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:

1. God has called us and confirmed this call through multiple means.
2. My bride is fully on board with this decision and has embraced the sacrifice that comes with it.
3. We have spent one year of our lives in a church planting internship at Mountain Lake Church in conjunction with ChurchPlanters.com.
4. We have a strong calling to a specific area.
5. 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:

1. Visiting multiple church plants. Get there early and stay late helping set up and tear down.
2. Talk with church planters behind the scenes and get the real scoop about the sacrifice, etc. required of planters.
3. Go through an internship. Suggestion… ChurchPlanters.com.

Until later…