confessions of a church planter

Last week I mentioned that one of the all-time best books on the subject of leadership is John Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.  In fact, outside of the Bible, I call it the Bible of leadership.  In typical John Maxwell fashion, he identifies non-negotiables in leadership and calls them laws.  Similar to scientific laws, there are certain principles at play regardless of whether we’re aware of them or not.  I might get a little zealous about these 21 laws at times, but I won’t apologize for my emphasis upon them, especially the first of the 21.  That law is the law of the lid.  The law of the lid is that no organization will rise above the level of leadership of it’s leader.  That might seem elementary and that’s b/c it is!  However, most leaders neglect this law.  While leaders want their organizations to grow, they must be willing to grow themselves.  Maxwell’s quick to point out that most leaders can only grow a few steps from where  they are innately.  For example, on a hypothetical scale of 1-10, with 10 being highly effective, an innate leader at a 6 could only grow to an 8.  While it might not seem worth the effort, an 8 is a really good leader while a 6 is slightly above average.  Now, here’s the kicker: A 6 leader will have a 5 organization.  An 8 leader will have a 7 organization.  There’s a huge difference between a 5 and a 7 organization.  It’s worth it for the organization!  It’s worth it for the leader!  While Maxwell frames things with organizations, this law applies to any leader and his/her followers.  If you’re a leader in your family, your family will never be healthier than you.  If you’re a teacher, your classroom won’t exceed your excellency.  If you’re a pastor, your church won’t be any deeper than you are.

That’s why teachers need to keep learning!  That’s why pastors need to keep praying, studying, and fasting!  That’s why leaders need to keep growing!

Got it?  Good.

Who needs to confess?

Confession: Yesterday was awesome.  What was interesting about yesterday is that even though there was a smaller crowd, it seemed like they were twice as loud as the normal size crowd.  I don’t know if it was because Gregg, Regina, and Sabrina were all singing out front.  The song choices were amazing.  Right in the middle of the worship set was “Amazing Grace.”  Our church was so in zone on that song it wasn’t funny.  While I admit that I wasn’t prepared to take things back up, the next song “All Because of Jesus” was ridiculous.  It was one of those moments where you didn’t want the song to end.  BUT, it did.

The message about how unforgivingness (yes, that’s a word. unforgiveness is not, however) can become a breaker.  It’s a pretty serious subject, but it seemed pretty light in there.  At the end of the second service, we had one individual accept Christ’s forgiveness for the first time.  Then, when I went home, I had an email waiting for me from a young woman who  said that she needed to forgive her dying mom. Those two things made it an awesome day.  But the day wasn’t over.

HD rocked it on Sunday night with their small groups.  I got to hear the band practicing and they sounded awesome.  The coolest thing about listening to them was that I know the heart of their worship leader, Jake.  He just wants to dial into what God wants for those students.  I know they had an encounter w/ the presence of God.

So, Sunday was a great day!

Need to confess?

I promised you a book report.  So here you go.  I recently read In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen.  It was handed to me by a close friend. He’s a reader and a learner, and when I asked him about all the books on his shelf, he pulled out Nouwen’s book.  That’s not Nouwen’s only book, btw.  In fact, if you’re reading this and you’ve never encountered Nouwen, you need to stop what you’re doing right now and go get any of his books.  Furthermore, don’t read another blog until you’ve completed his work on the resurrection.  It’s ridiculous.  Back to ITNOJ.  The book is structured by three chapters that take the reader on a journey from something to something.  The “from something” I think could be describe as a modern day vice for Christ-followers, especially leaders.  The “to something” is best described as virtue for modern Christ-followers and leaders.  So, the movement is from a vice to a virtue.  The way someone travels is through a discipline.  Nouwen frames ITNOJ by his own person journey of moving from Harvard to L’Arche, a center for mentally handicapped people.  Nouwen says that he clearly heard God say, “Go and live among the poor in Spirit and they will heal you(11).”  So, he left the mentally elite for the mentally handicapped, but his greater journey was only beginning.

