Archives For church planting

Doug, Tony and the Church Planters Academy

bob —  May 25, 2012

A few weeks ago I had the chance to fly out to Minneapolis and join Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, Tim Keel, Tim Condor, Nadia Bolz-Webber and others in teaching a church planters academy. The event was “to equip and encourage those desiring to start new churches in fresh and entrepreneurial ways.

  • For those who are starting new churches.
  • For those who are exploring starting a new churches.
  • For those who’ve already started churches and want to gather with others who are doing the same.”

My general impressions:

Doug and Tony know how to put on an event. Organized and fun, the time was also encouraging and instructive with plenty of interaction built in. It really was a learning community.

While most both in attendance and speaking ranged from my general theological neighborhood to so far down the block to my left that I trouble seeing them from where I stand, I felt the whole tone was respectful of people wherever they were at theologically (including those further to the center/right like me). I was stretched in good ways and feel like I was also allowed to be stretching of others.

Doug and Tony are both master facilitators. I was especially impressed with Tony’s ability to manage a conversation without overlaying his own agenda on it and really drawing out of his conversation partners what they think/feel and want to say.

Tony and I are frequent “disagreement partners” on the internets. :) But that didn’t stop him from welcoming me and hosting me in his home. Doug and Tony both have always impressed me with their hospitality and graciousness.

I hope they do this event again and would encourage people looking for either a general on ramp into the church planting discussion or encouragement along the way to attend. I think you’ll be glad you did.

In church planting
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A Model for Discernment in the Missional Church Context, Part 2

bob —  April 25, 2012

Personal Context

One of the earliest decisions we made as a community was that we would not have “formal” membership. In those early days, many believed that the desire to be a place where people could belong before they believed superseded the need for formal membership. This meant, though, that we were for all intents and purposes, an elder-led community. Though we would try to lead by consensus and involve the community as much as possible, we couldn’t do “congregational government” in the traditional sense without formal membership. Everyone understood that and has (with a couple of notable exceptions) agreed with and supported the decisions the elders have made.

In leading and making decisions, we work under the rubric that a particular decision is one of three kinds: 1. Communal- that is, something we will put before the community and leave it up to them to decide 2. Elder recommendations- things which the elders have prayed, thought and discussed over and believe to be in the best interests of the community, but still want to build consensus around and won’t move on until that consensus is built and 3. Elder decisions- things which the elders through prayer and discussion have decided and implement, informing the community as necessary and as appropriate.

Examples 

#1 Communal-type decisions are often related to issues where the entire community is a stake-holder and many potential good decisions or directions exist. When initially making the decision to remain in pub spaces or occupy a church-type building, this decision was left to the community. Also, at one point, we had to make a decision whether to keep a Sunday evening gathering in SW Portland going. This decision was put before and left to those who were a part of that gathering.

#2 Elder recommendations are things which the elders have prayed through and feel strongly enough that we want to make a proposal to the community. Some of these take the form of “we won’t move unless we feel there’s consensus on this” (such as a recent proposal for a community covenant) , others are more of a “unless there’s a significant community issue with this, we will go ahead” (this is how we bring new elders to the community). Some personnel issues also fit this category, as in new hires.

And last, #3 Elder decisions tend to be either high level directional issues regarding doctrine (even then, the community is involved, as when we decided to be a community affirming of women in all levels of leadership), or personnel (firing and salaries, mostly).

Even with this rubric, we often find ourselves attempting to discern just which category a particular situation or decision falls under. And as with all things, we try to do this through prayer, discussion and consensus as leaders.

