Launch Conference, Part 11: Breaking Barriers for On-going Growth

Can you believe it?! This is my last post in my series from the Launch Conference!! It only took me a month and a half!

Drumroll, please.........


Breaking Barriers for On-going Growth

In his book, The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren explains the wrong and right questions to ask in dealing with growth barriers:

• The Wrong Question: How do I get my church to grow?
• The Right Question: What is keeping my church from growing?

The Top 3 Growth Barriers Every New Church Will Face

Growth Barrier #1: Space

• The 70% Rule: When a room is 70% full, it's full!
• At 80% your church is stangled and it will not grow.

Growth Barrier #2: Self-Development

• Are you growing?
• When the leader stops growing, the church stops growing.
• See John Maxwell's "Law of the Lid" (from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership)

Growth Barrier #3: Evangelism

• Keep the focus on evangelism hot!
• Teach on relational evangelism.
• Set an example by telling stories of how you've invited people to church.
• Kick off a new series with a special challenge for people to invite their friends.
• Hold a prayer walk or servant evangelism outreach.
• Talk to staff and volunteers about the importance of reaching friends.
• Read an evangelism or church-growth book with your staff.
• Develop training materials that will help your members invite their friends to church and share their faith.
• Ask someone who has experienced life change to share his or her testimony.

Overcoming Spiritual Barriers to Growth

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." --John 15:5

Abiding Area #1: God's Word

• Spend time in God's Word every day

Abiding Area #2: Prayer

Abiding Area #3: Fasting

• www.elmertowns.com - a great free resource on fasting

And that's it!! Hope these notes were helpful. Certainly, they were at times controversial--and even I don't agree with everything. But I think you can always learn something, even when you don't agree 100%.

Launch Conference, Part 10B: Building Systems for On-going Growth

Ok... Part two of this section of my notes from the Launch Conference:

4. Baptism

Be able to answer these questions:

• How do we make sure people understand the meaning and significance of baptism?
• How do we capture our first baptism on video or with photography? How do we get the video or photos out to the entire church in the coming weeks?
• How do we capture the stories and testimonies of those being baptized? How do we maximize these as celebrations of what God is doing in our church family?
• How do we signify the event for those being baptized? Do we give them certificates? Framed personal photos? Group pictures?
• How do we promote the next baptism at our first baptism?

5. Recordkeeping and Databases

• Contact information on everyone who attends (name, address, phone numbers, e-mail address, spouse and kids' names)
• Weekly Sunday attendance broken down by adults and children
• Weekly offering amount
• Number of volunteers on Sunday
• Number of volunteers during the week

6. Basic Accounting

• Offering collection, counting, and deposit
• Check writing
• Reimbursement processes
• Salaries/paychecks
• Regular reports (bank account, budget, etc.)

7. Corporate/Legal Structure

• What's the minimum structure you must have 'by law'?

8. Leadership Development System

• My personal plan (e.g., conferences, books, podcasts)
  
• My plan for staff (e.g., read books together, DVDs)
• My plan for volunteers (create a culture where there is an abundance of leaders)

These 8 systems are crucial! Everything else can wait 8-18 months! (including membership class and small groups)

Launch Conference, Part 7C: Planning My First Service From Scratch

Ok, time to get back to my purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive Launch Conference notes! Heh heh... Sorry, couldn't help it!

As it turns out this section is gonna be in four parts, not three. So here goes...

5. Promote Each Service with Greater Intensity

The Four D's of Promotion:

1. Design

• Get professional help (Note: Match the design to your area and who you are trying to reach!)

Design Lessons Learned the Hard Way:

1. Make the promotion match your city (Use skylines, meadows, beach scenes--whatever characterizes your city best. Every city has a story; try to match that story to your design/logo).
2. Choose images that are attractive to your target (In general, target your marketing to men, using colors and images that attract men. Men are harder to get to church, but if you can get the man, you can usually get the whole family.)
3. Be sure that text makes up less than 50% of your layout--period.
4. Be clear that you are a church.
5. State exactly what you want people to do (e.g., "Join us on [date]").
6. Put your name, website, meeting times and location in a prominent place.
7. Use full color. It's only a bit more expensive and worth it!

