New Churches Podcast

Episode 661: When the Lord casts a vision of planting a network of multiplying churches, the planter finds himself sorting through all sorts of unexpected developments. Host Clint Clifton discusses some of the unique aspects of building a church planting “family” with Colby Garman, teaching ministries elder at Pillar Church in Dumfries, Virginia, and Keith Wieser, who leads Resonate Church in Pullman, Washington, and the Resonate collegiate church planting network. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Some of the challenges of creating continuity among network churches, while still allowing them to express their uniqueness The trick of changing the scale of disciple-making to actually creating church planters Ideas for structuring the network organization and making decisions as a group The degree to which network churches should reflect franchise branding The challenge of dealing with the subtraction aspect of multiplication The importance of changing your mindset from linear to non-linear growth 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): A lot of our motivation to keep the churches connected was we wanted people to have some continuity of experience in a military lifestyle where they experienced very low continuity. @ColbyGarman Our process was going back and saying, “How do we get to having someone go out and plant the church?” and trying to reverse engineer that. @KeithWieser How do you create something where the process of building disciples, you just change the scale to create a church planter? @KeithWieser Our goal from the beginning was a network of generations of disciples. So they are connected to that individual who discipled them. Their planting church is really connected through that discipleship chain. @KeithWieser From the beginning, we we decided we were just naturally organic. We wanted the commonality to be created by being trained within our churches. @ColbyGarman The relationships are the glue that holds our network together. The reason we want to keep in this network is because we love one another. @ClintJClifton The way we gather and discipleship-oriented structures are very similar. There are some things that are non-negotiables. @KeithWieser We want to help military families feel like they’re walking into the same family, like going to a cousin’s house. You’re in the same family but there’s a lot of differences. @ColbyGarman One of the most challenging things for us is being able to say what is the actual process versus the product and are we unified around the product? @KeithWieser I went to a project and it wasn’t the way I would do it. Someone discovered something so much better and I’ve got to figure out how to help them to see the end and not do it like I would do it. @KeithWieser Do I pursue you the path to multiplication or do I pursue the path to growth? @ClintJClifton Multiplication looks like subtraction at the very beginning, and that’s the hard thing to be able to help people press through. @KeithWieser The math doesn’t lie, and this is the math Jesus used from the very beginning. @KeithWieser If you keep leaders to yourself, they sort of spoil. Whereas if you send them away, they prosper. God develops them in an incredible way that He wouldn’t have if they just stayed as a leader all the time. @ClintJClifton There’s moments where you’re not even sure if this is going to work out, and then you see them get put into that crucible and that crucible does more for them than I could have ever done. @KeithWieser The post Building A Church Planting Family appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 660: Pastors and church planters feel the pinch of not having enough time. Host Clint Clifton discusses the value of – and techniques for – organizing your week with Todd Adkins, director of leadership development at LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, and Jessica Thompson, director of operations for the New City church planting network. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The difference between delegation and leadership development Why it’s important to set aside less time for doing and more for developing The value of bringing alongside ministry partners who excel in areas where you’re weak How task prioritization may  be more important than time management What the stickiness of your plant depends on How prioritizing tasks is like a game of Whac-A-Mole Helpful Resources: Free podcasts: Building a Team from Scratch Discovering Pastoral Potential Multiplying Church Leaders Free ebook: Building Your Core Team 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): This is a subject that touches everybody but pastors and church planters particularly are feeling the pinch of not enough time. @ClintJClifton It’s getting harder and harder for pastors of new churches to have enough money to take care of their family, meet their obligations and survive in the cities God’s called them to reach. @ClintJClifton  Virtually every pastor I know who’s working in an urban context has some sort of other means of of income. The the days of studying your sermon for 35 or 40 hours are long gone. @ClintJClifton Americans have been very very affluent, which means churches have been able to buy leaders instead of building leaders. @ToddAdkins You have a wonderful opportunity as a church plant to start from scratch. But whatever you add, you must be able to staff well, either with paid staff, volunteers or leaders. @ToddAdkins You have to become not a master doer and not a master delegator. It is about leadership development, about developing people. @ToddAdkins Delegation is a lie. That is not leadership. Development is a higher form. It’s not just choosing the person and the position and practicing leadership placement. @ToddAdkins You’re probably spending way too much time doing versus developing. The most practical thing you can do is set aside less time for doing and more time for developing. @ToddAdkins It’s difficult because church planters are required to be so many things. They have to develop people. They have to teach. They have to lead. They have to be administrative and organized. To ask all that from just one person is hard. – Jessica Thompson You need to know what God has called you to and where you are gifted and ask who you can bring alongside