Spent a few days learning with 4,000 Church Planting Leaders at the Exponential Conf. A few notes from one of the Main Sessions with Michael Frost and Reggie McNeal:

Michael Frost:

• Missional means understanding we should go. Incarnational means loving those you are going to.
• Missional is like getting married. Being incarnational is like romance.
• Incarnational Practices:

1. Listening to the people to whom we’ve been sent, as a posture. Asking as Jesus did, “What do you want from me?”
2. Readiness to serve.
3. Be loyal to your city or neighborhood. – No one is more transient than American ministers.

• Incarnational Actions: Eat in local cafes. Shop locally. Meet with local community leaders. Say yes to every invitation.

#Exponential 2011 Notes: Had the privilege of sitting in on a Church Planting Movements Panel led by Ed Stetzer with some of the best thinkers in the world on the topic:

• Steve Addison, author of Movements that Change the World.
• David Watson
• George Patterson, author of Church Multiplication Guide
• Felicity Dale, author of An Army of Ordinary People and The Rabbit and the Elephant: Why Small is the New Big
• David Garrison, author of Church Planting Movements

A few notes:

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Spent a few days learning with 4,000 Church Planting Leaders at the Exponential Conf. A few notes from one of the Main Sessions with Neil Cole:

• If we’re going to reach the world, we’re going to have to learn to multiply.
• The silver bullet of church multiplication = “Christ in you, the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27. The power to start a movement is within every Christian.
• Exponential growth always starts slow and small but builds momentum over time. We’re often seduced to want to start big and fast. We stop doing what multiplies and start doing what adds, because we lose patience.
• Movements are most vulnerable at the start. Why? (1) Seduction of addition, (2) development of leadership dependency issues instead of empowering disciples, (3) misplaced faith – instead of in Christ’s power we put faith in our strategies and plans.
• Don’t plant churches, plant Jesus. Church doesn’t change lives, Jesus does.
• Leadership dependency kills movements.

Spent a few days learning with 4,000 Church Planting Leaders at the Exponential Conf. A few notes from one of the Main Sessions: Dave Ferguson, Alan Hirsch, and Francis Chan:

Feruson and Hirsch:

• Times are changing: Church attendance is below 20% of the population of America. Those claiming “no religious affiliation” has doubled over the last 10 years.
• Potentially, 60% of the population are alienated from our current church models and strategies. All are eggs are in the attractional church basket.Many are not coming to us, we must go to them.
• Einstein on problem solving: Current problems will not be solved with the same kind of thinking that created the problems.
• We have been shaped by a certain way of thinking about church. Our thinking must broaden.
• Problem: It’s impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.
• Leadership frees people up or enslaves them. Leader job is to help people see themselves as God intends them to be.
• The people in your pews have incredible dreams, we must unleash them.

Francis Chan, Main Session #1: Incredible message about defying current expectations with real faith.

• Many expectations of leadership and church are not burdens that God puts on us.
• When you’re in them, crazy things make sense. Even when you see gaps between scripture and current practice, we start thinking, “Maybe, I’m nuts” “Surely everyone else is right”
• How can you be casual about something you really believe in?
• Realities: Church is supposed to be a family and every believer is to be a disciple maker. Today, what we do is meant to appease people who don’t want to be a family of disciple makers. Result: No light to the world.
• It makes no sense to bring people together into a room for worship, who have no intent on being disciples.
• Where do we get what we do in church from the New Testament?
• God will use you if you’re willing to be lonely and misunderstood.
• The moment you’re not willing to be lonely or misunderstood, you have nothing to say.

A common question I’m asked as a church planter and strategist: “Why do we need new churches when we have so many already?”

Stated in other, more direct ways:

• “We’ve got that area covered already, there’s no need for a new church.”
• “Planting a new church will make Pastors in the area feel unappreciated or like they’re not doing their job.”
• “Why plant a new church when my church needs so much help?”
• “Do we really need another ‘little’ church in this area?”
• “Won’t a new church just take resources from other churches.”

These can be legitimate concerns, when brought with a kingdom mind set, and these concerns should be addressed by strategists and planters in the planning process. I’d really like to work through each of these concerns individually at some point but now I’m asking, what are the right questions and the key indicators of the need for new churches or ministries in the seemingly overchurched south?

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Kinda sad, but very funny… from movements.net.

Could it really be this simple?

if you began a movement now the same way Jesus got things going in his day, it would mean telling everyone you meet about Jesus, watching who responds with keen interest, and then selecting a few people who are most open and investing lots of time in them. You would start to meet this group of seekers in times of discussion over a meal. You would ask one of them to read a few short verses from the words of Jesus, another to lead a discussion about what Jesus meant and how his teaching applied to their lives…

You would encourage them to tell their family and friends what they were learning about Jesus. You would meet in their homes, not yours. You would want as many of their friends and family to sit in on the discussions as possible. When you would come together as a group around a meal, you would model a facilitative style of leadership that got everyone involved, carefully taking a back seat so you could encourage their development. You would be pleased as they quickly took ownership of what was happening.

From Floyd McLung’s book You See Bones I See An Army.

Oversimplification? Maybe, but refreshing. Great book about simple strategies to make disciples.

Our Spring Church Planting Network Meeting will be in the form of a Mini-Conference at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. March 26, 9am-12noon. Click here to register. For Church Planters, Sponsors, Wannabe Church Planters & sponsors, Church Planting Enthusiasts, etc. Content will also be good for anyone in church leadership. Craig Ratliff, with Celebration Church will be lead the sessions. Topics: 1. Vision: Having and maintaining vision (early vision, long term vision, staying on course) 2. Planning: How to plan for continual grown and “Splash” growth? More info here. More info on the importance of Church Planting Networks here.