Please note that the notes on this blog are for the church planter in the USA or on the foreign mission field. Though there are major differences between starting a church on the mission field and in the USA the basic areas are all the same.
The work load is going to be very similar. The disciplined missionary will be a real church planter. It can be easy when you are a missionary to settle for doing less because your support comes in whether the church grows or not but you will certainly not want to do that.
No matter where you are you will have to work like your life depends on it. Get a schedule and a plan and work them. The process is your responsibility and the product is God's. You do what you are supposed to and trust God for the results.
Numbers should never be the goal of your ministry. They will simply be the result.
Vision News
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
The Church Planter 2
Church planting is about a man! Literally God always uses a man. Elmer Towns said; “"A great church is always caused, it never just happens." “One of the greatest tasks a man can do today is start a church.’
Throughout Bible history every time God wanted to do something He raised up a man. When Cornelius wanted to be saved the angels weren’t even allowed to share the gospel with him rather God said send for a man. That is God’s way and so when He wants to reach people He calls men to start new churches.
The modern day Biblical hero in many ways is the church planter. He dares to do what very few will ever do. He knows that starting a church is one of the most important jobs he could ever be called to do. He is willing to risk it all to start a church.
There are several questions you need to ask yourself:
Have you learned the basic steps of Christianity?
Do you have the physical endurance to visit hour after hour, pray, study, preach, counsel?
Do you have the emotional endurance to not crack up when your young converts deny the faith?
Are you willing to study and learn the thousand things you will need to know to build a church?
Are you wiling to be so hard headed that you will say that you will not give up no matter the cost?
Vision News
I like Mike
Throughout Bible history every time God wanted to do something He raised up a man. When Cornelius wanted to be saved the angels weren’t even allowed to share the gospel with him rather God said send for a man. That is God’s way and so when He wants to reach people He calls men to start new churches.
The modern day Biblical hero in many ways is the church planter. He dares to do what very few will ever do. He knows that starting a church is one of the most important jobs he could ever be called to do. He is willing to risk it all to start a church.
There are several questions you need to ask yourself:
Have you learned the basic steps of Christianity?
Do you have the physical endurance to visit hour after hour, pray, study, preach, counsel?
Do you have the emotional endurance to not crack up when your young converts deny the faith?
Are you willing to study and learn the thousand things you will need to know to build a church?
Are you wiling to be so hard headed that you will say that you will not give up no matter the cost?
Vision News
I like Mike
Great Quote
One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.
- Marie Curie
Vision News
- Marie Curie
Vision News
Friday, September 21, 2007
The Church Planter 1
At least for a while I want to discuss church planting with you. I hope that you will post a comment to discuss or question things or you can email me at gardner @ bcwe.org and I will post your question and answers.
I do not consider myself an expert church planter though I have been planting churches now for over 29 years. I have read lots of books and want to share with you what I have found and start a lively discussion with you if you are interested.
Church planting starts with the church planter. Elmer Towns said: “The man who desires to build a church is usually motivated by the ‘impossible dream’ and he must accomplish the ‘unperformable task.’”
The quote really is very true! To be a successful church planter you will have to know that God placed a bucket load of desire in your heart. What you seek to do is outside the realm of human power. A human being can put together a group of people, a crowd but not a church. He might form a congregation but not a New Testament Church. Only the Lord Jesus and His power can equip you to do what God wants done. It will be far more than just finding a way to get people to come.
It is impossible and unperformable because it is against human nature to truly love God and begin to allow Him to live in and through us. You will have to have Holy Spirit power to get the job done. Towns also stated in the same chapter; “God must perform a miracle each time a new church comes into existence.”
Questions to be answered
Do you know what you are getting yourself into!
How have you prepared yourself for this kind of work—ministry related experience?
Do you have a solid understanding of the Biblical doctrine of the church?
Vision News
I do not consider myself an expert church planter though I have been planting churches now for over 29 years. I have read lots of books and want to share with you what I have found and start a lively discussion with you if you are interested.
Church planting starts with the church planter. Elmer Towns said: “The man who desires to build a church is usually motivated by the ‘impossible dream’ and he must accomplish the ‘unperformable task.’”
