Had the honor of giving the history of church planting for my family and I. It was sort of weird because when I think about how our family has been planting churches for a little over a decade, that is totally wild. I shared about the first two churches that we started and the pain that we experienced. Man when people that are older say that experience will grow you, they are right. Then I spent the remainder of the time teaching about what I have learned in starting LifeQuest. Here are some of the thoughts I shared:
- Starting a church is very emotionally draining and I never was taught that. The spiritual warfare that is involved is incredible. Ephesians 6:10-20 "10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. 19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."
If you are a church planter PAY ATTENTION to the fact that satan wants to destroy you. On a practical note, get some prayer partners, people that will intercede for you while you are preaching God's word!
I believe that you should read the Bible and find out how to fight in the spiritual warfare that we are in. Satan does not want another church that will reach people that are far from God. - Starting a church is more about leadership than your cool ideas and light, sound and camera and oh, action. We get so caught up in the techy type stuff and forget that starting a church is more about leadership. Leadership that will cast vision, a clear vision for others to follow. Leadership that will cause you to protect the vision of the church at all costs. Leadership that will cause you to please God and not people. Leadership that will call the best out in people and not let them settle for normal.
- The best book on church planting besides the Bible is Peacemakers by Ken Sande - if you haven't read this book, I suggest you go out and buy it right now. Stats tell us that more pastors quit ministry because of conflict. We need to be equipped to deal with conflict and teach those that are in our churches about conflict and how to deal with it. You need and you owe it to the people you lead to give them a language when it comes to conflict.
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