1. I find a way to talk about the church with EVERY single person I meet (it usually starts with “I just moved here a month ago. I moved to start a new church called One Church…”)
2. Word of mouth networking through existing launch team relationships
3. Google pay-per-click to increase website traffic
4. Facebook ads targeting people within 10 miles of my location linking to the church facebook page
5. I set up shop at Starbucks every day and build relationships with baristas and regulars
6. I introduced myself to local hospital chaplains, police departments and fire departments (offering to be available in a crisis).
7. Met with the local funeral homes to officiate funerals for families who don’t have a pastor
8. A big honking church web address sticker on the rear window of my car
9. Introduced myself to the local chamber of commerce
10. Meeting with area pastors to network and pick their brains
11. Posted craigslist ads for a worship leader, children’s director, and musicians
12. Posted ad for musicians in local music stores
13. Build relationship with person who cuts my hair
14. Build relationship with servers at restaurants where I eat
15. I where a One Church shirt almost every day (polos and t-shirts)
16. Give away other promo items- pens, coffee travel mugs, tote bags, etc.
17. I volunteered at the local city centennial celebration
18. My wife and are leading a Financial Peace University class
19. The launch team will be collecting nonperishable food items door to door every month to donate to the local food pantry
20. I’m considering handing out water bottles on street corners (Steve Sjogren’s Servent Evangelism)
21. I’m considering sending a mailer to new residents every month (outreach.com)
22. Have a presence at every local festival or public event that you can (give water bottles, etc.)
23. My wife meets other moms when she takes our son to story time at the library
24. I’ll share other ideas as I try them.

I’m currently in the process of planting One Church in Chandler, AZ (onechurch.com). There are plenty of how-to church planting books, online resources and conferences. I wanted to share specific tips from my experience that church planters need to know that are often not included in other resources. Hope this helps.

A guest at the One Church lunch this past Sunday shared that she and her family attended worship at large mega church in our area when her family was visiting from out of town. (She and her family have a Catholic background and are committed Christians.)

She said that during his sermon, the pastor proudly shared why he was not Catholic. He told a story about how he removed a crucifix that had hung on his wall up until a certain time. He said that after becoming a Christian he jumped up out of bed, took the crucifix off of his wall, and hid it under his bed. He explained that he thought the crucifix was blasphemous because it depicts Jesus as still on the cross instead of being resurrected.

The committed Christian family with a Catholic background was horrified… and rightly so.

Not only did the pastor have a gross misunderstanding of Catholic theology, he also belittled the faith background of 25% of the people who live in Arizona. Proverbs 18v2 cautions, “Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.” (While One Church is a Protestant Church, it’s important for us to realize that the crucifix reminds Catholics of the sacrifice and suffering of Jesus. Of course, Catholics affirm the resurrection of Jesus.)

Another guest shared about how a pastor made fun of someone during his sermon who held a different belief than his. He mocked the fact that someone would believe that. If I remember correctly, it was a fairly common Christian belief.

I’ve heard countless stories like this from Christians over the past few years.

Jesus teaches in Mark 12v31, “‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” It’s a pretty simple application- If you don’t want to be mocked, don’t mock other people or ideas that are important to them.

Our group agreed that, of course, holding on to your own convictions is a good thing. What did not go over well were two things:

1. A pastor misunderstanding or unfairly representing a person or an idea

2. Belittling, mocking another person or belief

While we hold to our own beliefs, One Church seeks to understand people who disagree with us and create a safe place to question or doubt. We are committed to not mocking or belittling anyone or any idea. It sounds like a no brainer, but unfortunately it needs to be said.

At the One Church lunch this past Sunday, I asked, “What makes a good church?”

Of course, that question opens the door for both positive and negative experiences with church. Almost every person said something similar about their experiences with church, especially megachurches.

It was hard to break in.

Attempted breaking and entering?

It was hard to meet people and get involved.