The quote really is very true! To be a successful church planter you will have to know that God placed a bucket load of desire in your heart. What you seek to do is outside the realm of human power. A human being can put together a group of people, a crowd but not a church. He might form a congregation but not a New Testament Church. Only the Lord Jesus and His power can equip you to do what God wants done. It will be far more than just finding a way to get people to come.
It is impossible and unperformable because it is against human nature to truly love God and begin to allow Him to live in and through us. You will have to have Holy Spirit power to get the job done. Towns also stated in the same chapter; “God must perform a miracle each time a new church comes into existence.”
Questions to be answered
Do you know what you are getting yourself into!
How have you prepared yourself for this kind of work—ministry related experience?
Do you have a solid understanding of the Biblical doctrine of the church?
Vision News
Thursday, September 13, 2007
quote
Be on time. Being late means either it's not important to you or you can't be relied upon. Tony Dungy
Vision News
Vision News
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Boy this one sums it up
Well on Vision News I gave an idea about how to get your staff to work and then this morning I came across this blog and web site. You are not going to believe it. If you as a pastor or missionary are doing this then --oh well!!
watch the video
Vision News
watch the video
Vision News
Monday, September 10, 2007
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Here is a must read for all Pastors and Missionaries!
I want to challenge you to go to a Outreach Magazine article to see the results of some surveys about why people have left church and how to get them back.
Many of the results were very surprising to me and I believe that they will be to you also. We can make a difference in the lives of people for the cause of God and right. You will not want to miss this article.
If you are interested you can see how I apply this article to our church at Vision on the Vision News.
I know that you and I both want to reach people with the gospel and we want to impact our world with the good news of Jesus Christ.
So don't miss the article.
Vision News
Many of the results were very surprising to me and I believe that they will be to you also. We can make a difference in the lives of people for the cause of God and right. You will not want to miss this article.
If you are interested you can see how I apply this article to our church at Vision on the Vision News.
I know that you and I both want to reach people with the gospel and we want to impact our world with the good news of Jesus Christ.
So don't miss the article.
Vision News
Here is a must read for all Pastors and Missionaries!
I want to challenge you to go to a Outreach Magazine article to see the results of some surveys about why people have left church and how to get them back.
Many of the results were very surprising to me and I believe that they will be to you also. We can make a difference in the lives of people for the cause of God and right. You will not want to miss this article.
If you are interested you can see how I apply this article to our church at Vision on the Vision News.
I know that you and I both want to reach people with the gospel and we want to impact our world with the good news of Jesus Christ.
So don't miss the article.
Vision News
Many of the results were very surprising to me and I believe that they will be to you also. We can make a difference in the lives of people for the cause of God and right. You will not want to miss this article.
If you are interested you can see how I apply this article to our church at Vision on the Vision News.
I know that you and I both want to reach people with the gospel and we want to impact our world with the good news of Jesus Christ.
So don't miss the article.
Vision News
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Check out Tony Howeth's blog
I really enjoy reading Tony Howeth's blog. It is always a blessing but I really enjoyed the one about Winston Churchhill. I want to challenge you to go read his blog and sign up to get it via email or through your google reader!
Vision News
Vision News
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Worth!?
J. H. Jowett once said, “The real measure of our wealth is how much we would be worth if we lost all our money.”
Vision News
Vision News
Monday, September 03, 2007
Hard work!
I don't think that I could ever say it nearly as well but it impressed me that I need to learn what hard work really is and do it. Read this article and apply it to your work as a missionary. It is from Seth Godwin and you can click here to get the source.
Labor Day
I'm working today. In fact, if I'm conscious, I'm working. That's largely because it doesn't seem like 'work' today. I'd write this blog even if no one read it.
More and more people are lucky enough to have a gig like mine... work you'd do even if you didn't have to, even if you didn't get paid to do it. This is a bigger idea than it seems, because it changes the posture of what you do. Different motivations ought to lead to different results.
My version goes like this: If I'm doing this for fun (and I am) then I might as well doing something remarkable/great/worth doing. Otherwise, why bother?
