New Churches Podcast

Episode 744 One way we build a sending culture in a church is preaching about “living sent.” Noah Oldham, Vance Pitman and Matt Carter talk about how to preach a theology of sending. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The biblical basis for “Sending Church” How a pastor can cultivate a culture of sending through his preaching How to help your people put “living sent” into action Systems you can put in place to make sure people can take next steps The enemy within and without Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): The local church is not the ultimate goal; the ultimate goal is the kingdom of God being expanded and God birthing His local church. One of the ways we create that sending culture is through preaching. —Vance Pitman We always had next steps. It’s one thing to get everybody fired up from the pulpit. It’s another thing to have something they can hang their hat on. —Matt Carter We end every service telling our our church after we pray, “Go to love, serve and tell.” —Noah Oldham Preaching is not the dispensing of information. Preaching is a call to transformation. There has to be an opportunity for people to respond. We have to apply “living sent” for our people to begin to take those steps. —Vance Pitman There’s a pent-up desire in the body of Christ to engage in the mission of God, and I think it’s bottlenecked at the pastor because we’re not giving them the opportunity to do it. —Matt Carter You’ve got to be passionate about it yourself or your people are never going to follow you. It’s got to be something you believe in, deep down in the core of your being. —Matt Carter I would warn a pastor to be prepared. There will be opposition. There’s an enemy within and an enemy without. —Vance Pitman The post Preaching Theology of Sending appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 743 Time is our most precious commodity, and most bivocational leaders say they have trouble managing it. Ed Stetzer and Brad Brisco discuss practical ideas for managing your time. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The difference between “bivocational” and “covocational” The danger of compartmentalizing Why managing expectations is crucial The importance of a theology of work How to find healthy life patterns Helpful Resources: 5 benefits of being bivo/covo Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): The No. 1 challenge, every single time I ask a bivo/covo planter, always has to do with time management – managing multiple aspects of life. — Brad Brisco We definitely have to have a conversation if your approach to church is professional clergy centric. — Ed Stetzer I’ve seen people have two or three couples and two or three singles, all going together to plant a church. If you’re bivo or covo, you cannot plant as a Lone Ranger. — Brad Brisco There’s something in our culture that’s not healthy where we have to be the hero, we have to be the center. You can’t have a healthy long-term ministry like that. — Ed Stetzer Church planters tell me they feel guilty with the amount of time they spend at work because those are hours they can’t spend on the church plant. — Brad Brisco If you’re going to be bivocational, covocational, there are some jobs that are not good jobs for you. — Ed Stetzer You have to operate with a planner and a calendar. You need to manage expectations. Most leaders need to set some social media boundaries. — Brad Brisco The post Managing Your Time as a Bivocational Church Planter appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 742 What does it look like to connect with your community? Noah Oldham and Vance Pitman talk with Mark Lee about best practices for engaging your community as a new church planter. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The best place to start connecting with your community How to be seen as a partner, rather than a parasite What foreign missions can teach us about being a missionary The principle of living your life with your eyes open to God’s activity around you How to mentor your core team to reach out to the city Helpful Resources: The Externally Focused Quest The Art of Neighboring Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): When we begin to be viewed as partners in our communities and cities, we create relational bridges that allow the gospel to walk from our lives into the lives of those we’ve been called to serve. —Vance Pitman The way we connected with the community was that I just wanted to connect with my street, to just be the pastor of my street. Sometimes we can make it too complicated: Who do I need to reach out to? Where do I need to go? I just started where I lived. —Mark Lee The greatest church planting class I took in seminary was actually on foreign missions. It taught me about these principles of being a missionary. And one of those principles was finding a person of peace. —NoahOldham Find ways you can build relationships with the people in your life. For me, a lot of it had to do with what my kids were doing. The first 13 families I led to Christ, I led to Christ coaching Little League baseball and NFL flag football. —Vance Pitman Once we have followers, disciples and a core team, how do we mentor them to reach out to the city too? For my core team, I provided a framework: prayers, conversations, table fellowships and invitations. —Mark Lee When we started, we created what we called the Personal Touch Tip Sheet. It was 40 examples of how you could connect with someone. Like, for example, when somebody moves in on your street, bake some cookies or bread, make a meal, and take it to your neighbor. —Vance Pitman Keep being faithful and trust the Lord to build His Church. —NoahOldham The post Connecting to Your Community as a New Church Planter appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 741 You’ve heard about “having a multiplication mindset” but what is it and why does it matter? Ed Stetzer talks with Brad Brisco about what it looks like to have a multiplication mindset. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: What a multiplication mindset is and why it matters Four principles for cultivating a multiplication mindset How multiplication is about more than planting churches What it means to apprentice each other in multiplication The importance of stories and scorecards Helpful Resources: Download the new edition of Rethink Missional Essentials small group study guide The Missional Quest: Becoming a Church of the Long Run Next Door as It Is in Heaven Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways Woodward and White, The Church as Movement Alan Hirsch, The Permanent Revolution Website: 5Q Central Neil Cole, Primal Fire Peyton Jones, Church Zero Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): We need to understand and remember that we’re a sent, missionary people. A multiplication mindset has to start with God’s redemptive purposes being central. — Brad Brisco If the first thing you stand up and say is, “Hey, we’ve got to plant another church, but you haven’t multiplied a disciple or a group or a ministry, it’s jarring to people. We have to get to the place where we’re thinking multiplication consistently. — Ed Stetzer It’s not just about multiplying churches. In fact, it  needs to start by multiplying disciples, leaders and groups. Church leaders need to be thinking about multiplying ourselves in mission or ministry. — Brad Brisco If the norm is not to live on mission, when I multiply the way people think about mission, that’s multiplication as well. — Ed Stetzer Paul says in Ephesians 4 that if all five of the gifts are not being exercised, the church will not reach maturity. In fact, he actually says the church will not experience the fullness of Christ. — Brad Brisco I can live sent and not multiply. I can think of myself as a missionary in my context, showing and sharing the love of Jesus, and still not multiply. — Ed Stetzer In creating a multiplication culture, we need to think about stories and scorecards. What stories are we celebrating? What are we measuring? How are we defining success? — Brad Brisco The post Principles for Multiplication appeared first on New Churches.