who excels in the areas where you’re weak. – Jessica Thompson You need to be disciplined enough to know what you have time for. What five things do I need to accomplish this week?Don’t let other people’s needs and demands move you from what you feel God has on your plate to do this week. – Jessica Thompson It comes down not so much to time management but really prioritization. @ClintJClifton What are the things that only you can do? That’s the category where you need to be doing and developing. @ClintJClifton For a church planter who hasn’t launched yet, the absolute most important thing you can be doing is developing people. When you hit the launch phase, you’re going to need all those people, and the stickiness of your plant depends on the people, not the programming. @ToddAdkins Build your team with people who are willing to step out in faith and cast your vision, being able to communicate clearly what God has called your church to do, because that’s going to draw people to the Lord. – Jessica Thompson Church planting feels a lot like Whac-A-Mole. There’s a lot of things going on on a lot of different fronts and you can get into this pattern of frenzy and feverishness. The truth is, if I’m trying to hit every head that pops up, I’m going to miss some important ones. @ClintJClifton When you’re starting a new church, you don’t realize how your involvement in something prohibits other people from jumping into that.If I’m doing something poorly or halfway, I indicate to somebody else that they’re not welcome in that space to make it great. @ClintJClifton Sometimes the really important things feel very overwhelming and you put them off. My encouragement is to try to do first that thing you don’t want to do or that feels hard or heavy. Do it early in the week. Do it soon. – Jessica Thompson There is a sense in which, when you’re first starting a church, you can’t avoid being the generalist. But as time progresses, you can move to being really focused on the things you’re most gifted to do. @ClintJClifton The post Organizing Your Week appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 659: Choosing a church name is like picking an outfit you’re going to wear for the rest of your life. Host Clint Clifton discusses the pro and con arguments for six categories of church names with Todd Adkins, director of leadership development at LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, and Jessica Thompson, director of operations for the New City church planting network. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Six categories of names for new churches Pro and con arguments for each category Advice about gauging your target audience’s reaction to a proposed name Helpful Resources: Free ebook: 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): You should probably go wherever you’re going to plant the church and talk to a couple of people, introduce the name to them and see what they think. What you think is awesome, they may have some reason why it’s not. @ToddAdkins People try to be so creative in coming up with the church name and often the names are just too creative. So we try to encourage balance between uniqueness and clarity. – Jessica Thompson Before you get too far down the line, find out whether your web domain is available. @ToddAdkins The name of the church is going to determine if somebody is likely to visit, based on the impression they get from the name. @ClintJClifton If it is a fairly common name for a church, you need to check to see if there’s already a church there with that name. @ClintJClifton Church plants move around so much these days and most don’t settle in the place where they get started. @ClintJClifton Being too specific in terms of a Scripture verse could limit non-Christians understanding it. – Jessica Thompson You can Google it and what comes up in your search is pivotal. – Jessica Thompson I like telling a story with your name and using a descriptive word. – Jessica Thompson A denominational name is safe, but you also limit yourself. Know your audience and what you’re looking for. – Jessica Thompson I don’t want to confuse the name of the church with something that is going to be announced on the radio as “This Sunday at the Carson Fairgrounds.” I don’t know whether it’s going to be Bigfoot and Gravedigger or a solid worship experience and fun for your children. @ToddAdkins I’d probably choose something kind of classic, like some nice blue jeans that can fit in multiple contexts and I’m going to feel comfortable in. @ClintJClifton The post Naming Your New Church appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 658: Each individual planter and every church context has a unique set of limitations and constraints. Host Clint Clifton discusses how those limitations can become strengths with Jessica Thompson, director of operations for the New City church planting network, and Colby Garman, teaching pastor at Pillar Church in Dumfries, Virginia. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Each individual and every church context has a unique set of limitations and constraints How God sovereignly uses those limitations to help us realize He is God and we are not That individuals experience both categories and seasons of limitations Why your limitations can be the very thing God uses to use you in a really significant way How transience in the military community turned out to be a “cheat code” for Pillar Church and the Praetorian Project The importance of finding joy in weakness and limitation That a limitation also often has a strength associated with it The values in “only being a small church” with limited financial resources Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Article: 3 Great Side Hustles for Church Planters Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): All of us are limited in significant ways that sometimes we’re aware of, sometimes we’re not. Every church context also has a set of limitations and constraints that make it unique. @ColbyGarman Limitations are part of what God has sovereignly placed in us, put us in, as a way of realizing he is God and we’re not. @ColbyGarman Perspective changes everything. Your limitations might be the very thing God uses to incredibly use you in a really significant way. @ClintJClifton Your perspective on limitation is how you view it and