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More than anything else – I want to grow spiritually, closer, to my loving Father, my Lord.

To do that I have to do a self-valuation to determine the areas that I need to grow in the most.

Here are my areas – the ones that I need to grow the most in:

Purity: Our world is saturated with impurities. Now just porn (but that too), but subtle impurities that show up in all kinds of places throughout our day. They are splattered everywhere, particularly in media (TV shows, movies, video games, magazines, newspapers). The REALity is there is a heaven and there is a hell, and we have an enemy who is very crafty. He hides impurities everywhere that are ‘designed’ to weaken our faith. As our faith weakens, our relationship with God (the source of our power) weakens. That matters because there is only so much room in our hearts. Our hearts contain both Light (the Spirit of God) and darkness (our sin nature). But how much of each is determined by our de”fences” and our choices. To the degree we have pure hearts, is to the degree we are close, full, of God. And here’s the deal, you cannot hear God (which is required to do His will on this earth) unless our hearts are pure. Not perfect – but pure. “Father, PLEASE help me be ‘fully’ committed to you and all things pure, and help me say “no” to all that is impure.”

Integrity: You cannot build anything of ‘lasting’ (eternal) value unless you have integrity. Integrity is the foundation in which all things lasting are built. For me, I need to focus and grow mostly in two areas: Integrity in my finances (managing our budget), and integrity in my follow-through (doing what I say I will do when I say I will do it). I realized I am great at giving excuses for not managing my finances and budget well. I do “ok” at it, but I know I can do much better. I find myself saying “I’m just not good at math” or “I’m just not a good bookkeeper.” The REALity is that any human being (including me!) can learn something new because our brains are designed by it’s Creator to learn new things. My main problem is that I have been LAZY. “Father, help me not be lazy in the areas of follow-through and financial management any more. Help me be a man of my word (and go shopping with the girls:) and do my very best at being a good steward of every penny that you give me.”

Prayer: I do pretty good at giving God the first part of my day and reading God’s Word every morning, but I’m finding out that there is NO way that I can HEAR God if I am not CLOSE to God, and that takes both quality time in His Word, and quality 1-on-1 time in prayer (i.e. prayer closet/just me and him time). The reason that is so important is there is no way we can be truly successful in our relationship with God (be in His will) unless we are DIRECTED by Him. To be directed by Him – we must first HEAR him. I believe that 1-on-1 prayer is JUST as important as reading His Word because it is faith in the truest form. It puts us in the physical position of humility and surrender. Following Christ and accomplishing His will is about alignment. The closer we are aligned with him, the greater our spiritual success.

“FROM THIS DAY FORWARD Lord I am stepping up my commitment in purity, integrity, and prayer.” How about you?

The role of parents is important to kids and to church planters.

My childhood was anything but normal and healthy is not a word I use to describe it. My parents split up (the term used back then) when I was five years old. Even though I was so young, I vividly remember three things from the day my parents split up. 1. My mom throwing breakable items across the room, 2. My dad putting my brother and I into his Ford Galaxie and saying as we were pulling out of the driveway “You are coming to live with me.” 3. As we were driving away from the home I knew, standing up on the back seat of the car and leaning over the front bench seat  (back when seat belts were not required).

My church planting experience thus far has faced similar parental challenges. To be a healthy church plant you need healthy adoptive parents that come in the form of an existing church that provides the nurture needed for the new church to start well . So far our plant has not found a parent church. Blame it on the economy, or that I don’t fit the normal criteria for a church planter (and never will as our mission is to reach the non-normal people that choose not to attend any church). Whatever the reason we have yet to find a parent for our church plant, but as with any child waiting for adoption we hope one day soon we will.

Parents are important to a church plant because they help provide the right nutrients for growth including one or more of the following:

• Coaching – The #1 thing a new church planter needs is knowledge. A church planter needs to know what others know who have traveled that way before. They need their parent church to share their worn and tattered map with them which will help navigate the new church to its desired mission destination.
• People – One of the things that has been a surprise to me as an FTP (first time planter) is how many churches are not willing to share their people with a new church plant. In reality church planters are signing up to become new parents, and new parents need kids that can help get the new family started. Believe it or not, if a church leader called me and said “We heard you’re starting and new church and would like to let our people know so they can pray about being a part” I would probably fall face forward into the mud. Listen, I get all of the reasons why a church might not become a parent to a church plant, but maybe it’s time we quit being so protective of “our” people and take a risk for the sake of the gospel and the lost. The REALity is that I’ve never heard of a church that sowed people into a new church plant that did not reap a harvest of people and money that far exceeded their investment. The Spirit of God is well able to replace the people a church sows into a new church plant, and we all know that God never gives us less than we give, always better.
• Facilitiess – Man, it is tough to find an affordable  place where a new church launch team can start meeting and grow to 30-50. The ideal place for a new baby church to start is within an existing church that is serving as their parent. But if the parent church is not willing to sow people into that new church that relationship will become an awkward impossible situation for the planter. As a church planter you have to find people who are willing to help and cannot afford to be walking on your tip-toes wondering if someone in the parent church will be offended if you share your vision with someone in their church. It is better not to have a parent church than one that is not fully supportive.
• Money – For a planter, a little money can go a long ways. But money to a planter is more than money. It’s a personal telegram that says we care. It’s amazing how even a small amount of money can bring the courage a planter needs to keep going.

Church plants, like kids, need parents. Being a church planter is not only one of the greatest jobs on the planet, but it is also one of the most important. The local church is truly the hope of the world because it is the catalyst that pushes the hope of the Gospel into new places. Stat’s prove that new churches reach new people and I believe just as with human parents, God’s intended church planting model is for older existing churches to become parents that help new church plants get a healthy start.

QUESTION: What experiences do you have with church planting? What have you seen work?