Church Planting Q & A – Launch in Different Cultures

Here’s today’s church planting Q & A:

Q: I planted a multi-ethnic church in Seattle area about 8 years ago and it’s going well.  God now has relocated me to plant a church in Los Angeles area but it is a Korean speaking church.

I’m contemplating attending the one-day Launch Conference in Baltimore on March 17^th. Before I make a commitment to attend I need to answer the question: Is this conference going to help a church plant that deals with different cultures and different background?

Thank you for your ministry and thank you for your commitment.

This is a great question!

We have seen that the Launch Conference has helped ethnic church plants as well as English speaking church plants. In fact, the Launch book is soon to be released en Espanol (see image).

The principles outlined in Launch are not designed for any particular culture. They are practical principles that church planters have used in their context to launch large and keep growing.

I’m very confident that your new church will benefit from this conference. So here’s my promise to you: If after the conference you don’t believe that your church plant has benefited in any way, I’ll refund your registration fee. Just email me and tell me why and I’ll make it happen. No questions asked.

** LAUNCH CONFERENCE 2009 is only 5 days away! I hope you will register to join us in Baltimore next week. You can do so here: https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/cart/store.jsp?view=4&i=p235

Have a great Thursday!

Church Planting Q & A – First Membership Class

With the beginning of spring just around the corner and the new growth that comes with it, I’d like to do a series of “Church Planting Q & A’s” here at the blog.

It also just so happens that my only scheduled Launch Conference for 2009 is coming up in just about a week  – next Tuesday, March 17 – in the Baltimore, Maryland area.  If you are a church planter or a leader of a church that is planting other churches, I hope you’ll register today and join us in the Charm City!

In celebration of spring time, the CLI Team and I will be answering a number of your church planting questions over the next couple of weeks.  Anyone involved in starting a new church knows that time is of the essence, so I’ll try to keep them short and sweet.  Today’s question is:

Q: When do you recommend church planters to have their first membership class after launching?  How far into the process?

A: We would not recommend doing a Membership Class before 8 months after launching. In some cases we’d recommend waiting at least a year (depending on size). But we would say don’t worry about doing the work to get together a Membership Class too early in the process.

The truth is, you need some time for your new church to begin to gain its identity so you can have something real to say at the class anyway. And you want your first membership class to be a good one!

P.S. If you are thinking of joining me for the Launch Conference keep in mind that space is limited, so if you are able to make it I recommend you register now.

Here’s the link:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/cart/store.jsp?view=4&i=p235&navicat=27

I Love Church Planters!

I’m honored to be a part of an incredible lineup of speakers today at the ChurchPlanters.com Conference near Atlanta.  There is something exhilarating about being in a room full of people who are so passionate and driven by God’s call on their lives that they are stepping out to start new churches all over the country.  I love to think about how many lives God will change through the faithfulness of the church planters I am with today!

I’m talking today about one of my favorite topics: the importance of building healthy systems to manage a growing church.  The biggest of all the reasons why I love church planting is because it is effective: church plants reach more people than existing churches.  However, without the right systems in place, even the most passionate and gifted church planter will struggle to lead a growing church.

If you don’t mind, please take a moment to pray for me and all of us at this conference (speakers and attendees).  Thanks!

For more information on church systems, click here to download my FREE “Healthy Systems, Healthy Church” Report.

P.S. I will be leading the LIVE One-Day Launch Conference in the Baltimore area on Tuesday, March 17 (my only one for the year).  Click here to find out more or to Register Now.

ChurchPlanters.com Conference 2009

It’s hard to believe that it is almost halfway through February!  It may have snuck up on you, but it’s not too late to get your team tix to ChurchPlanters.com 2009!  It’s only $99 per person, and with Valentine’s Day already upon us, don’t forget that spouses come for FREE!

Go to churchplanters.com to check out the incredible lineup which includes Bob Roberts, Ed Stetzer, Nelson Searcy (yep, yours truly), Troy Gramling, Reggie Joiner, Tony Morgan, Ben Arment, Gary Lamb, Will Mancini, Matt Evans, David Putman, Shawn Lovejoy, Larry McCrary, Brian Bloye, and many, many more.

On February 23-24, 2009, we will come together at Mountain Lake Church outside of Atlanta, GA for what will undoubtedly be the best ChurchPlanters.com conference to date.  As it does every year, this event will sell out so reserve your seats today!

Go to churchplanters.com to register and to find out all the details.

I’ll see you there!

Q&A: How Do I talk about Preview Services?

