New Churches Podcast

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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 639: When people experience powerful moments at church, they leave remembering having encountered the Lord and feeling changed. Clint Clifton and Todd Adkins discuss the challenge of “setting the table” for those moments without crossing the line into manipulation. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The four different types of moments a church planter wants to create for his congregation Why it’s important to set the table but remember it’s the Holy Spirit who moves in powerful moments Why events like “Pack a Pew Sunday” and elements like altar calls and membership were important in creating powerful moments The challenge of remembering that people, not the program, are pre-eminent Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Not that you want to manufacture a moment but there are things that we can do that will make the environment most conducive to that. The Holy Spirit is the person that is going to be moving them, but you need to do everything in your power kind of to make that moment “happen.” @ToddAdkins It’s important for us to have moments and mile markers in our walk with Christ. It’s also important to have moments and mile markers in the life of our church early on. @ToddAdkins There was a sort of Charles Finney revivalism that crossed the line into what most church-planting pastors would consider manipulation. We’ve overcorrected and said, “We want everything to be organic.” And we’ve lost some of those critical opportunities in our local ministries. @ClintJClifton I want to set the table. I want to light the candles but I want to recognize on my part that the real magical thing that’s going to happen in ministry is the work of the Spirit. It’s the work the Word does in somebody’s life. @ClintJClifton I want to create an environment where people will come to the table so they might experience the Lord in a really special way. We want people to leave remembering having encountered the Lord and feeling changed. @ClintJClifton Instead of doing the hard creative work of how we can create an environment or an experience where people are likely to grow, we’re just simply running the play we’ve seen happen so many times before. @ClintJClifton  Apathy lulls us into to not having those moments. We need to stop and take a fresh look at what we’re doing.  @ClintJClifton Part of what it is, is the inertia of your own success. And sometimes that success is just staying open. Sometimes it’s growth. @ToddAdkins You’re not going to have margin to think about setting the table and lighting the candles. You’re just going to continue delivering meals to the table. And the next thing you’re throwing TV dinners there and you didn’t even know it. @ToddAdkins The 90 days before the launch of the church are hard, just a grind. And then the next 90 days you have to build on that inertia of success. So even though you want to go home and slump in the chair and rest, you better have something planned to take advantage of that moment. @ToddAdkins When I can plan what I’m going to do that first 90 days after a launch when we’re all kind of dragging, that’s going to rejuvenate your volunteers and you as well. @ToddAdkins One of the biggest mistakes I see church planners making is thinking completely about the beginning of their church services, their launch day and thinking little or nothing about the life of their church in the systems and rhythms of their church after that first day. @ClintJClifton  It’s like thinking about the wedding a lot, but not about the marriage at all. @ClintJClifton It’s fallen out of vogue to have big days – pack a pew Sunday, friend day – and it is a little corny, but in throwing that whole lot out, we have really lost something. @ClintJClifton We need to take full of advantage of that moment that we have. And then look forward down the line to say, “Okay, and this is where we’re going.” @ToddAdkins Two things today that we kind of push off, and that is the altar call and membership. Both of those got hijacked 40 years ago. Don’t throw those things out. Don’t treat them like they’re a tool, but do think of them as a moment. @ToddAdkins Baptism is a very, very, very powerful moment in the life of that person that we should steward well. @ToddAdkins The problem is when the program becomes pre-eminent. You have to remember the program is for the people, the people are not for your program. @ToddAdkins Programs come and go but the real question is, how are we making sure that we are being absolutely wonderful stewards of the time that people are giving us and the experience that they’re given? @ToddAdkins Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Maximizing the Big Day bundle at EdStetzer.com Books by Chip and Dan Heath Power of Moments Made to Stick Decisive Switch Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. The post The Power of Moments appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 638: Systems for multiplying church leaders must have a healthy balance of the organic and  pragmatic. Host Clint Clifton discusses how to create an effective system of leadership development with Todd Adkins, director of LifeWay Leadership. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Three reasons leaders must be learners in front of those they lead Components of the multiplication system at Clint’s Pillar Church Why Todd’s program at McLean Bible Church focused on both core competency and role competency Why Todd evaluates a residency program on inputs, throughputs and outputs How Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, compares church planter residencies to medical residencies  The four phases Todd sees in leadership multiplication The MAWL model of leadership development Why Todd thinks you can’t tell in advance who’s going to be “successful” and who isn’t Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Your church would like to plant other new churches, but there are some day-to-day activities that are going to prohibit that, if you don’t have some systems set up for them. @ClintJClifton ‘Systems’ is not a dirty word. Sometimes, when we hear it, we think that’s a business-type thing. But God created the solar system and the circulatory system. @ToddAdkins  The pendulum between the organic and the pragmatic seems to go back and forth a lot. You have to understand from a biblical perspective a healthy balance of both things – putting on both your shepherd hat and your stewardship hat. @ToddAdkins Leaders learn in front of people. If you are a leader these days and you are not a learner, then you have a really, really short shelf life. @ToddAdkins It’s really important for us to not just be dispensers of grace, but receivers of grace, so we can be conduits all the time. @ClintJClifton The gold standard for us is to have a member of our church go through that process, not somebody from the outside. But if we can’t find members to do it, that’s not going to stop us from planting a church next year. @ClintJClifton  When you have three elements together – knowledge, experience and coaching – that’s when transformation happens. @ToddAdkins  When I look at a residency program, I look at inputs, throughputs and outputs. @ToddAdkins  I want to be more hands-on with the people we’re developing. I want to do ministry alongside them. I want them to see me doing ministry and learn from the ways I do it bad and the ways I do it good. @ClintJClifton  I’m starting high directive and very little supportive. But that flips over time from directive to supportive. There’s very little directive at the end. @ToddAdkins If you’re always focused more on what you do, rather than who you develop, you’re not going to be a “successful pastor,” in my opinion. @ToddAdkins I started a church 17 years ago that’s multiplied 20 plus times. And now my greatest joy in life is watching the gospel go forth from those men in their ministries. @ClintJClifton  The greatest impact in my ministry will not be anything I do, but those I invest in and what they do for the glory of God. That’s where you find the deepest satisfaction in ministry. @ClintJClifton Leadership is understanding that your fruit grows on somebody else’s trees. @ToddAdkins 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. The post Systems for Multiplication appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 637: One of the biggest problems a pastor faces is developing leadership. Host Clint Clifton talks with Noah Oldham, pastor of August Gate Church in St. Louis, about how you can find the future leaders for your church planting work right in your own congregation. In This Episode, You’ll Discover:  Noah Oldham’s “cheat” for approaching people in whom he sees pastoral potential How our free Church Planting Primer can help you get everyday Christians involved in starting new churches Why August Gate Church practices foot washing as they bring in new members How Clint’s church uses a preaching lab to surface planter candidates How prospecting for planter candidates is like “shooting hoops” What Noah Oldham means by “four H leaders” Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Very few churches who have cracked the nut of how to make members into missionaries. I want our churches, to be known for cultivating pastoral leaders from inside of our work. @ClintJClifton One of the things I look for is people who care about the whole church flourishing. @NoahOldham If you took all the fruitful church planters I’ve worked with, you couldn’t find a common denominator. It’s not as easy as noticing a quality or a characteristic, one quality or characteristic. @ClintJClifton We have to decide as a church at August Gate, what kind of church do we want to plant? But also, what kind of church do we want to be? @NoahOldham It all comes down to ecclesiology. We have to think about our ecclesiology and if we don’t have that settled, we’re never going to do this very well. @NoahOldham When you look at the lists in 1 Timothy and Titus, you see these lists for older men and older women and younger women. It’s like, “Where’s the list for the younger men? What’s the list of eldership?”  @NoahOldham Every young man should aspire to be an elder. If we do that, we’ll never have a hard time finding pastors. @NoahOldham The only difference in an elder and a regular Christian is that they’re actually doing the things we’ve all been commanded to do. @ClintJClifton It’s like shooting basketball hoops. I’m going to take a lot of shots and probably not make all that many, but the more I shoot, the more I make.  @ClintJClifton I’ve found a lot of guys who live out the rich young ruler. They ask what they have to do to be a leader and walk away sad because they realize, “Ah, it’s just going to require more than I’m willing to give.” @NoahOldham When I was planting, I felt like I was making all these huge sacrifices, but the truth is, God gave me a very dear family. Those who step away from planting because they think they’re going to miss out on something are forsaking the opportunity at something much, much greater.  @ClintJClifton You have to be wildly optimistic about pastoral potential in others, take people when they’re not ready and imagine what God could do with them the same way  He did with you. @ClintJClifton Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Alexander Strauch’s book Biblical Eldership  Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating / review on iTunes The post Discovering Pastoral Potential appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 636: Residencies are crucial to multiplication in church planting, but how do you start and organize them? Host Clint Clifton discusses the practical components of residency with Noah Oldham, pastor of August Gate Church in St. Louis. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How Noah Oldham designed the August Gate church plant in St. Louis to be a multiplying church How the August Gate residency is designed The importance of pursuing people when you see they have potential to plant churches Day-to-day practical components of a residency  Why residency requires a deep sense of humility Why churches should maintain warm relationships with planters they send out Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Part of our vision is to be a church that plants more churches until the St. Louis Metro region is saturated with gospel.  @NoahOldham I don’t think there’s anything that’s contributed to the fruitfulness in multiplication in church planting, like having the residency. @ClintJClifton We just talk about church planting all the time. Because of that, there’s always energy around it. @NoahOldham Residency’s like a junk drawer category; it’s never clean and buttoned up. And it just means getting people ready for ministry.  @ClintJClifton A big part of our residency is giving somebody the opportunity to do things planters do, on top of what pastors do. @NoahOldham We use the imagery of peeking behind the curtain. I say, “I’d like to invite you behind the curtain, to see how things go here and be a part of what we do behind the curtain so that you could get a sense for, if this is the sort of work that you feel drawn to.”  @ClintJClifton Equipping precedes calling. We got to be doing a lot of equipping, and usually calling grows out of the fertile soil of equipping, not the opposite. @ClintJClifton Covenant members are the first level of leadership in our church. And then we’re always looking for covenant members who are serving above and beyond the standard. Who’s hungry for more? Always trying to call out the called. @NoahOldham The number one qualification of an elder is that they aspire to the office. A lot of people don’t know they have permission to aspire to it until we give them permission. @NoahOldham It’s really powerful when your pastor comes to you and says he sees gifts in you and invites you into a category most people aren’t invited into. That really begins to ignite a passion for church planting. @ClintJClifton When you have been a pastor and a church planter, you can recognize those gifts in others and you should verbalize that. @ClintJClifton For us, what we do in a residency comes down to who the guy is. What does he need? @NoahOldham You’ve got to create your own way in training. You’re going to become familiar with a whole bunch of tools that apply to various situations. We basically have a syllabus that covers everything but, depending on the situation, we don’t always do all of it. @ClintJClifton The ability to lead a church plant and to lead a team comes by being in a church plant and being on a team. @NoahOldham It’s almost impossible too, to reproduce something you’ve never seen. @ClintJClifton If you have a guy with the ability to plant a church and you know it is three to five years before he needs to plant, get him on your team and call it a residency. @NoahOldham If planting churches is in your church’s DNA, you just can’t help but do it. @NoahOldham Having a residency is sort of like having a girlfriend. You can’t describe it. You’ve just got to get one and then you’ll understand. @ClintJClifton One of the major things