New Churches Podcast

Episode 651: Planting a church inevitably creates enormous pressures on the planter’s family. Host Ed Stetzer discusses guardrails against those stresses 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: Guardrails that can make church planting a thriving time for planter families Four major considerations for a family when planting a church How a planter can find a healthier relationship with his wife Warning signs of problems that might be brewing 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 time and effort is devoted to getting a church plant up off the ground. It requires a lot of the planter, as well as their family. Sometimes they lean too heavily on the family to fill in gaps where there aren’t staff and volunteers and leaders to help. – Jessica Thompson Any prospective planter out there. You’re in a church right now. You’re about to finish seminary. I mean this with great seriousness: Don’t plant. Do something else. You want to be a teaching pastor? Just be a teaching pastor. – James Hobson You want to test your marriage? Plant a church. – James Hobson When people are coming to your church plant, they’re wanting to see an established church. If you want to plant a church, I pray you and your wife have counted the cost. – James Hobson I don’t want to raise up or send out any church planters who haven’t fully counted the cost of what it’s gonna take. – James Hobson When we go through assessments of church planters, not only are we evaluating the planter, but is the wife ready? Is the family engaged and knows what it’s going to take? Because it’s going to be a sacrifice for everybody. – Jessica Thompson The spouse has to be on board. That is a key reality, because there is a price to be paid. @EdStetzer One of the things Clint Clifton says all of the time to our planters is, “Stop trying to balance family and ministry. There’s always one that’s out of balance.” Instead of balance, try to blend. How can we find ways to normalize doing ministry with family? – Jessica Thompson Two things: The planter’s wife doesn’t have to be friends with everybody in the church. And she is not the co-pastor of the church. @EdStetzer I love when I see a husband and wife functioning and both equally engaged, but don’t impose upon your spouse the expectation you saw someone else’s spouse at some other church plant do. @EdStetzer I wasn’t emotionally healthy enough to really be honest with my wife about what I did expect of her. I see a great vision statement for your church. What’s the vision statement for your family? I see the next 10 years for our church. What’s the next 10 years for our kids? – James Hobson Set aside time. Carve out times where you’re focused on family. Be intentional about not letting them get deleted from your calendar. – Jessica Thompson All of us thrive better under structure, so it might mean making some dinner reservations a couple of weeks out. It may mean signing up to be your kid’s Little League coach so you have to leave work at 5 and go hang out with him. – Jessica Thompson Institute some things in your life that are going to draw you away from work toward your family. That is just as important as the vision casting and the leadership you’re implementing in your church. – Jessica Thompson Counseling is not a bad word. I feel like the world is better at this than us. – James Hobson Counseling is essentially somebody who has a doctorate in everything you’re going through, and they’re gonna give you solid gold – and we’re like, “Nah, I’ll pray about it.” – James Hobson If you haven’t made any deposits in your marriage, when you go to withdraw and you’ve got nothing in the account, you’re gonna crumble. – James Hobson We had what we called a Pastoral Apprentice Team. We required them to go through counseling during that time – and we paid for it – before they went out to plant churches. @EdStetzer Added stress may reveal existing problems and could also bring new problems. We’ve got to normalize counseling. I probably sacrificed some of our relationship on the altar of ministry. @EdStetzer Create some healthy boundaries and paths. Prioritize your family as you do this church planting journey. @EdStetzer The post Loving Your Family While Planting a Church appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 650: Church leaders, at some point, will have a difficult time with a team member, which can lead to frustration, stress, anxiety or worry. Host Ed Stetzer discusses the challenges of leading difficult team members with Adam Muhtaseb of Redemption City Church in Baltimore and Kathy Litton, who leads NAMB’s planter spouse development team. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: What church planters need to remember as they approach conversations with difficult teammates The value of taking time to identify the strengths and weaknesses of difficult team members The role different temperaments play in understanding the challenge What to do when you put someone in a leadership position and things aren’t working well Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Church planters are not always the easiest folks to work with. By nature, we can be visionary, passionate and determined, which can create a relational strain on the core team. @EdStetzer The good news is we see this happen in Scripture – planting teams not coming together perfectly. That helps us remember we’re just a bunch of sinners working things out together.  – Kathy Litton Before Jesus sent out the Twelve, he told them to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Juxtaposing those two concepts strikes us as leaders that we need to walk in grace and truth when we’re leading difficult people.  – Kathy Litton We are the Church of the Living God, and we want a team to be doing the right things. They don’t need all grace and no truth. A leader who’s giving more grace than truth doesn’t deal with issues along the way. – Kathy Litton We all come at it from a different personality type. We must make sure we’re leading well, in ways that people can receive it. @EdStetzer We have to consistently be consistent in speaking the truth in love. We also should always be looking for a redemptive outcome. – Kathy Litton I tend to have bold faith that’s like “Let’s let’s tackle this issue on our team right away.” But I’ve found that’s not always the best approach and sometimes you need to give people time. @Adam_Muhtaseb Planters overestimate what they can accomplish in two years and underestimate what can be accomplished in 10. @Adam_Muhtaseb If you will walk alongside people, invest in people, even when you know they have downsides, just like you have downsides, the end result is that they see you vested in them. @EdStetzer It’s a good thing people don’t all think like me, don’t act like me. And we can actually accept one another. @EdStetzer It’s not a three-month conversation to help a leader who’s got some rough edges. It takes time, which is both a gift and a necessity in church planting. @EdStetzer We don’t need clones of ourselves on on our teams. It takes some time to make those not-natural pieces fit together in a puzzle – but it’s worth it. – Kathy Litton A younger person can reverse-mentor an older person. We just need to be willing to work through and not be thin-skinned about things. – Kathy Litton I’m a challenge to lead. Like the gospel says, I’m such a challenge that the perfect Son of God had to live a perfect life and die a torturous death in my place to make me unchallenging. So I need to approach this with humility. @Adam_Muhtaseb The thing I found most challenging, especially the first four years of church planning, was uncommunicated expectations from members on my team. @Adam_Muhtaseb It can be such a challenge to lead folks who you sense are disappointed with you because you’re not able to be everything they want you to be. @Adam_Muhtaseb Part of the progression of a church plant is that people – maybe new believers – start taking on some leadership roles and you’re kind of testing them in this place and space. If it grows, great. It connects them to the church so beautifully when they grow they grow into the role. @EdStetzer Some difficult conversations don’t work and it is not uncommon that person might end up in a different church. That’s not the end of the world, but but you want to help them make that transition. @EdStetzer Usually people get that It’s not working, and I’ll phrase it as a positive: “What’s next?” rather than “The last thing didn’t work.” I say, “Listen, is there something you think might better align with your gifts or you might have interest in?” @EdStetzer The hardest part is when they think it’s going great – and it’s not. @EdStetzer There’s a movie called “We Bought a Zoo.” There’s a line in there about having 20 seconds of insane courage. If you can just muster up 20 seconds of insane courage to say, “You know, it’s just not working,” then the conversation becomes much less awkward. @EdStetzer I need to give people space. I can draw quick conclusions that aren’t always accurate, and I need to refrain from doing that. I can look back on a couple of people who turned out to be wonderful additions to a team and I had just gotten off on the wrong foot. – Kathy Litton This is a very tumultuous time relationally for people, and everyone’s on edge, unsure, maybe struggling. Take the time to acknowledge that people are in a relationally more difficult space than they were just two or three years ago. We might need a little more grace than truth. @EdStetzer Helpful Resources: 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. The post Leading and Loving Difficult Team Members appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 649: Some people think pastors shouldn’t be friends with members of the congregation. Others think that’s a horrendous statement. Host Ed Stetzer discusses the challenges of having close friendships in church with Adam Muhtaseb of Redemption City Church in Baltimore and Kathy Litton, who leads NAMB’s planter spouse development team. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Why it’s important for church planters to have life-giving friendships with their planting team Advice about forging friendships with teammates without the perception of favoritism Cautions about forming deep friendships with those serving on your team How to “guard your heart” but not close it when friends leave your church Whether to maintain a relationship when somebody leaves the church Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): When people leave who planted the church with you – and inevitably people leave – you’ve done life together and that is hard. Friendships with team and staff members is even more complex. @EdStetzer It’s imperative that leaders have friends on our team, but some of the things I’ve learned the hard way have made me more wise, more cautious, more understanding. Spiritual maturity and wisdom have a lot to do with how those friendships turn out in the end. – Kathy Litton There’s biblical precedent that the people you work with in church planting are not just your friends but your family. In John 15 Jesus says, “You’re not my servants anymore. You’re my friends.” If Jesus says that about some messed-up disciples, I probably can say that about the people I work with. @Adam_Muhtaseb The end of Romans 16 is an acknowledgement from Paul to his friends, his “beloved,” like “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus.” All these people are his friends. @Adam_Muhtaseb I don’t know how we plant churches biblically without treating the people on our team like family. That being said, however, it’s really hard. @Adam_Muhtaseb The reality is how much do you reveal? How do you kind of walk through this authenticity, which is necessary for friendship and community, when at the same time your your role is to lead? @EdStetzer We need to be vulnerable. One of my favorite definitions of vulnerability comes from Paula Reinhardt, where she says vulnerability is a risk we take for a greater good. The greater good is transparency, opening our hearts and building a closer team – just being human as a leader and opening up your heart. – Kathy Litton Some risk is inherent, because either their poor character or my poor character can at some point mess that up. As my own spiritual maturity has grown over the years, I’ve been