what you tell yourself is possible. Challenge yourself to not see your limitations as weaknesses, but as an opportunity for God to be magnified. – Jessica Thompson The Scripture teaches us that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. God actually is going to use our limitations more than He’s going to use our strength and our competency. @ClintJClifton Our church and the Praetorian Project embraced the transience of the military community and saw movement as the method God is using to get people ready. It’s a lot easier to redirect a moving vehicle, than to jumpstart one. @ColbyGarman Imagine trying to convince people in your church to move to another city to start a new church. What we did was put them in a spot where they were already going. The whole limitation just went away and became an advantage. @ColbyGarman It has everything to do with looking at the situation differently than everyone else is. @ClintJClifton I have a very lopsided gifting. I’m a one-trick pony: My trick is entrepreneurship or starting things. It wasn’t until I actually started to embrace that part of myself that I was able to make sense of what I am and how God made me and what I’m supposed to do with my life. @ClintJClifton Clint described me as seasonal. I get on a campaign and I do a lot, then my energy is drained and I have to just wait for it to come back. @ColbyGarman As a kid, I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I learned through taking StrengthsFinder that one of my top strengths is adaptability. I always felt weak in being able to have goals and dreams and thoughts. The other side of it makes me adaptable and able to go with change well. – Jessica Thompson The size of church plants can seem to come up as a limitation. But there’s many things you can do at a small church that you can’t at a megachurch. – Jessica Thompson In a smaller church, if you want to just go, “I want to work substantively to think about discipleship one to one or two to two,” you can go do that. To change that in a large church, it’s disruptive. The larger church gets, the more disruptive your change gets. @ColbyGarman Twenty years ago, when we got in ministry, everybody was making things bigger and bigger. We were imitating the megachurch. When I’m with megachurch pastors, they’re talking about how to get smaller, not how to get bigger. @ClintJClifton One other limiting factor is finances. Perhaps you’re in a community where there’s a lot of economic difficulties, or perhaps you’re just a broke church planter and and your ministry doesn’t have two pennies to rub together. That can be an advantage. @ClintJClifton Jefferson Hernandez in Loudoun County, Virginia, found a way to make his side hustle missiologically advantageous. @ClintJClifton It ends up inspiring other people, which becomes an advantage. Other people look at it and go, “Well, what’s my excuse? I don’t have an excuse. Look at Jefferson.” @ColbyGarman In our early days, it pushed us to do things in a way that was reproducible. Substantive church is not that expensive. Reproducibility happens when we realize we don’t need resources, we need to develop people. @ColbyGarman The post Leveraging Your Limitations appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 657: As pastoral work has in recent years grown more difficult, sabbaticals seem to be a growing trend. Host Clint Clifton discusses the need for, value of and different approaches to sabbaticals with Jessica Thompson, director of operations for the New City church planting network, and Colby Garman, teaching pastor at Pillar Church in Dumfries, Virginia. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Different reasons for needing to take a sabbatical Various goals for and approaches to engaging in a sabbatical How a sabbatical changes a pastor’s perspective upon returning to ministry The role sabbatical plays in modeling healthy rest for a congregation Ways taking a sabbatical can help other staff members Helpful Resources: Podcast: Symptoms of burnout 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): It feels like sabbaticals are a growing trend. To me, it seems to correspond with the growing difficulty of pastoral work, the rate in which people are falling out of pastoral work. @ClintJClifton For whatever reason, a lot of people are looking around at pastors, pastoral ministry, and going, “There’s a lot of wreckage, and are there any ways we can somehow stem the tide of that wreckage?” @Colby Garman I think, society, as a whole, is placing more emphasis on mental health. How are you doing emotionally, mentally? And recognizing that is important. – Jessica Thompson Maybe a generation or two before us, or maybe even me, earlier in my pastoral ministry career, viewed things pretty two-dimensionally. Now, I think I recognize there’s a lot more to people than meets the eye. @ClintJClifton There’s been a lot of criticism for how millennials think about work. We grow up with a mindset that we’re laborers almost first and foremost. What can we accomplish, and what can we get out? Some people are looking around, going, “I don’t think that’s having great results.” @Colby Garman Everybody does sabbaticals differently. A lot of times Sabbaticals result from signs of burnout. Some are policy driven. In our case, we thought, “This is a way to be a blessing, something proactive that we think might rejuvenate him and his family.” @ClintJClifton I think there’s a reluctance on a pastor’s part to take sabbaticals. They think, “Well, I shouldn’t need it. Burning out for Jesus. Who’s got time for a sabbatical?” Then, if they took it, they didn’t feel like they were truly gone. – Jessica Thompson One of the things I learned was that I was more tired than I thought I was. It took some time to recognize that. @Colby Garman Some things can’t be renewed without taking time to think about them, to process them. The space and time for reflection helped me look at some things I wanted to strengthen that I didn’t even realize I needed to. @Colby Garman Often, when I’m thinking about somebody going away on sabbatical, I’m thinking, “There’s a good chance they’re going to come back with a fresh perspective, or a fresh energy, for the work that’s going to be really beneficial to the organization long-term.” @ClintJClifton I’ve seen people come back with a fresh