But surely it’s not all that easy? Of course not. Craig Van Gelder highlights some of the issues of communal discernment in a postmodern context:

“In light of the hermeneutical turn that has developed over the past century, there is no going back to a world that can be framed in seemingly black-and-white categories. The diversity of interpretations of reality, which are manifest both in the multiperspectival character of biblical studies and the different methods used by the social sciences, makes this impossible. This means that part of the challenge facing Christian leaders today is learning to engage diverse perceptions of reality by drawing on a variety of methods that can inform the discernment and decision-making process. Relying primarily on one method, whether it is in relation to biblical teaching or scientific explanation, is no longer viable, if it ever was. Diverse perspectives, rooted in different methods and the particulars of social location, bring a multiperspectival dynamic into any discussion. Rather than playing out these differences around power dynamics related to personalities, roles, or the vote of the majority, which is so often the case in congregations, a more redemptive approach is to engage such differences through a process of mutual discernment. This requires leadership. This requires time. This requires a mutual commitment among those who are around the table. And this requires being Spirit-led. Reflected in this approach is the important theoretical insight that we need to develop a practice of “communicative reason” within diverse communities in order to come to shared conclusions. “(5)

Practically Speaking…

In practice, our seasons of discernment have ranged from 3 months to a year. They often start and end with prayer meetings. As a community, we have generally eschewed anything like a “business meeting” but have always incorporated prayer, silence/reflection and listening into our times of discernment. In that way, we are somewhat Quakeresque (6), in that we desire these times to be a meeting for worship in which business is conducted and decisions discerned.

Around this structure of times of prayer come online and in-person discussions, both formal and informal. We use the online discussions and formal discussions to attempt to answer questions and objections, and to make sure that all viewpoints are heard. We have one elder in particular, Sarah, who is skilled in getting to the place where everyone feels, whether we go in their desired direction or not, that they have been heard and understood. The less-formal conversations generally take place in home communities, around tables and among small groups or individuals. We use these to get a sense of where the community is at as we seek for consensus and the answer to the question “What are WE hearing from God.”

Often, at the end of one of these seasons, we have reached that place where we can say “It seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us” and we are able to move ahead. In cases where that is not true, we generally forgo moving ahead in favor of further process.

 To be continued…

5 Craig Van Gelder, Ministry of the Missional Church, The: A Community Led By The Spirit, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007. (Loc 1521, e-edition)

6 Paul Anderson, “The Meeting for Worship in which Business is Conducted.” Quaker Religious Thought 106-107 (November 2006): 26-47

In church planting, community, Ecclesiology, leadership, Pastoral
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A Model for Discernment in the Missional Church Context, Part 1

bob —  April 24, 2012

Introduction

When I look back on the beginning of our church plant eight years ago, the things which stand out to me in terms of significant turning points for The Evergreen Community all have to do with discernment. As we set out to start a new church community, without benefit of sending church or denomination, we knew that in many ways we were alone. And in that, our dependence on the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our conversations as a community, particularly about where we were going and what we were becoming became increasingly important.

Early questions of who would do what and what principles would lie at the core of our community stretched us all to listen not only to the Scriptures and to the Holy Spirit, but to one another. And because more often than not, those stretching moments drove us to do that kind of deep listening to God and one another, I began to see my role as pastor and elder as one, not of solving problems, but rather of pointing to them, raising the tension around them and allowing the process to work. I can say that in looking back, we have re-invented many wheels, and are better off for done so in almost every case.

Our Church Context

Our church, The Evergreen Community, sits firmly in the “missional” stream of churches which have “emerged” from the Emerging Church movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s. As the Emerging church movement matured (or some would say failed to mature), many saw the need to retain the contextualization of the Gospel that was at the core, to keep asking the same kinds of “couldn’t we do it differently than we always have?” questions, and to sustain an outward focus contra the country-club mentality that had seemed to infect so many churches, while at the same time not descending into the kind of Mainline theological liberalism that had already proven impotent earlier in the previous century. In contrast to the Universalism and generally low view of Scripture held by many Emergent churches, the Missional church movement tends to be Gospel-centered, theologically centrist and evangelistically oriented. They see themselves as existing not for the sake of themselves, but for the sake of the Gospel and the cities in which they are planted. However, they tend to share the same kinds of creative methodologies and spirit as well as a concern for justice that characterize Emergent churches.

Gailyn Van Rheenan says missional churches seek foundationally to be “theologically formed, Christ-centered, Spirit-led fellowships that seek faithfully to incarnate the purposes of Christ.”1

In that Evergreen is a missional community, that aspect of being Spirit-led has been and is important to us.