able to have more healthy consistent friendships because I wasn’t messing them up with poor character or expecting too much from them. – Kathy Litton I need their prayers. I need their support. I don’t need them to know all the details of any issue. – Kathy Litton Having friends in the church really matters, particularly the elders and leaders. We have a deep community, but having friends in the church doesn’t mean I share the business of the church in that particular friendship. @EdStetzer It takes maturity to not share everything with everybody, but there’s also wisdom in being in community with people as well. @EdStetzer I don’t think you can make that problem completely go away. You have to have a lot of intentionality to step into their lives and keep the shared DNA of life together. – Kathy Litton As leaders we need to be very well aware of showing partiality, but we can’t make stuff come out equal all the time. – Kathy Litton We set an example of what it means to live in community, even in friendships outside the church. If we don’t have the capacity to build relationships outside our congregation, we’re probably not reaching our community very well. – Kathy Litton If our church members see us at dinner someplace with someone who owns a local business and doesn’t go to our church, that’s a good example of us working hard to to not just swim in the pool of the church family all the time. – Kathy Litton It starts with the realization that the team members aren’t my employees to build my platform. These are my families. So when I would have coaching meetings, I always start with, “How are you doing? How’s your walk with Jesus?” Just spending time with them has fostered trust and created relational capital. @Adam_Muhtaseb We also have a phrase at our church: “No one drowns at RCC.” So if anyone feels like they’re drowning, you automatically get a break. I think those types of culture things have created an environment of safety and friendship in the office. @Adam_Muhtaseb We care about each other and are for each other. I think the challenge comes, though, if you’re an effective church planter, you’re constantly pushing. It’s part of the job. So I’m not just trying to accomplish the goal, I’m also trying to love these people. @Adam_Muhtaseb Rick Warren told me once that you have to think of pastoring as pastoring a parade. People come into the parade, are there for a while, then they leave the parade. But whenever somebody left the parade that we were super close to, that was hard. @EdStetzer I can look back at and see how faithful God was to give us relationships with people who came into our lives. The ones who left didn’t diminish the value they gave us while they were there, and they helped shape us in in that time and in that season. – Kathy Litton We have a set of friends that I call our playfriends. They come over. We don’t talk about anything serious. We play cards. We watch sports. We eat great food. Friends who help you get a break can end up being just as important as the ones that pray for us. – Kathy Litton Sometimes pastors don’t play very well, but I think the long game is how we need to see those relationships. I can’t protect every friendship and make it last forever. – Kathy Litton I know there’s going to be some wounds. We don’t have to deny that but but just have confidence that God’s got somebody else or that that relationship could be repaired in the future. – Kathy Litton People come into our life and come out as leaders. That’s the sovereign hand of God and we have to rest in that. – Kathy Litton We have to find a way for those goodbyes to be gospel goodbyes. Sometimes they’re hard conversations, but vulnerability and transparency really does matter. It’s going to be a balance that’s different for everybody. @EdStetzer Helpful Resources: “Naked Preachers are Distracting” article by William H. Willimon Free Send Network ebook: Five Markers of Healthy Planting Wives 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. The post Friendship With Team Members appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 648: Full-time paid ministry is fraught with perils. Host Trevin Wax and Ed Welch, a Christian counselor with more than 30 years of experience, sort out the various challenges and offer valuable insight into how to meet them. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How to be dutiful in pastoral ministry and still maintain your pursuit of holiness in Christ Why your relationship to Christ in ministry can be negatively affected by shame How to receive constructive criticism without it leading to a shame response The way to distinguish between helpful, constructive criticism and negative criticism How taking stock of your motives can help you maintain the fire and not lose your first love The importance of keeping watch against vanity while building a church and ministry How to maintain spiritual fervor and personal disciplines while working to feed and care for your flock Two questions a pastor should always be ready to answer Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Chuck Swindoll says, “The scary thing about ministry is that you can learn to do it” – in the sense that you eventually become overfamiliar with holy things and begin to look at your ministry as a job, rather than a calling. @TrevinWax Almost everybody that I know who’s in ministry starts out because they’ve got a sincere love of God and they really want to help people, yet we hear these stories of ministry leaders who have wandered off course. @TrevinWax It’s not necessarily pastoral ministry that causes people to wander. People were wandering before they were in pastoral ministry and it expresses itself in pastoral ministry. As an educator in a seminary, I get evaluated twice a year, but a pastor gets evaluated every single week. @Ed Welch Shame opens the entire Scripture to us in some ways. The entire storyline of Scripture is what will the Lord do for people who are unacceptable, not just before Him but before other people? @Ed Welch If you’re not familiar with shame, you start to wonder do you really belong to Him? Because they’re the people he runs after, the ones who need him desperately. @Ed