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We’re coming off a couple of great interactions with pastors and people at young church plants. Early last week, I had the opportunity to grab coffee with Troy Campbell, who pastors New Life in the middle of the Crossroads District in downtown Kansas City. Troy told me about his church planting journey and gave me a tour of the remarkable loft-like space currently being developed for New Life on the fourth floor of an office building.

New Life already has its share of stories, as they’ve served in one of KC’s worst neighborhoods, seen people come to Jesus, and essentially worked and prayed their way into the ideal new location, despite the sky-high costs of real estate downtown. I deeply appreciated Troy’s willingness to share his experience (and prayers) with a young buck he doesn’t know from Adam.

Then, this past weekend, Lindsay and I enjoyed a similar experience, as we packed up Asher (travels well), dropped off Aidan at his grandparents’ (travels like a caged Rottweiler), and drove north to Ottumwa, Iowa. A couple months ago, Marty Schmidt, who pastors a young church plant in Ottumwa, had asked me if I’d think about coming to preach at thebridge. When I asked Marty what had possessed him to invite me, he said it was more of a Holy Spirit thing, at which point I clearly couldn’t say no.

Kidding aside, it was an almost surreal opportunity to go preach at a growing church, talk with Marty and others (thanks Brandon and Johna!) about their stories, and get a good look at what these Christians are doing in Ottumwa, which is the drug capital of Iowa, an urban/suburban hybrid city where the two sides of the tracks are pretty clearly marked. Once again, I was amazed at the generosity and graciousness of Marty and others in welcoming us, praying for us, and investing in us during the time we were there.

These types of meetings remind me what an alien, illogical things the faith, hope, and love of Jesus are. Apart from the gospel and grace of Christ, there’s no reason for busy, established leaders to take the time to pour into a dude they’ve never met before. As well, only Jesus makes a lasting difference in neighborhoods riddled with drugs and guns.

Experiences like these will help form our vision as we move forward. As I talked with Lindsay about the last week, we were refreshed by the rare goodness of grace, as people who have been loved against all odds by God extend that same love generously to people they hardly know.

We want to see the same grace of Jesus take root as we serve Kansas City.

(If you missed it, here’s our first update.)

our moderator

I started a group on Google to help folks keep up with our progress toward the dream of seeing KC’s urban arts district transformed by the landmarks of the gospel. Right now, urban KC knows more about bar-b-q, blues, and mediocre baseball than Jesus Christ. We’d like to see that change. (We’d also like the Royals to stop sucking.)

If you’d like to receive the occasional update via email or jump in with questions or discussion, come on over. Membership is open, so you can join on the homepage.

Several people have come up and asked us what we’re up to these days, and I’ve been promising to write an update, so here’s my first attempt at what should become a regular feature here. If you know people who know us, feel free to send them a link–I’m in the process of figuring out the best way to communicate with a bunch of widely dispersed people at once.

Lindsay and the boys and I are in this weird state of flux right now, as I’m still waking up in the morning and realizing, Hey, I’m not in grad school any more, now my brain is mine to do with as I please…I finished my final seminary class a couple weeks ago, and I’m currently trying to do some freelance copywriting stuff as we get ready for the next phase of life.

On a nuts & bolts level, that means attending a church planter assessment with the Missouri Southern Baptist Convention in late August. If you read the Our Story page, you know my ties with the SBC aren’t very old. However, after four years of seminary, we have a lot of friends within the convention, and we value those relational connections a lot.

If things go well at the assessment (which Lindsay and I will attend together), we’re most likely en route to a church planting internship for six months to a year, in the greater KC area. That will give us the opportunity to get our hands dirty working with another young church plant, gain valuable experience, be part of the community. In short, learn and serve while getting some oversight and input as I put my own church planting strategy together and work to build a core team.

That’s our plan. In some ways, this interim is the calm before the storm, as our lives will look very different a few months down the road. As you can imagine, we’re very excited to move on to new things, and at the same time counting on God to meet some big needs. (One of those will be finding a new place to live, ideally near downtown Kansas City.)

As we move forward, we definitely covet your prayers. Feel free to shoot me any questions you have about what, why, when, or how we’re doing this church planting thing. We’d like to be able to hang out with all our friends at the same time, but since they’re scattered all over the city (and country), we’ll do the best we can with remote communication!

Grace and peace.

Here’s the 8th and last installment in the Church Planting with Small Groups posts. This one’s longer, since I’m putting the wrap on the series. If you’ve made it this far, congrats! Feel free to add your own suggestions re: small groups as well–I’d love to hear from you.

_See also Intro, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 & Part 7_

Find training, support networks and financial resources for the church planter.

