I have begun to hear from several guys that are kicking up preparations for Spring 09 launches, starts, first services, watever you want to call them. Anyway just got this from a church planter in Tennessee, “have connected with a Catholic that is asking questions, a wiccan who wants to know she can come and explore without being judged, and a Jewish girl that has wrecked her life.” That folks is what church planting is about.

One of the things I often tell church planters in our training class is “if you are planting a church for the unchurched you will go places you’ve never gone before and meet people you’ve never met before.”

When I first became a church planting consultant back in the 90’s whenver I would go meet a church planter I almost always went to the coffee shop early and would engage some people in conversation before the church planter got there. I almost always was able to find a few unchurched folks. If you read my blog on Friday you saw my experience at the coffee shop where every table had someone studying the bible either by themselves or in groups. Without going to a bar where do you go to meet unchurched people?

Not to say I’m above going into a bar. Probably a lot of church members there also, but… The problem in bars is that they are either too dark or too loud to really engage people. I could do the whole men love darkness bit but I won’t. It’s just that I like to be able to really talk to people. In New Orleans I would go to Cafe DuMonde on Saturday’s and start conversations. I used to go to Starbucks.

I hate to think that at the end of my career I’m too old for Starbucks or Little Five. Too hard of hearing  for bars. Too blind for dark places. Yet I’m too young to have to go scouting at the nursing home. Oh woe is me, the middle ages!

Back to the launches: Go get’em. These are the guys I know are starting something right now; Shane Craven – Origin Church, Ringgold; Kevin Selsor, One Hope, Paulding; Alan Trippe, Discovery, Carrollton; and Jim Richmond, North Ridge, TN. Pray for these guys: God’s provision, God’s blessings, God’s timing, God’s presence, God’s protection, a great Spring Harvest.  

Sitting at a coffee shop…6 women doing a Bible study, 4 pairs of men -Bible study or praying, three guys and me sitting at tables alone with Bibles out, if there’s a non-believer in here THEY would be out of place. When did Christians take over the coffee world. I bet they are shaking their heads in Seattle asking “where did we go wrong.” Now where do I go to spend time and possibly have conversation with a skeptics without going all the way to Little Five Points?

Last year when I first signed up to blog I thought to myself that this is a waste of time. Statistically I’m getting somewhere around 700 visits a day. I know that is small stuff to many of the big boys in church planting and pastoring, but I labor in relative obscurity in the world of church planting. Anyway.

I check each morning about 15 – 20 blogs to see what the people in my circle of church planting and in the church world are thinking and doing. This is what is I am thinking right now. If I were a church planter or a pastor of a small church I would blog almost daily. I’m not talking about twittering that my baby threw up on me, or I’ve got diarrhea or I’m drinking a sugar free cinnamon latte’ with whipped cream stuff.

Blogging is free and can be accomplished pretty easily in a short time. I would communicate with my church members and community. I don’t know that I would waste their time or my time with trivial stuff but with good church stuff. Some personal stuff is okay if it can communicate to your target about something of importance.

So, bi-vocational guys, small church guys, guys with no communications departments in your church. WRITE SOMETHING! If your time is limited, then quit reading everyone else and write something to your target. You must have something to say or God would not have called you to pastor. COMMUNICATE! about vision, values, mission, people who have done something good, prayer requests, community events, scripture and everyday life, something you’ve learned.

In the time you have read this, pastor,  you could have told your congregation what a great sermon you have prepared and if they bring their friends this weekend they will not be disappointed. Your peeps are much more important than me. I’m glad you’re here but if you’ve made a choice between me and communicating with your people, you made the wrong choice. Just saying…

Here’s some suggestions: when you outline your sermons, write a short sentence each day about that topic and whet their appetite for more, take a statement of your vision and explain it everyday for a week, same for values, talk about how these things shape decision making, challenge people to involvement, talk about the difference a volunteer is making. lots of stuff.

Another thing is who are you blogging  for, if it’s for other pastors then shut it down, if it’s for your church use it. (I admitted to myself a long time ago that the big boys aren’t going to follow me, I write for church planters and for a few friends in the WRC congregation that are my friends and who enjoy my stupid rants once in a while, blog for the right audience.) Provide the link in your ministry guide every week. List your topics for the week. Encourage your people to go there.

