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Since the release of my book Launch a few years ago, I hear from a lot of church planters from all around the country and around the world.

By far the most common question I hear sounds something like…

What are we doing wrong?

And I’ve realized over the years that, for the vast majority of church planters, there are a handful of common answers to that question.

So, TOMORROW (Tuesday, December 6), I’m offering a new FREE Webinar called “The Top 3 Church Planting Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)”.

Will you join me?

Here’s what I know about you already:

God’s vision for your new church’s impact is far larger than yours.

By learning to identify and avoid these three mistakes in your new church, you can cooperate with Him to reach more people, faster than you ever thought possible!

Join me on Tuesday for this FREE webinar where you will learn:

• The #1 mistake Church Planters make when launching (and how you can easily avoid it).
• The one key to launching large that no one else will tell you (but that I’ll show you how to implement immediately)
• The two elements you MUST have in place for your new church to succeed (hint: they are not what you think)
• Plus Much More!

Limited Space Available
Click Here to Register Now for FREE!

The Journey has been a multi-site church since its earliest days, and we’ve seen the tremendous upside to multiplying the impact of our church via multiple campuses.

Along the way, we’ve learned A LOT (most of it by trial and error) – multi-site ministry is not easy by any stretch of the imagination.

And since we’re still a multi-site church, I’m always on the lookout for what I can learn.

I recently came across this FREE E-Book from Jim Tomberlin at Multi-Site Solutions, and wanted to share it with you today.

Here’s the link – 125 Tips for Multi-Site Church (and Those Who Want to Be)

I think you’ll find that Jim has put together a good list of quick-read tips for any church who is multi-site or is considering it.

Thanks for sharing Jim!

P.S. For a proven strategy to Launch a new church (or a new campus), check out The Launch Conference on CD.

With the success of my book Launch and our other Church Planting Resources, we get lots of questions from church planters.

One question that comes up on a regular basis comes from people who are planting in a new area, and it often sounds like this:

I’m planting a church in a new area and I just don’t know anyone.

What are a few steps I can take to meet new people and get plugged into my new community?

Today, I’ve asked Scott Whitaker, Lead Pastor of StonePoint Church and President of Church Leader Insights, to share his thoughts.

Thanks Nelson – this is a great question!  I’ve been a “pioneer” church planter too.

Here are a few tools that I’ve used to get out and meet some people:

1- Join a community organization.

You might consider your local Chamber of Commerce (which I did), Rotary, or Kiwanis club.

You’ll be able to network and meet other community and business leaders.

To really maximize this effort, you might even join one of their committees and volunteer.

2- Visit the same business repeatedly.

Many church planters set up office in a coffee shop.  That’s a common one.  Or you might choose to visit the same restaurant, business supply store, barber shop, bank, etc.

Start getting to know the people of the places you frequent – ask them questions about the community.

For example: for a while, I would intentionally get some things printed at one local business supply store.  Periodically, I would let them know that I’m sending out a flyer and ask for their feedback on the design.  It really helped build rapport.

3- Setup meetings with key leaders.

Depending on the size of your town, you might be able to meet with the mayor, local government leaders, or other community influencers.

Develop a list of questions to ask them about the community.  And before you leave, be sure to ask them who they think you should get to know.

4- Meet other local pastors.

There is a great deal that you can learn from other local pastors who have been in the area.

I still meet with a local pastor once a month.  Even after planting five years ago, there’s still a lot I can learn from him about the community and ministry.

He’s been in the area for over 17 years and been in ministry much longer than that.

I hope these help!

Scott Whitaker
President
www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com

Thanks Scott – these are great ideas to build connections!

What would you add to this list?

P.S. If you’re planting a church and looking for a proven strategy to start larger, quicker, and healthier, check out The Launch Conference on CD.

I’ve been focusing on Church Planting here on the blog in recent days, so I thought I’d share another concept today that’s important when you’re starting new church from scratch.

Here’s the concept: Be mindful of who you’re listening to.

As a church planter (especially in the pre-Launch process) it’s easy to get caught up in chasing to the latest fads, the most intriguing conference speakers’ advice or even the cumulative thoughts of your local pastors gathering.

And there’s wisdom in the counsel of many… to a point.

But you must decide early on to listen, first and foremost, to God’s calling for you and your new church.

Soon thereafter, you want to try and find one or two voices that you can connect with and that provide the godly wisdom that every church planter needs.

And here’s why: Too many planters I speak with are trying to concoct just the right mix of this planter and that planter, when they should be building on solid, proven principles and allowing God to use them for the unique church He wants to plant through them.

Listen to, read from, meet with everyone you can, but be wise in discerning what is sound, godly advice.

And don’t get so caught up in chasing someone else’s story that you miss out on the story God is writing through you.