A central question for us both individually and as a community is this: What do I (we) hear God saying, and what would it look like to respond appropriately. We attempt to end every Sunday with dialoguing this question together as we ask ourselves and each other what we have heard the Spirit say thru the Word, the discussion, the prayers and songs and coming to the Table.

In times of tension, or in times when we sense the Spirit leading us to change, our practice is to call the community to a season of discernment, punctuated by communal times of prayer (which are meant to work hand-in-hand with individual prayer), discussions and consensus-building.

Theological Rationale

Our goal in these times of discernment is to get to a sense of “it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”2

Much of what Scripture says about discernment has to do with individuals discerning truth from falsehood, but in terms of communal decision-making processes, we can hardly find a better description of the process or the outcome than that of the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15. When faced with a difficult and already divisive issue, the apostles went back to Scripture, to reasoned discussion, to prayer and the role of the Spirit in their midst as they attempted to recognize what God was already doing in their midst and join Him in it.

In the same way, our goal as a community is not to come to the most expedient decision or the one which will cause the least amount of controversy. Rather, our desire is to prayerfully walk the community through a dialogue which, leaning heavily on the Spirit and the Word, looks for what God is doing, listens for what God is saying, and does our best to formulate an appropriate response.3

As we do so, we often find ourselves being able to say, like the apostles, this course seems like not only the best idea, but where God Himself is leading us.

And, of course, as Sweet and Viola suggest, we want our community, especially in times of discernment/decision-making to be “discovering and displaying – that is, discovering and displaying Christ.”4

 

To Be Continued…

 

Footnotes:

1. Gailyn Van Rheenan “Contrasting Missional and Church Growth Perspectives,” in Restoration Quarterly 48.1 (2006), 225-232.

2 Acts 15:28

3 “Leaders are so focused on the outcome that they neglect the process – the process of searching God’s will.” Larry Julian, God is My Coach: A Business Leader’s Guide to Finding Clarity in an Uncertain World, (New York: Center Street, 2009),  xviii.

4 Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, Jesus Manifesto (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010), 144.

 

In church planting, community, Ecclesiology, missional
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Some Big Changes…

bob —  January 6, 2012

This week I became something I haven’t been in a long, long time.
A part-time pastor.

Since we started Evergreen, I’ve been full-time. I embraced the idea of bi-vocationalism if necessary to get the community off the ground, but always counted myself lucky that I was able to devote my energies full-time to our community.
So what’s changed?
Mostly, me.
Over the last couple of years some significant things have happened. One, i’ve developed a good side income that more than pays the bills with a minimal amount of energy. It’s truly been a blessing- and no, I won’t tell you my secrets :)
Two, I’ve emerged from a period of significant burn out, ready to pry my white knuckles off the wheel for awhile.
And three, I think that a lot of leaders talk about handing off the baton to others, but never get around to it until forced. I want to do it differently.

In all of this I’ve tried hard to listen to what God has been saying to me about where I’m at as a man, a husband and father and as a pastor. I’ve tried to discern between the path of least resistance and what’s actually spiritually forming even if uncomfortable. Lots of talks with my wife, with my spiritual director and others..
When I came back from sabbatical this last summer I told the elders I wanted to begin making myself less “essential” in the grand scheme of things. Too much was resting on my shoulders and the weight (or more precisely, how I handled the weight) was doing me in. I told them it was my plan to begin to significantly hand off things over a nine month period.
Half way through, we are well on the way. I’m now down to 3/4 time at Evergreen, more and more Dustin is ably stepping into the places I’m stepping out of, the Elders and picking up more and more… it’s a good thing all the way around.
It’s interesting that around the Ecclesia network in general, I see more and more church planters stepping back and handing off to a next generation of leadership. I think it’s a good ethos we have going here.
Sometimes leadership is about doing and some times it’s about not (or no longer) doing. And sometimes it’s not so much about starting things as it is about creatively stepping back and seeing what happens.

