Tag: church plant

Funding a Church Plant

February 8, 2012 / / 4 Comments

A friend of mine has come up with a great idea for helping supplement his income for a new church plant.

And the good news for you is that the plan could include you, benefiting you and your local church.

The old model of raising support from a distance for a church plant is to ask people, or other churches and organizations, to pledge to give $__ for __ months. This is a call to people who aren’t on the ground level with the church plant, and may never get to see what God’s doing except through occasional newsletters. The only real benefit they receive is in knowing that their money is going to support what God’s doing through another local church.

Bobby’s idea is to have a mutually beneficial giving channel. You can read more about it on Bobby’s site, but basically he’s looking for 80 churches to give $40-$100/month. In return, they’ll get

  • One 30-minute monthly webinar on a variety of topics like: small groups, assimilation, first impressions, website presence, marketing, social media, big events, young adults, outreach, discipleship, etc. led by Bobby.
  • TWO “live” 40-minute tele-seminars with a special guest expert each month for you and up to 4 of your team members (5 people total!) on topics like Small Groups, Discipleship, Young Adults, Leadership, Multi-site, Church Planting, Church Revitalization, Diversity, Multi-ethnic Church, Worship, Vision, Technology, Social Media, Marketing, Urban Ministry, Team Building & Building Teams, Transition, Burnout, Online Church, Strategy…and more.

The lineup of coaching that Bobby’s got is pretty stellar. Here’s who’s slated:

I’m still not sure how my name slipped in among those guys, but I’m honored to help Bobby out. He’ll be planting Mosaic Church in Durham, NC, a new campus of Mosaic Little Rock.

This is really a great model, where you (and your church) can financially invest in a church plant, and receive some top-notch coaching along the way in return.

If you’d like to support Bobby, and be a part of the coaching network, click HERE to start the process.

 

Creating a culture vs shaping one

January 26, 2011 / / 7 Comments

Some people like to start from scratch, and create their own culture.

Others like to change an existing culture.

Church world

photo by Ales Cerin

Some people like to launch church plants.

Some people like to work within existing churches and change the culture.

Blog world

image by Scott Foster

Some people like to create a culture based on their unique wirings and giftings.

Others do research prior to launch, determine trends, and shape their writings around that.

Business world

photo by Augusto Avila Jr

Some people like to forge their own path and start a new business.

Others would rather work to improve and expand an existing one.

I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer here.  What you prefer is based on how God has gifted and wired you.  We need both.

And I’m thankful that we serve a God who does both…and neither at the same time, because He’s making all things new.

So what do you prefer?

Do you like to create a new culture or shape an existing one?

Would you rather save a sinking ship…or let it sink and build a new one?

 

5 church planting gurus you should follow

October 15, 2010 / / 5 Comments

Since Grace Community Church, where I serve on staff, is going multi-site in early 2011, I thought it fitting to mention some of the people who are influential in the world of multi-site churches.  You can read the rest of my “Follow Friday” series HERE.

Mac Lake – Mac is the Chief Launch Officer of The Launch Network, a new church planting network based out of West Ridge Church in the greater Atlanta, Georgia area.  You can read his blog HERE, and follow him on Twitter HERE.

Greg Surratt – Greg is the founding pastor of Seacoast Church, one of the early adopters of the multi-site model. Located in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina,  Greg is also a founding board member of the Association of Related Churches (ARC).  You can read his blog HERE and follow him on Twitter HERE.

*While you’re at it, go ahead and follow his brothers on Twitter, too: Chris Surratt (small groups pastor at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN) and Geoff Surratt (pastor of ministries at Sea Coast, co-author of The Multisite Church Revolution and A Multisite Church Roadtrip; you can read his blog HERE).

Larry Osborne – I was introduced to Larry through his book, Sticky Church.  It was basically a book about how to add a stickiness (encourage people to continue attending your church) to your church through small groups.  Larry is the pastor at North Coast Church in Vista, CA, one of the pioneers in the video venue church services.  You can follow him on Twitter HERE and read his blog HERE.

JD Greer – Pastor at Summit Church in Raleigh, NC, a church that meets in multiple locations, and does small groups incredibly well.  You can follow him on Twitter HERE, and read his blog HERE.  If you care…their small groups pastor is a good friend of mine, and you can follow him on Twitter HERE, blog HERE.

Darrin Patrick – Pastor at The Journey Church in St. Louis, and author of Church Planter.  Darrin is a leading voice in the Acts 29 network of church planting, a network that has planted over 300 churches in the last 10 years.  You can follow him on Twitter HERE.

Who did I leave out that I should have included?

 

Building a loyal audience

June 15, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Building trust takes a long time.  And it takes consistency.  And perseverance.

It’s not developed overnight.  And though working on a path cleared for you by others helps, you’ve still got to do the hard work of building trust.

The same thing is true whether you’re building a relationship with someone you’re trying to help grow in their faith, trying to build a new company, planting a church, launching a blog, starting a movement, or trying to change the culture of an age-old tradition.

Share information that’s valuable and you’ll slowly but surely build a loyal audience.  You may not see the results today.  And you probably won’t see the ROI tomorrow.

But in the long run, you’ll find that consistently sharing valuable information builds trust, and leaves you with a tribe of followers.

 

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