2. Direct Mail

• Find one of the largest printers/mail houses in your area and ask them for advice.
• Is there another church doing direct mail? Be careful that your church doesn't get confused with that church.
• Read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.

3. Display Advertising and Media

Examples:

• Press releases
• Event-oriented newspapers (Creative Loafing, What's Happening, and so on)
• The top radio morning shows (according to your target group)
• Sports radio or the sports section of the newspaper
• Local trade journals read by your target
• Cable advertising on ESPN, CNN, FNC, and others

4. Direct Delivery

Direct delivery is the highest-risk, highest-return option in advertising. Direct delivery includes everything from personal invites to servant evangelism, or any other type of face-to-face church promotion. It's high risk in that it requires person-to-person contact. If you are trying to make thousands of direct contacts, it will require the involvement of a lot people. However, it's high return in that a personal invitation, delivered by a live person, is the most effectve way of encouraging someone to attend your church.

• Nothing beats direct delivers, but it's slow.
• It's important to complement direct delivery with direct mail and display advertising/media.

How to Maximize Direct Delivery:

• Invite everyone you meet!
• Ask everyone you know--especially your launch team--to promote your church.
• Join with mission teams or other outside people to help get the word out.

Which One is right for Me?

• Direct Mail: low risk, low return
• Display advertising/media: medium risk, medium return
• Direct delivery: high risk, high return
  

Seeker Church vs. Emerging Church

Kyle posted some comments/questions about my Launch Conference notes that I think deserve being addressed.

First of all, I need to confess that I definitely don't have all the answers. I never have and I don't think I ever will.

I'm drawn to the postmodern/emerging/incarnational approach to ministry. And I wish I could say I was 100% there because I think that this movement really is meeting the needs of people in my generation.

At the same time, I've begun to discover that there's still value in some of the older approaches to ministry (funny--by older, I mean 25 years...). There are millions of people in this country who would get a little freaked out by the idea of becoming part of an "intentional community." I, personally, understand the value of that kind of community, but for many people when someone says "Community," what they hear is "Commune."

Anyway, I say this because over the last year or so I've realized that it's not that "seeker" is "out" and "emerging" is "in." Both are "in," depending on the context and the culture that a particular church is trying to reach. Heck, even old-school, mainline, traditional is "in" for some people.

So, let me address Kyle's comments/questions:

1. Yes, the Launch Conference definitely came from a "purpose-driven, seeker-attractive" perspective. In fact, Nelson Searcy was open about the fact that he used to work at Saddleback with Rick Warren and continues to use the purpose-driven aproach with The Journey Church.

2. I, personally, am not planning on planting a church in Northern Kentucky. I am considering planting a church in another metropolitan area in another part of the country. But that's still up in the air. I'm also in talks with an established church. I had three reasons for attending the conference: 1) Learn about church-planting (in case that's what I do), 2) learn some things that will hopefully be transferable to an established church situation (in case that's what I do), and 3) get some clarity on whether or not I'm called to church-planting (which I'm still wrestling with).

3. It's true that there will probably be a different kind of spirituality in a "seeker" type of church than in an "intentional community" kind of church. But I think one of the reasons is because of the people that each type of church attracts. Regardless of what you believe, "intentional community" kinds of churches attract a certain kind of person. Likewise, "seeker" kinds of churches attract a different kind of person. And regarding a "core" vs. a "launch team," one of my upcoming posts will explain why they suggest going with a launch team rather than a core.

Like I said, I'm still on a journey. I'm still trying to figure things out. And I think that's why I still like the word "stretchychurch." The church fits all kinds--emerging, seeker, traditional, mainline, protestant, Catholic, conservative, liberal, fundamentalist, evangelical, etc., etc., etc.

The question isn't, "Are they doing it right?" The question is, "Are they helping people become followers of Jesus?"

Launch Conference, Part 7B: Planning My First Service From Scratch

Ok, here's the second part of Planning My First Service From Scratch.