I know your time is limited, but this article took me less than 10 minutes. Do you have 10 minutes to communicate something important to your people? Use it. Don’t let it sit idle for days and months. I don’t check your blogs out to see if you watched NASCAR on Sunday or how your bracket is doing. I check it out to see if you are saying anything to your church. Unfortunately most of you aren’t. That’s sad.

When I first moved to Paulding County I thought I had moved to the wilderness. I bought a house on 1.5 acres which I though made me a farmer. Our first full summer I decided I was going to plant a garden. Now I thought if somebody plowed the ground and I planted seeds I would have an abundance of veggies. Unfortunately I didn’t do my homework. Out of all of that work I believe we got one pot of beans, about a half dozen carrots the size of my little finger, and perhaps a tomato or two. It was a disaster the next summer in that spot I planted a swimming pool.

Spring has set in and I got to thinking about that garden and all I did wrong and went to find out how to do it right. There are many lessons for church planters also.

1. Select the right location. Church Planters want to go where others have been successful. Find your own spot of ground. You have to think about several issues when choosing the location: SIZE – how big do you want this church or garden to grow. FLEXIBILITY – not all plants grow in your garden or church, you need to kow what will make you most successful. SUN – don’t place your garden or your church in some out of the way spot where there is no sun or exposure. GOOD SOIL – where is the seed more likely to grow, dry parched land or ariable soil. The bible talks about good soil and bad soil, plant a church in good soil.

2. Decide what you are going to grow. This is the church planters VISION, VALUES, MISSION, STRATEGIC PLAN, SCHEDULE. ETC. A gardener must know what he wants to grow, how to prepare the soil, what to plant, when to plant, etc.

3. Prepare the soil. TILL IT – to get a good garden my source says you got to dig down about 24 inches and turn the ground over. Too many church planters want to plant on the surface. Dig into the community if you want to be successful. FERTILIZE IT – a gardener that does will knows the right combination of nitrates, alkaline, and other minerals the soil needs to grow a successful garden and when to apply it. The same is said of a church planter, you ought to know what is going to cause your gospel seed to grow. REMOVE ROCKS AND WEEDS, too often we complain about rocks and weeds and pray for God to remove them. More than likely that will be your job. I never planted a garden that I first didn’t have to remove the rocks and weeds to get something to grow.

4. Choose the Seed. I read one time that asparagus is the fastest growing vegetable in the garden in the northwest. Once the harvest begins it has to be cut twice a day to keep up. In the south, asparagus will grow but at a much slower pace. Now I know some wise guy is going to dispute that, again, I am not a gardener I depend on what I read. I think the same is true in church planting. Not every community will respond to every method of evangelism and discipleship. The church planter needs to know what will grow their garden.

5. Deal with pests. I like this one. USE A GOOD PESTICIDE, know what works on the bugs in your garden. In the south we have these vines called kudzu, it came from Japan to be used as a ground cover. Unfortunately there is no native pests to eat kudzu and once it starts it is hard to get rid of. The government will not let anyone import the natural enemy of the kudzu so it grows indiscriminately. Know what will kill the pest in your garden. TEND TO THE WEEDS THAT GROW UP, this is a hard lesson. If you ignore the weeds they will choke out your garden. You must deal with issues as they arise otherwise a weed will stop your growth.

6. Harvest. The best season of planting. Enjoying the fruits of your labor. But veggies have different harvest seasons and you must be ready. PICK AS YOU GO – some veggies can be picked off the vine as soon as they start growing and other veggies will grow back in their place. STAGES – some veggies grow in stages and must be picked at just the right time or will be picked too early or too late. END OF SEASON – some veggies has a natural life that has to wait until the end of the season to be picked. There are seasons of harvest for the church planter. Be ready to pick the easy fruit but know when to pick the fruit that is growing in stages. And finally at the right season of a persons life be there for the harvest.

7. After the harvest. The best gardener knows when to rotate the crop and how to prepare the land for a second harvest. In my Georgia history growing up I learned that farmers almost killed the usefulness of the soil by planting cotton year after year. Cotton depleted the soil of needed nutrients. NEVER STOP PREPARING AND WORKING THE SOIL IF YOU WANT A SUCCESSFUL FARM YEAR AFTER YEAR. Till, water, fertilize, plant.

