Church Planting Landmines, Tom Nebel and Gary Rohrmayer, ChurchSmart Resources' Review and Adaptatio

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Church Planting Landmines, Tom Nebel and Gary
Rohrmayer, ChurchSmart Resources. Review and
Adaptationby Bill Wiesman, Bill_at_TnNaz.org
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• Learning from failure is a key concept in life
  and successful church planting.
• Church Planting Landmines looks at many of the
  issues that can bring failure and gives practical
  advice on how to avoid these mistakes.

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Land Mines include

• Ignoring personal health and growth
• Lack of leadership development
• Leadership backlash
• Personal Evangelism entropy
• Corporate Evangelism entropy
• Inadequate Enfolding Strategy
• Fear of money
• Underestimating spiritual warfare
• Misfiring on hiring
• Delaying Missions Engagement

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• Every NewStart leadership team should read this
  book before launch.
• In addition to describing the landmines, each
  chapter contains valuable insights and concrete
  guidelines for advance planning to avoid these
  common mistakes.
• Many of these suggestions should be incorporated
  into the DNA of every NewStart prior to launch.

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Landmine 1 Ignoring Personal Health.

• The Abuse of Finances
• The Abuse of Power.
• Pride.
• Illicit Sexual Relationships.
• The Neglect of our Physical Bodies.
• Critical Family Issues.
• Plateauing.

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Strategies to Finish Well

• Intercessory Prayer Teams.
• Disciplines Ongoing Life of Spiritual Training
  vs. Trying. I probably couldnt run a marathon
  if I simply tried, but I probably could if I
  trained.
• Renewal Times. Suggest a signed pledge to take
  off one day a week, and at least one family
  vacation a year. Daily- quiet time, Weekly- day
  off, Monthly- retreat day, Annually- special
  events and extended vacations.
• Mentoring and Accountability.
• Being a Life-long learner.

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Landmine 2 Lack of Leadership Development

• Most church planters pray for God to bring them
  leaders, but God wants them to develop leaders.
  Every leader is responsible not just to build a
  team and manage a task, but to spot, encourage,
  and develop other leaders under their care.

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Natural vs. Spiritual Leaders

• Natural Leaders
• Self-confident
• Know People
• Make their own decisions
• Ambitious
• Originate own methods
• Enjoy commanding others
• Motivated by personal considerations
• Independent

• Spiritual Leaders
• Confident in God
• Also know God
• Seek to find Gods will
• Self-effacing
• Find Gods methods
• Delight to obey God
• Motivated by love for God and people
• God-dependent

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Creating a Leadership Culture in a New Church

• Must re-define Spiritual Leadership
• Great Leaders are Teachable Leaders
• Identify Emerging Leaders
• Equip leaders Holistically
• COACH
• Celebrate Achievements
• Create a Multiplying Mindset

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Landmine 3 Leadership Backlash

• Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly
  from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a
  stranger. Franklin Jones

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Causes of backlash

• There may have been pre-existing leaders on site
  prior to the planter.
• There are often insecurities on the part of the
  planter.
• The planter has limited time available.
• Potential leaders feel pressure to serve.
• Assumptions are made that the initial leaders
  will be the perpetual leaders.

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A Solution that Works

• Phase 1 The Pastors Advisory Team PAT A group
  of people that help the church planter make
  decisions prior to the launch date.
• Phase 2 The Transitional Advisory Group TAG
  Team After the PAT is dissolved at launch , a
  new leadership team takes the church on to the
  next level for a specific period of time, perhaps
  a year.
• Ph 3 The Short-term Leadership Team SLT
• Phase 4 Formal Board

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Further Recommendations on Phased Progressions

• Use as many phases as you need and any names you
  want.
• In the beginning, dont give away roles, give
  away jobs. Roles connote titles, position, and
  policy making, but jobs connote service.

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Landmine 4 Personal Evangelism Entropy

• Entropy is the natural and irreversible tendency
  toward disorder in any system without an external
  source of energy. As the church gets older and
  older it becomes harder to keep evangelism on the
  front burner because of all the competing issues
  that keep pushing it back.

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Solutions

• Remember that you are a missionary to your
  community.
• Upgrade your networking skills.
• Be available to those experiencing life
  transitions.
• Share your wins, losses and blunders continually
  with the church. (Not just the victories.)

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Landmine 5 Corporate Evangelism Entropy.

• Reasons
• Postpartum syndrome. After the intensity of
  birth, there is always some kind of let-down.
• The church may have had an ineffective
  grand-opening or launch. (Best times, early fall
  or pre-Easter.)
• The tyranny of the urgent. Urgent items are
  those that require immediate attention, whether
  important or not. Important items contribute to
  your mission, values, your high priority goals.
  Important matters that are not urgent require
  more initiative, more proactivity.