3. Secure my Meeting Location.

• Hotel ballrooms (various sizes)
• Movie theaters (various sizes)
  
• Comedy clubs (approximately 150 seats)
• Public school auditoriums
• Performing arts theaters
• Available church meeting spaces
• College auditoriums
• Corporate conference space

Four Space Lessons Learned the Hard Way:

1. As much as possible, match your space to your target audience. (You wouldn't want the people of a rural, farming community meeting in a downtown art gallery.)
2. Make sure your space is easily accessible to your target audience. (You don't want downtown businesspeople traveling to the countryside--or anywhere else not easily accessed by public transportation.)
3. Make sure your space has a reasonable number of seats.
4. Don't sign a long-term lease.

4. Plan Comeback Events between my Monthly Services.

• "Comeback Events" are those events you schedule between your monthly services to invite those who attended a service to come back for a non-threatening, fellowship-based event.
• Continue to cast the vision of the new church at Comeback Events.

Examples of Comeback Events:

• BBQ at the pastor's house
• Picnic in the park
• City events
• Dinner in the back room of a restaurant
• Ice skating
• Swimming
  

Launch Conference, Part 7A: Planning My First Service From Scratch

This next section from the Launch Conference is called Planning My First Service From Scratch. It's actually a pretty long section, so I'm gonna break it up into three parts. This will (naturally) be the first part.

1. Determine my Launch Date!

• Your launch date is the most important decision you will make after you nail down your calling.
• Once you pick a date, stick to it!
  

Top 3 Best Launch Dates (#1 is best)
#3 - Easter
#2 - Fall: Just after school starts
#1 - February

Why is February the best time to launch you first service?

• You get a second "bump" in attendance with Easter 2 months later
• There's plenty of time for growth to happen before summer (when attendance tends to drop)
• People are still willing to do something new with the start of the New Year

Top 3 Worst Launch Dates (#1 is worst)
#3 - Christmas (most attenders are visiting family in the area; they won't be repeat attenders)
#2 - Tie: Superbowl Sunday, July 4th, Labor Day, or any other national holiday
#1 - Any time other than Sunday morning


2. Plan 3-6 Monthly Services prior to your Launch.

• Monthly services are stepping stones to your Launch.
• Do a minimum of 3 monthly services, a maximum of 6.

The Power of Monthly Services:

• Attract a Launch Team
• Build momentum
• Give you practice and allow you to improve your skills
• Give you a chance to grow
• Provide more time for follow-up
• Enable more efficient use of initial resources
• Lower your stress level
• Make your launch day less intimidating
• Build greater awareness of the church
• Build excitement within the church
• Help you stick to your Launch date
• Allow you to test your meeting location
• Allow you to test a worship leader
• Build your database of future weekly attendees

Monthly Service Do's and Don'ts

Do:

• Teach a message series
• Talk about your future weekly services
• Receive an offering (unchurched people aren't offended by receiving an offering)
• Collect contact information (send handwritten notes to everyone who visits)
• Hold at least three monthly services

Don't:

• Only talk about the future vision
• Tell them you are "practicing"
• Ask them to join (wait till after your launch)
• Hesitate to evaluate and improve
• Do more than six preview services

BUT: How do I staff my monthly services?

• First monthly service will be you, the worship leader, and possibly your spouse and/or a friend.
• After the first monthly service, get volunteers from those who attended that service to staff your next service.
  

Launch Conference, Part 6: Building a Staff from Scratch

After talking about funding, Searcy and Thomas discussed Staffing: Building a Staff from Scratch.

The first thing they shared was a quote from John Maxwell, which they claimed was the “Greatest Leadership Secret” (and I agree that this is critical): “Those closest to the leader will determine the success level of that leader.”

And then they moved on to discuss Three Tenants (sic) for Staffing a New Church (I think they meant “Tenets,” not “Tenants”):

1. Determine my first year staff

• Lead pastor
• Worship leader

The worship leader ought to be a flexible, teachable, moldable person

Someone who believes in the vision of the church

• Who else do I need to staff Sunday Services?

Volunteers or paid (children’s staff, ushers, greeters, etc.)

God will send the people you need to staff your services

2. Decide how I will make payroll

• Staff can raise some or all of their own funds to support themselves financially.
• It’s not a bad idea to pay someone $50 per week to help with certain tasks. This can help develop more leaders in the church.
• But never pay someone to do something that a volunteer could do.