Below is a quick video from Chris Goeppner, one of my Senior Pastor Tele-Coaching Alumni and Lead Pastor of Riverbank Church in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Chris is a good example of this concept – building on solid principles and letting God shape the future of your new church:

Thanks for the kind words Chris – and keep up the great work in New England!

How about you Church Planter?  Who are you listening to?

My new Tele-Coaching Network for Senior Pastors begins in just 8 Days – NEXT THURSDAY – and I would appreciate the opportunity to help you and your new church reach as many people as possible for the Kingdom.

This twelve month coaching process has been honed and refined as I’ve coached over 1,000 Senior Pastors (many of them church planters).

This network is over 85% full already, but I still have room for a few more if you get your application in soon.

The network begins NEXT THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, so don’t delay.

Read more and Apply Now here:

http://www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/telecoaching

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in church planting, it’s to expect the unexpected.

It seems like the spiritual warfare is always a little more intense when it comes to the birth of a new church.

This past Sunday was no exception – we were launching The Journey Church in Boca Raton (click here for details).

About a half-hour from our Grand Opening service (and with people already waiting in the lobby to worship), our sound board blew up.

It just completely quit working.  No early indications, no warning signs – it just quit.

So I did the only thing I know to do when it comes to fixing sound boards…. I PRAYED!

And I sent out a few text messages asking others to pray as well.

Thankfully, one of our sound techs was prepared with a nice 80′s-era 8-channel mixer, which ran our entire setup for over 550 people (with a few slight adjustments).

The service even started on time!

If you’re planting a church or trying to do anything else to push back the darkness and expand God’s Kingdom, be prepared for expect a little spiritual warfare along the way…

You may have heard me say this before, but one of my early ministry mentors told me once, “If you go too long without meeting the devil head-on, you might be heading in the same direction!”

Thank God that He is greater than anything the enemy can throw at us.

Nelson

P.S. If you’re a church planter, I’d like to give you over $149.00 in FREE Church Planting Resources – to download yours now, CLICK HERE.

On Friday, I asked you to pray for us and the Grand Opening of the brand new Journey campus in Boca Raton, FL.

And today I want to send out a BIG THANK YOU!

God showed up in a mighty way by sending 550 people yesterday.

Yep, 550 people!  Needless to say, we were (and still are) blown away!

Today we’re working to follow up on all these new people and especially the 25 who accepted Christ for the first time yesterday (again, go God!).

Please join us in praying for everyone who attended yesterday and also for next Sunday (week #2) and beyond – for continued blessing and opportunity to reach the people of South Florida.

Thanks again,

Nelson

P.S. If you’re available tomorrow, will you join me for the FREE Introduction to Church Systems Webinar?  It’s from 2:00 – 3:15pm Eastern tomorrow (Tuesday) and you can register now at this link:

www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/systemswebinar

If you’ve been reading along this week, you know that this has been “Church Planting Week” on the blog.

There are a couple of reasons for that: 1) we had a huge church planting webinar on Tuesday (thanks again to the over 1,000 pastors/planters who attended), and 2) I’m in the middle of a powerful church planting week personally.

As many of you know, The Journey Church is in the process of launching a brand new campus in South Florida – in Boca Raton, to be exact (about an hour north of Miami).

I’ve been providing hands-on leadership to this new work and we’ve been using the same strategy that I teach in my book Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch.

We’ve been meeting monthly since last September and THIS SUNDAY, February 13, is our Grand Opening (aka: Launch Sunday).

So, I’m writing today with a reminder and a request.

Reminder:

No matter how well you’ve planned out the strategy, promoted to the community, prepared the systems and placed key people in important roles (all important)… Church Planting is, at its core, an act of complete dependence on God.

All of those steps are essential, but if God doesn’t open the hearts of the people in your (our) community, the process is just a colossal waste of time.

So, here’s my request:

Will you join me in praying for a powerful, life-changing, “only God” day on Sunday at The Journey Church – Boca Raton?

We’re praying to launch large – to officially begin the life of this new work healthier and stronger than anyone thinks possible.

Pray for a tremendous turnout and for open hearts to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Even as our team has been doing everything we can do to make Sunday a success, join us in praying for God to do what only He can do – to draw men and women to Himself and radically transform their lives!

Thanks so much for playing a part in what God is doing in South Florida through The Journey Church.

Oh, and tune in Monday for an update on how Sunday goes!

P.S. To learn all about the launch approach to church planting – and how you can launch a new church quicker and larger than conventional wisdom would lead you to believe, check out my resource, The Launch Conference on CD.

Today is your last chance to secure your 10-CD set for special “church planting week” pricing.

CLICK HERE and enter the special code CPWEEK at checkout to Save $200.00 this week only!

Ok, its a bold title but I believe it it!  Just like birth weight of a new baby is critical to his early health, ‘launching large’ is critical for a new church plant.