Discover the vital connection between evangelism and church planting. The conversation delves into effective community engagement and the importance of personal outreach. Learn about crafting an inviting environment that welcomes others and emphasizes relationship-building over mere service attendance. Insights on navigating complex biblical narratives and the need for relatable storytelling create a deeper understanding of faith. Overall, it’s a rich exploration of strategies to birth vibrant churches fueled by a heart for the lost.

Episode 739 Establishing healthy partnership between an established church and a plant can be a challenge. Ed Stetzer talks with Ron Edmondson about how to lead an established church to support church planting. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How to get an established church focused outwardly Ways to involve established church staff and volunteers The value of doing a “faith in work” survey How to build partnerships with strong relational connections Signs of a good partnering relationship Helpful Resources: Ron Edmondson’s ministry leadership podcast and blog Ron’s book on the seven myths of leadership Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Places across the globe are having more success with the gospel than we are having. We need to learn from them. We also need to fuel their fire with what God has given us. — Ron Edmondson Casting vision helps a church be outwardly focused. — Ed Stetzer People are going to go where they want to go. Church planting matters. And the more we can put those two together, the more successful we’re going to be. — Ron Edmondson I had a church planting class create case studies on the way plants partnered with their primary sponsor church. Seven out of 10 had relational problems. — Ed Stetzer Seek more than money. If you don’t ask for my advice, you’ve already shot yourself in the foot. — Ron Edmondson There’s a difference between being having a partner and a funder. Finding the other things an established church can provide is really key. — Ed Stetzer A sign of healthy partnership is when both the planter and the pastor enjoy that relationship. It’s not just transactional. It’s not just the the dollars. — Ron Edmondson The post Leading an Established Church to Support Church Planting appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 738 Planters, lead pastors, apprentices – we all need to grow as preachers. Clint Clifton talks with Bryan Loritts and Bobby Jamieson about the “how to” of becoming a better preacher. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The value of apprenticeship Why feedback is important The importance of self-awareness Why preaching cohorts are helpful How a church is like a teaching hospital Helpful Resources: Books: The Dad Difference, Doctrine That Dances, Expositional Preaching, Crossover Preaching, Making a Difference in Preaching, Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism Sermons: Ligon Duncan on Elijah Charles Simeon Trust Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): A big aspect of how our senior pastor has trained so many preachers is having lots of feedback. He will very humbly receive feedback on his own preaching. – Bobby Jamieson Church planting has kind of turned into the Wild, Wild West. So many planters just kind of went out there on their own. They haven’t really sat under consistent preaching. – Bryan Loritts I’ve talked to more than one church planter who basically said, “I started planting a church without really knowing what a church is and now I’m having to do this messy thing of rebuilding the plane in midair.” – Bobby Jamieson Karl Barth said he takes the text in one hand and the newspaper in the other. That’s one way I try to gauge the fruit of my ministry: Am I speaking to the particular idols of that given context and is that being worked into the lifeblood of our church? – Bryan Loritts I have interns join me when I’m preparing a sermon, by the time I have an outline. They come in with their own outlines and thoughts about how to apply the passage. We’ll go over our outlines. – Bobby Jamieson Churches should be teaching hospitals. The teaching hospital says, “We want to create, within the ecosystem of our hospital, room for residents to actually practice.” That’s what we’ve always tried to do.” – Bryan Loritts I encourage young preachers to make sure that in every point of their sermon they have explanation, illustration and application. – Bobby Jamieson The post Growing as a Preacher appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 737 How do you set goals for your church without slipping into pragmatism? Ed Stetzer talks with Ron Edmondson about “faith goals” and how to set them for your church. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: What a “faith goal” is How to translate goals into action Balancing internal and external goals How to start the process of determining goals Unique aspects of goal setting in a church plant Helpful Resources: Pat Lencioni’s Working Genius assessment Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Does goal-setting presume on God? I do think goals are good. What’s it going to look like when what are we hoping to see happens? — Ed Stetzer If you’re making a goal and there’s no stretching in it, that’s not going to be a faith goal. God is in charge of the increase, so it may not happen the way you intended. — Ron Edmondson Do you have categories for different goals – internal staff goals and external partnership goals? How do you find a good balance? — Ed Stetzer Everything you learn from the people who have multiple staff, be willing to translate the principle. You don’t translate practices; you translate principles. Start with the end in mind. What are you trying to achieve? Then work backward from that. — Ron Edmondson If this is a faith goal, then where is God already working? We don’t want to go where God’s not at work. This is where it becomes a true faith initiative. — Ron Edmondson People tend to overdo goal-setting when they’ve never done it before. They end up with, like, 15 goals. — Ed Stetzer I use the last six weeks of the year to pray about and plan for the next year. Say, “If we’re going to take this church where it needs to go next year, what are the top two or three goals we need to have?” Don’t be afraid to ask for help. I always depend on that. — Ron Edmondson The post Creating Faith Goals for Your Church appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 736 “Pastor Dads” face tremendous challenges in raising children. Clint Clifton talks with Bryan Loritts and Bobby Jamieson about how to navigate the complexities. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Unique challenges Pastor Dads face What Pastor Dads sometimes get wrong The twin dangers of overcorrection  How Pastor Dads can have a positive impact on their children’s relationship with the Lord What to do when your children feel like they live in a fishbowl Helpful Resources: Bobby Jamieson’s book: The Path to Being a Pastor Bryan Loritt’s book: The Dad Difference Eugene Peterson biography: A Burning in My Bones Watch this tribute video about Clint Honor Clint by donating to the Clint Clifton Global Church Planting Fund Download your free copy of his book, Church Planting Thresholds Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Pastoring and being a dad overlap so much. The kind of issues you’re wrestling with dealing with messy stuff in people’s lives, you come home to somewhat similar messes. There is a sort of uncanny parallel. – Bobby Jamieson When I was aspiring for pastoral ministry, my biggest apprehension was the effect I’d seen pastoral ministry have on the children of pastors. I felt I was, by going into ministry, making the choice to give my kids a really rough upbringing. – Clint Clifton There can be great benefits and blessings to having your kids get front-row seats to what the Lord is doing in people’s lives, to just grow up immersed in the work of ministry. – Bobby Jamieson It’s important to embrace the tension. We want our kids to know they are definitely a priority in our lives, but we have to be careful of the idolatry of children. – Bryan Loritts I find myself often telling planters not to sacrifice their ministries on the altar of family. It’s possible to create an environment where our kids are the center of our universe. – Clint Clifton More than my dad’s sin, I remember his apologies. There’s no shame in apologizing to a middle schooler. – Bryan Loritts As a dad, I must put gospel distance between who I am and my kids’ behavior. If I look at my kids as a reflection of me, that’s going to lead to some very dark places. I am not my kid’s behavior and the freedom that comes with that is huge. – Bobby Jamieson The post Pastor Dad: Pastoral Ministry and Fatherhood appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 735 Most, if not all, church planters struggle with feeling inferior. Ed Stetzer, Scotty Smith and Adam Muhtaseb explain how to fight feelings of inferiority. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The danger of the Imposter Syndrome How common feelings of insecurity are among ministry leaders How to lead in a way that is both confident and humble  How leading from place of weakness can actually maximize growth What it truly means to “treasure the gospel” Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): We all live with Imposter Syndrome. As a church planter, most people would find me bold and brash, but I struggled with feelings of inferiority for the entire journey. @EdStetzer People would rather follow someone who’s real than somebody who’s always Superman. They’d rather you admit your weakness, point to Jesus and show His strength. @Adam_Muhtaseb Don’t be ashamed of your weakness. Learn what it means to lead as a jar of clay with the aroma of grace coming out. @Scotty Smith Lots of stories in Scripture are of those who felt inadequate for the task God had called them to do. @EdStetzer The very concept of inferiority presupposes comparison. I feel inferior compared to what? Comparison-ism destroys community. @Scotty Smith People see either your strength or Jesus’ strength. Let’s let our people see Jesus’ ‘ strength through our weakness. @Adam_Muhtaseb You know what’s better than the hardship of ministry? The beauty and faithfulness of the Lord. Learn every day to rely upon the God who raises the dead. @Scotty Smith The post Fighting Feelings of Inferiority appeared first on New Churches.