perspective. It’s also a great time for a reset. It gave a chance to not fall back into the same patterns you had before. – Jessica Thompson It’s a complicated thing, coming back, because that time, whatever shaping takes place, it’s going on outside the system. I’m thinking, “What should be different?” That means some shifting. @Colby Garman We also see that some people just don’t come back. They might for a short amount of time, but they realize they don’t want to go back and do what they did before. It has a lot to do with where somebody’s at when they go on sabbatical. @Colby Garman When a sabbatical is needed, one of the signs you will see is a general sense of apathy or irritability. Everything is frustrating. You’re not really a joy to be around. – Jessica Thompson I’ve seen pastors who have a sense of guilt in leaving to take their Sabbatical. “I get this break, and the people doing ministry and church work around me don’t.” – Jessica Thompson The burden of leadership and exercising your gifts and responsibilities wears you out. @Colby Garman I heard Sean Sears say one time, “The best way to get refreshed is to get really tired doing something else.” @ClintJClifton If you are weary before a sabbatical, there’s a thought that the sabbatical’s going to fix that. Some people don’t need a sabbatical. They need to learn how to have good rest rhythms in the flow of life and time. @Colby Garman In saying, “I need it,” you are modeling, for your congregation and your leaders, how important rest is. – Jessica Thompson It’s an act of rebellion for us to think things always depend on us and to work ourselves into the ground. That level of hard work doesn’t serve our congregations. @Colby Garman If you’re considering asking for a sabbatical, you should commit to pray consistently for that before you ever broach the subject with a leader in your church. There’s a lot of landmines around that. @ClintJClifton I would encourage you to be in close enough community with some other leaders in your church that they recognize those things about you early on. @ClintJClifton The post Sabbaticals for Church Planting Pastors appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 656: With most churches now starting with multiple-pastor, multiple-elders models, a de-emphasis on the role of deacons has occurred. Host Clint Clifton interviews Matt Smethurst, author of Deacons: How They Serve and Strengthen the Church, about the value of deacons and dangers to be considered when implementing the diaconate in a church plant. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: What church planters should know from church history about deacons How churches often wrongly inflate or reduce the role of deacons How a church planter should prioritize establishing a diaconate What dangers a planter should consider when looking for qualified deacons Matt’s advice for church planters on women serving as deacons The most overlooked responsibility of a deacon Helpful Resources: Matt’s book: Deacons: How They Serve and Strengthen the Church Mark Dever’s book: A Display of God’s Glory 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): Most churches now are starting with multiple pastors, multiple elders, and in all of that ecclesiological shifting, as good as it is, there has been this de-emphasis on deaconing and on the role of deacons in church plants. @ClintJClifton Deacons were a bold and bright witness to the gospel among the earliest Christians. That’s been detailed by secular historians and it’s really stirring to read some of those stories. @MattSmethurst As the church began to become more hierarchical, the role of deacon shifted from being practical carers for the poor to being almost secretaries to the bishop. It was in the Reformation that the diaconate was restored to more of its biblical office. @MattSmethurst The main thing I’d want a church planter to understand just from the history of deacons is that they’re very easy to get wrong. @MattSmethurst There are a lot of ways to get deacons wrong, but they can be summarized in two ditches. One is to wrongly elevate the role of deacon to that of a de facto elder. On the other hand, sometimes the role of deacon is wrongly reduced to that of a glorified janitor. @MattSmethurst I always thought it’s fascinating that the role that’s designated for service in the Bible has so many spiritual qualifications associated with it. The world says that kind of job is reserved for the person who doesn’t necessarily possess any qualities like that. @ClintJClifton The reason, church planter, you should consider implementing deacons in your church is not just because it has some practical use. It’s because God is wiser than we are. @MattSmethurst It’s one of those things that, once you see it, it’s hard to unsee. @MattSmethurst The reason you should care about deacons is because the Bible does. Yes, it’s it’s useful, but it’s not true because it’s useful. It’s useful because it’s true. @MattSmethurst I don’t think there’s a hard and fast timeline a planter has to operate according to when it comes to when he implements deacons. @MattSmethurst You can have a church without elders but you can’t biblically have a church without members. We wanted to get elders in place and then, as needs arise, create diaconal positions that would help facilitate and accelerate the ministry of the Word. @MattSmethurst There’s so much confusion for church planters around “When’s the right time to bring this in?” I try to lay out a suggested path: It starts with settling the doctrine, the church covenant, membership, eldership, diaconate. @ClintJClifton As a complementarian, if you are in a church where deacons are functioning like elders, then you shouldn’t install women into the office. You first need to figure out what it means to be a deacon and what it means to be an elder. @MattSmethurst A church impoverishes itself if it forbids what the Bible allows. @MattSmethurst If you ever have someone say, “Well, women deacons, that’s a liberal move.” Well, say that to Charles Spurgeon and John Calvin and Tertullian. It’s not a product of our modern American gender debates. @MattSmethurst In the Bible, we have a 1 Timothy 2:12, which forbids the office of elder to women, but we don’t have a 1 Timothy equivalent for the office of deacon. @MattSmethurst When it The hardest