Here’s my goal with all that I offer on Church Planting:
I want to help you start a church from scratch that will reach as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, my goal is to provide you with everything you need to launch large. This underlying premise of launching large will guide all of our ensuing discussions.

Launching large is the ability of a new church to reach as many people as possible within the first six to eight months of existence. It’s all about discovering and fulfilling potential.

Of course, “large” is a relative term. Some might argue from my story in starting The Journey that we didn’t launch large. However, given the church culture in New York City (or lack thereof), we actually did quite well. Launching large will look different for different church planters in different environments.

Church is local, and launching large is as unique as the area to which God has called you. Areas that are warm to the gospel may lend themselves to a larger launch than completely unchurched areas. I have also seen the reverse hold true. Don’t get too caught up in the numbers. Instead, focus on the potential of your area as you allow the concept to sink in.

At the same time, don’t completely dismiss the numbers either. Numbers are important in that they represent the people you have won to Christ as well as your impact on the community as a whole. Others have fought the battle of why numbers matter, so we won’t argue that here. However, we do believe that every person in a community is a person who matters to God and who needs a spiritual home.

God wants his family to be as large as possible. So, numbers do serve a purpose—not as a means to secure bragging rights, but as a tool for measuring the expansion of God’s kingdom.

Ask yourself, What would launching large look like in my area with my new church?

One way to determine a broad answer is to examine what God is already doing in and around your area. When we set out to start The Journey, we had a difficult time finding comparative churches because there had been virtually no successful church plants in Manhattan in the years just before our start.

In the New York City culture of 2002, having 110 people at the launch of a new church was significant. Since then, other churches in the city have had a larger launch than we did. And, by the way, we are their biggest fans. Understand the truth that God wants to use many churches to reach our city—and yours. This is not a competition.

God’s dream for your church is bigger than your dream.

Our goal was to grow to 50 people within a year of launching. Again, God had other plans. Launching large is about cooperating with God to see His vision accomplished in an area.

Don’t underestimate that vision or your ability to tap into it.

If God is calling you to this task, He’s not trying to play Hide-and-Seek with His vision and goals. Take a moment and use your sanctified imagination to envision what launching large would look like for your new church.

P.S. If you’re planting a church and you’re ready to learn all you can about how to Launch Large, check out my 10-CD resource called The Launch Conference.  Secure your copy this week for “Church Planting Week” special pricing:

CLICK HERE and enter the special code CPWEEK at checkout to Save $200.00 this week only!

(Before I jump into the article – a huge thanks to everyone for a great Church Planting Webinar yesterday – over 1,000 pastors/church planters on the call.  I hope to do more training for church planters in the future. . . now, on with today’s post)

According to Catholic church teaching, there are seven deadly sins (I once did a Big Day series on all Se7en, click here.  Our people loved it).

However, in church planting there are three deadly sins:

1.      Lack of calling

2.      Lack of strategy

3.      Lack of funds

These three deadly sins will ensure that a church plant fails and fails fast (most likely in a very public way so that even the Moonies will point and laugh). Among evangelical Christians, the statistics for new church failure are overwhelming. It’s the dirty little secret among church types. Jehovah’s Witnesses have a better success rate than we do.

What would you add to the list?  Give me your comments below.

For a jump start on how to overcome these three Church Planting sins, download my free resources for church planters by clicking here.

More on Church Planting tomorrow.

Nelson

P.S. For a complete resource to overcome these deadly sins and all the other landmines in church planting (forgive the mixed metaphor but you know what I mean) check out the CDs from my 2-Day Launch Conference - special ‘church planting week’ pricing available through Friday – CLICK HERE and enter the special code CPWEEK at checkout to Save $200.00 this week only!

In honor of today’s webinar on Top 3 Church Planting Mistakes (you are registered, right?  It’s free, click here), I want to share a summary of the Nine Things I Know About Church Planting – these lessons are from my coaching, writing and conferences with church planters – they also come out of my study of the New Testament Church.

I’m not being contrarian just to be so, but here they are:

•       Your call to start a church is the most critical factor to the church’s success

•       Don’t be afraid to raise funds from other churches

•       Build your church from the outside in

•       Don’t start with small groups or with a youth ministry

•       Use three to six monthly worship services to build up to weekly services

•       Don’t try to gather the churched; stay focused on the unchurched

•       In the beginning, resist the temptation to do everything

•       You can start a church much faster than you think

•       You can grow a church much faster than you think

I welcome your questions using the comments below.

For more on each of these check out The Launch Conference recorded live at a 2-day event in NYC – special pricing available this week only.  CLICK HERE and then enter the special code CPWEEK when you checkout to save $200.00 this week only.

More on Church Planting tomorrow.

Nelson