In church planting, evergreen, Pastoral, personal
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Rain and Shine- Brightest and Darkest Moments in Church Planting

bob —  July 13, 2011

A couple of months ago, I participated in a little conference here in PDX, co-sponsored by the Ecclesia Network and North West Church Planters. It was called Rain and Shine, and the point was to draw together, for two days, a group of church planters who would talk about the brightest and darkest moments they had experienced in Church planting. Everyone got 14 minutes to speak. Here’s an edited version of what I presented- my highest and lowest moments in being a church planter. 

 

 

Probably like a lot of you, I came to church planting through the route of dissatisfaction and hurt. The angry young man. I grew tired of asking the same questions, banging my head against the same walls- tired of feeling hurt by the system and tired of seeing people I loved leave because they had been “hurt.”

So, when we planted our church here in Portland about 7 years ago- like you did or will do, we secretly, inwardly held the idea, even if we outwardly disavowed it, that we were going to be the church that got things right.

It’s not so much we thought we were better or somehow the pinnacle of ecclesiastical evolution- it was simply that we thought we could learn from the mistakes of the churches we had come from and just do it differently. Seems so easy, right?

We were going to be organic, non-programmatic, we would listen, learn, love… and though we took careful pains to warn people as they came into our community that community hurts, again, secretly, we believed- we would be the church that would never hurt people.

The question in our talks here at Rain and Shine is this: What are the darkest and brightest moments of church planting for you? And for me, there have been plenty of both- but probably the darkest has been over the last couple of years realizing that no matter what we do, we were going to be a church that hurt people.

I first started getting an inkling of this when I noticed that though we saw many people coming into church and coming to Christ or coming BACK to Church or back to Christ through our community, we saw just as many for whom we were the last stop on the way out. They had grown up in the evangelical church, many were even pastor’s kids, and they would come to our community as this last ditch effort. We meet in a pub, we’re not happy clappy, we’re not trying to be slick or production-oriented- for a lot of them, we were something still Christian that they thought maybe they could stomach. We even had some tell us “This is my last try- if this doesn’t work, I’m out.” I mean, no pressure, right?

And time and time again, though we saw many stick and find what they were looking for, we saw just as many turn around and walk out the door again, some with real anger towards us, or towards me. And in trying to pin down why this would happen, we’ve never come to any real conclusions, other than that some people are just going to be hurt, no matter what you do- their issues with God and with church are going to bubble up. Which church in inconsequential- it could be any. And quite often, it’s going to be yours.

But it hasn’t always been simply that some people were setting themselves up to be hurt- sometimes it was us- our choices, our actions. In dealing with people, with couples or individuals or even staff members, we made choices with the best of intentions that ended up alienating people, confirming their worst fears about church…hurting them.

It wasn’t what we intended, we meant well, but we stepped wrong and someone else ended up getting blown out the doors.

There have even been times when we knew- we knew- going into a situation-  there’s potential here for great hurt, and we as elders would circle up and discuss- how can we do this with the minimum amount of pain? How can we do this right? Only to have it blow up in our faces, to have our decisions and choices hurt people we loved very much.

So what is MY darkest moment in church planting? My darkest moment in church planting was coming to the realization that no matter what I did, I was going to contribute to the hurt, the brokenness and pain that people had around church. I just was. We just were.

We always wanted to be a part of people’s faith stories. It’s just that we wanted to be a part of thegood bits- the place where people came to Jesus- not the place where they rejected Him. The place where people found community and had their faith in followers of Jesus restored- not the place that got to drive the final nail in the coffin.

And after instance after instance of seeing people leave- angry, hurt- of trying SO HARD to bring the least amount of pain to people through some really hard situations and instead finding ourselves somehow, inexplicably bringing the maximum amount, I’ve come to the hard but good realization, that we don’t get to pick which part of people’s stories we get to play. Yes- we get to pick whether or not we will act in love, with kindness, like Jesus to the best of our ability- I get that. But I’m telling you- there are times when I have felt and when you will feel as though we were in a tragic opera- that God was using us in someone else’s life and what He happened to need at the moment was not a soft place for them to land but a hammer and a chisel. God was going to use us to get some people where HE needed them- to a place of discomfort or even crisis. There have been times when I cried out to God- really? Really? We’re trying so hard with this person and still- it seems like all we can do is screw it up further- that everything we do just seems to make it worse.REALLY?