Question: How do you pitch preview services best. I’m clear on not using the terminology “preview service” or “practice service”. Do you go with like a “try it before you buy it” or “test drive” theme? Any advise on how you advertise this and personally invite?

Kerrick Thomas my co-author on Launch:Starting A New Church from Scratch answers:

First of all – we never call them “preview” because that doesn’t sound like the “real” thing.  We always call them monthly services.  We say…we are going to have 6 monthly services leading up to the launch of weekly services on….

We are straight forward in how we talk about it.  Remember – an unchurched person won’t be thinking like that.  They’ll think – this church is pretty cool – they only meet once a month   And if someone asks – just tell them you wanted to start services as early as possible and monthly services was the best way to do it.

Remember – what you want to sell is the series that you teach through the monthly services.  So, join us on the following dates as we talk about how to get rid of stress in your life, about who Jesus really was, about what the bible says about relationships, etc.  Let people know you are working toward and building momentum toward the launch.

But as far as promotion – just promote the teaching series, dates and locations and mention that weekly services launch on that specific launch date.

Hope that helps!

Kerrick

Last Call: NEW Church Planting Tele-Coaching Begins Thursday

The latest round of Church Planter Tele-Coaching begins this Thursday, December 11. Don’t miss this opportunity for hands-on coaching where you’ll learn to:

* Launch Large
* Launch Quickly
* Raise Funds
* Develop a Staff Team
* Reach the Unchurched

and so much more!  Plus hands on guidance and advice in real time as you launch your new church.  And, of course, you’ll receive hundreds of dollars in resources from Church Leader Insights during your network so you can apply everything you learn.

To learn more or download an application click here.

Since this coaching opportunity is by phone there’s no travel, hotel or airfare costs other than the 2 hour phone call each month.  If you’ve never experienced tele-coaching you’ll be amazed at how much you can learn each month (and all the mistakes you’ll be able to avoid!).

Hurry, only a couple of spots are still available.  We must receive your application by noon on Wednesday, December 10 since the network starts the next day.

Nelson

Are you a portable church?

Since 2002 we’ve meet in portable locations – nine different locations to be exact. From schools to renovated funeral homes (not recommended) to cinemas to off-broad theaters to concert venues.  I love being portable and I love the benefits of being portable (keeps the entrepreneurial spirit alive, mobilizes more volunteers, keeps you fast and fluid, frees up money for evangelism, etc.).

Recently Bob Franquiz and I sat down and recorded a new resource entitled The Portable Church Challenge. I had hoped to send the CLI family an email about it today and offer it for purchase but there have been some delays in packaging.

But, my delay is your gain – I want to offer you the complete resource as a download at a big savings. But more on that in a minute.

In the new resource, Bob and I discuss

The Portable Church Challenge: 10 Commandments for maximum growth in a portable location is the ideal resource for sustaining growth in a portable facility.

And lead you through:

-    Finding committed servants who take ownership in the church
-    How to cast vision to fund your portable church
-    Learn to keys to hiring gifted staff that thrive in a portable church
-    How to be innovative with the facility you meet in
-    Transforming any environment into a place of worship
-    Understanding what does and doesn’t limit you as a portable church
-    Learning to focus on what matters most
-    And much more!

Building a church is about building people. Don’t let facility keep you from becoming the church God wants you to be!

As I mentioned there is a delay in the CD production but the full 2-hour download with all the supplemental resource is available now.  It will regularly sell for a $67 investment but I want to give it to you as a pre-sale for $20.00 off.  Simply enter this special code: blog112 when you check out. Here’s the link to the download.

The Portable Church Challenge – Complete Resource Download – Save $20.00 – Click Here

Remember, enter this special code before you check out : blog112

This code will expire in one week.

Nelson

Q & A: How Does a Church Plant Obtain 501(c)3 Status

Here’s a frequently asked question we receive from church planters:

Do you have any resources available on applying for 501(c) 3 status. when to, how to, etc.?  I would like donations to our church plant and tithes to be tax deductable.

Scott Whitaker, Director of Training and Events for CLI answers:

You have a great question.  We encourage church planters to file for 501(c)3 status.  It assists with credibility and confidence in having tax deductible status.  Here is the link from the IRS website http://www.irs.gov/publications/p557.  You will find the instructions and answers to any other related question on their site.
Don’t feel overwhelmed by the process.  You may check with a CPA, non-profit lawyer, or a denomination (if you’re affiliated with one) on having them file it for you.  It can be done yourself, but it may be better for you to pay someone else depending on your church plant resources.  We highly recommend these guys: http://www.churchlawgroup.com/

Thanks Scott!  Hope that helps.