Welch Pastors are going to be criticized – for decisions they make, for the way the way they preach or don’t preach. A lot of times young pastors may not be prepared for critical feedback, especially in those first years when they’re working a lot of things out. @TrevinWax Criticism reminds us that the way we walk in the kingdom of Christ, with Christ, is a walk of dependence. @Ed Welch Spurgeon was criticized by some people in his church and, the way the story goes, he seemed to be resilient in the midst of the criticism. How did he do that? His comment was, “They don’t know the half of it.” @Ed Welch Get out in front of the criticism and speak our weaknesses, failures and sins to the Lord, because we know them better than the people around us. @Ed Welch Young pastors could ask, “What is one thing that makes sense to my soul that I want to continue to grow in?” @Ed Welch Once paid, full-time ministry becomes your livelihood, people will say, “This is what you’re you’re supposed to do because you’re paid to do it.” @TrevinWax Once you are feeling competent in ministry, that is a danger sign, because it means we can get through the day on our own. There’s not this dependent calling out to Jesus. @Ed Welch We should ask ourselves what are the things that happen in private that you don’t want anybody else to have access to and God himself doesn’t have access to it. @Ed Welch There are quiet but dangerous places in our own soul. @Ed Welch There can be a fine line between the motive to see the fame of the Lord spread and the enjoyment of whatever influence they have or platform their success might give them. @TrevinWax The human heart is a messy thing. Whether we see it or not, a fear of crushing failure always feels like it’s nearby. You’re going to find vanity on one hand and this sense of worthlessness on the other. Both of them have their own dangers. @Ed Welch Could you imagine saying to your church leaders, “Would you pray for me? I don’t want to live out of vanity and I don’t want to live out of being crushed by failure.” @Ed Welch For a church planter, Sunday is relentless. The pace of public teaching means having to be in the Word of God in order to feed the flock. But you can be in the Word and actually be applying the Word to yourself less. @TrevinWax Their devotional life gets swallowed up by their teaching ministry. The water’s passing through you, but you’re not really getting the nutrients you need as a leader. @TrevinWax A standing item on the leadership’s agenda should be the pastor speaking about his own soul and asking for prayer from the elders. @Ed Welch Helpful Resources: Ed Welch’s article: How Far Do We Go with Vulnerability? Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Did you know our Church Planting Masterclass offers 80+ free videos on the church planting experience? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. The post The Downside of Professional Christianity appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 647: At some point in church ministry, practically all pastors will experience betrayal or hurt from those near them. Host Trevin Wax talks with Ed Welch, a Christian counselor with more than 30 years of experience, about preparing for that and still putting your whole heart into ministry. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How to deal with the experience of betrayal that anyone in pastoral ministry will have at some point Ways to prepare for the possibility of betrayal and still put your whole heart into ministry How a church plant’s growing pains can result in relational distance with members of the core team The importance of setting expectations and boundaries to protect a pastor’s family from unfair expectations How pastors can guard the hearts of their kids so they don’t develop a cynical or jaundiced view of the church Ways to apply the truth of the gospel to families struggling through relational strain Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Spurgeon said “an unkind word from a stranger may have a very slight effect upon us. But if such a word should come from the lips of one we love, it would cut us to the quick.”  @TrevinWax Betrayal and that sense of hurt in relationships is something common to humanity, certainly expected in pastoral ministry, and yet it takes on a unique shape in church planting.  @TrevinWax Recognize that you will go through this experience and, when you go through it, there will be people in your church, even dear friends, who will struggle to understand what it’s like. @Ed Welch I’ve heard leaders say, “Keep an emotional distance from the people you’re leading. Don’t have good friends in the church, just because of the depth of betrayal, the level of hurt can be so high.” @TrevinWax You could say the same things about marriage: When are you going to choose to be self-protected and isolated? @Ed Welch In Second Corinthians, Paul is in the middle of pastoral betrayal. He says “I’ve spoken to you freely” and then he invites them to open their hearts to him in return. That is an expression of love and not self-protection, so it it hurts more. @Ed Welch  There are different kinds of hurt and some kinds are an imitation of Christ in loving other people. There is a way we find grace in the midst of it. @Ed Welch Would Paul say, “Open up your heart, even if you know it’s going to be broken”? @TrevinWax The question is what that means for each pastor to open his heart to others. @Ed Welch At a minimum, it means you are asking for prayer from other people. That’s what you do with your friends. It’s also a check on your own heart. It means you are not going to close your heart, but you are needy before the Lord and before other people. @Ed Welch There are times when people who were part of the core will feel a bit of a relational distance from the church planter and his family, just by nature of the growing pains of that church. @TrevinWax  The sense of betrayal that people on the planting team sometimes might feel can backfire on the pastor. @TrevinWax One thing you can do is to share your heart with your people in general and your care team in particular. A second is seeing your core team in the Ephesians 4 sense, where they are doing the work of ministry and you are supporting them. @Ed Welch A lot of times, the feelings of distance or betrayal come in the form of criticism of ministry decisions. What’s really painful is that sometimes it’s directed at the planter’s family. @TrevinWax As a church planter. I’m called to the church. My wife and children are very vulnerable. So ask your people to pray for them. If I’m asking people to pray for my family, they’re going to be less critical of them. @Ed Welch It is hard to hate or despise people you’re praying for regularly. That’s simply the case, one of the ways prayer works on our hearts. @TrevinWax A lot of pastors worry that the the stress of church planting, unfair expectations  and the sense of ministry betrayal may bleed over into their kids and give their their kids a jaundiced view of the church. @TrevinWax The most natural way into the gospel of grace is through confessing sin. I want to be a father who is quick to confess and and ask forgiveness. I want confessing sin to be a natural part of our week. That posture is going to protect our children as much as anything else. @Ed Welch Creating a culture of confession has kids looking into their own hearts, seeing how they might have hurt others and hurt God, rather than just waiting on the experience of hurt that might come their way. @TrevinWax Children who have really tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord have known the God who forgives their own sins and and they’re learning to be more charitable with other sinners, who are just like themselves. @Ed Welch It’s incredibly painful to experience betrayal. We’re not going to find anything in Scripture that takes it away quickly. So we try to speak it to the Lord consistently and listen to Him. @Ed Welch Our confidence must be more and more on the finished work of Jesus and His presence with us. That obviously isn’t going to change the feeling of broken relationships quickly, but it sets us on the path that is good, right and ultimately healthy. @Ed Welch Helpful Resources: Free course: Developing a Core Team Books by Ed Welch 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. The post Ministry Betrayal appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 646: One of the most important topics for pastors and church planters is improving their preaching. Host Clint Clifton and Noah Oldham, lead pastor of August Gate church in St. Louis and NAMB’s senior director of deployment, discuss ways to continue to grow as preachers. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Two schools of thought in church planting when it comes to preaching Three things young preachers can do improve to their preaching Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): I believe God wants the church to gather and to scatter. There’s a rhythm of breathing in and breathing out. There’s a moment for monologue, a moment for dialogue and a moment for activating what we’ve learned. @NoahOldham As I read the Scripture, we hear the challenge in the local church to preach the Word. So preaching is vastly important. @NoahOldham A lot of factors contribute to the success or failure of a new church. And none of them quite impacts the church like preaching. It’s the most obvious feature of the church. @clintjclifton Most church planters need to be consistently working on improving their preaching. @clintjclifton Preaching is a main function of pastors in the church. We should seek to do it better and better all the time. @NoahOldham Most church planters consider themselves to be pretty good preachers yet, in my observation, most need to grow in their preaching. @clintjclifton Most church planters need time and reps and seasons to grow as communicators so they can be effective in the long run to help the church be strengthened. @NoahOldham John Stott says, “It may be more valuable to ask a friend to be candid with you about your voice or your mannerisms, especially if they need correction. An Indian proverb says, ‘He who has a good friend needs no mirror.'” @clintjclifton When I’m preaching, I want to disappear, yet I often carry more of myself into the pulpit than I realize. I want Him to increase and me to decrease. @NoahOldham The pulpit is a place of self-forgetfulness when you’re talking about God and His Word. @clintjclifton When you listen to somebody preach, you can tell who they love, who they listen to. @clintjclifton I don’t need a preacher to be someone else. I need you to be you. @NoahOldham Every time we imitate another preacher, it’s like a photocopy of a photocopy. @clintjclifton We can’t help but be influenced by those who are really gifted communicators, but it’s really helpful to limit that intake if we want to hone our own craft and find our own voice in preaching. @clintjclifton At August Gate, we set out this threefold standard: Is it faithful? Is it passionate? And is it compelling? @NoahOldham Another thing preachers can do to improve their preaching – other than just listening to their sermons by themselves – is to create a culture in their new church where sermon feedback is welcomed and weekly. @clintjclifton We call sermon critiques “wins and opportunities.” There’s no losses. It’s an opportunity for growth. @NoahOldham Creating a culture of honest feedback at a level of church membership and in your team is super important. @NoahOldham Soliciting feedback over and over communicates to your team and volunteers that you’re a person who wants to improve in your preaching and you’re approachable. @clintjclifton It’s on you as the leader to create an environment where people know they can approach you and they’re not going to be sorry they did. We want to create a culture where sermon feedback is welcomed and frequent. @clintjclifton Reps are everything for a preacher. Any time you can handle a mic or be in front of a crowd, if you want to grow as a communicator, do it – because it’s God giving you an opportunity to learn to find your voice in a different direction. @NoahOldham I heard Tim Keller say your first 300 sermons are garbage. So if you’re not to 300 yet, you should just assume your preaching needs a lot of improvement. @clintjclifton