And if that’s all there was to this thing, I think I probably would have packed it in a long time ago…

The good news is, though there have been a lot of dark moments, a lot of times when I wondered if we were going to “make it”, if what we were doing was even worth the effort it took to “make it,” there have been a lot of bright moments as well- mostly centered around the times when we stopped trying to build the Church, and just rested in the joy of being the church. 

As I think back to those moments of gathering down at the river or creek to baptize people, of dancing for hours after marrying two people who met and fell in love in our community, of sitting with people and untangling some of the knots that they had encountered in life or faith, even of walking with some couples through some really deep water and seeing marriages actually make it, I’m glad that God has allowed me to even take part in this thing. Because though we often unintentionally hurt people, though we mess up, though God uses us in hard ways at times, He also is kind enough to let us share in the up times as well. The putting back together of what is broken and the healing of what was hurt. 

And I’ve been able to see that best and brightest in seeing how the Gospel actually works in community. How rather than sitting as a lifeless proposition on a page, the Gospel is actually the tool the Holy Spirit uses most as He brings us not just to a saving place of faith in Jesus, but to maturity and Christ-likeness.

I have loved sitting with people who are describing to me their struggles with workaholism, or anger, or money, and realizing- Oh- the real issue here isn’t money, or work or whatever- the real issue is what you are asking it to do for you. To somehow save you, give you hope, give you worth.Let me tell you about Jesus.

I’ve loved sitting with couples in crisis- well, I haven’t loved that part, but I’ve loved being able to tell them- I know, I know the hurt seems overwhelming and forgiveness seems like an impossibility right now, but I want you to think hard, to remember, to meditate on what Jesus has done for you- how and how much He’s forgiven you, and see if that doesn’t open up new possibilities for you here.

And most of all, I have loved realizing that even for me, at my darkest moments as a pastor and in church planting, the Gospel has something to say. Those moments laying awake in bed at 2:30am on Sunday night after preaching- when attendance was low, and giving non-existent and I’m feeling like: “After that sermon it will be a miracle if anyone comes back next week.” And realizing- that in getting so tied up in the metrics, in resting so much of the weight of my soul and my identity on results, on what happened, on how I was perceived and received, I was asking those things to do for me what only Jesus could- to tell me I was worth something, make me whole, save me.

The Good News is that my people and their attendance, their applause, their approval are not my savior. Jesus is.

And so my brightest moment of all in church planting has been realizing that the Gospel- this good news about Jesus and His kingdom isn’t just a truth we learn at the beginning of our spiritual journey… the Good News is the transformative engine of change in the world, not just for Non-Christians, but for Christians and even for pastors. Our communities and we ourselves will never outgrow needing to hear it, and so we’ll never get past needing to preach it to them, to others… to ourselves.

 

In church planting, and in pastoring in this broken world hurt is inevitable- both to yourself and to those you are serving and reaching. Thank God we have in the Gospel the answer to the brokenness and hurt we inevitably experience and even in our best intentions bring to other people. Thank God for Jesus.

Amen?

 

In church planting, the Gospel
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After 7 years, a Sabbatical

bob —  April 19, 2011

When a friend told me last time at this year that traditionally, year 7 is the hardest year for church plants/church planters, I thought "hmmmm" and filed that away for future reference. We had just celebrated our 6 year mark as a church and I was already beginning to see signs of what he was talking about- both within our community and within my own soul. 

At 7, nothing is new anymore- and the energy that sustained you in your "newness" is scarce. People you thought might be with you forever, or at least for awhile longer begin to fade away in search of other things. Staff/leadership relationships begin to creak a bit with age. 

And if you are a church planter, after 7 years, you are tired. 

So many nights laying awake wondering where so-and-so went, if the marriage of your close friends is going to make it, if the faith someone you baptized who seemed so excited but now seems so not is going to make it… Week after week of set-up, admin, sermon prep, trying to coach, encourage or even cajole people into creating the kinds of ministries they are complaining to you about not having. Times when the tank is full and times when it is empty- but empty or full, you still have to pull something out of it for others. 

