I write this on an Amtrak train returning from a 4th of July weekend with my young adult son in New York City.  We are headed to DC for fireworks tonight before he flies home tomorrow.  He and I had great fun in New York.  I had never seen Times Square at 2 am, but when you travel with a 21-year old, you shift into a slightly different time zone.  Yesterday, after we watched the Yankees toast the Toronto Blue Jays (in about 97 degrees), we noticed that our subway train back to Manhattan was headed ultimately to Coney Island.  Neither he nor I had ever been to Coney Island, but we had read all kinds of stories and seen movies about it - so we said, “Let’s just stay on the train all the way to the beach,” About ninety minutes later (we were riding the local) we arrived in this large railway terminal on the lower coast of Brooklyn, with thousands of people pouring out of trains onto the beach and into the amusement parks of Coney Island. 

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One of the significant tasks of church leaders is to find, equip and deploy lay people to lead in creating new places for new people. If we are going to produce a multiplicative growth for the new church starts movement in the United States, engaging lay people in church planting is one of the paths to move forward.  We have this great opportunity and solemn responsibility, as leaders of our United Methodist denomination, to empower the lay people of our churches to get out from their church pews into the world to give witness to the amazing love of God by proclaiming the Gospel of Christ and participating in planting new churches.

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Confucius said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  Dr. Leo Marvin (“What About Bob” fame) said, “Baby steps, baby steps…”

On a cold weekend in January eighty-plus people took many steps from around the country braving threats of snow and ice to participate in our inaugural Coaching Forum in Nashville, TN. The evaluations we received from attendees were encouraging and educational. We did many things right and many right things! Overall 99% of participants said the event “exceeded their expectations.” That’s pretty amazing.  Baby steps…

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I had the privilege of facilitating one of the ministry tracks at our recent School of Congregational Development in Evanston, IL.  The Advance Strategy Questions track welcomed thirty annual conference leaders across the connection including bishops, superintendents, and development directors. For six hours we presented and debated critical issues facing those responsible for new church development.

One of the nearly dozen topics we tackled over two days was identifying the qualities and characteristics of effective second pastors of new church starts. We agreed we have not focused enough on this topic.

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I just finished reading, “Extraordinary Leaders in Extraordinary Times”  (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. 2006) This book offers the results of an extensive study of the most successful pastors of new churches in seven American mainline denominations. Unfortunately our denomination was not part of the study.  This is a helpful resource especially for those charged with the task of finding and assessing new church start pastors. (more…)

I’m in beautiful Orlando, Florida at the School of Congregational Development with about 300 United Methodist leaders seeking to start and develop congregations to make world-changing disciples. There are many tracks devoted to new church starts for cabinets and planters and launch teams alike. The Think Tank track was suggested by a congregational developer last year and implemented this year. What a great idea!

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One of the significant tasks of church leaders is to find, equip and deploy lay people to lead in creating new places for new people. If we are going to produce a multiplicative growth for the new church starts movement in the United States, engaging lay people in church planting is one of the paths to move forward.  We have this great opportunity and solemn responsibility, as leaders of our United Methodist denomination, to empower the lay people of our churches to get out from their church pews into the world to give witness to the amazing love of God by proclaiming the Gospel of Christ and participating in planting new churches. 

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