3. Don’t be afraid of the “Big Ask”

• That is, don’t be afraid to ask people for big commitments or to take on big tasks. All they can do is say no.

Following these three “tenants,” they gave us 10 Staffing Lessons Learned the Hard Way:

1. You’ll never have enough money up-front to hire staff.
2. Hiring staff precedes growth, not vice versa.
3. Hire slow, fire fast. One bad apple spoils the bunch. (It’s normal to have high staff turnover early on in the church start)
4. Hire from within whenever possible.
5. Hiring and firing is ultimately the responsibility of the lead pastor.
6. Hire part-time before full-time.
7. Never hire staff when you can find a volunteer.
8. The role of staff is to find additional volunteers.
9. Hold weekly staff meetings.
• Including volunteer staff.
• You have to meet with your staff in order to lead your staff.
10. Clarity and accountability are the keys to an effective staff.

Coming up next: Planning My First Service From Scratch.

Launch Conference, Part 5: Raising Funds to Launch a Church

One of the biggest challenges of a new church is money!! So it was great that they included a section on raising funds. They opened with a few quotes:

• “Money isn’t everything, but it is right up there with oxygen.” --Zig Ziglar
• “If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?” --Romans 8:31-32
• “God’s work done God’s way will never lack God’s provision.” --Hudson Taylor

Then they talked about Four Steps to Raising Funds. The only thing that really confused me is that they actually had five steps, not four. Oh, well…a freebie, I guess.


Step 1: Create a budget

• What will the cost of living in this community be?
• What will my salary be? How about salaries for additional staff? (see www.churchstaffing.com--it’s got a pastors’ compensation handbook)
• How much will it cost to rent space for the church to meet in?
• How much will it cost to operate a business in this city (office rent, phones, computer equipment, copy equipment, and so on)?

• The Chamber of Commerce is a great resource for leads on equipment, office space, etc.
• Move to an office after the 2nd or 3rd monthly service. It will cause less conflict with your family life.
• Don’t sign a long-term lease.
• Buy equipment that’s just a little bigger/better than you need. That way it can grow with you as the church grows.

• There are basically 2 budgets to keep track of: 1) Pre-launch, 2) Post-launch annual budget.

Step 2: Prepare my presentation

Focus on:

• My leadership
• My compelling story
• My strategy
• My plan for self-sufficiency

Step 3: Seek funding

Possible sources of funding:

• Option 1: Personal savings
• Option 2: Bi-vocational ministry
• Option 3: Your spouse (i.e., if you spouse earns enough to support your family)
• Option 4: Your launch team
• Option 5: Outside funders (individuals and churches)

A Key Question: Who has a heart for my area?


Step 4: Develop a plan for regular communication

• Share prayer requests
• Seek mentoring
• Make additional requests
• Invite mission team
• Share results and God-stories

Step 5: Plan an annual partners’ meeting

• Host the meeting at your location
• Invite current and future partners
• Invite spouses
• Make the meeting fun
• Ask for the Big Commitment

“And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too.” --Romans 8:17

Launch Conference, Part 4: Developing a Launch Strategy

Searcy and Thomas were pretty serious about having a strategy for your Launch. They defined a strategy like this:

A Strategy is simply a logical plan to get you from where you are to where God wants you to be.

They said that a good strategy will clarify and quantify what you’re trying to accomplish. And then they gave us Eight Key Elements of a Start-Up Strategy:

1. Purpose, Mission, and Vision Statement

• Purpose Statement – How you will do it.
• Mission Statement – What you will do.
• Vision Statement – What it will look like to do it.

2. Core Values

• What makes your church unique?
• The Core Values are the filters through which you do ministry and make decisions.
• Ken Blanchard says that no organization should have more than 10 values and as few as 5 or 6.

3. Strategic Aim

• States what the specific aim of your strategy is. What are you trying to do?
• “Our strategic aim is to effectively launch a new church in Great City, USA, on the second Sunday in September, 2007, with 300 in attendance and average 215 people in weekly attendance during the month of October.”

4. Major Objectives

• These are the large objectives of your launch strategy.
• For a church Launch, this includes:

              a. Preparation
              b. Pre-Launch
              c. Launch
              d. Post-Launch

• Eventually you will determine the specific tasks to accomplish each major objective.

