Spiritual, Physical and Mental Health of the Planter and Family
Planting a church places a heavy burden on planters and their families. Most planters indicate that planting is one of the hardest things they've ever done. Those who survive are quick to highlight how discouraging and lonely it can be. The result is a fragile foundation for dealing with the discouragement and loneliness of church planting.
Unresolved relationships and weaknesses in the marriage will often surface in the church-planting season. Simmering problems in marriage and family began to boil with the added pressure and stress of planting a church. A planter’s faith and commitment is challenged. God often uses the challenges for good to grow the planter and his family or Satan can use to bring them down.
A ...
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Posted in: Spiritual Vitality, Marriage and Family, Emotional Health
Tags: church planting, pastor, health, mental, physical, spiritual, vitality, top issues, planter's health, church-planting journey, coaching, burnout
Leadership Development and Reproducing Culture
Planters face incredible pressure to find quality leaders quickly. Yet the limitations of money, critical mass, and spiritual maturity in new churches create an under-stocked leadership fishing pond. Planters can make critical mistakes as a result.
Many church planters attract interested people but few prepare leaders. Leadership development is the most frequently cited challenge of planters according to our research in this survey of church planting leaders and thinkers. Leadership includes the following.
1. Recruiting and developing leaders2. Implementing teams3. Leadership development approach4. Hiring and leading staff 5. Making changes to facilitate growth 6. Decision-making 7. Empowering volunteers
Five Hurdles to Clear to ...
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Posted in: Leadership
Tags: leadership, church-planting, pastor, church, leaders, culture, raising leaders, staff, resources, discipleship, coaching, church plant, planting a church
Bob Thune, Lead Pastor of Coram Deo Church Community in Omaha, NE
Not every church plant has a boxing bag as part of their office furniture. Our church was kind of odd that way.
My cousin J.D. – now an Acts 29 church planter in South Africa – was a volunteer intern on our launch team. He was also an amateur boxer who was training to compete in the Golden Gloves tournament. During his lunch breaks, he’d strap on the boxing gloves and go a few rounds with the body bag in the back corner of our borrowed office space.
Watching J.D. train taught me an important lesson: vision and training go hand-in-hand. You begin with a vision of the kind of person you want to become. And then you train with that goal in mind. J.D. wanted to be a successful boxer, so he put in the time and ...
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By Scott Thomas, President of Acts 29.
Adapted and excerpted from his message, “Fighting For One Another: Gospel Friendship.”
We face a problem in the church. We’re often too busy fighting with each other and we’re failing to fight for each other. We need to learn to fight for each other with every weapon in our arsenal.
Each of us stands functionally alone unless we have a brotherhood (a band of brothers, a community, a network) that we gather ourselves in and around. Peter reminds us: “be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
I’m sick of fighting with other believers and other pastors over menial ...
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Posted in: Relationship Building
Tags: four characteristics of a gospel friendship, gospel friendship, christian friendship, discipleship, coaching, scott thomas, fighting well, fighting for each other, christians fighting, good fighting, fair fighting, fighting for not against, 1 peter 5, how to be a friend, how to be a christian friend, how to be a gospel friend, how to be a helpful friend, true friendship, band of brothers, pastors need friends, pastor friendship, dallas boot camp, dallas, church planter training, church plant, training, leadership training
