Church Planters as Local Missionaries

The term “church planting” has required some self-evaluation and re-clarification over the last few years because of its current buzz-word status. In the last three decades, virtually any church start, opening, or new location has been classified under the heading of “church planting”. This includes the organic small group meeting in a home that slowly […]

Getting your Sermon off to a Good Start

Planting a church takes more than preaching well. But it can’t handle less than that. One of the perennial challenges of preaching well is getting your sermon off to a good start. The effect of a sermon introduction is disproportionate to its size. The two or three minute introduction (yes, less is more) will determine […]

Growing Churches God’s Way—Obedience-Based Church Planting

At risk of offending in my first blog post, I’ve often struggled with claims of doing things “God’s Way”—whether “Growing Kids God’s Way”, “Leading God’s Way”, “Marriage God’s Way”, etc., we often blur the lines between our attempts at doing things in a Godly way and claims of having a corner one “God’s Way” of […]

Why We Are Church Planting

When Mary and I find ourselves talking about church planting, we often get the question, “Why?” It’s a common misconception that because there appears to be churches on every corner in the majority of American communities, there is little to no need for new ones. Here are just a few of the reasons why we […]

Imago Dei and Gospel Conversations

A common complaint I hear from church planters is, “I don’t know how to start meeting people in my community for spiritual conversations. I don’t have a natural way to meet new people.” The planter perceives the problem to be meeting new people, when the problem is often related to seeing new people. One of […]