situations with deacons are not in a church planting context. It’s in a more revitalization context, where a guy is inheriting a situation where deacons run the place and they’ve been misunderstood and misdeployed for years. @MattSmethurst Deacons have in our lifetimes never been as needed or as useful, because pastors are beleaguered. This is why the diaconate exists: to make your life easier, not harder. @MattSmethurst A Mark Dever book called “A Display of God’s Glory” describes deacons as mufflers and shock absorbers. They’re given to the church to be a balm, to bring about peace and and to smooth the way so the ministry of the Word in prayer can prevail. @ClintJClifton If you have someone in your church who loves to push the drama button, that person is not yet ready to be a deacon. A deacon should be the person where conflict and gossip go to die. @MattSmethurst The post The Forgotten Office: Deacons appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 655: The “Zero Year” is the time of preparation that leads up to the church plant. Host Clint Clifton interviews Matt Smethurst, planter of a brand-new church in Richmond, Virginia, about the various “Zero Year” factors that moved him into position to start his plant. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How God first started to “mess with” Matt about planting a church in RIchmond The way intentionally planting during the pandemic affected Matt’s decision-making process and the timing of the plant What training, materials and resources he found helpful Two things that most prepared Matt to be a church planter Helpful Resources: Tim Keller essay: Why Plant Churches? Keller book: Center Church 9 Marks church planting resources Ed Stetzer book: Planting Missional Churches Tom Bernardo book: The Honest Guide to Church Planting Free ebook: Church Planting Thresholds Free course: Developing a Core Team 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 “Zero Year” is a time of preparation that leads up to the church plant. Sometimes this is spent in a church planting residency. Sometimes it’s focused on fundraising. And sometimes it’s just it’s all the logistical stuff. It’s just simply moving to the place that you’re going to plant a church. @ClintJClifton When I started looking at some of the demographic trends, it became clear that Richmond is growing at twice the rate of both the state of Virginia and the nation as a whole. Just that population growth and the gospel need gave us just a real heart for the place. @MattSmethurst One mistake church planters sometimes make is to use data alone to make the decision about where they will go. But I think there is a part of church planting that, especially because you’re going to settle into a place for a really long time, it’s got to be a place you really want to be. @ClintJClifton Two-thirds of our people are not coming from other Richmond churches. They have moved to Richmond within the past two years, and that means they haven’t really been able to put down deep roots in a community, in a church. In that regard, the timing of this church plant is is really ideal. @MattSmethurst In my mind – and I think this is true theologically and biblically – I feel like I’m going from the supply line to the frontline in the kingdom of God. Organizations like TGC are at their best when they don’t understand themselves to be the tip of the spear in terms of kingdom advance, but understand themselves to be equipping and resourcing those who are at you know on the front lines. @MattSmethurst I’m 38 and not 28, and I think it has helped me come into this knowing who I am and also who I’m not, and therefore what my church is going to be like and what it’s not. I’m I’m not under the impression that I or River City Baptist Church can be all things to all people. @MattSmethurst At the end of the day, ministry is about shepherding. @MattSmethurst It’s actually arrogant to assume you don’t need training. Anointing yourself to just go plant a church in a vacuum is a little bit like baptizing yourself. @MattSmethurst If you’re a Type A, Alpha Male entrepreneur with an idea a minute and you can carry a crowd, that does not qualify you to plant a church. Do you love God’s people? Are you a shepherd? Do you want to feed them with the word of God and not just the ideas of man? @MattSmethurst I’m a perfectionist, an optimizer. I’m always wanting to tinker and tweak and improve. But one of my fellow elders keeps reminding me that we need to play the 30-year game. We don’t have to have this well-oiled machine hitting on all cylinders from the very first week. Apple didn’t start by releasing the iPhone 6, right? In other words, start basic and, as God provides, you can add other things. @MattSmethurst I always tell church planters, “Act your age.” Because they come out of the gate wanting to have everything. One of the byproducts of acting your age, though, is to focus on the main thing, and the most obvious main thing, the biggest feature of this new church, is going to be your Sunday morning gathering. @ClintJClifton Now there will be repercussions. People will say, “Oh, you don’t have a youth group.” You’re going to have to let people come and leave because you don’t have all the services they think are necessary, but that is better than trying to provide all those things when you’re not equipped. @ClintJClifton The post The ‘Zero Year’ appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 654: Many church planters set out to reach people with the gospel but often find their new churches full of folks from other churches. Host Ed Stetzer discusses the challenge of staying outwardly focused to reach people far from God with Heiden Ratner, senior pastor of Walk Church, and Vance Pitman, founding pastor of Hope Church, both in Las Vegas. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How to get a core team outwardly focused on reaching people who are not churched or not believers How God used Heiden’s “idolatry problem with basketball” to draw him to faith in Christ How a “divine appointment” gave Heiden an opportunity to meet a well-known UFC fighter and how they are trading text messages about faith What personal practices can help planters be more evangelistic and engaging people who don’t know Christ The best ways to help new believers grow in their faith and become fully devoted followers of Christ Helpful Free Resources: Developing a Core Team Church Planting Primer Church Planting Masterclass Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): One of the things you can do is plant a church where there aren’t that many church people. If you come to a place like Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Denver, at least 90% of the population doesn’t go to church anywhere. It’s a target-rich environment for church planting, because there’s so many unchurched people. @VancePitman It starts with a city perspective. Too many church planters have their heart wrapped around a church, but there’s nowhere in the Bible that Jesus said, “Go plant a church.” He said to go into cities and nations and make disciples. When we do that, churches are born as a byproduct. @VancePitman If our goal is not to grow a church but to penetrate the lostness of the city, as we teach and preach and disciple, we’ll keep that in front of our people. @VancePitman Here’s a very practical tip for this idea of building bridges into the city: Every city has a city manager and every city manager has a list of problems on their desk that’s their responsibility to solve. Go meet your city manager, build a relationship, find out what of those items on that list you can take off the list. @VancePitman Those relational bridges introduce you to lost people in the community, who begin to see Christ in a different way because of your compassion, your service and your love. And they’re attracted to the gospel you’re presenting. @VancePitman Planters also need to develop personal relationships. They have to think of themselves not as pastors of churches but as missionaries in cities and look for ways to build relationships and engage people with gospel conversations. @VancePitman Our team didn’t do “together stuff” early on. I told them, “Your job when you get here is to get in a neighborhood and start building relationships. Look for places to connect your kids and build relationships. I challenged them to build their relationships outside of our group so their focus wasn’t our group. @VancePitman It’s about building the relational equity that allows you to have conversations. If you’ll build a little bit of relational equity, everybody’s dying to get to know people and hear their story. That would immediately allow me to tell my story of Jesus and my life. @VancePitman The other practical thing I’ve done is to leverage my hobbies. When I was a dad of young kids, coaching was a part of my hobbies and and I leveraged that. Now I’m a foodie and so I have a restaurant ministry. I go back to the same restaurants in Las Vegas and I’ve got several people that I’ve led to Christ who were either servers or managers. @VancePitman Somebody recently asked me who I wanted to reach with our church. I just said I want to reach me as a high school young adult that was just totally unengaged, on my way to hell without knowing it. @HeidenRatner I love the Major Ian Thomas quote: “The same life Jesus lived, he lives now through us.” If we’re allowing Christ to live in and through us, he’s focused on lost people. He’s seeking. He’s saving. @HeidenRatner We need new eyes as planters. We get so focused on the work and we miss the people in the process. There’s people everywhere, people all around our city. And so I pray, “Lord, help me see who you want me to see.” @HeidenRatner We encourage people to not be home alone. Don’t be Kevin McCallister. We believe that the best way for you to grow is in the context of community. And so we love small groups at our church. It’s part of our culture where people are coming to know Christ and it feels weird if they’re not in a group. @HeidenRatner That’s been huge for new believers in our church to be a part of a group, a part of a family. Discipleship has to happen in community.  @HeidenRatner Engaging adults who don’t know Christ leads to some messy challenges, but we must encourage people to still value that. @EdStetzer In churches, we wind up, if we’re not careful, with these people that come to Christ and then all of a sudden we’ve created this subculture of Christianity within our culture and we live in our own bubble. Yes, it’s messy when you when you reach people in a place like Vegas. But it’s also pure. There is a purity about the gospel from these new believers that is contagious. @VancePitman What are the most important factors in spiritual maturity for those who are new to the faith? @EdStetzer D.L. Moody once said that weekly church attendance is like blood to the person who is sick. It’s fresh. It’s moving. I just want to encourage that. @HeidenRatner For the new believer, getting in the Word until the Word gets in you. @HeidenRatner Just an authenticity to be yourself, not feeling like you have to be somebody else in their walk with Christ. Be you. Everybody’s got a unique leaning, unique wiring, and so we’re trying to help people champion the things that make you be authentically you in the body of Christ, and you’ll find your fit. @HeidenRatner The post Reaching People Far from God appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 653: Planting a church is challenging enough, but when your city is almost-completely unchurched, the task is truly daunting. Vance Pitman, founding pastor of Hope Church in Las Vegas, and Heiden Ratner, senior pastor of Walk Church in the same city, share their church-planting experiences with host Ed Stetzer. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How Vance Pitman and his wife wound up planting a church in Las Vegas Why the Pitmans were able to bring a team of 13 families with them to launch the church The importance of helping a relocating team to think like missionaries, not like church members How Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God tool helped launch Hope Church What’s going on missiologically in Las Vegas Why many church planters abandon their plans for multiplication Some initial steps to start building a culture of multiplication in your church Helpful Resources: Article: 10 Signs a Church Leader Will Multiply Article: Why Your Ministry Needs to Multiply 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): You shouldn’t be out there planting without the support of a network. Let me encourage you to visit sendnetwork.com to learn about the benefits of cooperating along with a family of multiplying leaders all over North America. @EdStetzer Where I’m from, people didn’t go to Las Vegas and, if they did, they didn’t tell anybody. People didn’t think Las Vegas is hell, but they think you can smell it from there. @VancePitman We believe, convictionally, that churches plant churches; individuals don’t, networks don’t, denominations don’t. @VancePitman I was convinced that the best way to plant a church was in teams. Paul is the greatest missionary church planner in the New Testament, and every time you read Paul’s name in the Bible, it’s followed by another word, “and.” Paul never went anywhere by himself. @VancePitman People heard the activity of God in our story and what attracted them was the opportunity to leverage their life to join in the activity of God in a place where they could use their job skill and passion where they live work and play to live on mission. @VancePitman I wish I’d known what I know now about “detoxing” our team before getting to our city, to think not like church members but like missionaries. @VancePitman People often don’t realize that when you bring a group of people who have a common church experience into a culture that doesn’t have that, this is going to be cross-cultural in many ways for the people. @EdStetzer I knew how to pastor a church but when I got to Las Vegas, I didn’t have one and so it was purely desperation. We had basic training. It was one day of training, and assessment was where they checked my pulse to see if I was alive. @VancePitman When I got to Las Vegas, there was no Hope Church there planting churches I could partner with. We were starting literally with nothing, but the beauty of that is it produced a desperation. @VancePitman We spent the first five months simply prayer-walking 50,000 households. We had three different churches pray over every name in the Las Vegas phone book. We started going back into those communities where we prayed and doing acts of service. @VancePitman We began to make disciples. I think one huge mistake many church planters make is they launch too early, thinking the service is going to draw the disciples, when you need to make disciples and churches are born as a byproduct. @VancePitman I challenge pastors all the time that if your church doesn’t look like your community, there’s a missiological issue with how you’re taking the gospel to the city. @VancePitman When you get into a context that is multi-ethnic, you’re just part of the diversity. I just finished an interim in New York City. Nobody there is a local; everyone’s from somewhere else. It’s a wonderful opportunity. @EdStetzer A lot of times we hear Las Vegas is “the city of sin,” but we like to say it’s “the city of Him.” God is at work in Las Vegas in some very real, tangible, fresh ways. @HeidenRatner I think a lot of people are deterred by one street – Las Vegas Boulevard, and sin is definitely most glorified on this one street. But outside of Las Vegas Boulevard, this is a really big city: 2.6 million people, and 92% are unchurched. @HeidenRatner I find a lot of people are waiting for an invite, waiting for somebody to have something compelling. Invite me to something. Give me an opportunity to know this Jesus. @HeidenRatner Evangelism is key. I’ve sensed there’s really a hunger for something more. A lot of people are settling. Just give me something better. That’s one of the reasons why church planting in our city should be high on our priority list. @HeidenRatner It does seem that, as the modern experiment is failing, people around the world are realizing that we’re not on a sustainable path. There’s just a brokenness all around and it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to point people to Jesus. @EdStetzer Hope Church is the first church I was able to see multiplication modeled. As for Walk Church, it’s in our DNA. We are a church that was sent out by a sending church, hearing multiplication not just preached but lived out. @HeidenRatner What we knew was if we’re going to plant a church, we’ve got to plan another church. We started by saying OK in our budget. We started putting prayer toward it from the very beginning. @HeidenRatner There’s a kingdom collaboration emphasis in our city. If 92% are not going to church, there’s a whole lot of people to reach. So we’re championing each other, even across denominational lines. @HeidenRatner We’re trying to say, “Hey, let’s win the city and the way we’re going to do that is through planting new, vibrant, evangelistic churches.” @HeidenRatner I think many planters substitute the tool for the goal. The goal is not churches being planted; the goal is the kingdom of God being expanded in cities and nations all over the earth. @VancePitman The local church is a temporary tool established by Jesus for the expansion of His kingdom. Every church Paul planted is dead and gone, but the kingdom is alive and well. @VancePitman If we’re really going to penetrate lostness in the city, one church cannot do that by itself. But as we multiply the church, we can genuinely see the kingdom. @VancePitman Call out the called. Somebody may not know they could do this and a word of affirmation from a key leader could spur them to think about planting. Not enough people are thinking about it. @HeidenRatner The post Church Multiplication in ‘Sin City’ appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 652: What should a church planter do who’s at the soul level of tired? Host Ed Stetzer discusses the symptoms of ministry burnout with Jessica Thompson, director of operations for the New City church planting network, and James Hobson, lead pastor of Hill City Community Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Five symptoms of burnout and how they manifest themselves in ministry settings Two kinds of exhaustion Three different types of friends needed for healthy ministry How burnout manifests itself in a planter or his team’s life Why pastors need to be in tune the connection between spiritual and physical health Helpful Resources: Chris Ash’s book, Zeal without Burnout Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird’s book, Viral Churches Book: The Body Keeps the Score 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): I’ve walked through seasons of burnout. Actually, at one point during