I would encourage those who want to improve their preaching to step back and take another role in communication in your church. Do the next steps or the announcements. It keeps me fresh and casting a vision in a new way. It keeps me sharp. @NoahOldham Never think yourself more highly than you ought to and find other ways to communicate. That’s going to help you get out of the rut of what you normally do every week. @NoahOldham Cross-train and do different things in the life of the church. @clintjclifton Helpful Resources: John Stott’s book Between Two Worlds Free Bivocational Ministry course 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. The post 3 Ways to Improve Your Preaching appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 645: Preaching to a small crowd offers both unique opportunities and particular challenges. Host Clint Clifton discusses them with Noah Oldham, planter and pastor of August Gate Church in St. Louis. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How whether you know the people you’re preaching to affects how well you communicate with them Why preaching to a smaller crowd is more difficult than a large crowd Some of the practices of preaching to a small crowd that need to become part of your toolbox The value of focusing on a list of people in different demographics and different life situations The problem of manufacturing energy when speaking to a smaller crowd Opportunities in speaking to small crowds that don’t exist in larger churches Insights about preaching to a camera when services are online Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): If you’re preaching to less than 100 – and it gets even more complicated when you get below like 30 – it feels small groupish. @clintjclifton The National Institute of Mental Health reports that public speaking anxiety is the number one phobia, affecting about 73% of the population. In fact, it said that more people fear public speaking than fear death. @clintjclifton Public speaking has this underlying fear of judgment and negative evaluation by others. We really value what our peers think about us, so public speaking is difficult. @clintjclifton I’ve always found it much more difficult to effectively communicate to small crowds than to preach to larger crowds. @clintjclifton Different people are built to communicate more effectively in different situations. @NoahOldham The smaller the group gets, the more my brain focuses on “Is this person, that person, that person are they locked in? Is their light bulb coming on?” If it’s smaller, I really fixate on it. @NoahOldham A small crowd with people I know is the hardest group for me to communicate with. If you make them teenagers, it gets very difficult! @clintjclifton I love to speak with people I know, because I know what they’re needing, what they’re expecting, what they want. I don’t have to try to entertain. @NoahOldham I don’t want to waste anybody’s time. The smaller the group is, the more you notice people looking at their phones, spacing out, getting up to go to the bathroom. They cause the speaker to start asking questions like, “Am I effective right now?” @NoahOldham In the early months of planting our church, I was casting vision for a small group of people I knew intimately. That gave me an opportunity to really grow as a speaker for small groups. @NoahOldham Frequency, repetition, experience and reps in speaking makes you more comfortable in front of people. It makes you a better communicator. @clintjclifton One of the first things I learned was how to preach to who was there, that God had put people there on purpose who needed to learn the Word. @NoahOldham Knowing where they’re at in life, knowing what we’re trying to build together, I’m able to preach to their moment in life. @NoahOldham One of the things that helped me was to imagine I was talking to individual people and to have a lot of feedback on the sermon to make it sort of a small group-like situation and do Q&A after the service. @clintjclifton Some of the most memorable moments in the life of our church, especially in those early days, came from those Q&A moments. But you’ve got to be on your toes, because you’re going to be asked some crazy questions, especially if you’re working with a mostly unchurched crowd. @clintjclifton One week I preached about forgiveness and said, “It’s your responsibility to forgive as Christ has forgiven you.” A woman, a visitor, stood up after the service and said in front of the front of the crowd, “I was raped, and you’re telling me I’m supposed to forgive the person who raped me.” @clintjclifton Some preachers tend to become actors when they get on a stage. In a small church, if you seem like an actor on a stage, it just doesn’t feel genuine. @NoahOldham I need to recognize the kind of crowd in front of me. Different crowds often lend themselves to different strategies. @NoahOldham With bigger crowds, there’s an energy in the room. When you preach in a smaller crowd, you almost either turn down the energy or you have to manufacture it, and I don’t want to manufacture energy. @NoahOldham If God has ordained this crowd to be this size, then I think he wants to do something in this size of crowd. So let’s ask him to do that. @NoahOldham We need to genuinely look at the people in front of me and say, “These are souls Jesus died for. He’s given them to us for such time as this. In his sovereignty, this is his purpose and plan for right now.” @clintjclifton We take our Sunday sermons into our small groups. It’s like a breathing in and a breathing out. We take the solid of God’s truth and make it into the liquid of real life. @NoahOldham A preacher is preaching to real situations that other people know about. There’s an opportunity for intimacy, community and intimacy when principle and application are very specific. @NoahOldham Using small groups or a Q&A gives the congregation an opportunity to interact with each other about the Word, which further solidifies that teaching in their hearts. @clintjclifton There’s a whole lot of online preaching happening right now. I think it’s is our punishment for making fun of televangelists for all these years. @clintjclifton I