5. Goals

• Goals have to be accomplished to achieve major objectives.
• Goals are a subcategory of Major Objectives.

6. Tasks

• Tasks are clear actions that have to be taken
• Determining specific tasks makes it easier to get people to help you. You can be very specific about what you need a person to do.

7. Calendar

• Put all the major objectives, goals, and tasks on a calendar

8. Budget

They made a special note that Objectives, Goals, and Tasks should be S.M.A.R.T.

S – Specific

• All of the statements in your strategy need to be written in as precise language as possible. Avoid generalities.

M – Measurable

• Make sure that you have some kind of gauge for measuring the accomplishment of each objective, goal, and task.

A – Attainable

• Break your statements into small enough bites that each one is realistically attainable. You can stretch, but don’t overextend!

R – Relevant

• Make each statement relative to the one that precedes it. For example, all tasks under Goal 1 should be directly relevant to Goal 1.

T – Time Bound

• Put a projected completion date on every task, goal, and major objective.

Launch Conference, Part 3: The Call to Start a Church

The third section of my notes from The Launch Conference is called Calling: The Call to Start a Church. This was probably one of the most significant sessions for me personally.

They started this section by asking this question:

"Do you know for sure that you are undeniably called by God to start a church?"

After giving us a few seconds to wrestle with that question, they began to talk about improper and proper sources of calling.

Sources of Improper Calling

• Unemployment (“No church will hire me, so God must be calling me to start a church.”
• Anger about something (e.g., about your denomination, about a church, etc.).
• Anger at your Senior Pastor (“I’ll show him [or her] how successful I can be!”).
• It’s easier than searching for another ministry position.
• Ego. A lot of pastors want to do something that will make them look good or important—like church-planting. (Ken Blanchard refers to ego as “Edging God Out”).
• Church-planting is kind of cool nowadays.

Sources of Proper Calling

• Prayer and Bible study.
• Surprise (i.e., God surprises you with the call to start a church; it’s not something you ever expected).
• Holy discontent (Admittedly, it can be hard to distinguish between holy discontent and frustration about something in your denomination or church).
• Strong burden for the lost.
• Godly counsel (others have confirmed that God may be calling you to start a church).

Next, they talked about The Four Calls of a Church Planter.

1. My call as to start a church.

• Keep a journal as you start the church and discern God’s calling. Later, when you get discouraged, looking back through this journal will be a source of encouragement to you.

2. My spouse’s call to start a church.

• If you’re married, your spouse needs to be called, too.
• Your spouse’s call may not come at the same time. It may come earlier than yours or it may come later.
• Since God has made the two of you one in marriage, God will speak to both of you. He won’t say one thing to one and something else to the other.

3. Our call to a specific place to start a church.

• God’s call to start a church is usually a call to a specific place.
• God prepares a place for you and prepares you for a place.
• When you go to that place, it will feel like this is what God created you for.

4. Our call to reach a specific people.

• In any place you go, there are many different kinds of people.
• God will call you to reach one of those people groups.
• However, just because you have the heart for a people group, that doesn’t mean you’ve been called to reach them. Your call may be to support someone else who is called. Or to find someone else who has been called.

And here are four questions they said to ask yourself as you consider starting a church:

1. Is your calling clear?
2. Has your calling been confirmed by others?
3. Are you humbled by your call?
4. Have you taken action on your call?

And then they concluded by talking about Answering the Call: Preparation. They discussed three ways in which we need to prepare to answer God’s call:

1. Prepare to lead.

• Growing churches have growing leaders. Make sure you’re always growing.
• All leaders are readers. In other words, read lots of books. Or listen to podcasts. Or listen to CD’s. Or wahtever way you best absorb information.
• A quote I liked: “God, help me become the leader I need to be to lead this church to the next level.”

2. Prepare to teach.

• You will be the primary voice for the vision.
• Listen to people who are great communicators.
• Have people evaluate your teaching.
• Our message is too important for people to miss it because we lack clarity in our communication.
• Videotape yourself so you can watch and evaluate yourself.

There you go. Coming up next—Strategy: Developing a Launch Strategy.

New Lauch Conference post...