Here's something I wrote in 2003, shortly before Purple Cow came out. I reference it a lot, I guess I think it's good:
Your great-grandfather knew what it meant to work hard. He hauled hay all day long, making sure that the cows got fed. In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser writes about a worker who ruptured his vertebrae, wrecked his hands, burned his lungs, and was eventually hit by a train as part of his 15-year career at a slaughterhouse. Now that's hard work.
The meaning of hard work in a manual economy is clear. Without the leverage of machines and organizations, working hard meant producing more. Producing more, of course, was the best way to feed your family.
Those days are long gone. Most of us don't use our bodies as a replacement for a machine -- unless we're paying for the privilege and getting a workout at the gym. These days, 35% of the American workforce sits at a desk. Yes, we sit there a lot of hours, but the only heavy lifting that we're likely to do is restricted to putting a new water bottle on the cooler. So do you still think that you work hard?
You could argue, "Hey, I work weekends and pull all-nighters. I start early and stay late. I'm always on, always connected with a BlackBerry. The FedEx guy knows which hotel to visit when I'm on vacation." Sorry. Even if you're a workaholic, you're not working very hard at all.
Sure, you're working long, but "long" and "hard" are now two different things. In the old days, we could measure how much grain someone harvested or how many pieces of steel he made. Hard work meant more work. But the past doesn't lead to the future. The future is not about time at all. The future is about work that's really and truly hard, not time-consuming. It's about the kind of work that requires us to push ourselves, not just punch the clock. Hard work is where our job security, our financial profit, and our future joy lie.
It's hard work to make difficult emotional decisions, such as quitting a job and setting out on your own. It's hard work to invent a new system, service, or process that's remarkable. It's hard work to tell your boss that he's being intellectually and emotionally lazy. It's easier to stand by and watch the company fade into oblivion. It's hard work to tell senior management to abandon something that it has been doing for a long time in favor of a new and apparently risky alternative. It's hard work to make good decisions with less than all of the data.
Today, working hard is about taking apparent risk. Not a crazy risk like betting the entire company on an untested product. No, an apparent risk: something that the competition (and your coworkers) believe is unsafe but that you realize is far more conservative than sticking with the status quo.
Richard Branson doesn't work more hours than you do. Neither does Steve Ballmer or Carly Fiorina. Robyn Waters, the woman who revolutionized what Target sells -- and helped the company trounce Kmart -- probably worked fewer hours than you do in an average week.
None of the people who are racking up amazing success stories and creating cool stuff are doing it just by working more hours than you are. And I hate to say it, but they're not smarter than you either. They're succeeding by doing hard work.
As the economy plods along, many of us are choosing to take the easy way out. We're going to work for the Man, letting him do the hard work while we work the long hours. We're going back to the future, to a definition of work that embraces the grindstone.
Some people (a precious few, so far) are realizing that this temporary recession is the best opportunity that they've ever had. They're working harder than ever -- mentally -- and taking all sorts of emotional and personal risks that are bound to pay off.
Hard work is about risk. It begins when you deal with the things that you'd rather not deal with: fear of failure, fear of standing out, fear of rejection. Hard work is about training yourself to leap over this barrier, tunnel under that barrier, drive through the other barrier. And, after you've done that, to do it again the next day.
The big insight: The riskier your (smart) coworker's hard work appears to be, the safer it really is. It's the people having difficult conversations, inventing remarkable products, and pushing the envelope (and, perhaps, still going home at 5 PM) who are building a recession-proof future for themselves.
So tomorrow, when you go to work, really sweat. Your time is worth the effort.
Vision News
Labor Day
I'm working today. In fact, if I'm conscious, I'm working. That's largely because it doesn't seem like 'work' today. I'd write this blog even if no one read it.
More and more people are lucky enough to have a gig like mine... work you'd do even if you didn't have to, even if you didn't get paid to do it. This is a bigger idea than it seems, because it changes the posture of what you do. Different motivations ought to lead to different results.
My version goes like this: If I'm doing this for fun (and I am) then I might as well doing something remarkable/great/worth doing. Otherwise, why bother?