want to be with people. I want to see the lights come on in their eyes. @NoahOldham We’ve got to be open-handed in situations and say, “Jesus, what are you doing? What’s the strategy for getting your Word out?” Let us do that with a clear conscience and a heart full of faith. @NoahOldham Don’t despise small beginnings. Don’t despise small crowds. The world was turned upside down by a small crowd. A church of 120 people lit this thing on fire. @NoahOldham In a sense, Jesus pastored a small church that multiplied a lot. He gathered people together. He taught them. He broke bread with them. He equipped and sent them on mission. @clintjclifton Keep in mind that those in the small crowd are souls. They are Jesus’ people He’s given to us. @clintjclifton The church never outgrew my capacity to lead, especially in church planting. @clintjclifton Helpful Resources: 10 Must-See Prospectus Samples Find a church-planting residency near you 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 The post Preaching to Small Crowds appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 644: An explosive crisis in a church can destroy both the congregation and Christ’s reputation in the community. Clint Clifton discusses crisis communication strategy with Christian Pinkston, founder of Pinkston, a public relations firm in Washington, D.C., that often helps churches with strategic communications. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How a focus on enhance a church’s reputation can be an obstacle to its core mission Steps young churches can take to mitigate risk and be emboldened to press forward and minister The two categories of issues Pinkston finds churches most often face The importance of having a communication strategy in place before a crisis happens The three root causes of crisis in a church What a church should do to have good risk-prevention policies in place How a church planting pastor can introduce his congregation to the community through public relations Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Often we see a church focus on their profile in the community, probably for good reasons, but it almost always takes away from the focus on discipling their flock and loving and serving their neighbors. @cpinkston Churches focused and intentional about being the church don’t find themselves in a crisis nearly as often as churches that are aiming to be something bigger than they probably should. @cpinkston It seems like the moment we’re living in is a minefield that’s causing pastors to have fear and freeze in place, rather than move forward and bold faith to reshape their communities. @clintjclifton We cannot walk in fear or serve our church in fear. @cpinkston The amount of negative pressure that’s coming to churches and pastors almost feels overwhelming. @clintjclifton You can’t out-communicate a set of bad policies. @cpinkston Failure comes in not knowing best practices and implementing them in advance. @cpinkston We tend to say, “This isn’t that big a deal. It’ll blow over” – and then it becomes a bigger deal. @clintjclifton Crises are appointments by the Lord in his sovereignty as opportunities to glorify Him and an opportunity for you to walk it out faithfulness in front of your congregation without fear. They are painful, but the Lord redeems those things. @cpinkston Hiding and denying is where these things escalate into major stories, and it’s avoidable. @cpinkston Create a culture of transparency in your church and start building trust with your congregation. When something really bad does happen, that trust will take you a long way. @cpinkston  The best crisis communication strategy is to be proactively communicating and building a reputation before there is a crisis. if the first thing someone hears about you is negative. It is really really hard to transform that narrative. @cpinkston When a church tries to elevate its profile for the wrong reason, people bristle at that and it’s counterproductive. But when your church can be known for sacrificially loving and serving their community, that resonates. @cpinkston There’s a lot we do in outreach – one-to-one connections – and then people show up on Sunday as a result. But there’s a lot we do that just simply builds the church’s reputation and aren’t necessarily reflected in the offering plate or the attendance. @clintjclifton Building rapport in your community is a marathon. @clintjclifton Don’t avoid controversial issues but think about how you engage those topics. Talking through them in a winsome, gracious but biblically sound way is helpful to the congregation. @cpinkston  Pastors tend to overestimate their communication aptitude. @clintjclifton  Helpful Resources: Visit Pinkston’s website 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. The post When Crisis Strikes Your Ministry appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 643: Ed Stetzer, Tiffany Smith and Clint Clifton discuss the advantages and disadvantages of four different approaches to funding a church plant. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Some of the advantages and disadvantages of four possible approaches to fund church planting: The “Shark Tank” approach The “School Fundraiser” approach The “Get a Job” approach The “Campus Crusade” approach Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Some assume that planting is like a business: You get a business loan and get started. But that’s not really the way it works. @clintjclifton The “Shark Tank” approach depends really heavily on the quality of the church planter’s pitch. @clintjclifton  The missiological effect of that paradigm is that it cultivates top-down leadership. You automatically are going to be fighting that paradigm and have to be very intentional about unleashing the whole church. @tiffanydsmith The least common approach is what I call the “School Fundraiser” approach. The church plant tries to raise money by selling things in order to fund the mission. @clintjclifton One church we planted had a “baby shower” for our new church. You can buy our nursery equipment or our sound equipment. @edstetzer I’m of the view that you develop the resources anywhere, in any way you can