For some reason, my most recent post (Launch Conference, Part 2: Eighty Contrarian Ideas) showed up below my last post (Baby Watson #2). Anyway, click here for my second Launch Conference post.

Launch Conference, Part 2: Eight Contrarian Ideas

Ok, next section from the Launch Conference….

These are the 8 Contrarian Church Launching Ideas. What that means is that these are ideas that are true of church planting, but don’t necessarily seem intuitive. Here are those ideas:

1. Your call to start a church is the most critical factor to the church’s success.

• It will be hard. You’ll feel like giving up at times. But the conviction of your call will sustain you.

2. Don’t be afraid to raise funds from other churches.

• Pursue all avenues for raising funds: individuals, churches, mission organizations, etc.

3. Build your new church from the outside in.

• Here, Nelson Searcy drew the five concentric circles that Rick Warren talks about in The Purpose-Driven Church. At the center is your Core group. Then moving outward: Committed, Congregation, Crowd, and Community.
• Don’t start by building your Core. If you do, they will become too inward-focused.
• Build up from the Community and move them in toward becoming the Core.

4. Resist the temptation to do everything at first.

• Don’t try to do everything when you start. You’ll spread yourself and your church too thin.
• Focus on doing one thing well—in the case of a new church, the weekend service.
• In the early days of the church, don’t do small groups.

5. Use 3-6 monthly worship services to build up to weekly services.

6. Don’t try to gather the churched; stay focused on the unchurched.

• Church planting is about reaching the unchurched.

7. You can start a church much faster than you think.

• You can start within 4-9 months of moving into the area God has called you to reach.

8. You can grow a church much faster than you think.

Launch Conference, Part 1: Three Key Launch Ideas

The Launch Conference is over. And as I said, it was a really great conference!

A few days ago, I mentioned that I’m not yet sure if I’ll end up doing a church plant or go to an established church, but the great thing about this conference was that a lot of the information was absolutely transferable to an established church setting.

What I want to do is give you some of the notes from the conference. You may be asking, to quote Nute Gunray, “Is that legal?” In response, let me quote Darth Sidious: “I will make it legal!”

I’m in a bit of a giddy mood, I think…

Seriously, though, folks… Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas urged us to post as much of this information on our blogs as we want. They want this information getting out. In fact, one of the responsibilities of a leader, they said, is to share what we learn with other leaders.

So here goes… After some general opening comments on the need and significance of church planting, and following a summary of their experience in launching The Journey Church, Searcy and Thomas shared Three Key Launch Ideas. They are:

1. Launch large

• The larger the initial launch of the new church, the better the chance that the church will grow.
• “Large” is a relative term. In one region, 200 people might be a large launch, while in another region, a large launch might be 50. It all depends on the culture and the context of that area.
• “God’s dream for your church is bigger than your dream.”

2. Launch quickly

• The odds of successful growth increase for those churches who launch quickly. In other words, don’t get stuck overanalyzing your area or your target or whatever. Don’t wait two years to launch. You can launch successfully within 5-9 months.
• The longer you wait, the more excuses Satan will put before you not to launch.
• “There is always going to be a reason to postpone launching your church. Conditions will never be perfect.”

3. Launch from the outside in

• In other words, it’s possible to launch with only the pastor, the worship leader, and their spouses as the only Christians on the initial launch team.
• It is absolutely possible for the initial launch team to be made up largely of unchurched people.
• “It is completely possible to launch a church in which the only Christians on the initial team are the staff.”

There you go! Page 1 (technically, it’s page 6, but whatever…) of my notes from the Launch Conference. Stay tuned for 8 Contrarian Church Launching Ideas.

Airport Lovin'!

I just got home and, believe it or not I just finished Blue Like Jazz. I have to admit, I loved it. I liked Miller's style and I like where he was coming from. But I'm not gonna get into that right now.

There’s something else that I gotta share. (I wrote what follows while I was waiting for my flight back in New York.)

I’ve been feeling convicted lately that I don’t connect with people enough in my day-to-day life. I’m not talking about friends and people I already know. It’s easy for me to connect with them. I’m talking about strangers.

I first started feeling this way when I went to the Revolution conference in Seattle with D.G. back in November. If you know, D.G., the guy is crazy. He’ll be standing next to someone at the urinal and end up getting their life story before they flush and top it all off by letting them know how much Jesus loves them.