Here's something I wrote in 2003, shortly before Purple Cow came out. I reference it a lot, I guess I think it's good:
Your great-grandfather knew what it meant to work hard. He hauled hay all day long, making sure that the cows got fed. In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser writes about a worker who ruptured his vertebrae, wrecked his hands, burned his lungs, and was eventually hit by a train as part of his 15-year career at a slaughterhouse. Now that's hard work.
The meaning of hard work in a manual economy is clear. Without the leverage of machines and organizations, working hard meant producing more. Producing more, of course, was the best way to feed your family.
Those days are long gone. Most of us don't use our bodies as a replacement for a machine -- unless we're paying for the privilege and getting a workout at the gym. These days, 35% of the American workforce sits at a desk. Yes, we sit there a lot of hours, but the only heavy lifting that we're likely to do is restricted to putting a new water bottle on the cooler. So do you still think that you work hard?
You could argue, "Hey, I work weekends and pull all-nighters. I start early and stay late. I'm always on, always connected with a BlackBerry. The FedEx guy knows which hotel to visit when I'm on vacation." Sorry. Even if you're a workaholic, you're not working very hard at all.
Sure, you're working long, but "long" and "hard" are now two different things. In the old days, we could measure how much grain someone harvested or how many pieces of steel he made. Hard work meant more work. But the past doesn't lead to the future. The future is not about time at all. The future is about work that's really and truly hard, not time-consuming. It's about the kind of work that requires us to push ourselves, not just punch the clock. Hard work is where our job security, our financial profit, and our future joy lie.
It's hard work to make difficult emotional decisions, such as quitting a job and setting out on your own. It's hard work to invent a new system, service, or process that's remarkable. It's hard work to tell your boss that he's being intellectually and emotionally lazy. It's easier to stand by and watch the company fade into oblivion. It's hard work to tell senior management to abandon something that it has been doing for a long time in favor of a new and apparently risky alternative. It's hard work to make good decisions with less than all of the data.
Today, working hard is about taking apparent risk. Not a crazy risk like betting the entire company on an untested product. No, an apparent risk: something that the competition (and your coworkers) believe is unsafe but that you realize is far more conservative than sticking with the status quo.
Richard Branson doesn't work more hours than you do. Neither does Steve Ballmer or Carly Fiorina. Robyn Waters, the woman who revolutionized what Target sells -- and helped the company trounce Kmart -- probably worked fewer hours than you do in an average week.
None of the people who are racking up amazing success stories and creating cool stuff are doing it just by working more hours than you are. And I hate to say it, but they're not smarter than you either. They're succeeding by doing hard work.
As the economy plods along, many of us are choosing to take the easy way out. We're going to work for the Man, letting him do the hard work while we work the long hours. We're going back to the future, to a definition of work that embraces the grindstone.
Some people (a precious few, so far) are realizing that this temporary recession is the best opportunity that they've ever had. They're working harder than ever -- mentally -- and taking all sorts of emotional and personal risks that are bound to pay off.
Hard work is about risk. It begins when you deal with the things that you'd rather not deal with: fear of failure, fear of standing out, fear of rejection. Hard work is about training yourself to leap over this barrier, tunnel under that barrier, drive through the other barrier. And, after you've done that, to do it again the next day.
The big insight: The riskier your (smart) coworker's hard work appears to be, the safer it really is. It's the people having difficult conversations, inventing remarkable products, and pushing the envelope (and, perhaps, still going home at 5 PM) who are building a recession-proof future for themselves.
So tomorrow, when you go to work, really sweat. Your time is worth the effort.
Vision News
Earthquake in Ica
Though you do not understand Spanish I hope that you will take the time to watch what the people from Faith Baptist Church in Arequipa, Peru did to help those that were harmed in Ica.
This is the note that came with the video: 16 people from Faith Baptist Church traveled to the city of Ica taking food and the word of God. On the trip 400 people accepted Christ. Next trip to the city of Pisco.