No one in the worship service said, “Hi, my name is…” They contacted a small group leader, and the leader never contacted them back. Unmarried people had to sit at the little kids’ table. Their gifts and skills did not seem to be needed in the church’s ministries. Getting involved and experiencing any kind of community proved to be difficult.

Why is hospitality so hard?

It is human nature to gravitate toward the familiar. We like to talk to people we already know. Contacting new people feels like work. Its easy to ignore people who are too new to complain.

Unfortunately, we don’t realize how damaging this is until we are on the outside trying to break in.

How can a church uphold the value of hospitality and intentionally welcome new people?

It requires continual culture-building by the point leader. The lead pastor has to repeatedly (at least monthly) speak to the value of intentionally welcoming new people. It won’t happen by accident, and there will be a constant drift toward cliques.

A culture of hospitality must be created and maintained.

Guess what?

Jesus feels strongly about this.

The actual New Testament Greek word for “church” is ecclesia- “called out ones.” We gather together to worship because we have been called out by Jesus. Our identity as a church actually means that we have been sought and welcomed by Jesus. Jesus took the initiative and called out to, welcomed, us.

One Church IS and WILL BE an intentionally welcoming, hospitable church where people who are new are not expected to have to break in. It is a value that must pervade the whole church, from worship services to leadership to ministries, etc.

How difficult is it to change this damaging experience of a closed, unwelcoming church?

It starts with something like, “Hi, my name is…”

Without critical mass, the people in attendance will feel like the church isn’t exciting and that its not worth their time and effort. Lack of critical mass kills momentum. A reoccurring event without critical mass will demoralize the participants and eventually fizzle out.

Normally, critical mass is only discussed within the context of launching weekly worship services. It is vital to realize, however, that critical mass is important in EVERY step of the church planting process. Church planters who go in thinking they need to have a series of growing events with lots of people present at each one will develop a meth habit. If every single event you plan doesn’t reach critical mass, you will ride an emotional roller coaster as your church plant momentum plummets and rises depending on the event attendance.

Never schedule an event (dinner, launch meeting, Bible study, ministry planning meeting, worship service, etc.) unless you are sure that you will have critical mass at that event. If you schedule an event and don’t have critical mass, it will hurt your momentum, and church plants can’t afford to lose much momentum. You can recover from not having critical mass at events early in your plant, but it is difficult and unnecessary.

So how do you determine critical mass, and how do you make sure you will have it?

Obviously, critical mas differs depending on the event. In most places in America, critical mass for a worship service is probably around 100 people. Critical mass for a small group or Bible study is probably 6-10 people. Critical mass for a dinner party is probably 6-10, as well.

This doesn’t mean that if you invite 6-10 people to a small group that you will reach critical mass! Only half of the people you invite will show up, so you to invite TWICE whatever critical mass is to ensure that you will attain it.

How do you grow enough in the early stages to gain critical mass?

One on one meetings with lots of different people. Meet one on one with people who are interested in the church until you develop critical mass for a dinner event, launch team meeting, etc. Or, host one person or one couple at a time in your home for dinner. Keep meeting one on one until they are committed to the launch team.

Once you have 20 committed people through one on one meetings, then you can schedule an event and plan on 10 people showing up.

If you recently held an event that did not reach critical mass, explain to every person in attendance why it didn’t . Be specific- “X people were out of town, X people were sick, X people had a prior commitment,” etc. Otherwise, the people in attendance will just assume that the church is not worth being a part of.

Get off the emotional roller coaster, and make sure you will have critical mass at every event you plan… or don’t schedule it yet.

Also read “Two Essentials for Church Planting“

I’m currently in the process of planting One Church in Chandler, AZ (onechurch.com). There are plenty of how-to church planting books, online resources and conferences. I wanted to share specific tips from my experience that church planters need to know that are often not included in other resources. Hope this helps.

