Archives For church planting

Week-in-Review

August 22, 2010 — Leave a comment

Everyone with experience (who also feels the need to give free advice) has told me how much hard work church planting is. It’s true: long hours, late nights, big meetings, laboring in prayer, making connections, planning, designing, preparing, negotiating… it really is tons of work (and our senior pastor at the Bridge, Rick, does a great job of not only coordinating a lot of the work but also getting out and doing it).

Now, after hosting another mission team this summer (a group of teens who did a great job helping us make important connections), I’m reminded of how physically hard the work can be.  Sore feet, knees, and back remind me: this ain’t no office job.  After all of our canvassing (in a place called “Penn Hills” which gives you an idea of the terrain), connecting with businesses and a couple of service projects, it’s time for a new pair of shoes and some icy hot.  And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

This was part of our push toward our ‘big event’ of the Summer: a totally free Family Fun Day for the community.  We went door-to-door inviting people and hanging doorhangers, the team put up about 140 flyers, posted yard signs, and hosted a free carwash (which facilitated the opening of some amazing doors of opportunity with people of influence in the community); cookies were baked and platters of them given to local businesses; giveaways from area businesses were received  which will help keep Family Fun Day free for the people who take part.

God is moving in very real ways and I’m excited to see what the results will be of God’s undeniable activity and our obedient effort.

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In a year, everything can change…

August 11, 2010 — Leave a comment

Bridge Launch Team

... If you’re looking for proof, just look at the post Sarah penned here.

We continue to see God do amazing things like connecting us with community members through a recent volleyball clinic, allowing significant relationships to be built, hosting our first service in the Penn Hills library, and incredible ministry opportunities with Indian & Nepali refugees.  We find our passion growing for the development of a network of church-planting churches which are loving, learning, and living Jesus.  The reality of a second church plant scheduled to take root in June of next year is beginning to settle in and the excitement of preview services beginning next month is almost overwhelming.  We continue to pray for twenty people to come to know Jesus as a result of our ministry this summer.   Simply stated, we have been floored by the faithfulness of our God and King as he leads us.

If I had space here, I would write in detail about the many prayers God has already answered–but many of those are stories best told over a hot cup of coffee, anyway.  The gist of it all is that being part of this journey of faith has been an incredible joy for Sarah and me–we never would have imagined a year ago that our lives would be as full of adventure and expectation as they are today.  We also know we could not do what we’re doing without you.

To those of you who have so faithfully prayed for and given to the ministry of The Bridge, we say thank you!  You are helping the dream of seeing greater things come to Pittsburgh become reality.  In order for us to maintain our current pace and focus of ministry in Pittsburgh, however, we need increased financial support or additional employment.

Over the course of the next few days, we’ll be sending out some suggested ways that you can help.

Thanks for being in our corner and bringing greater things to Pittsburgh!

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Myth: There is Such a Thing as A “Typical” Church Planter

May 3, 2010 — Leave a comment

<image courtesy of carbonNYC @ Flickr>

I have never met a ‘typical’ church planter.

Sure, assessment helps determine whether someone has a demonstrable history of the kind of gifting and passion needed to help find success in a planting endeavor, but beyond certain gifts, history, and focus, it seems there’s no real ‘church planter’ mold.

In most of the circles I engage, it seems someone who is an ‘ideal fit’ for church planting is a young, good looking, tech-savvy, trendy, incredibly oratorically gifted, overwhelmingly catalytic guy.  But the real, flesh-and-bone church planters I know are different. They are women. They are men. They are younger.  They are older.  They are passionate.

But they aren’t the people you would probably chase down to start a new church.

Maybe I’m looking at this too much through my own eyes–when I think of me being involved in the church planting adventure, I see all the reasons I shouldn’t be here: I am too broken, too fat, too geeky, too awkward to be a church planter.

But, so far, those things haven’t really disqualified me.

In fact, I think God can use me to engage other broken, fat, geeky, awkward people in a way a ‘typical’ church planter may not.

I guess what I’m trying to say is this: Don’t let what you think you need keep you from pursuing a ministry God might have for you. He has a Great Adventure for you, if only you’ll jump in with both feet and let him use you…whoever/however you are.

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Myths

April 2, 2010 — Leave a comment

You did it today.  So did I.  At least once.  Probably without realizing it, we made an assumption about someone’s job–how easy or hard or menial or vital that job was; how untrained or overworked or under-appreciated or uncaring the person at the tollbooth, behind the counter, at the other end of the phone conversation, or in the corner office–having never really experienced it for ourselves.

I know there are ‘myths’ about every career, position, ministry, and activity; there are stereotypes and misinformed assumptions about what life there is like.  In the past few months, I’ve discovered some of my own misled assumptions and myths about church planting/church planters, and a few that other people have about those of us on this side of the church planting adventure.  So, the next few posts will have the common thread of debunking “church planting myths.”

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Whatchamacallit…

March 31, 2010 — Leave a comment
Nameless Can

courtesy of stock.xchng

As we have announced the name for the Pittsburgh Church Plant, The Bridge, reactions have been interesting to gauge.  Most people a generation before mine are thrilled with the name.  Most people in my own generation seem to like it, but don’t have a particularly deep  affinity for it.  People in the generation after mine could care less about the name and what to see something done before they develop any connection at all.  That really doesn’t have much to do with anything, but I thought I’d throw it out there as food for thought.

Regardless, in my last post, told you I would share the highly scientific, market research-intensive, professional process we used for landing on a name.  I’m not sure how ‘real’ church planters do it, but this was our process:

  • Talking.
  • Praying.
  • Talking.
  • Killing bad ideas.
  • Praying.
  • Discussing names with people.
  • Killing bad ideas that we thought were good ideas.
  • Starting over.
  • Praying.
  • Talking.
  • Dealing with pressure about the need for a name from different sources.
  • Praying and talking.
  • Sensing ‘this is it’ from the Holy Spirit, other people, and launch team members.
  • Announcing a name.
  • Getting an EIN and checking account.
  • Continuously sharing the name and why it’s significant.
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