to make this baby work or I'd die trying. Rachel and I committed to see this church grow. Here's how we did it. All of us have heard the leadership illustration about slowly turning a ship so the boat isn't rocked. Or moving the piano an inch at a time. I basically stood at the helm and gripped the wheel with my hands at the ten and two positions. Then I coiled back and gave that baby a spin like the big wheel on the Price is Right. I didn't care who flew off the ship at that point. I was going to do what God had called me to do and do whatever I had to do to make it happen. Either you're with me or you're not. I spent too much time trying to appease people as opposed to pleasing God. I laid out our vision for the church and I had 30 people still hanging on. In eight months that group of thirty grew to over one hundred and thirty. Eighty three people became Christ followers. THAT is when church became fun again. But if we hadn't persevered and been determined to follow through we would have left and never seen the fruit of our labor.

Too many church planters refuse to stay in uncomfortable situations for too long. Much labor no fruit. That's not a safe combination. Especially for the spouse (I'll blog on this one later). The only time I'm all for seeing someone walk away is if they can, beyond a shadow of a doubt, be 100% sure that it was a you thing and not a God thing. Otherwise you have to determine in your heart that NOTHING can sway you away from the mission God gave you. That doesn't simply mean the church itself but also the ideas, vision and how to implement them. You need to see the fruit of your ministry. If things aren't working look for answers, pray, find solutions. Church planters are some of the most creative minds out there. Utilize the relationships you have and MAKE THIS BABY WORK!

I'll wrap this up by giving you a biblical illustration. The Jews had just returned from captivity and are finished building the altar. The next project is to build the foundation of the temple. The Bible talks about the opposition that came against them. The enemies went to Artaxerxes to get his approval for the building of the temple to cease. Keep in mind that the Jews had just returned from captivity and are dead set on doing things God's way this time. They were determined to make this work (just like you and I are). But Artaxerxes sent a decree to stop the building immediately. The people of God said "OK". That was it. It was that easy to make a God thing stop without question. What happened to their passion and determination? ***The voice of one man killed it*** Sometimes all it takes is for someone to reject us or tell us no in church planting and we're ready to give it up. We've told people how excited we are, how passionate we are, how we're the only relevant church within a 25 mile radius (you know it's true). And the voice of one man, or funding, or core member, or location, or worship leader tells us no....... and we're tired of it. Ready to pack up and go somewhere else. We start scrolling through our cell phone contacts to see who knows of an open position somewhere.

Don't let anyone or anything keep you from doing what God wants you to do. Be encouraged and know that there are hundreds of other planters out there who are going through what you're going through. Press on. I'm right there with you. We've had our fair share of "NO!" since we started XNA Ministries. But we've got to stay on tract and persevere. Here are some practical things you should do when the pressure turns up.

1. Pray about it. Seriously. I know that's the Sunday School answer. But when was the last time you just told God to do what He wants to do and use you to do it? Remember the guy in school that was always looking for the girl of his dreams? He spent so much time looking for the right one that he finally gave up. He made a covenant to not date for a year. Remember THAT guy? He's also probably the one that found his soul mate shortly thereafter. When we stop trying to make everything happen on our own is when God usually steps in and does the work. You realize that God's on your side, right? Let him in on your church plant. It might help.

2. Connect with other planters.
Tell someone what you're going through. I've shared some of my difficulties to other planters. Like I said. Church planters are the most creative people around. Bounce ideas off of them. You might get some great insight.

3. MONEY!
It's why half of you are frustrated. If you just had the 7 million that Andy Stanley threw into Buckhead Church you'd be set! Wrong. You'd be in Cabo right about now and church planting would be for losers. Seriously though. Find a network to partner with. I'm in my hometown and only one church has partnered with us. It took me networking through a friend to find a great church that is mothering us. Look into Vision360, Acts 29, ARC or others that are poping up all over. They may not give you the $250,000 that all of us think is needed if we're going to be successful but it's a starting place. Also, look into resources like Church Planting Concepts which you can email me about until we get a link. They help you on the front end with ANYTHING church planting (except cash) and let you pay the balance out monthly for an extended period of time because they understand how difficult it is starting out.

I know this was extremely long but I thought it was needed. I want you to be encouraged and to keep doing what you're doing. Drop me an email..... colby@xnaministries.com

-Colby

Missional Planting Video

2008-08-07T23:10:00.000-05:00

Found this great video on church planting missionally. Check it out and let me know what you think.

10 Ways to Absently Communicate

2008-08-05T23:09:00.000-05:00

Found this post the other day. It’s a great post about ways to have a discussion without being in the same room. There are many different ways of communication, it just takes a little bit of creativity and set-up. For you pastors out there having a hard time getting everyone together, this is fantastic. For you bi-vocational pastors, this should give you some great ideas on how to conference in all those volunteers you have.

Anyway, check it out here and let me know what you think. Just sounded like some good ideas.
Until next time.