Dave Anderson: http://MoviePastor.com
Pastor: Crosspoint Community Church in Decatur, AL
Personal Notes: Got to meet Dave for the first time at Evolve Church Planter's Conference back in February. Gotta be da' man... He is from Alabama... ROLL TIDE! Just a personal warning... do not have coffee or other drink in your mouth while reading his fifth item... AND DON'T SKIP AHEAD TO THE FIFTH ITEM!!!
Chris asked "What advice would you give to a man who is called into church planting?"
I honestly could have written a book on this stuff. I narrowed it down to the first five things I thought of.
Note: I asked my wife and 18 year old daughter what their advise was. Without reading this my wife gave me number 1 and my daughter gave me number 3.
Hope this helps someone.
First - Don't! If you can do something else for God - do it. I think a lot of planters will tell you this. The bottom line is you better be dang sure of your calling because there will be dark days when you question everything and wonder how you got where you are and no one will care about your situation. I suggest a thorough reading and study of 2 Corinthians 11. Make sure of your calling because the hardship you will endure will seem overwhelming most of the time.
Second - Sober up! Its easy to be drunk on the dream of a large church plant. You read the books and blogs and went to the conferences - now you drank the kool-aid. Now you need to detox. Reality is more churches fail than succeed. The ones that make it are much smaller than the people you follow and idolize. You will not be Perry Noble, Steven Furtick, Gary Lamb, Rick Warren, Bill Cornelius, Mark Driscoll, Craig Groeshel or <Insert famous preacher here>. Get that through your head now! Then ask yourself - if I am under 100 people five years from now will I still be doing this? This is reality for MOST church planters so get used to the idea that you may just be average! Can you live with that long term? See #1.
Third - If momma ain’t happy - ain’t nobody happy! Prepare your wife (and family) emotionally and financially and develop habits NOW that you want to have AFTER the work begins. Emotionally this is going to be the hardest thing in the world for your family. The church can become your mistress. The only thing is you will openly talk about her as if she were a welcome friend. She will demand your time and your attention constantly. The emotional strain will creep into your marriage and the pressure to perform will affect your wife and children. You need a solid financial plan for your family too. No one gets rich doing this - but if you are broke and cant pay bills or have debt piled up - you are in serious trouble. Two things get pastors in trouble - their zipper and/or their wallet. Have solid plans and healthy habits NOW to ensure your marriage stays strong and you AND YOUR WIFE are taken care of financially. If your church tanks (and it might) they are all you have left. You can get a new church - not a new family. See #2 and #1.
Fourth - Laser Vision! Have a vision from God and don't let anyone tweak it. Vision hijackers WILL show up early on. They will want a say in what happens and how the church looks. They are most likely trying to build what they used to do at their old church. The problem is they left there for a reason. Just because they are breathing and have a pulse (and potentially a wallet) doesn’t mean they are going to be good church members. Everyone has an agenda. You need to know what it is and do everything possible to make sure your agenda and vision is not hijacked. That may mean you give people permission to leave very early in the process. You will be tempted to compromise - a little here - a little there. Then one day someone with influence WILL blow out because of a vision issue. In a small church this can be a BIG deal.
Fifth - Learn from Foghat - Slow Ride! Church planting is a lot like sex - the longer you wait to launch - the better it will be. Once you launch, Sunday comes every seven days. You will be tempted to launch prematurely. Money may be the factor driving this or you have a preconceived idea of how many people it takes to launch. Most church planting coaches will tell you premature launch is the surest way to become a statistic. A premature baby will die without intense neonatal care. Just like a baby needs healthy lungs, heart, kidneys and other vital organs - your church needs healthy systems. There are systems and processes that need to be in place and working. Those systems require people who live and breathe the vision and who are willing to work the vision and finance the vision. People will be anxious to launch. If people in your team want to “do church” take them to a new church every week to learn something - but delay the launch as long as possible and keep building a team and launch healthy!