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Equipping A Strategy for Overcoming Corporate
Entropy

• Fueling the prayer life of your people.
• Training your people to be storytellers Theirs,
  Churches, Jesus
• Training your people to be inviters and
  includers.

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Landmine 6 Inadequate Enfolding Strategy

• Launching a new church is so event oriented, with
  the planning and preparation of the public
  worship services, that something is likely to
  suffer, such as poor follow-up of newcomers. A
  clear strategy is needed before the church opens
  its doors and the strategy needs to be revisited
  and reworked again and again.

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Six Things to improve the enfolding strategy

• First impressions.
• Response filtering. Use a response card. Use the
  card for the communication of the whole church.
  Hand out pens. Have the card mentioned at least
  three times (welcome, offering, prayer time).
  Train your people continually to use the card.
• Second Touch.

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Second Touch Thermometer

• 90-100 A gift delivered to their home by a
  volunteer before they get home after the service.
• 80-90 A gift delivered to their home by a
  volunteer within 24 hours of their visit.
• 70-80 A phone call from a volunteer within 48
  hours of their visit.
• 60-70 A gift delivered to their home by a
  volunteer within 48 hours of their visit.
• 50-60 A phone call from the pastor within 24
  hours.

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Second Touch Thermometer (cont)

• 40-50 A gift delivered to their home by the
  pastor or staff within 48 hours of their visit.
• 30-40 A personalized letter from the pastor or
  staff addressing a specific question or concern,
  with appropriate materials enclosed. Example
  What is child dedication?
• 20-30 A personalized letter from the pastor or
  staff with a stamped First Impression Card
  enclosed.
• 10-20 A personalized letter from the pastor or
  staff.
• 0-10 A form letter from the pastor or staff.
• 0 No Response.

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Six Things to improve the enfolding strategy
(cont)

• Next Steps. Refers to understanding,
  communicating, and offering programming for the
  next step in someones spiritual journey. Offer
  next steps for seekers, visiting believers,
  regular attendees, and committed members.
• Modular Training. This is a systematic approach
  to help new converts and believers work through
  spiritual formation issues, develop the life
  ministry skills, and make the critical
  commitments they need to move toward spiritual
  maturity and multiplication. Rick warrens
  baseball diamond is an example.
• Empowering converts. Maturity is an issue of
  obedience and responsibility, not an issue of
  longevity. Church planters need to have a vision
  and a process of turning the church over to their
  converts.

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Landmine 7 Fear of Money

• The roots of fear or neglect of money relates to
  the church planters personal rejection issues,
  coupled with a skeptical society rampant with
  stories of financial abuse.

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Solutions

• Agree on some foundational issues God blesses
  faithful stewards its not about what the church
  needs, its about what the Lord wants its okay
  to teach about tithing.
• Create a Stewardship Culture. Suggestion to use
  Gods Guarantee Card, ala John Maxwell. (Gives
  back everything given after 90 days if the Lord
  doesnt bless.)
• Recommend the traditional offering rather than an
  offering box. If you use an offering box must
  still model and teach stewardship.

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Solutions (cont)

• Financial seminars, small groups and
  discipleship.
• Bulletin and newsletter reminders.
• Capital campaigns.
• Finally, be seeker friendly. Its very possible
  to teach and model good stewardship without being
  labeled as money-hungry.

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Landmine 8 Underestimating Spiritual Warfare

• You may know that prayer is not the preparation
  for the battle, prayer is the battle. If you
  dont believe it you will step on landmine number
  8. Those involved in church planting need to
  approach it with a biblical worldview, having a
  healthy respect for the unseen world. Spiritual
  warfare as it is levied against church planters
  and their churches can be placed into one of
  three categories discouragement, distractions,
  or disqualifications.

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Ideas for Creating a God-dependent Church

• Create a culture of dependence. Regularly
  communicate and set the tone that this is a
  church that needs God.
• Intercession Teams.
• Specialized Prayer Teams. One idea, a prayer
  meeting at 6am that is only to pray for growing
  church attendance, conversions, and hurting
  people.
• Fasting

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Ideas for Creating a God-dependent Church (cont)

• Specialized Prayer Meetings.
• Prayers for Healing.
• The Individual Prayer Life of the Leader. There
  seems to be at least a correlational linkage
  between the spiritual vitality of a leader and
  the blessing of God on the movement.