Planters who try to start a church without the encouragement and advice of other planters and leaders face a greater chance of failure and burnout. But add a solid support network and the picture changes dramatically: “The church planter who meets with a group of church planting peers at least monthly increases the odds of survivability by 135 percent.”[1]

A leader who pioneers a new church plant starting with small groups might fool himself into believing that, “It’s only a dozen people-when we start growing, I’ll look for some counsel and support.” In reality, the task of church planting starts long before the initial core group begins to expand. Challenges and obstacles will not wait to appear until the church hits a certain numerical goal, so the planter should not wait to find people who are willing to invest in him.

This could take the form of a peer group that meets for prayer, fellowship and accountability. Ideally, coaching (focusing on skills and strategy) and mentoring (focusing on character and personal health) would be involved as well-services that are often provided by a church planting network. Additionally, when a lead planter receives continued training in the form of “boot camps” and seminars, the likelihood that his church will flourish increases.[2]

Within the small group structures, the lead planter should recruit or identify mature believers who can assist him with leadership, men who would make excellent staff members when resources become available. Not only are multiple leaders able to support each other and compensate for each other’s weaknesses, but the sooner multiple qualified staff members are present in a new plant, the better its chances of survival.[3]

In addition, the lead planter should make every effort to secure financial backing for his family. As the apostle Paul noted, “The Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,’ and, ^‘The laborer deserves his wages’” (1 Timothy 5:18). The biblical wisdom in this statement is apparent, as a planter with adequate funding will be freed up to know his community and grow his church rather than deal with basic needs. While there is a rise in bivocational church planters, churches that survive and grow quickly are more frequently are led by a full-time planter.[4]

Today, planters discover funding through a combination of denominational support, relational networks, partnering churches, and church planting networks. Wherever the money comes from, several things are certain: The planter will need to major in vision and relationships: “People give to vision. Resources always follow vision,” and, “More than anything else, fund-raising is about relationships. Whether the source is the denomination, a network or organization, a mother church, a partner church, bi-vocational work, the early launch team or other individuals, the key to soliciting support is through authentic relationships.”[5]

Raising money is not a highlight for many planters, but, like peer groups, training, and mentoring relationships, financial backing is a significant factor that will empower the planter to focus on multiplying the church’s small groups to the point where larger services are possible.

Conclusion

These seven practices are by no means comprehensive, but in terms of big-picture vision and strategy, they will help a prospective church planter keep the planting dream alive while he is in the trenches, building the first small groups. A motivating thought for planters who adopt this “launch small” approach is that God is certainly not prejudiced against small beginnings. In fact, many of the kingdom metaphors deliberately employed by Jesus-yeast, a mustard seed, a pearl-are remarkable for their smallness, but also for their latent power as God employs them in the shaping of his kingdom.

[2] State of Church Planting USA: Improving the Health and Survivability of New Churches, 6.

[3] Ed Stetzer and Phillip Connor, Research Reflection: 10 Factors For Higher Attendance in Church Plants (Alpharetta, GA: North American Mission Board, SBC: 2007), 3.

[4] State of Church Planting USA: Improving the Health and Survivability of New Churches, 3, 5.

[5] Ed Stetzer and Dave Travis, State of Church Planting USA: Funding New Churches (Leadership Network, 2007), 6.

This Planting w/ Small Groups “series” has kinda faltered, due mostly to a preaching class that drained my time and energy like a Christian vampire. The class is over (and I’m officially a graduate now, ha!), so my plan is to wrap up this series in short order. Look for Part 8 in the next day or so–that’ll be the final installment.

_See also Intro, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 & Part 6_

Keep small groups relationally connected so that corporate services can happen.

When fast growth is concerned, small groups (35 percent) are a better strategy for planting churches than preview services (10 percent)-but when both are used together, the likelihood of growing fast rises to 55 percent.[1] Healthy small groups multiply, and three or four groups (roughly 50 people) will likely be necessary before the church plant has the personnel to develop a preview service.

However, such services wnot be possible unless the groups are convinced of the legitimacy of the “church gathered,” aware of each other, and prepared to pool time and resources to make the service a reality. Such cooperation would be aided by steady visioneering by the planter and regular “mixer” events where cross-pollination between groups would occur.

If the various independent small groups will eventually act as a united corporate body, the expectation will need to be built in while they are meeting separately. When the church grows, this strategy will also pay dividends in the relational health of members, as the stage will be set for the plant to become healthy, networked, “church of small groups” rather than a “church with small groups.”[2]

[2] Donald D. Owens, “Building a Church of Small Groups,” Missiology 32, no. 1 (January 2004): 106-107.