What I learned About NCCd Church Planting (2)

Following a week of preparation and meeting with a potential NCCd Campus planter/pastor and family, I wanted to take a few posts to unpack my thoughts. This is part 2 in the series. My last post focused on the the idea that What We Intend To Do Is Good, this post focuses on:

How We Intend to Do This Is Also Good

First: We start with an assessment process

Anyone who wishes to plant an NCCd campus must pass an assessment process that is very much like the A-29 assessment process. The process includes numerous questionnaires covering theology, personal testimony, practical ministry, mission and vision, as well as calling. There are references to be completed, a resume of life and work experiences, personality testing, entrepreneur testing, and a phone interview. If all of this goes well, there is face to face time and a two hour husband and wife assessment.

If the potential planter does not pass the assessment process, at any time/stage the process will end.

Second: If the potential planter PASSES the assessment process, then the information attained in the process will be used to formulate a training strategy for the planter. Some may need theological strengthening, or preaching work, or perhaps just experience and guidance. (Of course, the potential planter must make a decision on coming to Macon and partnering with NCCd before training begins)

Third: When the potential planter and family are committed to the process and living in the area, training begins. The period of training will depend on the amount and type of training needed. Much will depend on how the potential planter responds to the training and increased weight of leadership. Training will mean intimate involvement in the operation, working, and pastoring of New City Church downtown. At the same time, the potential planter will begin working in the city in which he will plant and he will begin leading the Missional Community(ies) in that city.

Fourth: At some point (as soon as possible) in the training process, a date for Launch will be set. The MC will serve as the Launch team. The goal will be the casting of vision and multiplication of the MC. The readiness of the potential planter - now PLANTER - and the health and readiness of the core (the MC) will determine the final Launch date.

Fifth: LAUNCH (and yes I skipped finding the place for the Launch gatherings and a host of other details). A few things that the PLANTER didn't have to work hard on or worry about during the core building phase and Launch:

Casting a new vision - our MCs get it.

Finding musicians - man this was hard for a season! We currently have 3 bands who understand that they will one day rotate between campuses,

Membership - We will launch our version of membership this winter. The class materials will be handed to the planter - with a core of members.

Lack of Experience - Likely there will still be a lack here BUT, the Planter will have had hands on training with a planter AND he will continue to receive coaching and support from NCCd elders who have been in the battle and want to see the planter's victory.

Sixth: There are still unknowns regarding future structures - but we have ideas. The plant/campus will remain a New City Church - and will be active in planting other churches. The campus planter will be an elder - serving with other New City Church downtown elders and raising up his own elders

The system - though we still have much to learn and put in place is a good one. It equips the planter and readies the people for a plant. It takes away many of the areas that are time consuming and troublesome for many planters... it doesn't guarantee a successful and thriving plant, but it sure seems that it will help a lot.

So - I'll end it here with this... if you are interested in planting in Middle Georgia as a New City Campus - You'll get an MC Core, 3 awesome worship bands, proven elders, support from a guy near you working hard with you, and more...

e-mail me keith@newcitydowntown.org

What I Learned About NCCd Church Planting (1)

Having spent the majority of last week hanging out with a family who may be moving to Macon to train and plant a New City campus, I want to take a few posts to reflect on my thoughts and things I learned from last week. I'll post as things come to mind, but not in any particular order. Here's the first...

What We Intend To Do Is Good

What is it that we intend to do?

We intend to plant churches (New City campuses) in numerous cities in the Middle Georgia region. Currently we are considering Warner Robins, Milledgeville, and Forsyth.

While each of those cities does have some good churches, initially it appears that there is a need for a Gospel-centered, reformed church that is willing to engage unchurched people in the public square. It seems that not only is there a need for such a church, but there are also people wanting such a church. Visiting these cities and talking about them this past week with residents and others has only strengthened our planting intent. In fact, it has fueled the fire to plant sooner rather than later.

What do we mean by a NEW CITY CAMPUS?

This is always one of the first questions that a potential planter with New City asks. The reason for the question is because there are so many different types of campuses:

Video Venue campus - Generally the majority of the preaching at such a campus is done via video projection by one guy. Mars Hill has several campuses where Mark Driscoll preaches the vast majority of the time - not live, but by video projection. Campus pastors in this system shepherd people, organize, and lead a campus but do not preach very often.

Single Preacher Satellite Campus - This is a campus in close enough proximity to the church's main campus that the Preaching Pastor can preach in one venue and then fly off (sometimes literally) to the second campus where he preaches again.

New City Campuses - Our hope is to find a planter/pastor for each of our targeted cities (and then some). Each campus planter will serve as the pastor and lead preacher/teacher for that campus. In many respects he will function and operate just as any planter would - juggling getting to know a new city, building of new relationships inside and outside of the body, working on policies, studying, writing, counseling, and yes weekly preaching and teaching.

BUT - he would plant the New City campus with the shared resources of NCCd - we would share elders, share systems and structures, share bands (creating a rotation between campuses for our current 3 bands), share a common mission and vision, finances, Missional Communities and more! For example: A New City warner robins planter would come into a situation where a core group already exists in our Warner Robins MC (Missional Community). The MC knows, understands, and is fully on board with our mission and vision. They are ready to work toward a WR campus and several of them have worked in NCCd for over a year - THAT for a planter is PRICELESS!

So - I'll end it here with this... if you are interested in planting in Middle Georgia as a New City Campus - You'll get an MC Core, 3 awesome worship bands, proven elders, support from a guy near you working hard with you, and more... e-mail me keith@newcitydowntown.org

Why Wait? Time is Ticking - PLANT

Not knowing what to expect, I blogged and tweeted and facebooked a call for a church planter - someone willing to lead a New City campus in Middle Georgia - Forsyth, Warner Robins, or Milledgeville. The tweet was re-tweeted and the blog had 4 times as many hits in a day as usual. And from all of the traffic - 1 guy followed through!

He and his wife and their 21 month old son will be heading to Macon on December 2 to meet us and check out middle Georgia. We have already completed his initial assessment and everything looks great.

A few people have asked what I have asked myself - Are we ready to plant? We are not quite 2 years old, we have 1 full time staff person (me), we are running wide open to keep up with ourselves and our city, we are pushing to add partnership (our version of membership) and leadership development, our elder candidates are just that CANDIDATES... Can we really plant a new campus?

So here are my thoughts:

* If we wait until we have everything figured out with all of our 'i's dotted and t's crossed' - we will never do it.

* If we wait until we have enough money - we will likely never do it.

* If the right guy were with us today, it would take us a year to Launch a new New City campus - a year of planning, a year of MC building, a year of getting ready...

* There is a need, now for gospel centered missional churches and every day, week, month that we wait puts off another day, week, month, year...

* Will a new campus be 'successful'? I don't know. And I really only know one way to find out - try it - not as a fool, but by faith believing that God is in the process even now - leading his people, preparing the way, and working for His kingdom

So - I would then reverse the question - Why Wait? Why NOT now? Time is ticking!

If you are interested in planting in Middle Georgia and align theologically and missiologically with New City Church downtown - Let's talk!

If you want to know more about church planting - check out Plant and RePlant - register today!

Want to Plant?

80% of church plants fail. At least thats the statistic commonly used. Ed Stetzer's statistics show that 68% make it to year 4. Either way, many new church starts have short, hard lives.

I have heard no statistics, but I have seen the ruin of men and churches whith the attempt to infuse new life in old and dyeing churches. Replanting an established church is most often NOT successful - 95% of churches are unable to change their DNA.

In contrast, according to Scott Thomas of the Acts 29 Church planting network, 95% of A-29 Church plants and re-plants are successful.

So have you ever wondered - what are A-29 churches doing?

How they doing it?

If so, you will want to join us January 22-23 for the Plant and RePlant Conference. The featured speakers are Tyler Jones of Vintage 21 Church in Raleigh, NC, and Jonathan McIntosh of ReThink Mission and a former campus pastor at the Journey Church in St. Louis, MO.

One of the unique things about Plant and RePlant is that we will bring together church planters who are still new in their plant and veterans who have 'been there and done that' to answer YOUR questions. Break outs for Plant and RePlant will primarily consist of Q and A driven by attendees. So - if you are a planter now, hope to be a planter one day, or a church looking to jump into church planting, Plant and Re-Plant is for you!

Register early - seating is limited.

Ambition Audio Available

Thanks to Sojourn Church for getting audio up so quickly from last week's Ambition Boot Camp. This was the Best Boot Camp that I have attended - my recommendation to church planters is that you listen to every session! For understanding your city and connecting for transformation, Kevin Cawley is a MUST hear. To keep you humble and distance yourself from the glitter that some associate with church planting - DO NOT MISS Chandler. Happy Listening!

The following was pulled directly from Sojourn's church planting blog:

You can either download them all from: the Sojourn Church iTunes podcast , our standard podcast RSS feed , or listen to them right from the sojournchurch.com Guest Speakers page. Here are direct links to each session:

Matt Chandler (Ministry for the Long Haul & Ambition)

Kevin Cawley (Decoding Your City & Ambition)

Bob Thune (Discipleship & Ambition)

Russell Moore (Speaking Past Demons: Christian Preaching As Expository Exorcism)

Darrin Patrick (Leadership & Ambition)

Steve Timmis (The Church & Ambition)

Ed Stetzer (Church Planting & Ambition)

Dave Harvey (The Gospel & Ambition)

Droided

I fought it for years - not wanting to be connected - I was already waaaaayyyyy to connected - computer at work, laptop at home, laptop on vacation, laptop at conferences...

Then I got a semi-smart phone. It could get and send e-mail, do important mobile stuff like twitter and facebook. With that I could get and receive e-mail from anywhere (yes anywhere - because unlike AT&T Verizon has real nationwide coverage). But - I couldn't do much online and I couldn't open documents - and a few other things that just 10 years ago no one could do from anywhere - except a cold room with walls lined with giant computers (OK maybe 20 years ago).