I knew going in this great adventure of church planting would be hard- what I couldn't see was how hard it would on my own heart and soul. How even the good and best parts of ministry still take so much out of you.  And especially how the hard parts take a toll- others second guessing your leadership decisions, complaining about things they could easily pitch in to change or create. Baptisms are wonderful, but just as often people say "I think I'm done with faith." Ministry is messy, and for most average, non-mega-church pastors, it's largely thankless.

Which is why I'm SO grateful for our elders and our community. 

Last summer, we began talking about the possiblity of me taking a sabbatical after our 7 year mark. It's a pretty standard practice in ministry to allow a pastor some extended time off after 7 years, and truthfully, I think that over the last year our elders have seen me fraying at the edges and really running out of steam. 

So, in mid-December it moved from discussion to instruction. They told me I needed to take some time away.

That was just what I needed to hear. 

Since then, I've been able to sleep better, rest more… Just knowing that a break was coming has enabled me not only to navigate some hard leadership waters these last few months, but even begin to crawl back a bit from the edges of exhaustion. At this point, I'm not only ready for a break, but feel as though I may actually have the energy to enjoy it. Which again, I'm grateful for…

So, we've announced to our community that from May through July I'm going to be taking a break from the work of ministry. Our family will still be around- I'm looking forward to actually just attending our church and sitting with my wife and kids in our gathering. It's been, uh… never, since we've been able to do that- I've been working at churches our entire marriage. While I hope to take a break from the work part, I really want to remain present in some ways- that is, take a break from work, not from community. I also want to visit some other communities and see what else God is doing here in PDX.

My spiritual director is going to help me with those parts with some regular check-ins to make sure I'm not sneaking in any work- physically or mentally. As he says, "Sabbatical" comes from "Sabbath."

And so, to that end, some things I hope to do on my Sabbatical:

1. Sleep 

2. Break this writer's block

3. Enjoy and be enjoyable to my family

4. Eat, Pray, Love

5. We're going to Disneyland!

6. Week at Richmond Hill Abbey in Richmond VA

7. Road trip with Jack, my 7 year old son

8. Sleep some more. 

 

And who knows… maybe some blogging too :)

 

In church planting, evergreen, Pastoral, personal, sabbath
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Ecclesia Church Planter Bootcamp: Aggelos 2011

bob —  March 14, 2011

A theological and practical trajectory for missional church planting

aggelos is unique in comparison to other church planters training opportunities available.
First, there will not be hundreds of people here. More than likely, there will be somewhere between 20-30. This means plenty of room for dialog, conversation, and questions amidst all of the planned training.
Second, everyone stays, eats, and prays together for the week. Most people leave with better friendships, some of which will be life-long, because they started the church planting journey – in this way – together.
Third, there will be a host of different equippers with unique planting stories. This gathering (as in all we try to do) isn’t dominated by just a few individuals or models of church planting. You’ll hear from a variety of planters, both seasoned and new, and learn from their experiences and approaches.
Finally, we hope to provide a good balance of theology, theory, and practicality. Each component is vital
We hope you’ll join us in May!
Chris Backert (Director)
Details
Registration:
Contact Chris Backert: chris.backert@ecclesianet.org
Date
May 9-13, 2011
Richmond, VA
Location
Richmond Hill Urban Retreat Center (www.richmondhillva.org). Richmond Hill is a former monastery, located in the heart of the city of Richmond. Most people will be sharing a room with one other person throughout the week. All meals are all included as part of our stay and will take place on the grounds.
Registration
Email info@ecclesianet.org to confirm your spot followed by payment. A 20% deposit is required within two weeks of registration to qualify for rate and space.

More info here: http://www.ecclesianet.org/equipping/aggelos-2011

In church planting
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Why Church Planter Conferences are SO much better than Church Growth Conferences.

bob —  March 12, 2011

I’ve been incredibly blessed over the last couple of months to be able to attend two gatherings of Church Planters. The first was the Ecclesia Network‘s National Gathering and the second has been Christian Associates International‘s Leadership Summit.
I’ll blog more in depth about both soon, but for now- it’s got me thinking about why Church Planter conferences are so great and church growth/pastor’s conferences are so not.
(By church growth/ pastors conferences I’m thinking of the big, national events with lots of big names, big ticket prices and big… Well, big EVERYTHING.)