He was like that on our trip to Seattle and it amazed me and convicted me.

Usually, when I fly somewhere I think to myself, “Sweet! I’ve got 5 hours of uninterrupted reading!!” D.G. thinks, “Sweet! 5 hours of talking to someone and making them feel loved!!”

So, as I prepared for this trip to New York, I’ve been thinking that I need to at least take some small steps to make people feel cared about in some way.

This was my plan: I would say to whoever I was sitting next to, “So, are you heading toward home or away from home.” Hey, that’s a pretty good pick-up line if you ask me! Especially considering my tendency is to start reading as soon as I sit down and hope they don’t start talking to me, robbing me of my precious reading time.

Well, that idea hasn’t worked out quite yet. On both legs of my flight to New York I was the only person in my row. But I still wanted to take some small steps to connect with people on this trip.

One of the things I did as we were waiting to take off from New York back to Cincinnati (which hasn’t yet happened—I’m back sitting in the waiting area almost four hours after my flight was supposed to leave) was to make some small talk with the flight attendant.

She was being very patient while we all sat there for an hour waiting for the strobe light on the plane to get fixed. People were frustrated, often taking it out on her. I said to her, “This is the hard part of your job, isn’t it?”

She smiled and said, “No.” Then she said, “Well, actually it is, because I don’t get paid for this time—flight time only.” I told her I thought that sucked and kept chatting for a few minutes.

After I got transferred to another airline, I went to check in and one of the employees—an elderly Indian or Pakistani man—saw the book I was reading, Blue Like Jazz. He asked if it was a book about jazz and I told him that, no, it was a book about spirituality.

At this point, I probably would have ended the conversation. But I thought to myself, I need to follow up on this. So I asked him, “Are you a jazz fan?”

He said he was.

I said I didn’t know much about jazz, but there was a neat quote in the beginning of the book about jazz. So, he came over and read it. Here’s the quote:

I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.

After that I liked jazz music.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.

I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.

The man smiled as he read this and then wrote down the name of the book and the author, Donald Miller. And then he went on to tell me all about the jazz musicians he loves and which ones he’s seen in person and which ones his friend had played with. And then he had to leave.

What excites me about this encounter is not the fact that I talked to him or that I showed him the book. What excites me is that God took my wimpy, little attempt at hospitality and blessed it. This man who quite possibly subscribes to Eastern spirituality (an assumption based on a stereotype, I know...) might read this book on Christian spirituality and might encounter Jesus in it.

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty awesome!

New York, New York!

Had a great day today!

The conference didn't start till 1:00 p.m., so I took the morning to do a little sightseeing. I took the bus and the subway to get into Manhattan. I had intended to go straight to Ground Zero, but misread the directions the hotel gave me, so I ended up at Times Square.

Which was totally fine. I hadn't been at Times Square before, so I walked around a little, took some pictures, and then jumped back on the subway after about ten minutes.

It wasn't far to Ground Zero. I had been to the top of the World Trade Center on a short trip to New York when I was in college, so I was anxious to see this place again.

When I stepped onto the street from the subway, the first thing I saw was that iconic cross made of two steel beams that had been fused together in the heat of 9/11. I saw it and got choked up.

Half a block down the street was Ground Zero. It was amazing to see. I looked up at the sky and tried to imagine how high I would have been standing on the top floor of the World Trade Center fifteen years ago. I spent time looking at the artwork in the viewing area. I read the timeline of events on 9/11. I looked at pictures that had been drawn by children for their daddies and mommies and aunts and uncles who died that day.

That last part was the most emotional part for me. As a dad, I kept thinking about my son Micah. I never, ever want to lose him, or be lost to him. I can't imagine the pain of losing your daddy or being the spouse left behind.

I spent about half an hour at Ground Zero, and then took a cab back to my hotel so that I could get to the conference on time.

The conference itself is great!

It's being led almost entirely by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas, pastors of The Journey Church, a church that launched in Manhattan in early 2002 and now has around 1000 in attendance.

