One of the biggest blessings of doing ministry in Austin is the church planting network that was started last year by some local church planters. We have a good group of planters from wide-range of backgrounds, philosophies and strategies-but we all love the church and Austin, that’s what binds us together.

Thanks to John, who is a local church planter and also runs a global web design company, we now have a great looking website for Plantr. Go check it out.

Well it looks like all things are a go. Passion City Church is launching Feb 15th. I hope and pray that God would use this Church to bring shalom to the city of Atlanta.

I know a lot of folks are critical and assuming the worst. But I choose to trust that God is going to do something great.

I personally think this is a much needed discussion for all church planters. Jonathan argues that church planters can fall into two categories.

1. Apostolic Moxy: Put your head down and move forward at all cost. Planter relies more on self then Spirit. BTW: Think lower-case apostolic. 

2. Academic Model and Methods: This type of planter is more formal and tends to rely on Academia more then the Spirit. 

While both of the above are important aspects to Church Planting; it’s more important for us to be Spirit-led gospel planters. Take a moment and listen to the audio and allow it to challenge you’re thinking and prayerfully we can become the people of God who are being led by the Spirit of God. John 6:63

I’ve said it before, but It’s so vital to learn from other leaders. It’s also important to realize that all leaders and churches are struggling to go to the next level. Church planting is messy, it’s hard, you have to adapt on the fly. You can read books and attend conferences and listen to podcasts, but the best form of learning comes from conversations from those who are in the midst of church planting. They understand the frustrations and wars that a planter goes through. That is priceless in my book.

So props to David Fairchild for spending time with us, we learned a lot and gained much encouragement.

But…I’m not going to stop….

So…

I just want to say this-I’m over church planting-I think it’s over-rated.

There, I said it

Why?

Because church planting has become the prima donna of the evangelical world.  I just think we can’t stop at “church-planting.” Church planting is not enough. Sunday’s are not enough. Numbers who attend are not enough.
I want to focus more on being a catalyst for movements…(Which includes church planting) I just worry that church planting in and of itself has not got the ROI that we need in America. Also, I think church planting in America has really hurt the global church. We spend so much of our resources in America on reaching suburbanites. Hmm, we spend the most money on reaching the wealthiest-strange! If I was not a lazy blogger I could come up with all the stats, how fewer and fewer people are attending church now then ever, etc.

Just because you start a church and you have 10,50,100,200 at launch does not make you a missional church. We’ve got to stop using the word missional. Showing up and hearing a sermon and listening to worship does not make you missional. But leaving the the four-walls of the church and “living” out the gospel in your community-that is missional.

I think we spend so much time, effort and resources to attract people to our services. Maybe it’s time to really create pathways for people to understand the Lordship of Jesus and how He had called them to “go” into their world and “proclaim” the gospel story with action, love, justice and power. And then bring them into our church community. No money spent on “hooks” or anything.

Think about this. When is the last time you got together with fellow friends and just worshiped and prayed?  Not planned, not scripted, not forced. Just natural. Just some friends who love each other and Jesus. I can’t remember, maybe 10 years for me. Back then I believed prayer and community could change the world.

Sorry for the randomness. I just can’t grasp this deep stirring in my soul. Something must change. Somehow movements have to break out and missional men and women must walk with Jesus into their world with the sole purpose of bringing redemption.

If I’m “off” on something please let me know. This is not a negative post-I just want to think deeper from a missional perspective.

This book is not a specific book on church planting…Instead the book really deals with the idea of movement from a church’s perspective.

From Erwin’s website:

An Unstoppable Force will:

• Challenge you to see God’s vision for the mission and purpose of the church.
• Help you to explore specific changes in the culture that call for immediate change in the church.
• Offer practical ways for your church to find its unique voice and identity to express Christ’s love and faith to your culture.
• Present interactive questions in each chapter to foster discussion about the life of your church, its focus on Christ, and how it can be a richer influence on your culture.

Man I love church planters. These cats take a lot of risk, most folks have no clue how hard it is to start something from the ground up. Please say a prayer for him and feel free to throw some funds his way.

Shalom

Church Planting group for Virb.

You can also find my page here.

I truly respect these cats and even though we disagree on some theological points I think they are by far the most compelling and successful church planting network that I know of.

These guys are so passionate about the gospel and missional living. Plus they do a lot to help “all” planters learn how to build great churches. And for that they should be honored and respected.