Vision News
This is the note that came with the video: 16 people from Faith Baptist Church traveled to the city of Ica taking food and the word of God. On the trip 400 people accepted Christ. Next trip to the city of Pisco.
Vision News
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Hate-crimes legislation stirs pulpit and podium
Read the following article by clicking here
I think that this is far more important than we realize.
Senate-bill controversy centers mostly on gender identity, sexual orientation
By BARBARA KARKABI
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
The current federal hate-crimes law applies only to violence against victims based on race, religion, color or national origin, and only when the victim is attacked while carrying out a federally protected act, such as voting.
• Pending legislation would make it a federal hate crime to attack someone if the crime were motivated by prejudice based on the victim's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
• The Matthew Shepard Act , the popular name for the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007, passed the U.S. House of Representatives 237-180 and is pending in the Senate. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is pushing for action on it this fall.
• Opponents include the Southern Baptist Convention, Vision America and James Dobson, leader and founder of Focus on the Family.
• Supporters include the interfaith Clergy Against Hate, which has gathered signatures from an estimated 1,400 clergy from more than 75 faith traditions. A May Gallup poll found that 68 percent of Americans favor the expansion of the federal hate-crimes law.
Every Thursday like clockwork, the Rev. John Crimmins sits down to write his Sunday sermon.
The senior pastor at Christ Evangelical Presbyterian Church feels a moral duty to preach that marriage is between one man and one woman and that homosexual behavior is a sin.
These principles, he says, are clearly stated in the Bible. Just as important, he believes, is his freedom to preach as he sees fit without government interference.
Like many other conservative Christian pastors, Crimmins is concerned about a bill pending in the U.S. Senate that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the criteria for federal hate crimes.
He worries that it could criminalize preaching against issues including homosexuality, same-sex marriage and abortion, and muzzle pastors in the pulpit.
Crimmins and other like-minded pastors agree that anyone assaulting a fellow human being should be punished. But they believe current laws are sufficient.
Vision News
Subscribe to Vision News by Email
Subscribe to World Evangelism by Email
Subscribe to World Evangelism News and Helps by Email
View blog reactions
I think that this is far more important than we realize.
Senate-bill controversy centers mostly on gender identity, sexual orientation
By BARBARA KARKABI
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
The current federal hate-crimes law applies only to violence against victims based on race, religion, color or national origin, and only when the victim is attacked while carrying out a federally protected act, such as voting.
• Pending legislation would make it a federal hate crime to attack someone if the crime were motivated by prejudice based on the victim's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
• The Matthew Shepard Act , the popular name for the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007, passed the U.S. House of Representatives 237-180 and is pending in the Senate. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is pushing for action on it this fall.
• Opponents include the Southern Baptist Convention, Vision America and James Dobson, leader and founder of Focus on the Family.
• Supporters include the interfaith Clergy Against Hate, which has gathered signatures from an estimated 1,400 clergy from more than 75 faith traditions. A May Gallup poll found that 68 percent of Americans favor the expansion of the federal hate-crimes law.
Every Thursday like clockwork, the Rev. John Crimmins sits down to write his Sunday sermon.
The senior pastor at Christ Evangelical Presbyterian Church feels a moral duty to preach that marriage is between one man and one woman and that homosexual behavior is a sin.
These principles, he says, are clearly stated in the Bible. Just as important, he believes, is his freedom to preach as he sees fit without government interference.
Like many other conservative Christian pastors, Crimmins is concerned about a bill pending in the U.S. Senate that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the criteria for federal hate crimes.
He worries that it could criminalize preaching against issues including homosexuality, same-sex marriage and abortion, and muzzle pastors in the pulpit.
Crimmins and other like-minded pastors agree that anyone assaulting a fellow human being should be punished. But they believe current laws are sufficient.
Vision News
Subscribe to Vision News by Email
Subscribe to World Evangelism by Email
Subscribe to World Evangelism News and Helps by Email
View blog reactions
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Missionary Travel?
Well it just keeps getting better--remember those guys that spent 9 months on a boat to get to the mission field.
Check out the new mode of travel coming your way
Vision News
Check out the new mode of travel coming your way
Vision News
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