Know your season. Grow your church.

One of the most oft asked questions I get is, “When do I add staff?” The second is like unto it (don’t that sound biblical), “How do I pay for staff?”

I’m going to answer that question with an old school answer and a new faith reality. First you add staff before you need staff. The old school church growth people have a formula. A pastor can care for about 75 people very well. Arn McGavern called these family groups. Think about it this way when you go to a family reunion on an average year there are 50-75 relatives there, maybe 100 if you have a big family. The patriarch or matriarch has called the family together each year. The reason you only have 50-75 is because the patriarch or matriarch can only effectively care for that number of people. They can know the special days, the sickness, the operations, separations, heartaches, etc of this group. It is the same in the church a patriarch, usually the pastor, can personally care for about 50-75 people effectively, if you move beyond that to 150 people that you are caring for then you are headed for burn-out. This is the reason that about 90% of churches in America do not move beyond 75 in attendance.

If you move beyond 75 people then you need a new pastor to take care of more people and “we don’t have the money for that.” So the church stays where it is and doesn’t grow. The question is do you wait until you have the money and people or do you hire first? Church Planter where is your faith? If you only do what you can do then where is God in the process. If you only hire what you can afford then you will probably never grow beyond a one or two family unit church. If you have a two family unit church you and don’t hire a staff you will burn-out. It’s a matter of when not if.

So, the second question is how do you pay for them. 1. Ask the person to raise support for at least a portion of the salary for a period of two years. 2. Share the need with your people, cast the vision, and take up a special offering. 3. Obviously you need to pray, should have listed this first but I won’t be superspiritual and make you think this was may first thought. 4. You are the lead pastor, you hit your contacts and raise a portion from outside the church.

If you are a church planter bumping against a barrier and can’t move beyond it. You probably need a new staff member. Make sure God is leading. Take a leap of faith. Cast the vision. Make sure you got the right person in the right seat on the bus. Write a job description for what you need not what you want. Hire someone that can get that job done. Look within first, someone who’s already volunteering in that capacity. Ask your friends second. Trust God and try your faith out. You may be amazed at what God will do.

Saturday was one of those days you just think “it can’t get much better than this.”

I began the day with the School of Church Planting. Seven guys and their teams talking exciting stuff about administration and legal issues to which Kevin D. had everyone gasping for air there was so much stuff to pass on. The Judy M. did a superb job talking about assimilating people and getting people involved in ministry. After I bored them with a couple of sessions Mike Lukaszewski did a great job with sharing the values of Oakleaf Church. They held him over for 45 minutes asking questions.

Then I’m cleaning up and getting ready to leave and I see this guy running around the atrium. I stop to ask if I can help. He tells me his story and I share a little about WRC, he is Hispanic, his wife Indian (as in India) and their looking for a church. Next day he comes walking into the service.

Then after sharing with the new guy I walk into the first ever Hispanic Worship service here at WRC. Just got to hear the closing song and prayer, but it was awesome. I think just over 50 people were here and we’ve done no advertising outside of WRC. Jeff was so excited he forgot to take an offering. I want to remind Jeff if he doesn’t take an offering someone doesn’t get paid.

Then we had a great Sunday. @timgrandstaff absolutely knocked it out of the park teaching Sunday morning. We are going to miss him when he is gone. Orlando is going to profit from Genesis Church coming to a community near you in 2010. I also got Tim’s profile for church planting, I expect great things.

The kicker was the email our staff received this morning when we got to work. I have to share this. A couple of weeks ago as we are returning from lunch K.D. saw a guy in the prayer garden. He has lost his job and he needs back surgery. He is hurting bad emotionally and physically. This is a guy that has served in the church for some time. He is walking with a cane and has been for almost two years because of the pain in his back. K.D. asked him to come to our pastor and director staff meeting and allow us to pray over him. We anointed him with oil in obedience to James 5. Several of us prayed. Yesterday he comes into church without the cane and does a jig for K.D. and says look what God has done. No surgery, no pain pills. He quit using the cane last week.  God is so GOOD!!!!