On Mothers’ Day 2009, I gave a teaching called “When Considering the Role of Women” that was part of a series entitled “When Christians are Unchristian.” I explored several women in the Bible who played “breakout roles” in their cultures. They lived and worked in ways that were uncommon for the women of their place and time, and they are a part of Scripture for that reason.

Listen to or Download: 

When Christians are Unchristian: When Considering the Role of Women.

NPR ran a story today about a pastor turned atheist (read the full article here). She was raised in the home of a conservative Baptist pastor before becoming a pastor herself. After serving for 9 years, she could no longer suppress her questions about her experience of religion.

She describes it as a moment of realization, “‘I just kind of realized — I mean just a eureka moment, not an epiphany, a eureka moment — “I’m an atheist,” she says. “I don’t believe.” And in the moment that I uttered that word, I stumbled and choked on that word — atheist.’”

I wonder how her conservative Baptist background influenced her spiritual journey and ultimately her attraction to atheism. Notice the paragraph right under the heading “Finding Atheism.” It reads:

MacBain, 44, was raised a conservative Southern Baptist. Her dad was a pastor and she felt the call of God when she was 6. She had questions, of course, about conflicts in the Bible, for example, or the role of women. She says she sometimes felt she was serving a taskmaster of a God, whose standards she never quite met.

I don’t believe in that God either. If that were my view of God, I would be an atheist.

I can’t help but wonder how her view of God would be different if she had received a different view than the one her dad passed down to her when she was a child. This is an intelligent woman who saw the holes in her father’s faith.

This woman’s experience fuels me. One Church is a safe place for people to express their questions and doubts. Why? So intelligent, thinking people can wrestle with their questions and doubts instead of allowing them to build and build until they can’t stomach it anymore.

I wish her dad and his church would have asked more questions about his God.

I hope she continues to question her atheism, as well.

Read my post “A Pastor is Thankful for Christopher Hitchens”

Starting One Church is taking every waking minute of my time. I’m having to intentionally set boundaries to make sure that I’m spending some time with my family in the evenings and taking one day off per week. So, any technology that helps me save time is worth a lot… especially if it’s free.:)

I’ve been using the Dragon Naturally Speaking app for awhile. It enables you to speak texts, email, notes, ideas, etc. into your phone, correct them if necessary, and then email it, text it, publish it Facebook or Twitter, etc. It’s incredibly accurate, and I’ve literally spoken entire sermons into my phone and then emailed them to myself.

You can only record in about 30 second chunks, but that’s not a problem. At the end of about 30 seconds, you just click “Done.” The screen displays the text of what you’ve spoken so far. You can then hit “Record” again and add to your message or email or text it, publish it to Facebook, Twitter, etc.

It’s one of the most helpful apps I’ve found. Read more about it here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragon-dictation/id341446764?mt=8

Jesus begins every statement with “Blessed are…” The New Testament was written in Greek, and the word for “Blessed” is “Makarioi.”

Makarioi was used of the Greek gods at one time to describe people who had it so good that they didn’t have to work. Later, it came to mean people whom John Fogerty would call a “fortunate son,” people who were born with silver spoons in their mouths, who were the lucky ones.

Jesus teaches that where God is working in the world people who are poor in spirit are really the fortunate ones. People who mourn are the lucky ones. People who are humble have silver spoons in their mouths. People who are merciful have it made in the shade. People who are pure in heart are the rich ones. People who make peace are living on easy street. People who are persecuted for doing the right thing are actually the fortunate ones.

In God’s kingdom the common values of our world are reversed. God rewards those who suffer and make the world a better place… even if it doesn’t appear to be that way now.

Do you see your circumstances the way Jesus sees them? Are you really one of the lucky ones and haven’t yet realized it? Don’t live another day without knowing that you have a rich dad. Your Heavenly Father makes you one of the lucky ones.

My family and I just relocated to Chandler, AZ a few days ago to start a brand new non-denominational church called One Church.

I’ll be sharing more info soon.