I’m trying to do in residency is help somebody see themselves as they truly are. @ClintJClifton Cage stagers don’t make it very far in residencies. @NoahOldham Residency is simply discipling future church leaders. @ClintJClifton If you have great leaders in your church, you’re going to lose them, one way or the other. You can either prepare them and send them or you can lose them and someone else prepares them and sends them. @NoahOldham I want us to be the church that identifies those leaders, speaks life into them and helps them with their calling, but then also prepares them. @NoahOldham We’re not starting franchises here. We’re starting a family. @ClintJClifton   Helpful Resources: Free download: Church Planting Thresholds Free download: Pillar Church residency syllabus namb.net/residencies  Quick Start Guide Starting a residency video Find a residency Send Network’s Multiplication Pipeline 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 Q and A: Church Planter Residencies appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 635: The physical health of a church planter directly affects his spiritual health – and both are critically intertwined with the work God has called him to do. Host Clint Clifton and Noah Oldham, NAMB’s senior director of church planting deployment, discuss their own fitness journeys and how the lack of fitness may point to deeper, unresolved spiritual issues in a person’s life.­­ In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How Noah Oldham came to realize “something had to change” physically in his life The first steps to take in getting a handle on your fitness How a change in your physical life affects your spiritual life That food, comfort and laziness can be used to hide areas of brokenness in your life. How not addressing a fellow pastor’s lack of fitness can be doing him – and yourself – a disservice. How lack of fitness undermines your respectability with your people Why community and accountability are essential for maintaining physical fitness. What to do when the people around you don’t value their physical health Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Usually when I see a friend that loses weight, or when I’ve lost weight myself, I’m very skeptical about how long it’s going to last. @ClintJClifton Health for a church planter, both spiritually and physically, is critically intertwined in the work we do. @ClintJClifton I found a personal trainer who works with pastors and he set me on a trajectory. I’ve not looked back. @NoahOldham Something just clicked in my soul. Something has to change, and it has to be now. It’s never going to get easier. @NoahOldham It’s not about changing your diet and exercise. You have to change your discipline. @NoahOldham It really became a labor of love – one of the ways I unplug from the rest of the stuff I’m doing, to walk in discipleship with other men, to help them find the kind of freedom I found. @NoahOldham In 2 Timothy, Paul says that in the last days, people will be without “self-control.” That word often is translated as “incontinent.” I realized that either I don’t care or I can’t control myself. @NoahOldham We need the literal, the miraculous grace of God to do a work in us, and that’s what I saw happen in my life. The grace of God trained me to say no to myself and yes to the new paths he had for me. @NoahOldham You’ve got to peel back some of the layers and deal with the heartache underneath this stuff. @NoahOldham Often the physical is just a manifestation of another area of our life that’s probably just as messy, just as sloppy, just as unmonitored. We’re monitoring so many other things that we don’t look at this one until too late. @NoahOldham One thing I saw was that I loved satisfaction and instantgratification more than I thought I did. @NoahOldham When we start talking about looking to the marketplace to raise up pastors, we’re reaching into this pool of men who may say, “He’s the kind of guy I want to be.” @NoahOldham We’re doing one another, as brothers, as pastors, a disservice, because if we’re both struggling with our health, we should be able to come to each other and say, “How do we do this together? How do we lock arms for one another?” @NoahOldham The biggest challenge is that you have to come to the point where you say, “I’m not this kind of person anymore.” @NoahOldham If I want to attract disciplined, ready, capable, sacrificial men, I got to show myself to be that. And there was an area of my life I wasn’t showing that. @NoahOldham As pastors who don’t go to the bottle when we have problems, food is a ready escape for us. @ClintJClifton There’s a culture that thinks people who exercise and care about their physical health is something weird people do. We think, “Everybody’s a little overweight, and that’s the way it is and it’s OK.” @ClintJClifton Helpful Resources: Website: pastorfit.com Book: Breaking the Stronghold of Food Have you checked 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 Getting Serious About Getting Healthy appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.