Nelson

P.S. If you are a Church Planter, we have over $75 in resources to give you, just click here.

Church Pitfalls (Part 5)

Bob Franquiz, Guest Blogger:

Church Pitfalls (Part 4)

Bob Franquiz, Guest Blogger:

#4 – I was trying to be someone else – Here’s what I didn’t realize when I first started in ministry, that Jesus didn’t save us to clone us. God created you to be you. When we started our church, I was 26 years old, and I was desperate to know how a Senior Pastor acted. So I did what I knew: I wore a tie every Sunday, I taught the way I was taught to, and I said “Praise the Lord” and “God bless you” in all the right spots.

What was the result? I was miserable. I hate wearing ties. I had different ideas about teaching and communicating than my instructors and all the Christianeze was about to make me puke.

So I decided to be myself. I put away the ties. I started communicating in a way that was suited to my gifts and I started talking like a normal person. In the end, I was much happier and the joy of ministry came back when I decided to be me.

If you’re interested is hearing about some other Church Planting Pitfalls, check out this resource Nelson Searcy and I did on the subject. If you’re a church planter interested in coaching, click here to be part of my new tele-coaching network exclusively for church planters! I have a couple of spots left.

Church Pitfalls (Part 3)

Bob Franquiz, Guest Blogger:

#3 – I had a hard time saying “no” – When we stated Calvary Fellowship, the last thing I wanted to do was say no when someone asked me something. What resulted was getting roped into commitments I didn’t want to be part of, agreeing to start ministries I didn’t feel called to, and allow people into positions of influence that had no business being there. The result: chaos.

If you’re a leader, “No” is your best friend. “No” means you’re clear about what you’re called to do and what you aren’t called to do. “No” means you’d rather please God than people. “No” means you’re confident in who God has called you to be. “No” means you’re willing to upset a few for the sake of reaching many. I encourage you to passionate about what you say yes to, and say “no” to everything else.
If you’re interested is hearing about some other Church Planting Pitfalls, check out this resource Nelson Searcy and I did on the subject. If you’re a church planter interested in coaching, click here to be part of my new tele-coaching network exclusively for church planters! I have a couple of spots left.

Church Pitfalls (Part 2)

Bob Franquiz, guest blogger:

#2 – An Unclear Vision – Churches that aren’t sure why they exist tend to simply find out what another church’s passion is and adopt that as their vision. The problem with trying to take someone else’s vision is the same problem with as trying to date another man’s wife: she’s already taken.

Taking another church’s vision and mission doesn’t help you because it’s not the mission God has empowered you to do. So you will spend your life struggling to accomplish something God has never called you to.

The solution to an unclear vision is to spend time with the only One who gives vision: God. Ask God to give you a burden and a passion and let that be what guides your ministry. James 1:5 says that if we lack wisdom, we should ask God. Nothing is better than functioning out of a sense of knowing that God has called you and what He has called you to.
If you’re interested is hearing about some other Church Planting Pitfalls, check out this resource Nelson Searcy and I did on the subject. If you’re a church planter interested in coaching, click here to be part of my new tele-coaching network exclusively for church planters! I have a couple of spots left.

Church Pitfalls (Part 1)

Bob Franquiz, guest blogger:

What’s the Best Launch Date for a New Church?

This is a question we recently received through the Ask Nelson button on the right:

What’s the Best (and Worst) Launch Date for a New Church?

Kerrick Thomas, Executive Pastor at The Journey and co-author of Launch: Starting a New Church From Scratch answers it:

Here are the top 3 best times to launch a new church:

(1) February (usually the 2nd Sunday) – everyone is back from holiday (If you go early January you are going to miss some people), short on cash so they aren’t traveling and since it’s still the beginning of the year they probably are making commitments toward self-improvement.

Another added bonus is that you get to Launch on a BIG day in February (avoid President’s Day and Super Bowl Sunday) and then you have a month or two and then it’s Easter – another opportunity to build up to a 2nd BIG day (sort of a 2nd launch).

(2) A couple of weeks after school starts in the Fall – for us that’s in September.  It may be in August for you.  But everyone is settling in their kids into school and is back from traveling from the summer.  Also – people are starting new things (going back to school).  September – November is a good stretch of time to reach people when people don’t travel that much.