ethically and appropriately. @edstetzer The posture of the individual is important. If the community feels like it’s a pushy car salesman kind of thing, then it’s going to be negative for the the missional movement. But if it’s a blessing to the community, then I think it would be super helpful. @tiffanydsmith  The church I’m involved in went into partnership with a developer and we’re building an apartment complex. Some of the revenue off the apartment complex will will fund our ministry and mission. @clintjclifton The next one is the “Get a Job” approach and this is bivocational church planting. No fundraising needed. The planter works really hard until the church is able to offer enough support for the planter to become a staff member. @clintjclifton One of the coolest aspects of this approach is that a lay leader or a member in the church is seeing before them a life lived out in the marketplace and that it’s a normal practice. @tiffanydsmith I’ve seen people who are so intertwined in the community that their work gives them insight into the needs and the pulse of the community. They’re also building up relational equity. @tiffanydsmith The next one I call the “Campus Crusade” approach, which seeks commitments from individuals to give regularly monthly amounts to support an individual missionary. @clintjclifton This is a wonderful opportunity for people to be blessed by God to participate in the mission. @edstetzer I love the idea of “We’re a family and so we’re supporting one another.” If you are recruiting 50 to 100 individuals to support the mission, they are a part of that mission too. It is highly relational. @tiffanydsmith Helpful Resources: Clint Clifton’s article – Demystifying Church Planter Funding  Bill Dillon’s book – People Raising: A Practical Guide to Raising Support 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! The post 4 Funding Models for Church Planters appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 642: Next-generation missionaries and church planters are leveraging their careers for mission. Host Ed Stetzer talks with NAMB’s Tiffany Smith and Clint Clifton about vocational options that work well for bivo/covo church planters. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Considerations you must keep in mind as you think about planting a church while having another job Whether the bivo/covo trend actually is increasing What vocations are really good fits for bivo/covo work How well entrepreneurial work fits with bivo/covo planting A New Testament perspective on bivo/covo work Opportunities for next-generation missionaries and church planters to leverage their careers for mission Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): People who are bivocational or covocational are just amazing heroes. And bivocational pastors are much more common than most think. In some denominations, half the pastors are bivocational. @edstetzer  There seems in many many cases to be an assumption that the best church planting is fully funded. That’s not necessarily something statistical. @edstetzer It is very very common to think of covocational or bivocational as Plan B. But it would be amazing to see a shift, because I think we’ll see more momentum into places the church normally isn’t present. @tiffanydsmith It has been a talking point for years for bivocational pastors to be the heroes, but now we’re actually seeing stories of bivocational or covocational pastors deeply entrenched in their careers who also are fruitful pastors and church planters. @clintjclifton Jobs that have start and end times and allow you to bring your best in planting seem to make the bigger difference. @edstetzer Bivocational ministry was so normal in the early church that the believers were encouraged to give an extra blessing to those who were pulling double duty. @tiffanydsmith Perhaps the most significant benefit of planting as a bivo/covo leader is that it gives the planter greater opportunities to connect relationally with people in the community. @edstetzer The planter sees a genuine and real need in the community and then moves into that segment to meet the need naturally and connects to the community. @tiffanydsmith  Some planters are getting into a business connecting to people that the church would not typically have access to. @tiffanydsmith Certain entrepreneurial ventures are really given to being great missiologically. There are missiological advantages to certain careers. @clintjclifton  A social entrepreneur explores business opportunities that have a positive impact on their community, in society or the world. @edstetzer  You end up not as two closed hands, but as two hands actually working together. @edstetzer  You have to be careful because you want to be a person of integrity and not planting a church using social entrepreneurship as a tool. @edstetzer  Right now, in our culture there’s a vacuum in relational connections. Whatever creative way we end up connecting in the community, we should give the highest relational salt and light and fruit of the Spirit we can. @tiffanydsmith More often, it’s helpful for a church planter to be solving local problems in a local place and find a way to rally the community around that problem and place. Interacting with the same group of people provides new missional opportunities. @clintjclifton Invite the Holy Spirit. Say, “Hey, show me a creative way to step into my vocation, step into my passion and maximize the gospel and the kingdom movement.” @tiffanydsmith I would love to see the church unleashed. If we make the shift where everybody sees themselves on mission, sent and released into the world to be salt and light, then we’re going to see more movement and discipleship at a deeper, richer level than we’ve seen before. @tiffanydsmith Helpful Resources: Free article: Brad Brisco: 3 Benefits of Bivocational Church Planting  Free ebook: Brad Brisco: Covocational Church Planting Steve Sjogren: Community of Kindness  Ed Stetzer: Planting Missional Churches  Daniel Im: You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love  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! The post Church Planter Friendly Jobs appeared first on New Churches.