Covid, I had to step away for a couple of days and regroup. @EdStetzer Warren Bird says, “We must not allow ourselves to slip into a false spirituality that treats our bodily existence as if it can be separated from our so-called spiritual life, as if our spiritual life carries on independently from what’s happening in our bodies.” @EdStetzer There’s a lot of bodies on the side of the road to church planting that burned out and didn’t recover, didn’t make it through the long haul. @EdStetzer The reality is it’s challenging as a church planter. You need to be able to notice when you’re feeling burned out and have nowhere to go for encouragement or fulfillment or sustainability. @EdStetzer When my friend Darren Patrick died, that was just too much for me. I wept for a day and into a second day. I realized I had pushed too far for too long and went to my doctor. We made some lifestyle changes. @EdStetzer There’s the kind of tired that sleep can’t fix, and that’s where I was – a tiredness of the soul. @EdStetzer Ideally, the best thing to do is to set up some strategies to maybe not quite get to burnout. Prevention would be great, but we’re all going to go through seasons of ministry that are just all-encompassing. – Jessica Thompson It’s going to take a reset if you’re to that point where you’re just exhausted. It’s going to take sleep – actual sleep – and rest. – Jessica Thompson Only you can know what revives you, those things your spirit feels revived in. It’s going to be intentionally resetting your life and adjusting the parameters that got you to that spot. – Jessica Thompson We had no choice over Covid; it just smacked all of us. But what got to me more was the murder of George Floyd. There were moments I would weep uncontrollably. I’m so tired I can’t even go to sleep. It was the good news of the gospel of Jesus that kept my sanity in that moment. – James Hobson Let’s do some preventive things, but sometimes burnout just slaps us in the face. If it wasn’t for my faith – a deep-rooted sense that it’s not my works for Jesus but Jesus works for me – I don’t know if I would have been kept. It was hard to stay together in that time. – James Hobson Ultimately, it’s key for all of us to find out what self-awareness looks like. @EdStetzer Church planting has always been a very social role. It’s always required a lot of us externally. Often the first symptom of ministry burnout is a loss of desire to be with people. – Jessica Thompson If someone on the church planting team is rushing to his or her car to get away, that desire to be isolated is part of just being tired of people. When that becomes a reality, when there’s a growing resentment toward other people and desire to get away from them, that’s a cause for for concern. @EdStetzer My 9-to-5 job is me being an extrovert, and I became an introvert but didn’t realize it. So, for me, all my relational energy is done so I’m going home. However, my wife who stays at home – we just had a baby – is like, “Hey, I’m I’m ready for us to go out.” And now I’m in the doghouse! – James Hobson The only thing that sustains you in ministry is sustainable sacrifice. Burnout isn’t always all bad, but it needs to be the difference between a godly sacrifice that requires burnout and sacrifice that’s sustainable over time. – Jessica Thompson One of my elders at a church plant said, “You know, it seems you’re on edge a lot.” He could speak into my life. So irritability can be a sign of burnout and, in general, that can hinder your spiritual growth. @EdStetzer Out of these five symptoms, irritability is the one that almost causes the most external damage. A lot of these other symptoms are happening internally, but irritability is one that real quickly manifests itself in the life of the people around you. – Jessica Thompson Irritability can taint your ministry really quickly. – Jessica Thompson Growing up, I never heard the term “burnout.” I didn’t know what it was until I am lying in bed and just can’t move, and we’ve got service tonight and I’m really stressing out because I’m not there. – James Hobson When I look back at that earlier church plant, I wish my lead planter or supervisor would have seen irritability in me and said, “Hey, James, why don’t you take the night off? Why don’t you you take the week off?” – James Hobson When you’re on the edge of burnout, small things become big things. – James Hobson The final symptom of burnout is sickness. Do you think most pastors are in tune with the connection between their spiritual and physical health? – Jessica Thompson Send this episode to somebody and give them a hint, because this is a very real issue. @EdStetzer We know and science shows us that stress, anxiety, all these things have a physical manifestation. The body keeps count. @EdStetzer Realize your limitations and that those are God-given limitations. @EdStetzer Psalm 29:11 says “The Lord gives strength to his people. The Lord blesses his people with peace.” Many times we can easily forget that God is our strength. – James Hobson Only God can fill us. If you ever just need a reminder of why you’re doing what you’re doing for the Lord, maybe the season is difficult and you’re exhausted, I would encourage you to just read the end of Job and remember how much God can do with the little you are capable of. – Jessica Thompson It’s being reminded of your salvation and the greatness of the God who loves you. Filling yourself up with truth because the Holy Spirit can fill you right back up. – Jessica Thompson Church planning is not a “me.” It’s a “we.” @EdStetzer Sometimes it feels like it’s all dependent upon you; it’s not all dependent upon you. The Lord builds the house and they labor in vain who think otherwise. So my exhortation to you is to recognize the symptoms of burnout. @EdStetzer Burnout sounds like “It’s done. It’s out burn and out.” I would say that ultimately you can create a pace and a path forward, if you will be aware of your physical limitations, your spiritual need, your relational connectedness. @EdStetzer Take time to connect with a mentor. If you don’t have one, connect with your denominational leader or  church partner. Know that our newchurches.com resources are here to help you finish the long journey. We need you for the long haul. @EdStetzer The post Symptoms of Burnout appeared first on New Churches.