(3) Easter – Easter is good because more people go to church on Easter than on any other day of the year.  The problem with launching on Easter is that it’s only a short time until summer. So, you might have a big launch – but you don’t have much time to consolidate it or make another push before summer hits.  That’s why we like a February launch with Easter as the 2nd big hit.

Launch Dates to avoid at all costs:

#3   Christmas

#2   Tie: Super Bowl, July 4th, Labor Day or any other national holiday

#1   Any time other than Sunday Morning

I hope these thoughts help.  Many blessings as you prepare to launch large!

God bless…

Kerrick

Got a question?  Use the Ask Nelson button on the right.  Looking for more resources on church planting?  Check out this link (church planting resources)

Successful Church Planters Must Be Able to Raise Funds

On Monday, I said that there are two abilities that predetermine the success of a church planter. They are:

1 – The ability to recruit a worship leader. (See my post from yesterday.)

2- The ability to raise funds.

Let’s talk about the second ability today. If a church planter is unable to raise funds before starting weekly services, I don’t give the new church much of a chance.

A church planter’s ability to raise funds seems to be one of the most critical indicators of the future church plant’s success. Why? I won’t pretend to understand the depths of this connection, but here are some possible reasons for its truth:

- The skill set it takes to raise funds is the same skill set it takes to lead a church.

- A vision that is clear and compelling enough to prompt people to give to will be clear and compelling enough for people to follow.

- Church planting was never designed to be a solo endeavor.

- Raising funds allows you to launch large which leads to faster growth and more stability in the new church.

- Raising funds forces the church planter to live with greater accountability.

When I sit down to consider whether or not The Journey will support a new church plant, it’s ultimately the church planter who must earn my trust and our church’s missions dollars. My decision is based on that person’s future potential. I’ve found that if the planter is right for the task then God will most likely bless the church.

To help me determine our involvement, I’m always looking for two abilities: The ability to recruit a worship leader and the ability to raise funds.

The pretty packaging of a vision plan, even if complete with a slick DVD, cannot overcome the lack of these two essential abilities.

Nelson

P.S. One of the free resources I offer to any church planter who requests it, is a resource entitled Funding Your Church Plant. In this resource, I lay out a proven process for how to recruit partners and raise money for a new church. You can request it and over $50 in additional resources by clicking here.

Successful Church Planters Must Be Able to Recruit a Worship Leader

Yesterday, I said that there are two abilities that predetermine the success of a church planter. The first one is:

The ability to recruit a worship leader.

I honestly don’t know why this is true, but I’ve seen it play out hundreds of times. (I’ve personally trained over 3000 church planters and we have coached over 100 church planters in our six to eight month coaching networks.) If a church planter does not recruit a worship leader to join his team by the time he launches weekly services, the church rarely grows beyond 150.

Here are my suspicions as to why this is true:

- The skills needed to convince a worship leader to join your staff (when you have nothing to offer except the vision of a future church) are the same skills you need to convince the unchurched to attend your church.

- Having a worship leader who has committed to the team contributes to the stability of the new church.

- There is a biblical blessing that comes through a pastor and worship leader working together.

- Early attenders are more likely to commit if they’ve seen at least one other person commit who isn’t the pastor.

- The pastor and worship leader working together brings an early synergy.

- The services are better because there is a consistent worship leader.

- The pastor has someone he can count on for help.

- The worship leader can do more than just lead worship – and thus help the church grow faster.

- The worship leader can build additional relationships in the community.

- The worship leader sacrifices to be a part of the church and God honors that sacrifice.

A church planter who cannot recruit a worship leader before his first service is less likely to succeed than one who can. Our church has decided not to fund a new church planter if there isn’t a commitment by a worship leader already in place.

There’s a second ability that also predetermines the success of a church planter… and I’ll deal with that tomorrow.

Nelson

P.S. One of the free resources I offer to any church planter who requests it, is a resource by The Journey’s first worship leader that I recruited (he’s now our Pastor of Worship Arts). It’s called “Starting A Worship Arts Team from Scratch.”  You can request it and over $50 in additional free resources by clicking here.

What Determines A Church Planter’s Success?

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is,“Is it possible to predetermine whether or not a church planter will be successful?” Here’s the answer: There are two abilities that predetermine a church planter’s success:

1- The ability to recruit a worship leader

2- The ability to raise funds

If a church planter doesn’t demonstrate these two abilities by the time he launches weekly services, it seems that his church never really gets off the ground in a big way.

