i must admit i get disheartened sometimes when i talk to church planters. more and more it’s about the money. we have an area of Paulding County that has been a fast growing community. it also just happens to be the richest part of the county. guess where there are now 7 church plants and another one about to make the plunge from another part of the county.

so, if you are reading this, i know a pretty good place to start a church in Paulding County, GA. according to demographers still the 9th fastest growing county in the U.S. it won’t be where the money is, but it will be where not another contemporary church for 10-15 miles is located. middle class people need Jesus too. you won’t get rich, but there will be a lot of people to win to Jesus.

in that realm of running for the money. one of the summer interns at one of our church plants turned down a position at another church with a salary to raise his own salary and go to work for the church plant. that my friends is commitment. our interns this summer from Liberty University were top notch. and a thank you to the Gilcrease’s for opening their home for the summer.

read this article the other day about how scientists at a lab in Chicago have created the largest loop (not a scientist so please forgive me if i mess this up) that has created the largest atom (?) and they are crashing the atoms together to try to get down to the lowest physical property on earth – they are calling it, privately of course, “the god element.” officially it is named after some scientist. they are all shook up because the European Union has built a bigger lab with a bigger loop that has potential to beat them to the “god element.”

this brings to mind a little of the conversation on twitter a couple of days ago. is the church organism or organization? here is my take on that – every organism has organization or it falls apart. Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.” faith begins as a tiny atom/seed of thought in a person’s life – “is there a God?” “how did all of this stuff get here?” etc. etc. that faith is germinated and grows into a living breathing person of faith, but 99.99% of the time without an organization to attach itself too that faith will die.

so we may glamorize the church as an organism, fluid, changing, alive, without the organization the organism dies. i’m not particularly enamored with some forms the church takes, but the church has many forms. think of the body. how many expressions of the body are there? does being black, white, yellow, or red make you any less a body? does being small, medium, or large, or in my case, extra large make us less of the body? But to live we must be connected to the vine, the body, the bride.

so the question is not organism or organization – it is are you connected? because then the organism lives!

i shared this with a guy at church the other day. unfortunately I gave him the wrong title and the wrong author. i think i got the gist of the book right. sorry Mark. anyway the book is “Ten Lies About God.” by Erwin Lutzer of pastor of Moody Bible Church.

we have adopted some cultural beliefs about God in the church today. i think most of us are guilty. intellectually we probably deny these, but experientially we act them out. for instance, “many paths lead to God’s presence.” that is simply not true. the world wants it to be true, Oprah wants it to be true, but it’s a lie that Satan has given to the world to make themselves feel good about their “paths.” the truth is that most of those paths give people a pass for whatever sin they need to ignore. then there are some that beat you to death and make you think if i just suffer enough it will get me to heaven.

the bottom line is that “do good to others” and/or beat yourself into submission both lead to works salvation. the bible says there’s nothing you can do to earn it and that there is no condemnation for those that have it. kinda kills most of the world theology out there. and i may love the person that believes otherwise but i am doing that person a disservice if i don’t share with him “the most excellent way.”

church planter if you are not challenging the world’s beliefs and falsehoods you are missing an opportunity to see life change. not saying you need to beat them with your words, although you gotta share, but show them your life and make them ask questions.

i thank God i live in the time i live in. i have had an on-going conversation on twitter with 3 guys – Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia about church planting and discipleship for the last several minutes. never left my desk. that is amazing.

scripture says that Jesus came at just the right time. (my translation) now me I would have waited for TV, Satellite, AC, maybe even time travel, but what do I know.

anyway that gets me to thinking, church planter, when is “just the right time” for you?

as you begin to consider church planting timing is everything. it is difficult to plant in a community that is established, stagnant, or dying (difficult, not impossible). but you can also get to an area too early. if you get to a community when it first starts to grow then when it explodes you are the old news in the community. timing is everything, well just maybe real important. but both require different strategies. know your community and timing can be adjusted.

this morning i read something that just struck me as a little strange. for the life of me i can’t remember what it was. anyway it reminded me of some things my momma used to say…

like, “don’t make that face, you might freeze that way.” now i know how ridiculous that is because unless i died at that instant i was pretty safe that my face would return to normal.

my favorite, “ain’t no man’s mouth a prayerbook.” she’d say that whenever someone tried to convince her she was wrong, or get her to change her mind about something. i like this one because we sometimes begin to look at successful people and think they do no wrong. i have to sometimes remind myself that every man is a sinner that needs salvation by the grace of God. there is no one that escapes the power of sin on this earth, except Jesus, and you ain’t Jesus, (another thing my mother reminded me of more than once).

so what are the myths in your life. the stories that someone told you that became truth for you. for some reason God just reminded me this morning that i need to listen to His voice above all others. because as momma used to say, “ain’t no man’s mouth a prayerbook.”

i’m not spouting anything new, others have said it, lamented it, and like me for the most part done nothing about it but generally the established church has abandoned the city. a few black churches hang on but for the most part they seem to be dying. i’m sure there are exceptions but far too few.

we have to remember that almost 50 percent of the ATL is anglo. where are the churches for them. and yes it would be great if we all spoke the same language, sang the same music, dressed the same dress, danced to the same beat, but God created diversity. i like worshipping with other cultures periodically. i enjoyed worshipping at Oasis Family Church a few weeks ago, but it’s not my style. i like the band, the guitars, the drums, the theater atmosphere, in other words i like what WRC does in worship. so are there some in the city that would respond to my style. probably, am i willing to sacrifice my comfort to reach them? i can cop out and say, “i don’t feel God calling me.” and I don’t but how about supporting those that do.

the other thing about the city. an outsider is not going to reach the city. you’ve got to get your hands dirty. you’ve got to smell the smells, walk the streets, meet the people, live there. so many have tried and failed. because at the end of the day they leave the city and return to their comfortable suburb homes. not bad, just not to plant a church if God called you to the city.

we are planting our first church in the city. largely African-American. peculiarplace church will be multi-cultural. and we want to see Lloyd succeed in the ATL. but although i pray, i haven’t begun to weep. God help me weep for your lost children of the city.

this has been a very busy week. more meetings this week than i’ve had in a long time. but i love the diversity of the people i get to share with. if you’ve read my tweets or facebook you know i’ve talked on the phone with a church from Brazil, met with pastors from Russia, North Carolina, Texas, Canton, and Boston. in between i’ve had staff meetings and answered a few phone calls. whew!!!

the really cool thing is that God is doing some cool things.

last nite i got to teach a class on Prayer here at WRC. i have really enjoyed “Fresh Encounters” by Daniel Henderson. Revitalized my prayer life, especially corporate prayer. 18 people here last nite to go to the next level. i hope God uses the class to get them there.

finally lunch with the summer interns from Liberty University. sharp guys. learning some good stuff. we have a family that has gone way beyond the call of duty to house them this summer. i would be remiss not to mention the Gilcreases’. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HOSPITALITY! the guys are going to have a rough time returning to normalcy after a summer with you.

God is good, if you’re preaching this week bring it! no matter where you worship give Him your best worship! Matt Brooks, lead pastor @ Lifepoint in Alabama is speaking at WRC. i know he will bring it.

i am constantly asked about what makes a good church planter. my friend @davidputman wrote an article yesterday in his blog, (that if i knew more about technology i would link too, sorry david) about assessing church planters and how he could generally do it in about 5 minutes. now i don’t claim to be quite as sharp as my friend david but i also believe it doesn’t take a psychological interview and 4 hours to assess a church planter.

for the most part david got it right. here’s some things i also look for. are you a risk taker? if you have never done anything risky in your life, you’ll probably struggle greatly with planting a church. i’m not talking stupid, but has God ever spoken to you about something totally out of character for you and you did it? if not, stay in a safe ministry.

secondly for me. are you a leader? tell me about something you have led to a successful conclusion. it’s good that you started something, but how did it end? could you get people to follow? did you build structure, leadership, identify people and bring them along. is it john maxwell that says, “you aren’t a leader, if no one is following.” or something like that.

third big deal for me. are you able to meet and actually get along with unbelievers? church planting is about reaching people, new people, people far from God, people God is pursuing. otherwise you are either swapping sheep or stealing sheep and your church may grow but the Kingdom stays stagnant. i often say i get along better with unbelievers than i do some guy that has been a believer for 50 years and hates his neighbor, someone of a different race or even ideas. but if you want to live in your ivory tower and study for sermons all day, everyday you’ll definitely struggle with church planting.

again, i don’t put myself in the league of a david putman, but you better be aware of these three things if you want to plant a church.

met with a pastor from Russia yesterday (not really but in the general vicinity to protect his name). anyway this guy pastors a church that is about 20 years old. attendance somewhere around 500. God has given him a vision to do something new in worship, discipleship, and church planting. the conversation was very interesting.

he told me that some of the issues he faces are, guess what, 1. why are you changing worship, what’s the matter with the old ways, the old hymns, the old preaching, etc, etc, etc, his answer to me – it’s boring. (sound familiar). 2. why do you plant churches, the ones we have are not full, we are licensed by the state, why upset the officials, etc, etc, etc., his answer – is because God calls.

i am so humbled when i talk with a man such as my new friend. i gave him the teaching material we use here in our school of church planting. i thought he was going to cry. humbled. i quote a lot of people. this is not original material for the most part. it cost me nothing. it may cost him everything.

the other thing that impressed me was his passion. he had been trying to get an opportunity to get his ph.d. but has not had the money. i offered to help him contact some schools that may be able to fit his needs. he said to me that since God has given him this vision of church planting that he no longer has time to consider giving time to those academic pursuits. in his country (and in ours) time is short, people are going to hell and people worry about what hymns you sing, how you do discipleship, what name you use, and that my building is not full but you’re starting another church….AAARGH!

thank you my brother for blessing me with your story yesterday.

on another note, congratulations to Daryl Price, the new church planting director for the South Carolina Baptist. Daryl starts August 1. i’ve known Daryl since he graduated from seminary and started his first church. GA Baptist loss is South Carolina’s gain. i’ll miss you in GA, but anytime i can be of help, give me a call. Blessings.

reading this weekend. many church planters have excellence as a core value. WRC has such a statement. excellence is relative, but depending on the neighborhood, excellence can make you or break you. you have to be excellence to the value of your neighborhood. i don’t mean if you’re in a low income area you don’t have to prepare or give your best, but that is the object.

what if an overhead projector is your best and not a megawatt video projector. you need to know your neighborhood. i know a church that went multi-site. when i attended the first service the video of the preaching looked like a super-8 movie from the 70’s. in the neighborhood where that ministry started, not excellent.

but a quote from the book, ‘We want to love people into God’s Kingdom. We are not here to impress them into God’s Kingdom.” this is true but a big BUT is “in your neighborhood what is the definition of excellence?” if you don’t know the answer to that question and someone arrives and they are underwhelmed by your presence will they even stay to be overwhelmed by God’s goodness?

tough question. better know the answer church planter. don’t scrimp on God, but don’t let excellence kill your efforts either.