Well - today I purchased a SMART phone - I think. It seems smart. Smarter than my first 3 computers - able to do 100 times as much as my 1st laptop. Now I can be connected, surf the web, do research, shoot and upload video, take 5 mega pixel pics (with a flash), call you, receive your call, get driving instructions, shop e-bay and more - all at the same time - from ANYWHERE.

wondering if this was really a good purchase.

Ambition Highlights

Last week was a cRaZy busy week as Amy and I headed to Louisville, KY and Sojourn Church for Acts 29's Ambition Boot Camp. Boot Camps are exhausting: there is travel, nightly events, early mornings (8:30 am meetings), afternoon activities, dinners, hang out (late night) and back at it early in the morning, followed by Thursday assessments of potential church planters, then return travel! It is honestly non-stop. Add to that maddening pace the incredible amount of teaching that pours out of one amazing leader after another and - well - it can take days to recover - but who has days to recover?!?!?

So, while it was fresh on the mind, I thought I would share some of the highlights for me from last week, in no particular order...

# Boot Camps and other A-29 events provide me with the opportunity to connect with other planters in the network - much needed.

# The teaching line up at these events is INCREDIBLE - Ed Stetzer, Darrin Patrick, Steve Timmis, Russ Moore, Matt Chandler, Kevin Cawley, Dave Harvey, and Bob Thune all rocked the main sessions.

# Boot Camps are getting better and better at addressing a wide range of issues and need through breakout sessions - Ambition was the best I have attended.

# Sojourn and A29 did a great job of taking care of the A 29 guys there to help with the Boot Camp and assessments - great meals together, great hang out time that included a couple of awesome Louisville pubs and some cigars (love the smell of a cigar though I do not smoke them)

# Wives are encouraged to help in the assessments - that means Amy makes the trip with me - nice.

# Daniel Montgomery invited me to help by teaching one of the breakout sessions - Vision and Values - Great Church or Great City? It gave me the opportunity to share with people from all over the country the cool stuff going on in New City and in our city

# Kevin Cawley's talk was the best session I have had the honor of being in (and I have been in some good ones). Kevin is planting in KC, Mo - but what he talked about described what New City is doing. Really Good! I got to follow his talk with a brief testimony about New City - cool.

# Josh and Meghan Maloy made the trip as well as Patrick and Jennifer McConnell - hang out time with them was really good. Josh and Meghan made their first A-29 event and walked away with a renewed heart for our mission and vision.

# Meeting men from all over the country who have a passion and drive to reach people with the gospel by starting new churches - exciting.

Audio should be up in a week or so as well as video interviews with numerous planters and worship leaders.

A great week! Now to catch up here...

Love Should Lead Me to Risk Much - What's Your Agenda

In my previous post I raised the question of whether or not we truly love the people around us. If we do, then our love should compel us to share the gospel - even though that involves risk. The next question that came to my mind when it comes to the gospel and those around us centers on agenda.

What is your agenda? (Webster's - an underlying plan or program)

Is it to LOVE first, or to CONVERT?

If your agenda is simply conversion, then - what will you do of there is no conversion? What will you do if the one you share Jesus with doesn't believe?

Christ follower - watch this video - a non-Christian's perspective:

Christians Trying to Convert Non-Christians from Rethink Mission on Vimeo.

Love Should Lead Me to Risk Much

A lot of people think I am crazy or maybe just stubborn because I will hop back on my motorcycle as soon as I am able - this after my second broken bone from a crash (and I am not getting younger - whatever that means). Obviously there is a risk with riding a dirt bike, but for me the reward is worth the risk!

There is nothing that compares with riding - I LOVE it - and that Love leads me to risk scrapes, bruises, a little blood, and broken bones.

I have been thinking a lot over the past few days about the Gospel and our motivation (or lack thereof ) for sharing it with others. The gospel is by its nature confrontational and ultimately divisive - you are a sinner and either you believe or you don't. Confrontation and division often leads to arguments, hurt feelings, name calling, and worse. Talking with co-workers whom you see every day could lead to awkward days at work. Talking to friends on such a touchy subject could lead to your being de-friended! So - there is a risk. And often we determine the risk to be too great. So we say nothing.

But - if we LOVE our friend or co-worker (and I really mean love - not just the word love, but the reality) - if we love them, shouldn't that love motivate us to take a risk?

Or is that the real issue? We don't truly love.

Tis the Season - to ReThink the Season

Earlier this week I was checking out the Advent Conspiracy after hearing much about it and knowing almost nothing. The concept was nothing new, but some of the numbers were incredible... a solemn reminder of the consumerism of my culture - and of my own consumerism.

The Advent Conspiracy is about Christmas - and Christmas spending, but we are actually in the midst of a pre-Christmas holiday right now - Halloween. While Halloween numbers fall far short of Christmas numbers, a Time Magazine article estimates Halloween spending to be 6 BILLION dollars this year. Add to that the dollars spent on enormous Fall Festivals sponsored by churches and quite frankly the numbers are sickening.

Watch this video from the Advent Conspiracy and tell me what you think...

So, as you enjoy a Fall Festival or purchase Christmas gifts,

remember that just $10 Billion could potentially change the world.