Here's what they've talked about so far:

1. The Journey Story - how The Journey Church got started
2. Introduction - Launch large, Launch quickly, and Launch from the outside in
3. 8 Contrarian Ideas - 8 church-planting ideas that may not seem intuitive, but are true
4. Calling - Do you know for sure that you are undeniably called by God to start a church?
5. Strategy - Developing a launch strategy
6. Funding - Raising funds to launch a church
7. Staffing - building a staff from scratch

Like I said, great stuff. Information that applies mostly to new churches, but much of which is also transferable to existing congregations. I'll fill you in on some more of the details from these sessions in the next week or so.

Tomorrow, I'll be at the conference from 9:00 a.m - 4:00 p.m., and then I head back home to Cincinnati.

Till then, enjoy these pictures from my trip to Manhattan this morning.

Aw, yeah! The view from my hotel room in Queens.












Times Square

















Had to prove I was there!













Ok, as a native Californian, it's just kinda weird to see a Quiksilver boardriders store in downtown New York. Not exactly for hodads (since there's no surfing in New York--that I know of), but can you say "poser"?








The Cross.

















One of the children's pictures.













Construction at Ground Zero

Church-leaving and Church-planting

So here's what's going on in my life.

I'm the Associate Pastor at Union Presbyterian Church, working primarily with the youth ministry. But you already knew that (some of you, anyway). Last May our Senior Pastor resigned, leaving me as the only pastor on staff. It was challenging, but also a time of significant personal growth for me. While I didn't hold the title, "Head of Staff," I essentially served in that role. In that time, I grew in confidence in my ability and calling to serve a church as the lead pastor.

In August, I told our Session (our governing board) that I'd be willing to consider serving as UPC's Interim Pastor. The Session was in favor of it, but the Presbytery (the regional governing body) said they wouldn't approve that. They suggested it would be good for someone to come in from the outside to help the church work through some of its history and challenges.

And I can definitely see the value in that.

Add to all this the fact that our church is having a tough time financially and can now afford to keep only one pastor. Since I couldn't stay on as Interim Pastor, that meant that I would have to leave this church.

Well, at that point, it became clear that God was carving out a new path for me and my family. So, I started looking for a new position, looking primarily for Head of Staff positions.

In the past year, I've begun to develop an interest in church planting, so, in addition to seeking positions at established churches, I also submitted my resume to presbyteries that are starting new churches.

So, here's what has happened with all of that. I've been in touch with two churches over the past several months (one of them more seriously in the past couple weeks). One is a New Church Development (that's what us Presbyterians call a church plant); the other is an established congregation. Both have their pros and cons. Both will be challenging. Both, I believe, will be rewarding. Both--including the established church--are looking for someone with an interest in church planting.

And I'm waiting to see what happens--circling the destination, so to speak, waiting for my clearance to land. Except I'm not sure which one is my destination. Come to think of it, it's totally possible that neither of these is my destination. In any case, I'm waiting--waiting for God to say, "Go!" And when he does, I'll go.

At this moment, I'm lying on my bed in my hotel room in New York City with my laptop on top of my lap, watching Firewall on HBO (man, intense movie!). Tomorrow I walk down the street to attend The Launch Conference: Starting a New Church from Scratch. (The guys doing this conference have got some pretty good, practical podcasts on their site. Check them out here.)

I'm really looking forward to what I'll learn at this conference--regardless of whether I end up in a New Church Development or an established church. As a shrinking denomination, I believe the PC(USA) needs church planters. I believe it needs new churches and it needs renewed churches.

So, anyway, that's what's going on right now. I'll let you know how the conference goes.

Oh, yeah--one more thing. I just started reading Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller. I've heard good things about this book. I've heard bad things. The flight attendant on my first leg today told me it was a great book. My friend, Ted, on the other hand, felt differently. Check out his thoughts here. In all honesty, I love it so far!

Free Church Planting Conference

Aaron Klinefelter informed me on Monday about a free church planting conference in New York. It's called The Launch Conference, and, yes, it really is free! Or it's $35.00 if you pay at the door--but that's still a great deal!

The conference will be January 22-23, 2007, and will feature Nelson Searcy (Lead Pastor of The Journey Church in Manhattan) and Kerrick Thomas (Executive Pastor of The Journey Church), who co-authored the book Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch.