Category Archives: Guest Blogs

Influences

By: Vince Antonucci

Vince Antonucci is the planter of Verve in Las Vegas. The host of the immersive seminar Vault. The author of two books, I Became a Christian and All I Got was this Lousy T-shirt and Guerilla Lovers. He blogs at www.vinceantonucci.com.

When I teach church planting seminars or coach planters I sometimes talk about intentionally choosing your influences.

Obviously if the Bible speaks on a topic, we should follow the Bible. But what about when it doesn’t? I think one of the (many) reasons churches reach church goers (rather than people who don’t like church) is because they look to other churches for their influences. We’ve tried to intentionally find non-church influences for non-theological issues. Here are some examples of influences you can use:

How should you do your church lobby? Don’t look at another church, look at Starbucks.

You may want to check out Disney for how they do “skits” – especially noticing how they often have an audience member volunteer in a role. It breaks down the barrier between the “crowd” and the stage, and makes it more fun for everyone.

We have followed Conan O’Brien’s lead on having some recurring “characters.”

Style of music? Listen to what’s hot on the radio not in Australian churches.

Children’s Ministry? Why do kids love to go to Chuck E. Cheese?

For tips on speaking style? Watch some professional comedians.

Color scheme? Graphic design? What websites and magazines do the people you’re trying to reach read?

Raising the Bar

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By Tim Heerebout

I used to be an athlete. If you look at my picture now it’s quite obvious that I could no longer call myself that. Despite my current lack of physical prowess I am still a great fan of sports of all kinds. Any pursuit that takes the human body and pushes it to its limits is enough for me…which is why I don’t count baseball or golf as real sports…but that’s another post all together.

Even sports I’ve never attempted fascinate me. Take high jumping for example. How is it possible that a human being manages to hurl their entire mass over this bar that is raised several meters off the ground. By the looks of it, it’s not easy. It requires training, more misses than hits at first and a driving desire to get better just a little bit every time you jump.

I’ve been discovering lately that church planting requires the same mentality. When I speak to people about the predicament Christ followers face here in Toronto I often tell them that I think the world is hearing us say “I’m a Christian” and saying in response “so what?” As one barista put it to me in a conversation “I know irreligious people doing more for the world than most Christians I know”. Ouch. Firm…but fair I think.

So I believe we need to raise the bar on what it means to be a Christ follower. Most of us aren’t training hard enough, not pushing ourselves to the limits of servanthood in the name of Jesus, not waking up every day with the pursuit of becoming more like Jesus just a little bit burning within us. If you want some scriptural basis for this being a part of Jesus’ call to us then perhaps reading the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5 again might help. Pay special attention to verses 21-48. Isn’t raising the bar exactly what Jesus is doing for his listeners?

Here’s the rub and lesson I’ve been learning. As a church planter you will constantly feel the urge to lower the bar – especially when you’re trying to create early traction. It’s lonely when your church is literally ONLY your family. You’ll give anything to get those first few followers. You’ll even consider giving away your vision. I’ve done it several times this year and without hesitation it’s come back to bite me in the rear on every occasion.

Be committed to raising the bar. Call people to nothing short of a radical transformation into Christ followers. Set the expectations high for yourself and your leaders. Everyday strive together to become just a little bit more like Jesus. Invite people to discover what that feels like. For me it’s likely the only way I can feel like a real athlete again…I’m betting it’ll feel even better this time around.

Follow Tim on his blog and Twitter
http://www.luvisaverb.com/
https://twitter.com/#!/timheerebout

Missional AND Relational Alignment

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By: Craig McGlassion, Lead Pastor – Paradox Church

I planted a church just outside Detroit that will turn 5 years old this Fall. While there are many lessons I am learning, there is one that I wish I would have better understood before starting the church.

I think it was Bill Hybels that made famous the concept of evaluating potential staff hires on the “3 Cs”,

• Character

• Competence

• Chemistry

A local network of Pastors that I am apart of added another “C” for “call”. I used this list when evaluating my launch team members since I realized they were going to effect the personality and direction of the church in its infancy every bit as much as paid staff members would later on.

The list seemed to help me distinguish early on who to go after and invite on our journey, but now, almost 5 years in, I can see that nearly all of my mistakes in the development of this team were in areas where team members either did not share missional alignment or relational alignment – and most often it was missional. It seemed like we shared one or the other, but seldom both.

Missional alignment is when we all clearly understand what we are trying to do, why it needs to be done, and we’re all willing to sacrifice for it. It’s amazing how much you can paint the vision and yet the picture in other people’s heads isn’t the same picture as in your own. I wish I would have done a better job of making sure this picture was the same for all of us.

Relational alignment may seem more obvious; we all get along and love each other. However, having planted a church where I grew up and also previously did ministry for 10 years, I tended to draw a lot of friends that I got along with and had a lot of fun with. The problem is when the missional alignment wasn’t there, the relationships became stressed and there began to be fighting for different directions for the church and battle for authority.

Eighteen months ago our young church took a severe black eye over this, but as we recover, I’m watching a new leadership team that unlike ever before is aligned both missionally AND relationally. The leadership is healthier, happier, and producing tons of kingdom impact. The real difference is that my leader’s friendships are pouring out of our missional alignment. If I had understood this concept better, I wouldn’t have looked to old friendships to the neglect of new relationships that had a clear shared understanding and commitment to the mission. Missional alignment AND relational alignment, one without the other is a ticking bomb.

You can learn more about Paradox at: http://www.paradoxchurch.com/
You can follow Craig on Twitter: http://twitter.com/craigmcglassion

Things I have Learned So Far…

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Guest Bloggers Jason & Norah Skipper

My wife & I have been missionaries in Bolivia for 15 years, and have planted various churches there. After several unsuccessful tries, in 2003 we planted a church in Sucre that grew to over 700 people in just three years. We also had moderate success in a church that we planted in Santa Cruz in 2009.

This year we are moving back to the USA to plant in a small to mid-sized city, and I am taking the Cultivate course to prepare ourselves better generally as church planters and to understand how to reach this culture that is so much different than what we have worked with in Bolivia.

We’ve touched; understanding and reaching the “emerging generations”, creating a unique vision for your unique situation, and how to raise up the core team who will carry out that vision with you.

The “vision” part of the course has been especially helpful, because it helped us understand why some things did and didn’t work in Bolivia. Ex. After several years of intense growth in our Sucre church, we realized that we still had weak areas. We tried cutting and pasting ideas from other ministries, but instead of helping us, they actually caused the church to stagnate. This part of the course helped me understand why. Even cutting and pasting from our Sucre church to our Santa Cruz plant didn’t work.

We have much more to go, but I feel that God is truly doing a transformation in our hearts and understanding through this course, and we feel confident that He is setting us up for success in a great way.

Jason & Norah Skipper
http://www.hohnet.com

Walk, Don’t Wave

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by: Gary Foran

A basic element of missional living is building relationships in the neighborhood where you live. But this is not easily done. We are fighting the isolationism that is common in modern American neighborhoods. The classic example of this isolation is when neighbors drive home from work, hit the garage door opener, pull in, and then close the garage door behind them. They then spend their evenings indoors or in a back yard surrounded by privacy fences. As a result, most neighborhood relationships are extremely superficial. Transforming relationships will have to be more than a friendly smile and a wave when you happen to spot your neighbor on the other side of the street.

So how do we answer this challenge? For me an important answer is in my neighborhood mantra, “Walk, don’t wave.” When you see your neighbor, the normal neighborhood practice may be to smile and wave, but don’t do it! Instead make it your practice to walk over to talk for a few minutes. If they are out in the driveway or yard, or out walking the dog, just drop what you are doing and walk across the street. At first you may not know what to talk about –but go ahead and ask for advice on lawn care or get a referral for a plumber!

This simple practice can be the beginning point for deep and meaningful relationships, so walk, don’t wave.

Gary Foran leads Gateway’s network initiative in Round Rock, a suburb northwest of Austin, TX. He is also one of the trainers in ELI’s Cultivate training.

In cased you missed it check out this clip from Creating a Culture of Authentic Relationships, part of ELI’s Cultivate Training. Gary Foran shares candidly about doing church at church versus living church in your own neighborhood: