Church@The Gathering
During our visit to Seymour, Dana and I had the pleasure of being guests at Church@The Gathering in Sevierville, TN. What an awesome place! Those guys are doing it right! I was impressed with their friendliness, love and passion for what they were doing. Check-out them and their pastor, Gene Wolfenbarger, here.
No Fears……Right?
Right now my life is filled with excitement and anxiety as I face a new chapter in my life. My wife and I have just become rooted in our community and now we face the possibility of moving to a community where we don’t know anyone and begin a gathering of new Christ-followers. We believe God has called us to this mission, but there is the reality of announcing the news to everyone and knowing some of the disappointment it will create with our close friends. We have the daunting realization of having to raise financial support…will anyone want to help us? The exasperating idea of starting a new church…will anyone want to join us? Of finding a new house…will anyone want to sell to us? and the list goes on.
And then God speaks, “Because we know that this extraordinary day is just ahead, we pray for you all the time—pray that our God will make you fit for what he’s called you to be, pray that he’ll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something. If your life honors the name of Jesus, he will honor you. Grace is behind and through all of this, our God giving himself freely, the Master, Jesus Christ, giving himself freely” (1 Thessalonians 1:11-12, TM).
We’ve decided to go where God already is working! No Fears!
Be Happy!
Bryan
Imforgiven.com
A Mother-in-Law’s Perspective on Church Planting
When Dana and I had one of our first gatherings to talk about planting a new church, my mother-in-law was in town. We thought she would be bored with our discussion, so we gave her an out and let her know we didn’t expect her to sit in the living room while we met.
To our surprise, she sat quietly on the couch and seemed to hang on every word, dream, and vision that was being shared. Even after we took a break, the opportunity we thought she would jump at to exit unnoticed, she came back and listened with great interest, amazement and excitement. Huh? Yea, that was my thought!
After everyone left, my wife and I were anxious to find out about this unexpected interest. This was my mother-in-law’s perspective: Read the rest of this entry »
The Church Planting Privilege
Being called of God to plant a new community of Christ followers is a very honored privilege and a very humbling experience.
Being a former pastor who left the ministry 8 years ago and entered the corporate world, I liken it to the average blue-collar worker getting a call one day from Bill Gates and being extended the invitation to be his right-hand man. Obviously that is a crude analogy, but could you imagine how honored you would feel if the most important person (in your world) called you one day, asked for you by name and said they would like to work with you on a daily basis…to grow their empire.
Now, realize that the God of the Universe has just called you…an ordinary man (1 out of about 6 billion), asked for you by name and invited you to join Him in developing His Kingdom. Read the rest of this entry »
What’s yours is mine!
My wife and I have 5 kids together. Over the years we have had some pretty interesting moments. One of the most common was when they would fight over toys. One would grab a toy that was currently being unused and she would think she was in toy heaven, that is until another one would realize that she grabbed their toy. In the world of toddlers and toys, time has no meaning. It doesn’t matter if it has been two hours since the one has played with that toy, he had claim over it the rest of his life. “Mine!”would be the usual response. And then the arguing, crying and tantrums would ensue. The funny thing is, we usually had the same exact toy in another corner of the room. Read the rest of this entry »
Babes in Christ
I have heard a disturbing trend in new churches. One which involves the attitude to face trouble-makers head-on and to make sure they are not welcome in the new church. Facing trouble-makers head-on is not the disturbing part. What follows is: It is usually accompanied by a public statement during the weekend services that may go something like this:
“Our church is a loving church and a different church. We are casual in dress and radical in our worship. We play our music loud and we are interested in relationships, not religion. We are here to reach the un-churched, the burned-out, the hurt and the rejected. We want people who are going to serve, tithe and be committed. If that isn’t the church for you, then this isn’t the church you’re looking for and we need your seat.”
That is a statement made to the public, people who may or not be saved, people who may just be checking-out the church, people who are hurting, rejected, burnt, and confused. I’m sure this statement may get the intended result, but how many are we just sweeping under the rug for the quest to avoid future problems?
Here is a comment I left on the Swerve blog that kind of deals with this issue:
How Do You Know When You’re Called?
Acts 9:3-6, “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (NIV)
“Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit”, Acts 9:17 (NIV).
How do you know when God is specifically calling you to be a pastor or plant a church? How do you know where God wants you to go, when, and how? These are all questions that every pastor has or will face. These are questions that I have faced and they are questions I am facing again. Don’t you just wish we could have a Saul conversion with a follow-up vision, miracle and prophet who would just spell them out clearly for us? Unfortunately, for many, we make it much more difficult than what God may want it to be.
When I was a young man and wrestling with the decision as to whether God was calling me to the ministry or not, I had an older pastor tell me, “If you can be happy doing anything else, then you should do it. Don’t go into the ministry.” This answer disturbed me. Why would an older pastor, who had been in full-time ministry for so long, tell me to run from it? I realized later that he simply meant if you can be happy doing anything else, God is not calling you to full-time ministry. This is a good answer and wise advice to a certain degree. I found I could be happy doing other things…for a period of time.
As I have been struggling to find God’s will as to whether I should plant a church, I have found that there are some obvious signs that God sends our way. I say struggling, because I have been happy with my job, my church and my life…kinda. So saying, okay God, I surrender! was a tough decision. But I will tell you, the peace which followed was the final confirmation.
Here are some signs and obvious clues, as I have experienced them, that God is calling you to vocational ministry:
Simple is Better
I have been spending a significant amount of time hammering-out the purpose statement, core values and ministry strategy of the new church plant. As I have been doing this it is giving me a great deal of clarity that simplicity is a good thing. We have a lot of dreams and aspirations as to how the church can revolutionize the community. There are a lot of technical and multi-faceted things we would like to do, but simple is better.
Steven Furtick and Elevation Church realized by doing just two things, they could sharpen their focus and reach many more people. Along with God’s anointing, that may be one primary component they are the 3rd fastest growing church in America. So, as we hone our strategy, we will keep our long term goals on the burner but we will sharpen our focus to do what it is we feel led to do…lead others to a life-changing relationship with Jesus.
Be Happy!
Bryan
Now What?!?
Ok…I’m going to plant a church…now what? Have you ever dreamed about doing something for a long-time, new exactly how you would do it with every detail thought out and planned, saw that it come to fruition and heard the crowds roar with excitement and wonder at how wonderful you are in accomplishing your dreams…and then when you actually do it, you draw a blank? Nothing! Not a clue on what, when or where. Well, there ya go.
Actually I have a meeting with a pastor who has been very enthusiasic and encouraging about my decision and offered his help in many ways. We are meeting tonight with a few folks at our temporary, but free, office space an sharing the vision and we will start planning, recruiting and setting the launch date.
If anybody has any advice, wants to offer help (Councel or financial 
, feel free! Thanks for your prayers.
Be Happy!
Bryan
IMForgiven.com
Here’s Your Sign…The Journey Begins
Comedian Bill Engvall made the phrase, “Here’s your sign” a household statement by poking fun at people who say stupid things without thinking first.
I believe God would probably say to me, more than once, “Here’s your sign”.
For many years I have felt God was calling me to do more. I just didn’t know what. I would always ask God for a sign and more times than not He would send them and I would normally be oblivious. Usually big, obvious and clear to those around me…but not what I was looking for. Recently, God had been sending signs for me to do something much bigger than what I really wanted. Read the rest of this entry »