• Chapter One-from Relevance to Prayer!  Nouwen realized that his likeability was no longer dependent upon academic degrees, job titles, reputations, relationships, etc., which is how he defines relevance.  He even suggests that Jesus’ first temptation was to be relevant.  Instead of relevance, Nouwen argues that the leader of the future must be irrelevant, which he suggests is standing in front of the world with nothing to offer but his vulnerable self.  The question that deals with our desire to be vulnerable is “do you love me?”  This question actually allows a person to be irrelevant and self-confident at the same time.  It matters not what you do but whether you love Jesus and have his heart of love!  The way we get to the correct answer is through contemplative prayer or pursuing the presence of God!
• Chapter Two-from Popularity to Ministry!  The second temptation Jesus faced was to do something spectacular or “something that could win him great applause(38).”  To defeat this temptation, our task is to “feed his sheep.”  Why?  Ministry is communal and mutual.  In other words, you need the people just as much as they need you.  The discipline to move in that journey is confession and forgiveness.
• Chapter Three-from Leading to being Led!  We’re tempted to be powerful.  Nouwen says that what makes power so tempting is because it replaces the hard work of love.  Get ready for this: It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, and easier to own life than to love life.  Ouch!  Wow!  The challenge facing those on this journey is “someone else will take you.”  Nouwen reminds his readers of Peter being told by Jesus that at a certain stage of life, someone else dresses you and leads you.  He translates this to leader’s need to be led through powerlessness and humility.  The discipline to move us on the journey of leading to being led is strenuous theological reflection.  This is the only way we’ll know where we are being led.

I highly recommend this book.  It’s quick.  It’s deep.  It speaks to the heart of all Christians and especially Christian leaders.

Need to confess?

I almost forgot to blog.  It’s unnatural.  I thought about it throughout the day, but kept busy with other stuff.  So, it’s late, but I have a plan to work.  So, I’m working it!  Here’s my first leadership principle: The day you stop learning is the day you stop leading!  You could say to my kids, “Hey David’s kids-the day you stop learning” and pause.  They’d reply, “is the day you stop leading!”  If you want to grow your organization or business, you’ve got to grow.  If you want to grow the people you lead, you’ve got to grow.  If you want to be a great leader, you’ve got to be a great follower.  Followers learn from the right leader(s) b/c the right leader(s) will stretch you, grow you, and make you the best version of yourself.  Leaders keep learning from other leaders.  Here’s a list of some leaders who’ve shaped me:

• Jesus-I’ve heard that leadership is as simply as following Jesus.
• John Maxwell-He’s probably the first leader I had exposure to through books and books on cassette.
• All the pastors I’ve worked for, especially David B. Jones-DJ really helped me understand that great leadership sometimes means giving leadership away.  That’s a super strong leader!
• Perry Noble and Nelson Searcy-I’ve had the privilege of sitting under both of them in coaching networks.  They’re completely different in style and strength, but both have helped me tremendously.
• Marcus Buckingham-He, along with a few others, have helped me value a person for their strengths, rather than their weaknesses.

Here’s a list of some of the books that have taught me the most about leadership:

• The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
• Primal Leadership
• Now, Discover Your Strengths
• QBQ
• Developing the Leaders Around You and Developing The Leader Within You and 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork by Maxwell
• Good to Great

Here are some titles of books I’m reading now:

• In the Name of Jesus
• When Heaven Meets Earth
• Confessions of a Public Speaker
• Made to Stick

None of those lists are exhaustive, but it’s a start.  The truth is that I’m discovering new books and new leaders all the time.  In fact, the Henri Nouwen book was just recommended to me by a great leader, Kevin Queen.  It’s a great read that speaks directly to the heart of the modern day leader!

Need to Confess?

Umm…yesterday was so good!  First of all, I love the staff of The Vine.  They’re awesome.  Second, I love all the folks who serve so selflessly each week or on a rotation of weeks!  Third, I love worshipping with the greater community of faith.  Fourth, here are some highlights of what happened:

