Paul Peterson: http://PaulPetersonLive.com
Pastor: Walls Down Church in Cincinnati, OH
Personal Notes: I met Paul "Mr. Systems" Peterson and his wife Sherri at Evolve earlier this year. (Though I had been following his blog for some time.) Paul is a great guy. After reading this post... Go visit his blog and read some of the comments about Church systems.
A few weeks ago my friend, Chris, asked me to participate in a conversation and answer this question, “What advice would you give to a guy that has been called into church planting, but sometimes feels that he has no idea what he is doing?”
In the interest of full disclosure I must say that I have not planted yet. However, as we prepare to launch Walls Down Church in Cincinnati, Ohio I have to say that the following points make me confident as we move ahead:
- God has called us and confirmed this call through multiple means.
- My bride is fully on board with this decision and has embraced the sacrifice that comes with it.
- We have spent one year of our lives in a church planting internship at Mountain Lake Church in conjunction with ChurchPlanters.com.
- We have a strong calling to a specific area.
- We have a team and a plan to carry out our vision of helping people find the life Jesus promised.
If I had to boil it down to one “Must do” I would say, expose yourself to as much “real-life planting” as possible BEFORE you launch. This would include:
- Visiting multiple church plants. Get there early and stay late helping set up and tear down.
- Talk with church planters behind the scenes and get the real scoop about the sacrifice, etc. required of planters.
- Go through an internship. Suggestion… ChurchPlanters.com.
Until later…