Some reasons:

1. Church planter conferences tend toward collaboration, Church growth/pastor conferences toward competition.
The big question at pastor conferences? How big is yours? (Church that is). The feeling is very middle school, with people sizing themselves and others up, clear pecking orders, cool kids, nerds and outcasts… And plenty of comparing yourself against the superstar A-listers on the stage and the B-listers who get invited to tell how cool what they’ve got going is at the various breakout sessions.
It tends to be a different world at Church planter conferences- everyone is either at the same place or only one or two steps removed and can remember clearly and identify with where everyone else is at. The spirit tends to be sharing of stories and wisdom/ resources, rather than the “Let me tell you how I innovated our way to WINNING and how you can too!”

2. Church planter conferences are about encouragement- pastor conferences try, but because of their emphasis on celebrity, end up being demoralizing.

I’ll say this- the big conferences TRY to encourage pastors/leaders, they really do. And often, in spite of the lasers and smoke machines, God does show up and brings encouragement. But because of the very nature of the big stage, the inaccessible superstars, the cutting-edge everything, the end result is often men and women who leave thinking “If only I could speak like that. If only MY church was like that. If only…” they go back not necessarily encouraged in what God is doing in their community/context, but determined about what THEY are going to do next- driven to “take it to the next level.” And when, year after year, the “next level” is not reached, but growth, if at all remains slow, a certain “Why does this work for everyone else but ME?” tends to set in.
Church planter conferences, however, tend to do the opposite. They confirm God in the slow and steady, they help us see God in what is now- however small, however seemingly insignificant. And because of that, while I leave church growth/pastor conferences determined and with a list of things to change and to implement, I tend to leave church planter conferences not with new level of drivenness, but new levels of clarity- clarity about what I’m doing, where God is in it, and what I long to see God do next.

3. Church planter conferences are about connection and you meet new people, while growth/pastor conferences tend to be about resources and programs.

Church planter conferences, at least the ones I go to, tend to be smaller, and that means a different relational dynamic. I went to a large conference in Southern California for years, heard many amazing speakers, got a ton of great ideas- but never made a *friend* I didn’t have already when I walked in the door. And generally, at the end of the day I came to realize- I could have saved a lot of money, listened to all these talks on the internet, bought the books the A and B Listers were inevitably selling, and gotten largely the same result and maybe better if I’d just taken those books and MP3s and sat by a pool somewhere.
But over the last three years of attending small church planter-oriented conferences, I’ve actually made friends. People who know my name, who pray for and encourage me when I need it. People who get the unique challenges I’m facing and that I can pick up the phone and call when I need to… And believe me, I have. I’ve found not just the latest resource or model, but an actual learning community I hope to be journeying with for a long, long time.

4. Church planter conferences are about the small ways we see the Kingdom breaking in, both personally and corporately. Pastor conferences tend to be showcases not of what God is doing, but the best and the latest of what WE are doing.

Gather with five thousand other pastors, pay hundreds of dollars to be there and you have a right to expect exactly what you will get: The best speakers and the latest methods and technology. Watch Ed Young Jr ride an elephant onto the stage? Heck yeah! See some guy dive off a hundred foot tower into a bucket of water? Why not? Listen to one of three sugar-stick messages this superstar is touring the circuit with this year? Absolutely.
This isn’t to say there’s not a sense of inviting experienced and authoritative people to speak to the church planting conferences. But those folks come for a lot less money, they tend to actually hang around and have conversations with people, and all in all, it ends up feeling like someone who actually wants to contribute to your ministry- not fly in, do their thing, grab their check and jet out.
The planter conferences look more like what we actually do- simple worship, dialogue, sometimes bad PowerPoint. But in spite of (and maybe partially because of?) all that, they tend to deepen – not distract you with THE SHOW. The church growth conferences dazzle, but they don’t tend to deepen. They show you what you can have if you just spend more money, hire the right staff, adopt their model…

