The largest category because it is the call of God upon my life to stimulate a church planting movement
Sunday Afternoon Musings Are We Selling a Product or Heralding a King? (part 1) A few years ago, I was having coffee with a church planter who was both exhausted and discouraged. His launch team had spent six months fine-tuning their branding, dialing in their sound system, and designing direct-mail flyers that looked like they … More the Difference Between a Salesman and a Herald
Actually, what we really need is a return to the model of Jesus, which will feel completely new. The church in America is not lacking for resources. We have conferences. We have curricula. We have podcasts, platforms, and personality-driven programs that can fill a calendar twelve months of the year. We have more tools for … More We Need a New Approach to Making Disciples
“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”Matthew 4:19 Proposal: Encourage every SBC in America to commit one-eight-hour day a month by one of its pastors for the next 4 years to praying about, learning about, and planning for the planting of at least one church in the year 2028. Result: The … More A Church Planting Strategy for the SBC
You will have to trust me, but this really happened Our church had just planted its 5th church in its first 7 years of life. God had been very gracious to us. The church had grown. We gained experience and had seen God do some miraculous things. Most of the churches we had planted were … More Praying the Same Prayer for 35 Years
“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations,if you live near him.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit ( Ballantine Books, 1937, 1938, and 1966 ) p. 207. This post relates to all planning but I have church planters in mind most particularly. I love church planters because of what they are … More Planning Pitfalls
This week, I lost one of my longest mentors and friends when Paul Becker, 70, went home to be with Jesus after a long battle with cancer. Paul was the founder and President of Dynamic Church Planting International. We met around 1989 when I was an instructor at the International School of Theology in San … More Lost a Mentor This Week
Years ago while living in California I had a number of experiences with sheep. We lived at the base of a place called Little Mountain in San Bernardino and there was a shepherd who annually grazed his flock of about 200 sheep on its hillsides. (Bit of Trivia: Little Mountain is the site where Sammy … More What Does it Take to Be a Shepherd?
Musing on a Thursday Morning Nothing lasting happens for the advancement of God’s Kingdom without prayer. In October, I hope to organize a series of prayer-walks in the community of our new church. Groups of two people will be walking around strategic buildings in our community, praying for our neighbors and for God’s blessings upon … More Prayer Walking has Little Biblical Warrant
Some of you know that I have had a long time association with Dynamic Church Planting International. In my opinion, they may be most prolific and effective church planting accelerators in the history of the Church. That is a big claim but I think the numbers and impacts are there to back it up. One … More Church Planting Training Opportunities
On Tuesday I was involved in some on-line mentor training led by Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI). All of the presenters were friends of mine and they did a fantastic job of sharpening our focus on how to mentor the church planters with whom we are working. And like any good mentor, each of them … More How to Start Church
ChosenRebel's Blog 