• From a personal standpoint, the moment where I was like “Dang!” was when Gregg closed out the 11:00 service.  I can’t even remember what he said as he led into the song, but it was on spot.  Then, he moderated towards the end and it was awesome.  I was so captured in the moment that I didn’t want it to end.  BUT, it did!  Now, I’ll start with the beginning.
• Just after I arrived at The Vine, two high school students took a tour of our facility.  However, as they toured, they prayed.  They prayed for probably about 40 minutes before they returned to pray for me.  This wasn’t just a one-time deal either.  They’ve done this a number of weeks in-a-row, and I’m sooooooooooooo grateful!  You’re welcome to join them at 7:30 on Sundays.
• Service started with Gregg and Austin dueling it out w/ daft cell phones-technologic.  I was a little concerned that the two white boys weren’t going to get the rhythm, but they pulled it out.  That was the intro to our service dealing with how technology can be a breaker to the flow of abundant life.
• Our worship set was sweet.  We busted out two hymns-How Great Thou Art and Blessed Assurance.  Then we did one of my favorites-”Salvation is Here.”
• I began my message w/ this video!
• I followed it up by stating how technology is neither good or bad.  It’s amoral.  However, technology can steal our time away from God and tempt us to sin.  To break the breaker of stealing time, I proposed two options.  First, seek first the Kingdom.  Start everyday seeking the Kingdom.  Before you get online, get connected to God.  Second, schedule meetings with God.  The people of the Jewish and Islam faith do it, maybe we should too!  I know people who have every minute of their week scheduled, but don’t make time for God.  Put God in your dayrunner, palm pilot, or iphone!  To break the breaker of temptation.  Just follow Jesus’ instructions found in Matthew 18:8-9.  Cut off anything that causes you to sin and throw it away.  To this point I proposed three options: 1.  Filter your time spent on technology-when you use it, what you use it for, and where you use it.  If that fails, as a Christ-follower, if Jesus were with you-would you do it? 2.  Establish accountability and boundaries.  3.  Get rid of it!  I have a fried who just deactivated his facebook.  He said that his finger hovered over the “enter” button for 4 minutes.  That’s when he knew.
• At both services there was recognition from a number of people by show of hands that technology either was stealing time away from God or tempting them to sin.  That’s the best place to start!
• HD featured one of our youth called into ministry-Tucker Fleming.
• It was a great day!

One of the greatest potential breakers in a person’s life is the most intimate relationship he or she keeps with another human being.  While that relationship extends to marriage, it begins with dating.  Personally, I contend that the purpose of dating is to find the right mate.  However, before dating begins someone should consider the following:

• Has God called you to singleness?  The Apostle Paul writes that widows and unmarried should remain single as he is.  Furthermore, he says that it is “good” to be single (1 Corinthians 7:8).  Why is it good?  It’s good for devotion to the Kingdom.  That’s not to say that you can’t be married and devoted to the Kingdom, but Paul couldn’t have accomplished all he accomplished for the Kingdom while being married.
• Are you content?  Paul writes about contentment in the context of finances, but I think it applies to all situations.  Whether in want or in plenty, he’s good.  He writes that godliness with contentment is great gain.  Godliness is the appearance of being like God.  Contentment is the actualization of God’s transferrable characteristics.  It’s the realization that God is sufficient for all needs, including relational status.

Once you’ve answered the following and feel led to date, remember that the right mate selection begins with the right date selection.  The most important criteria for a Christ-follower is to find an equally passionate Christ-follower.  Paul warns about being “yoked” with unbelievers.  In their day, there weren’t categories of believers like we have today.  You were either chasing Jesus or not.  So, evaluate your chase of Christ and then evaluate the prospect on their chase.  If he/she isn’t right there with you, like an unequally yoked team of oxen, your best bet is a crooked path in life.  The worst case is damage to your faith journey.

The final challenge of dating is celibacy.  I’m going to put it bluntly and succinctly: Sex fogs up the windows of the soul.  You can’t see clearly when physical intimacy is involved at the center of your dating relationship.  Sex feels good and will mask an unhealthy relationship.  As difficult as it might be, keep that relationship vertical!

When a person is married, there are an equal number of challenges to a person’s pursuit of the abundant life in Christ.  Two weeks ago, Jason Sebren stuck it the folks at The Vine talking about the things couples need to make it through.  One of the major points was that couples had to work together in ways that each other understood.  Borrowing from Scripture and Gary Chapman’s wisdom, he talked about the benefit of men and women understanding the love language of the other.  I heard from a married man yesterday who said that his wife asked him over coffee and conversation why they didn’t do that more often.  Great question.  Behind the question was a statement.  The statement was, “this is my love language.”  This is how I know you love me!  Find-out your spouse’s love language by going here.  Once you discover it, do it!  Not that, but the love the language.  Unless, of course, that is their love language!

Need to confess?

Confession: I want to blog, but I just don’t make time to blog.  Part of the problem is that I often just sit down and have to come up with something when I have spare time.  Well, that’s changing.  I picked up a philosophy of getting things done a few years ago.  Plan the work and work the plan.  So, that’s what I’m going to do.  I want accountability from you the reader.  I want prompting if I don’t hold to it.  In planning my work, I first asked the question: What do I love doing?  Well, I love reading.  I love leadership principles.  I love my family.  I love my church.  I love reading the news.  Maybe “love” is strong word for the news, but I’m addicting.  If I love those things, it should be easy to write about those things, right?  Well, that’s what I’m going to attempt to do on a daily basis Mon-Fri.