Ever notice how much communication and relationship is passed over meals. I began my day with a potential church planter at a Waffle House and will end my day at a restaurant with my Journey Group from WRC. At lunch I snuck away into the prayer garden and enjoyed some alone time and read a book while  I ate my Subway (5 points on the Weight Watchers point system) sandwich.

When I find myself in meetings all day I usually will take one meal and try to avoid people I know. It is one way that I find helps to restore me. I am around people, which I love,  but I don’t have to communicate with anyone which relaxes me. I am reading “Leading on Empty” by Wayne Cordeiro. Sometime ago I did an exercise that is similar to one in his book, what are the five things that fill your cup and what are the five things that drain your cup:

Five things that pump me up:

1. Veg time, crossword puzzles, time when nobody expects anything of me and I return that expectation.
2. Exchanging ideas, (arguing) with innovative people.
3. Good or bad college football, good baseball at just about any level
4. When people get it
5. Working on a project that others say can’t happen and getting it done

Five things that drag me down:

1. When people don’t try or make excuses
2. Negative people
3. When Georgia loses in football
4. Social injustice, especially to children (child abuse, neglect, hunger, etc) may get me pumped up too but in a negative way, been known intervene in people’s lives in a not so positive way if I see them hurting children
5. When plans fail or I’m not given a chance to try, sends me into a funk.

So what builds you up or drags you down? What people build you up or drag you down. Here’s a hint, spend more time with the people and situations that build you up. Ministry sure is more fun that way. Tonight I will dine with some people that build me up. Looking forward to it.

Religion is out of date…how many times have we heard this. The statistics are alarming. Growing animosity toward “organized religion” is growing. A larger number of people today say they are atheist. 30% of people getting married now have a civil ceremony, 35% of people say they don’t want a religious service when they die.

A columnist in the AJC rings out a list of reasons that people are disillusioned with “organized religion.” Sin in the camp, not his words, but mine. The media picks up on every pastor, imam, rabbi, priest that has ever committed a public sin and lays it at the door of every church, synagogue, or mosque. He listed the Bakers and the Swaggerts, Angel Food, and other ministries. Bombers, child abusers, thiefs, and adulterers are all these fundamentalist that are in it for themselves. It’s not about God according to the columnist. He even quotes George Burns in the movie “God!” When the man says, “I don’t go to church.” God says, “neither do I.”

I cannot speak for all denominations but there are well over 50,000 ordained pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention. Do you know how many fail each year? In a bad year 5 – 10%. Actually not a bad percentage. Do I wish none failed, absolutely. Is that realistic? Absolutely not. But I don’t blame God and quit going to church. I blame man or Satan and realize how much more I need God not to conduct my life in this manner.

And interestingly it almost always is blamed on fundamentalism. I count myself as pretty fundamental. I believe the Bible is God’s Word – Truth without Error. Was Adam and Eve real, probably, does it hurt me that someone thinks differently, no. Is evolution correct, somewhat actually, except for that part that God says everything was created after it’s own kind, my daddy was a drunk but he wasn’t an ape. Did Jesus do miracles? Absolutely. Did Jesus rise from the dead? Most assuredly. Was Mary a Virgin as we think of virgins? Absolutely. But you know what? I have never bombed a building, an abortion clinic, nor a homosexual bar. I am not homophobic just because I think the Bible is correct about their lifestyle. I also believe heterosexuals living together is sin and I wouldn’t hire them either. So am I heterophobic?

I’ve never hassled an atheist. Never picketed a mosque or synagogue. I have witnessed of my faith to people of different religious persuasions but didn’t beat them over the head or ostracize them because they believed differently than I. I still believe God loves everyone, but because of their choices they are going to hell, but we live in America where that is their right to make those choices. Fundamentally they are wrong, according to my faith, but fundamentally they have a right to be wrong. And therefore have access to every place of public record as long as they don’t make me hire them in my church. I’m proud to say that pretty much anyone can attend my church if you are there to worship. But, we are going to worship Jesus, call sin – sin, and tell you there is a way to heaven and that life on earth is meant to be lived abundantly. Isn’t that mean?

Here’s another thing. I’m a fundamentalist with a pretty high IQ. I’ve been tested I can prove it. Not to brag or anything but I can pull out a pretty good argument for most of these things. So, if you don’t want to attend church, that is your privilege, you are free, but don’t blame the fundamentalist or the liberal theologian for that matter for your choices. When you get to the Pearly Gates God is not going to ask you what the Bakers did, what Jimmy Swaggert did, the question will be, “What did you believe about Jesus and what did you do about it?”

Now preachers, church planters, after that first question about Jesus, your next question will be “Were you a man of integrity, a man of good reputation, a man that became all things to all men so that you might win some?” Well, are you?

We had a guy take the WRC logo and have it tattooed on his arm. Now I know that Gary Lamb and some of his guys got a little tipsy one night ( ) and got the R tattooed on the back of their legs, but we didn’t even pay this guy he just showed up at church with the tattoo. He said it helped remind him of the change in his life and what WRC meant to him.

What tags do you have that remind you of life change? I have some scars from some years ago that remind me daily of unpleasant events in my life but I have to struggle to think about how positive things have tagged my life. This is especially helpful when things are getting me down. When I get real depressed or feeling sorry for myself I sometimes have to start writing down things God has done in my life. If I’m not too depressed I go back a few years. If I’m really down in the dumps I may have to go all the way back to my salvation in 1970.

So, I’m tagged by my experiences to a large extent. Both good and bad. I can let Satan get the best of me and remember the bad times or I can allow the Holy Spirit to win out and hold tight to the good things God has done in my life. I try to keep the cup at least half full, but I must admit sometimes it can get half empty.

I’m also tagged somewhat by my reputation. There are some people I have fooled that really believe I know what I’m talking about. There are some folks I have counseled that think I’m a half bubble off center and there are some that might even say I have helped them somewhere on the journey. There are church planters that would vouch for me on a brochure and some that would cuss me for my advice or lack of it. A lot of guys blame me for some decisions that I had no control over in the denominational realm. But no excuses. I will say this though I think at least in that sphere each church planter got what he paid for, which was usually nothing. I usually even paid for lunch or coffee so I could spout all the bull I wanted.

So when the day is over and you preached your last sermon how will others tag you? Does that matter to you. At the end I want of course the tag, “well done good and faithful servant.” But honestly I hope when I hang up my jeans (since I don’t have spurs) and my double x t-shirts I hope some church planter will say about me, “Jimi helped me go to the next level.” Then it will be worth it. I think that’s called legacy. What will yours be?

I had several people at church yesterday tell me they were praying for me. There is a website here called paulding.com where all the gossip of the area gets entered. Well this past week someone posted that Jim Akins has a brain tumor and needed prayer. There have been people across the years that have questioned by sanity. But unfortunately I can’t use a brain tumor as an excuse.

Well there is another Jim Akins believe it or not and he too is a pastor. He has been an interim or revival preacher for several churches in the area. That Jim Akins is a great guy. And is worthy of your prayers.

Here is a couple of stories that involve the two of us. The first time I ever knew there was another “Jim Akins” I was at a conference in California. I was at the hotel and got a late call from a guy asking for a ride to the church where the conference was to be held. I figured he saw my name on some list and needed a ride. I said sure I’d meet him in the lobby the next morning. The next morning he came walking up saw my name tag and said, “you’re not the Jim Akins I know.” He told me that Jim Akins was the state evangelism director for the California Baptist. I think he even called the other Jim, in reality I’m probably the other Jim. Anyway we got somewhat of an introduction.

Here’s the best one and how I found he had moved to Georgia. I belonged to the NAMB credit union when I worked for the Georgia Baptist. I called the credit union one morning to ask about my balance and to withdraw some money. I asked the lady about my balance and she gave me some astronomical figure. After choking on her words I told her she must have made some mistake that I did not have that kind of money in savings. It turned out when “Jim” moved to town he moved his savings to the credit union and since I had been a long time member they put his money in my account. Unfortunately I didn’t get the interest either.

Anyway. Jim Akins is a great guy. Worthy of your prayers. Jim I hope and pray that God heals you. I trust He is not finished with you yet. Me I could use your prayers also, remember the old saying, “I can use the prayers and you can use the practice.”   If anyone wants to post to paulding.com that the WRC Jim is physically healthy but you question his sanity I will understand.