Am I exaggerating? Sure- a bit. But I’m editorializing here! :)
Does small mean better? No, not necessarily. Ive been to some great larger conferences and some scary smaller ones. Can and does God show up at Catalyst Or some conference with “!” in the title or “Q”? Sure (but even HE has to pay $800 to get into Q). If you can go, go. Have a good time- get out of things like that everything you can.
But understand- we try to convince people that what’s flashy, what’s new, what appeals to our consumer instincts isn’t always what’s best- that God (as Elijah found) is often heard in the still silence, not the flash and bang… And then we often turn around and choose exactly that. The glitz, the show, the “experience.”
I’ve simply become convinced that there’s a whole lot more to the small and non-slick than meets the eye. That maybe my time and money are better spent in smaller environments that can’t “compete” with these big mega-conferences, but also offer some things they could never hope to.
And maybe, if you are in ministry, yours too?

In church planting, Just stirring up trouble
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7 years ago today…

bob —  March 11, 2011

Last year on this day, March 11th, right around this time, I was standing on the roof of a clinic in a village in rural Haiti, using a borrowed phone to try and call home.

This morning, one year later, using terrible hotel wifi, I finally managed to place a Skype call from Spain back home to Portland.

It wasn’t long after we were married that Amy was prophetically saying to me, “I know someday you are going to be traveling- I can tell that’s what God is going to do.” At the time, it sounded exciting…

This week, as my plane left the Portland airport on its way to Madrid, Spain, I began to wonder how those men and women who basically travel for a living do it. Each time I leave home lately- it feels as though it gets harder and harder. More and more of my heart is tied up in every little Janie smile, every new Josie word, every Jack hug and every Amy kiss.

But, as she predicted, God has been taking me places. A few weeks ago it was an incredible time at the Ecclesia Network National Gathering with some of our elders from Evergreen. This week, it’s Christian Associate’s Leadership Summit here in Europe, where I’m taking the time to connect with church planters and learn from some new streams and new relationships. In a few more weeks, to Richmond, VA to help teach a church planter’s bootcamp with/for Ecclesia.

I love new places, I love to see new things- it stimulates my brain in ways that are so very needed. But sometimes, like today, I feel acutely that pang of missing out.

Jack- 7th BDay Party

Seven years ago today my son Jack was born. I love him more than he can know- and am extremely proud of the boy he is becoming. His heart is becoming wonderfully soft and he’s proving quicker than most I know to turn a corner after getting angry, to come and say he’s sorry- often cooling down way before even his daddy! He’s got a generous spirit, a quick mind, and a fun-loving nature that doesn’t stop.
Jack- I wouldn’t want any other boy but you! I love you, guy- Happy Birthday!

Daddy will be home soon.

In church planting, Pastoral, personal
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On Holy Ground at St. Arbucks

bob —  January 6, 2011

I have a new post up at Out of Ur- here's a sample and a link there…

 

 

Like many pastors I know, I have a love/hate relationship with Starbucks.

For seven years now, as I have labored to plant, grow, and guide a church, Starbucks has been my office, my meeting space, my cafeteria, and my retreat. I’m there most work days, and I’m even there most days off to get some reading or writing time in away from the house.

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Yeah—if Starbucks disappeared, I’d notice.

As with anything, though, familiarity breeds contempt. The thousands of hours I have spent in Starbucks locations all over the Portland Metro area have left me feeling at times that I‚Äôd rather be anywhere else.Please, Lord, not another day on hard wooden chairs, sipping burnt-tasting coffee, and wondering when the employees will notice the BEEP-BEEP-BEEP of the safe that sets my teeth on edge every 20 minutes as it tells them it‚Äôs time to make another deposit…

And yet, week after week, I return. Occasionally I try new places, but nothing has ever stuck. Despite a certain weariness with the place, the convenience of Starbucks, the free Wi-Fi, and the ease with which I can meet people there all conspire to draw me back week after week.

But something else draws me back there. At times Starbucks has been more than a coffee shop for me. Much more…

 

Read the rest here…

 

In church planting, missional, Pastoral
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