• On Mondays I’ll get you caught up on all the amazing things happening at The Vine!  I could also through in there a couple of interviews with some of our staff members or cool stories of how people are growing in their faith journey.
• On Tuesdays I’ll share with you some leadership principles I’ve picked up along the way from either a great leader, a great book, the Bible, or from personal experience.
• On Wednesdays I’ll give you a book review of a recent book I’ve read.
• Thursdays will be the day that I’ll catch you up on all things related to The Walters Family.
• Finally, Friday will be a day devoted to interesting stories in the news.

So, whatcha think?  Are you down with that?

Today, I got to play a small part in the conferencing of a few of our denominational leaders in the area of church development. By invitation of my conference’s director, Tommy Willingham, I spoke for a little less than 15 minutes about the highs and lows of church planting.  I was joined with Teresa Angle-Young and Rodrigo Cruz.  When it was my turn to present, I shared a quick intro about The Vine.  To celebrate the highs of church planting, I showed them our church’s Year 2 Recap.  I DID NOT SHOW THEM THIS VIDEO.  I’m still not really sure why we made that series of commercials.  Anyway, when I was done celebrated the good, I candidly shared with them the bad.  Here’s a list of the bad (very general to protect the identities of folks):

1.  When partnering with an existing ministry to begin a new ministry, there needs to be an agreed upon vision.  One of our struggles as a new church was differing visions.  Before the partnership, semantically, everyone was on the same page. However, once plans developed it was clear that there were two different visions.  If you’re a leader responsible for these partnerships or any other partnerships, it’s your responsibility to make sure the visions align.  Furthermore, when two people or ministries merge, both parties should be equally trained and evaluated.

2.  Planting a church is an inadequate metaphor for starting a church.  I think a better descriptor is birthing a church.  Why?  Well, I can plant a tree in my backyard with relative ease and minimal mess.  I cannot, however, say the same about birthing a church.  It’s more involved than one person.  It’s messy and frankly, sometimes it stinks.  Well, when you birth a church, there’s a difference between pre-delivery and post-delivery.  As a church birther, I experience post-partum something.  I wouldn’t call it depression, but there was definitely a funk!  I think it came from reality setting it.  Church birthers hear the glorious start of Rob Bell and think that it will be replicated in their setting.  I can, but it probably won’t.  Week 2 is possibly more disappointing than week 1.  So, if you’re a birther please know that pre-launch is ideal world.  Post-launch is real world!  If you’re a coach, teach your birthers that reality.  Encourage them in that reality.

3.  One of the most difficult aspects of birthing a church is institutional opposition.  I was warned of this by our boot camp coach.  I didn’t believe that would happen b/c I’m generally naive and non-competitive with other church.  Plus, there’s this “connection” our church was apart of called the denomination.  Yet, when we arrived in our context to start, there was opposition.  So, here’s my suggestion: If you’re responsible for making the call to send out a pastor into a community that has any other existing churches, you’re called to be the forerunner, bridge-builder, and John the Baptist paving the way for that Church Birther.  The Kingdom needs MOST churches and even if there were another 1,000 church in any community, it wouldn’t reach all the unchurched, pre-Christian folks.  Furthermore, if the birthed church is doing it’s job, it’s not going “steal” church members (it’s actually absurd b/c you can’t steal people in America…that’s illegal)!  Furthermore, if there is opposition from the institution, don’t contact the church birther the night before they launch.

4.  One of the greatest struggles of church birthing and leading any church is comparing yourself to others.  People matter to God, but size doesn’t!  There, I said it!  The pastor has a hard enough time comparing himself/herself with others, that he/she doesn’t need any other person adding to that struggle.  In the early days, when I’d celebrate the number of people I had a person in my life who’d almost immediately say, “Did you hear about ________ and how many people he had?”  Nope, but I guess you’re going to tell me and make me feel inferior.  So, bottom line:  Don’t compare yourself to others.  Don’t compare others to a church birthers.  It’s unfair!  Instead, celebrate each person God brings your way as one individual entrusted to your care.  If you’re not the birther, encourage him/her in what God did in that church rather than what God didn’t do or rather than compare him or her to someone else.  Each birther is uniquely made and wired!

There are more lows, but that’s all I shared today.  Maybe more to come!

Need to confess?

Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that you might have life and to the full(John 10:10).”  Prior to the season of Lent (if you know what that is), our church started taking an in-depth look into the things that break the flow of abundant life in a person.  These things we’ve identified as “breakers.”  Now, to really confuse you, this year at The Vine is “The Year of Breakthrough.”  God’s clearly given a word for our church that individually and corporately, people will be experiencing all kinds of breakthrough.  The NASB translation of Micah 2:13 refers to the Messiah as “the breaker.”  So, we’re believing that “the breaker,” Jesus, will all “breakthrough” to occur where there are “breakers” are “breaking” the flow of abundant life.  Got it?  Good.  Let’s move on.

The instruments that “the thief” (what’s with all the quotations mark?) are numerous and subtle.  The truth is that almost anything has the possibility of stealing, killing, and destroying life.  However, the first instrument that comes to mind is money.  It’s the number one cause of divorce in America.  It’s enslaved a number of people to material things.  It gets people way over their heads in debt.  yet, money is amoral.  It’s not good or bad.  It can be destructive or constructive.  It simply magnifies the character or the life of it’s holder.  To remedy the problem of money’s strangle hold over many Christians, our church offers the following:

1.  We sent our Financial Pastor, Pat Jarvis, to become a Certified Financial Counselor at Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace Plaza.  While he counsels for a fee from website referrals, he counsels for free for those within the church.

2.  We regularly offer Financial Peace University classes.  Right now, we are currently offering two classes and it’s not too late to sign-up.

3.  Later this spring we’ll be doing a series on biblical money management.  The second week, we’ll actually give away $1000 at each service to allow two individuals to establish $1000 emergency funds.

Individually, I’m a graduate of Financial Peace University and highly recommend.  Even though Liz and I have always tithed and never carried debt, money used to always stress me out.  It no longer does.  Furthermore, Liz and I are on the same page as far as our focus and financial goals.  With receipt of our tax return, we’ll be able to move onto baby step #4 and #5.  If you want to know what those are, you need to take the class!  I’ve also started reading cpf daily.  I never want money to be a breaker.  I only want it to lead to breakthrough in my life, through my life, and in other people’s lives.

Need to confess?

Confession: I’m not that good with margin, but I’m getting better and more intentional.  Margin is one of the most important aspects of ministry.  I’ve been saying for years that it’s in the margin that most of ministry happens.  Pay attention to the moments when Jesus’ normal routine or expected destination gets interrupted.  Those are the margin moments.  Remember the woman with the blood issue?  That’s in the margin and that’s only one example.  Keep reading the gospels and notice how much ministry happens in the margin.  Jesus seems to take it in stride.  He seems to roll with it.  We seem to get so busy and so scheduled that we miss the margin moments of ministry.  Perhaps you get a prompting, but you can’t follow-through b/c you’ve got to make it to your next meeting.  Perhaps you’re having a spiritual conversation with someone that’s about to lead to breakthrough, but your phone alerts you that you’re running late for your next appointment.  If you’re a schedule person (and in charge of your schedule), schedule margin.  Two weeks ago, I had a margin moment of ministry.

I was on my way from a meeting to work at the church’s office.  On my way, I was going to get a Subway sandwich, but felt prompted to stop into a restaurant where I frequent and continue building relationships with some of the folks that work there.  When I walked in, the bar was crowded with folks, but I found my spot and ordered my 1/2 and 1/2 (sweet tea and unsweet tea, btw).  To my left were 3 people (one female and two males) talking to the bartender.  It appeared like they knew each other.  There was a certain point where I decided to join in on the conversation.  When one of the men left, I started talking with the couple (from PCB and looking to move to Braselton) and we shared a common point in life by both having 2-year-old daughters.  They were talking about the struggles w/ potty training, but commented on how their church being cool w/ them bringing their daughter into worship.  I asked them where they went to church and they said, “PCB Baptist.”  Right when they were saying that, the other guy returned.  He promptly added that Baptist couldn’t drink.  They replied, “that’s why we have tea and water.”  He said, “Well, I’m Methodist and we can drink.”  I got up from my chair and said to the couple, “Do you have a card?  If I get any leads on a job, I’ll send it your way.”  The man spun around and said, “what do you do?”  I said, “I’m a Methodist pastor!”  Oh, it was priceless.  BUT, that margin moment led to ministry b/c the man looked at me with more sincerity than I’d seen in 30 minutes and said, “I really need to talk to you.”  I gave him my card and told him to contact me.  As the couple walked out with me, they humorously said, “If we move to Braselton, we’re definitely coming to your church!”  It was awesome.

Without margin, those moments don’t happen.  I implore you to create margin for ministry!

Need to confess?