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Landmine 9 Misfiring on Hiring

• Getting the right people in your organization
  will determine the level of success that you will
  see.

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The Youth Pastor Mistake and the
Shepherd-Equipper Tension.

• There is nothing that will institutionalize your
  church more than hiring a full time youth pastor.
  Hiring a full time youth pastor as your first
  staff person reinforces the idea that only
  professionals can do ministry rather than the
  idea of staff being the equippers of ministry.
• An equipping leader can recruit, train, and coach
  other leaders to do the ministry of the church.

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Problem of Settling for What You Can Afford

• There are no blue light specials when it comes to
  finding exceptional people.
• Churches tend to look for stability, structure,
  subordinates, saving money, someone to shape.
• Impact players look for excitement,
  flexibility, partnerships, compensation, to shape
  others.

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Recommendations

• First hire should be a part-time specialist
  focusing on the areas worship, childrens
  ministry, or administration. These ministries
  directly affect the Sunday morning attendance.
• If you are going to hire a full-time person, then
  hire a generalist, a leader who can oversee and
  equip leaders in several areas of the ministry.
• Develop a Process for Hiring. What do they look
  like? Where do You Find Them? What do you do When
  They are in Front of You? How do You Make the
  Decision?

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Landmine 10 Delaying Mission Engagement

• Most new churches and planters declare that their
  mission includes participating in the greater
  mission of building Gods Kingdom around the
  world and often that they want to be a
  reproducing church planting other churches.
  But, somewhere along the way diversions occur or
  a shift of the heart takes place.

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Too Weak, Too Strong, and the Curse of the Y
Word

• Some churches are not as strong as originally
  anticipated, finances are tight, and the workload
  is heavy. These churches see themselves as too
  weak to give away people or money or prayer
  beyond their own needs.
• Just the opposite can also occur. The church has
  grown to a certain level of success and health.
  For some mysterious reason the Y word- yet-
  appears. Were not ready yet to give or
  sacrifice or take risks. The church wants to
  buy land, or add a staff person, or any number of
  other causes and this leads them to think that
  they are not ready yet.

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Reasons to be a Missional Church

• Our theology requires it.
• God blesses generosity.
• Obligation and integrity. (to the ones who made
  your journey possible, the denomination or
  sending body.)
• The need

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Ways to Maintain Your Missional Commitment

• Plant a daughter church. (Birth before we
  build?)
• Be generous. Dont wait to be obedient to the
  Lord. Give away at least 10.
• Participate in the life of the denomination or
  sending agency.
• International Missions Involvement.

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Case Study

• The Pointe Church of the Nazarene White House,
  Tennessee

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• Lead Pastor and church planter, Todd Bush has
  served for more than fifteen years in
  contemporary church ministry, beginning ministry
  working extensively with youth and young adults,
  then serving nearly thirteen years as Lead/Senior
  Pastor.  Todd has been married for nearly
  fourteen years to Yolanda and they have three
  wonderful sons Elijah who is eleven years old,
  Levi who is seven years old, and Joel who is
  three years old.

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• Worship Creative Arts Pastor, Bill Petty
  was born and raised in Nashville. Bill and Cinda
  have two precious children, Eve and William.
  Bill's passion is to serve God and influence
  others through ministry founded in music and
  arts. In 2007, God introduced Bill to Pastor Todd
  Bush, revealing a common vision for a new
  ministry in White House, TN. Bills
  accomplishments include Male Vocalist of the Year
  for the 2008 CIA Music Awards.

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• Senior Adult Pastor, Jack Oden is a native of
  Nashville, TN. Jack and Faye have been married
  for 39 years and have two children and two
  grandchildren. Jack has been an ordained
  minister since 1985 and in full-time ministry for
  25 years. Senior Adult Night takes
  place on Wednesday nights _at_ 630 pm. 

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White House, Tennessee

• 2000 Population 32,136
• 2000 Unclaimed estimate 16,768
• 2008 Estimated Population 38,427
• Above average Growth expected
• 2013 Population Projection 42,410
• 41.4 of households have children compared to
  National average of 33.4

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White House, Tennessee
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The Pointe Church of the Nazarene

• Began in Community Center 09/2007
• Averaging 125 to 150 in Worship
• Multiple Community Outreach Events
• First Steps and Next Steps
• Connect Groups
• Contemporary Worship

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Land Mines include

• Ignoring personal health and growth
• Lack of leadership development
• Leadership backlash
• Personal Evangelism entropy
• Corporate Evangelism entropy
• Inadequate Enfolding Strategy
• Fear of money
• Underestimating spiritual warfare
• Misfiring on hiring
• Delaying Missions Engagement