Of course, there are dozens of other abilities that are needed to launch a church successfully (the ability to teach, the ability to cast vision, the ability to build a team, etc.) but these two seem to be more indicative of future success than all the others.

Has this piqued your interest? I hope so.

Read Part 2 by Clicking Here (Raise Funds)

Read Part 3 by Clicking Here (Recruit A Worship Leader)

Nelson

P.S. If you are a church planter (or if you know a church planter) check out my free resources for Church Planters. I give away over $75 of my resources to any church planter who requests them.  Click here to request them.

Launch Conference is coming to Atlanta on September 30!

The One-Day Launch Conference is coming to Atlanta on Tuesday, September 30.  I just found out that my schedule will allow me to be there, so I’ll be co-leading the conference with Bob Franquiz, founding pastor of Miami Fellowship in Miami, FL.

During this event, we will teach you:

- The best launch dates (and the worst!)
- The most critical factor to the success of your church (It’s not what you think.)
- The most effective ways to raise funds for your church plant
- The biggest staffing mistakes and how to avoid them
- How your preview services can have the greatest impact in your community
- How to pick the best location for your launch (It’s not as easy as it looks.)
- How to keep the momentum between preview services
- How to launch large
- Plus much, much more!

We will do everything we can in this conference to give you the tools to succeed in your new church.

This is the only Launch conference I’ll personally be teaching this fall and only one of two that will be offered in the US this year. (Kerrick will be leading one in Cincinnati in late October. More on that soon.)

Click here for all the details. If you are a church planter, do whatever you have to do to make it to Atlanta.

Nelson

Debate versus Denigrate

Yesterday I read an article by someone disagrees with some of my ideas about church planting (launching large, building the church from the outside in, etc.).  He wrote a great article and made some great points that offered alternatives to my views.

I actually wrote him and congratulated him on his analysis while clarifying some of my own positions.  We exchanged several emails that were respectful and, I believe, God honoring. It was healthy and productive.

It reminded me that there is a difference between ‘debate‘ and ‘denigrate.’ I love it when Church Leaders debate.  I’m sickened when we denigrate.

Maybe this is on my mind because I’m doing a teaching series right now on the power of words (Tongue Pierced) or maybe God is trying to remind me to use my words to build up rather than tear down.  Either way, I want to remove any hint of denigration from my life.

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” – Psalm 19:14

Q & A: How To Read More

Got this question from Church Planting Coaching Network Alumni Mike Sorcinelli (New Day Church – www.newdaychurch.cc ) in Longmeadow, MA:

“I really want to be a reader but it literally took me 6 hours + to read your book “Fusion”, which is a short book. It’ll take me almost a month to read “Planting Missional Churches” (I’m about half way through) and there are so many books I want to read (I’ve got a pile of them on my shelf). Do you have any tools or resources for learning to read faster?”

Mike, I love your passion!  All leaders are readers.

As for me, I haven’t always been a reader, in fact I don’t think I ever read a book from cover to cover before I became a Christian (at age 17) but since then God has given me a passion for reading and its been one of the primary sources of my on-going growth as a leader.

I still struggle with reading all that’s on my shelf but here’s one major tip:

Skim, skim and skim!

Most big books (like the one you mention above from my friend Ed Stetzer) can easily be skimmed and you’ll still get 75-80% of the content while saving 90% of your time.

Here’s a few things I’ve learned::

- Only read the chapters that interest you (read the table of contents and then the first and last paragraphs of the chapters that interest you. If that’s helpful, read the entire chapter.)

- Only thoroughly read those books recommended by a good source (like the ones we recommend in the CLI newsletter.  Hint: You can subscribe for free on the right —>)

- Read as fast as you can with no distractions and then next time try to do it even faster – shoot for one page every minute and then one page every 45seconds and then every 30seconds.  I currently read one page at less than 30sec with a high retention rate.

- Listen to books on tape at twice the speed (use m4b setting on your ipod).

- Read in blocks of time with a goal – say to yourself, “I’m going to read Fusion in this two hour block of time” and then push yourself to do it.

- Be sure you have good glasses (if needed).

- Read, read, read and read some more!

Your mind is a muscle so exercise it and it will increase. I currently read 3 to 5 books a week but the goal is not quantity. The goal is to read what is most helpful and to retain a large part of what you read.

So what have you found helpful in reading faster with greater retention?

Nelson

P.S. The next round of Church Planter Coaching starts in July and will be lead by Kerrick Thomas.  If you hare launching a church this fall or next spring, now is the perfect time to apply.  Click Here for More Information.