Church Planting
Living the Book of Acts
We understand the challenges involved in starting a new ministry from scratch. We also understand the amazing possibilities. If you’re considering planting a church or are in the early stages, we’d love to walk alongside you through the process.
We can help you understand the different stages of planting a church—from vision to team building to leadership development. We can help you think through the essential issues to consider along the way—including prayer, finances, structure, and outreach.
And if you have a vision for planting not just one church, but many churches– a multiplying movement of churches — then you’ll definitely want to connect with us to be better prepared and resourced for the amazing adventure that lies ahead.
Making do with what we have
I had a follow up conversation with a group I met last year on my trip to Honduras-- Signs of Love. They are a ministry to the deaf-- you can read the background in a blog entry I wrote last year after that trip. While I was there again this year, I had a providential...
Faithful and persistent
On my recent trip to Honduras, I was impressed anew with some of the qualities I saw in their extension teachers. An extension teacher is essentially a church planter who has planted 10 churches. At that point, they become a regional extension teacher, providing...
What happens when extension chains break?
Yesterday I wrote about extension chains in Honduras. But what happens when they break or stop functioning? One of the stops Humberto (church multiplication movement leader for the region) made while I was along for the ride was to address one of those cases. One of...
The missing link
In Honduras, they take extension chains seriously. An extension chain is what’s described in 2 Timothy 2:2: And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. One person shares...
If someone were to put a gun to your head…
While I was in Honduras I met a guy named Oscar, who had been planting and multiplying churches for well over 30 years. He struck me as a man of amazing character, someone who will walk for seven hours to go tell people about Jesus or build relationships and not think...
Gifts and calling trump personality and preference
On my recent trip to Honduras, I had the privilege of traveling alongside Mark Fields, of Vineyard Missions. While there, he said something that struck me: “Gifts and calling trump personality and preference.” Mark is more of an introvert by nature. He would rather be...
“If you need it you can take it”
Those were the words of a woman none of us had ever met before, out in the middle of what I would consider nowhere. We had traveled 5 hours by truck over rough, rocky roads and stream crossings in rural Honduras, going slowly through mountain switchbacks, when it...
The hands of a church planter
I recently returned from what is fast becoming my annual trip to Honduras. For anyone in the church planting field, Honduras is a fascinating study of rapid multiplication without much by way of resourcing. One of the church planters I met on this trip is Gerardo,...
Blog recommendation: Alexi George
If you enjoy reading good blogs, I recommend checking out the blog written by Alexi George, pastor, teacher, and writer serving in India. In this recent post "4 Fears of a Church Planter," he shares some common fears of church planters with refreshing honesty: 1. Do I...
Investing where you see growth
Michael Gatlin, pastor of Duluth Vineyard and director of Multiply Vineyard, follows the practice of “investing where you see things growing.” When you see a particular harvest field yielding good crops, how can you send in more workers to tend and harvest that...