Last Exponential 09 post, I promise!
I attended the pre-launch track for church planting, and here are my notes from hearing Ron Sylvia, Hal Mayer and Larry Osborne speak. They were all fastastic! Enjoy.
Pre-Launch Track
Ron Sylvia & Hal Mayer
- It takes a plan, strategy, leadership
- Even the experts disagree- you have to discern who to listen to
- NewChurches.com, NextChuches.com
- If you go to The Springs, you’ll get the virus of church planting. That’s what I want to be the feeling in our church
- You have to count the cost- family, finances, relationships. Jesus said to count the cost and see what it takes to launch
- It’s going to cost your marriage and family
- The previous generation sacrifices their family for the church
- Now people are sacrificing their churches for the their families
- No one is asking you to sacrifice, but you have to pay the price
- They sat down and said the next two years are wide open to give to The Springs
- Like a space shuttle- most of the fuel is expended at the beginning to get out of the atmosphere.
- Gotta make sure your wife is totally down to understand what it’s going to take
- This was their story- go get your own!
- Takes so much to make sure everyone gets the vision, gets it, it boots up at launch of their computer.
- It’s a war to plant a church. We are entering a war. We are trying to depopulate Hell. Satan knows what we’re doing as much as God does
- If Satan can take down the leader, he takes down the movement
- Time with God MUST be fresh and vibrant and live-giving
- Clarifying the Vision
- The plan comes out of the vision
- What has God called you to do?
- Vision and uncertainty are inseparably linked- Andy Stanley.
- You have to lead at a place where you’ve never been
- Sometimes you’re gonna be faking it- you know where you wanna go but you don’t know how to get there
- It’s what drives your team, drives your churches, keeping it going.
- We have to find new ways to phrase it, but can’t stop sharing it
- It’s not found in consensus
- You will have vision hijackers
- “Love everyone, but move with the movers”- Rick Warren. Who’s buying in, who’s ready to go, who’s bought into the vision?
- I love you, but the vision’s not for sale
- Keep asking questions, keep clarifying the vision, find out if they are on the same page
- Scaffolding principle- Some of the people who are with you from the start are just there until it’s built. Most who start with you won’t be with you two years later.
- When visiting another church
- What’s right?- greeters, cafe, etc
- What’s wrong?
- What was confusing?
- What’s missing?
- Visit, evaluate, and find someone that’s close to you
- Even going to watch them set up
- Casting the Vision
- You have to pitch it
- Art of the Start by Guy
- In 10 min pitch the vision of your church- who are you, who are you trying to reach, and how are you going to do it
- Most people get too detailed
- I know you have the details, tell me the dream
- How do you get people to come be on staff? Vision
- They have to buy your character, THEN you, THEN the vision, THEN the plan
- Whatever happens, make it part of the plan
- You’re going to reach who they are
- What did God call you do, and what is your vision and dream?
- Paint the dream, not the details
- If you can’t put your heart out there, it won’t matter how good your proposal is
- Where’s the location, where’s the place you’re starting
- They added 100 people every time they moved
- Money
- Hal had to launch large so he could be sustainable
- He wanted the majority of his budget focused outward, intentionally unbalanced in the first two years
- Allowed them to focus on the community.
- Now they are more balanced, 3 outreaches a year
- Spend money like a drunk sailor. Experiment, some of it won’t work
- If they don’t give, we’re done.
- Pressure Points
- How long before launch in a community?- Launch sooner rather than later. You think you need more time, but you need to get GOING! Don’t change it, you’ll have 100 reasons to, but DON’T CHANGE
- How much money to launch?- Depends on the team, the plan, the city, the economy. The people who raise the most money usually do the worst. A lot of money loses urgency.
- Key factors for launch team?- Chemistry, Integrity, Ability. You can train ability, but not the other two
Larry Osborne
- The fulfillment of the dream is the disappointing goal instead of living life along the way
- We have destination disease. We hate it once we get there
- How can you avoid failure in success?
- Plant the church you want to go to
- You’ll just be painting by numbers instead of doing who you are
- Reach the world, yes, but in the framework of who God’s made you to be
- That’s the only church you can authentically lead
- Pursue you’re calling, not your potential
- Potential is a harsh mistress. Beware of the potential trap- it will kill you
- We are supposed to fulfill our calling, not our potential
- Most of us have an inflated view of our potential
- Everyone is going to tell you to slow down, but no one is going to mean it
- Do your best, then take a nap! We can’t control outcomes. We know it theologically, but we don’t know it in our gut
- Don’t get so focused on the lost that you forget the saved
- We’re looking for warm bodies and leaders- but we need to love the warm bodies. Don’t get angry at them
- Go back and do what you did at the beginning, loving sacrificially
- Make your decision that you’re going to live like a mature Christian and not like a pastor
- Don’t have two lives- live who you are on vacation in your town
- Lose your church before you lose your family
- People always want you to cancel your life for their crisis. Yes, occasionally, but not all the time! They happen every day
- A Strong Marriage
- The biblical one is kid-friendly, not kid-centric
- Security is a success we can give our kids
- A united front
- You may disagree in private but don’t let the kids that to you in public
- Outward passion and zeal embarrasses most kids
- We can think something’s wrong with those who don’t have it, or they may think you don’t
- The clearer you know it’s a calling, the easier it is to say no and to take the heat from saying no
- You have to learn with low-level frustration AT you
