How things have changed

This past week we had our volunteer push at Capstone.  As mentioned in the post below we are gearing up for next mile marker in our race.  When we began this race a year ago there weren’t too many hands to help.  Why?  Well mainly because there weren’t too many people and wasn’t too much to set up.  Pretty much everything fit into the back of my 4 Runner and Chris’ truck.

A year ago our volunteer team was made up of about 7 people to set up for 20 adults who were interested in hearing about this new church in Fountain Inn.  Fast forward a year later (9 months after launch) and we have over 100 adults each week at The Gathering and lots of areas that need volunteers.  That is why we are so pumped to have over 50 people sign up to volunteer in one area or another this fall.  It is so exciting to see the joy and passion in people’s eyes about what is going at Capstone.  Many of these people a year ago had no idea they would be excited about church, let alone volunteer to serve others.  That is a what we call a BIG TIME WIN!

Mile 2: Church Planting Marathon

Sunday at Capstone I mentioned Mile 2 is coming up on us.  During our Plant Team Building Days (Sept 2008 – Jan 2009) I used the illustration of church planting as a marathon not a sprint.  As we shared the vision of our launch on January 11th we knew this would be our first mile. Jan 11th was our first mile marker in the journey.  We are fast approaching our Mile 2 marker.  This an important time for us because we are stepping up in all the areas at Capstone and even creating new ones.  We are taking the things we have learned since Mile 1 and the momentum we are  carring from a great summer into Mile 2.

This Spring I ran a half marathon (not crazy enough to do a full one) in Charoltte. As I trained and ran the race I learned a lot.  The begining of the race was full excitement and rush as I set out to accomplish this goal.  At Mile 1 it was crowded and you saw many faces. Some were going a lot faster, while I passed others.  Pretty much everyone is just jacked up to get this thing started.  Mile 2 though the crowd began to spread out.  I had to realize I couldn’t keep this pace up for another 11 Miles.  People began setting their pace for the long haul and everyone began to get into their groove.  The faces began to get familiar as we ran together.

Church planting is the same way.  Starting up we were all excited about the mission and vision, sharing with anyone who would listen.  Mile 1 (The Launch) we had a LOT of people.   We saw lots of faces, but many came and went.  Whether it was just a curiousity, dislike or different mission not everyone who was at mile 1 is at mile 2.  And that is ok.  it is the nature of running and church planting.

As we get to Mile 2 the faces are familiar who have latched onto the mission and vision of Capstone. Some have been beside us since  the start, while others have recently come up beside us.  We have a solid group we have set the pace with. We are still fresh and engergize with this race set before us.  We realize our make up at Mile 3 might look different as we hit hills and it gets harder.  We know that we have our destination and Christ is with us in our race to reach as many people as possible with the Gospel of Christ.

Luke 19:10 “I came to seek and to save those that are lost.”

Church Plants Launching [Part 3]

* Preview Services
We only did one “preview service.”  We started out calling it our preview service, but we thought that seemed awful unfriendly.  So we decided to just have a full blown Christmas service for our folks, and if they invited people that was great, but if not we would just have a nice Christmas service.  People invited A LOT of friends and family.  After that we wondered who would come to our launch.
We are in a small town. It didn’t take much for people to know what we were doing and where.  So it wasn’t necessary for us to do  lots of Preview Services.  But I would encourage a FULL RUN THROUGH with every area the week before Launch.  This is essential to make sure everything works, make a list what else you need, and making sure everyone knew what the heck they were doing.  We launched on Jan 11.  We did a full run through the week before – we made sure that NO ONE invited guest.  Of course we had several, but they thought it was awesome.

* Volunteers
You won’t be able to do too much without volunteers.  Depending on the size of your plant team several people might be doing double duty just so that someone is greeting, there is coffee and that the sound works.  In our early days our sponsor church Rocky Creek did a great job of giving us extra hands in the children’s area.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help (sponsor churches or local kingdom minded churches).  Because there is a good chance that you will need it.   Another big thing is DON’T BURN YOUR VOLUNTEERS OUT! If someone doesn’t get to go into a service for a month – that is unacceptable.  Figure a system so that your workers are able to enjoy your full Sunday experience.  It might been others helping out or combing classes, but your volunteers are the life blood of a church plant – CARE FOR THEM and make sure their heart says healthy!

Church Plants Launching [Part 2]

* Marketing
Many ask about how Capstone spent our marketing budget.  The answer is we didn’t really have a marketing budget.  I know this goes against the “launch big” model.  The typical “launch big” model is spend between 5k to 10k on marketing.  Get the billboards.  Send out thousands of mailers.   Rent a hot air balloon to throw out fliers (actually never heard anyone do that).
We spent $100 on 500 business cards we called “invite cards” people could personal hand to relationships they had built with people.  Our strategy was we wanted to hear about Capstone through conversations and relationships.  Instead of spending thousands on marketing God sent us an oppurtunity to move a family out of uninhabitable home and purchase them a new trailer.  That created more of a buzz than mailers.

* Plant based on your passions
Two months before launch we asked if we should go ahead and start community groups.  We were already meeting weekly training our Plant Team.  We were doing monthly mission projects in our community.  When I asked to one of our Church Planter Mentors when we should start community groups he spoke up and said “what is your passion?” For me that was a no brainer – Community Mission Projects.  He said then don’t start community groups until after launch.  He mentioned we were doing great and anything else would take energy away from our launch.
If small groups are your passion – do them.  If missional projects are you passion – do them.  If launching small and slow is your mission and vision – do it. God has given you a vision – don’t plant based on someone else’s passion or vision.  Stick with what you know.

Church Plants Launching

Fall is most definetly my favorite times of year.  The cool brisky air flowing through the colorful leaves as they fall to the ground.  The sound of thousands of football fans cheering for their favorite team.  And of course the season of church plant launches.  A couple of guys in our church planting network are gearing up for launching their church in a couple of weeks: Jay Hardwick – Awaken Church and Jay Mitchell – The Well.

Both of these guys have taken their time in building their teams, breaking the code of their community, casting their vision and mission to anyone who would listen.  I am excited to see what God does with each one of these new works.  There is no doubt that Capstone will be watching and learning as these missional kingdom driven plants grow and impact their communites.

I have recieve several calls and emails during this season asking about Capstone’s launch and what we did.  Here are a few of the things I would tell anyone who is launching a new church plant.

* Plan for more than just the day you LAUNCH your church
Sometimes when a church launches they are so jacked up about starting weekly services they only plan for that one day.  Once launch day is over, you now have only 7 days to do  again what tooks months to plans.  Think about leadership and making sure that what you do on launch day can be reproduced 52 days a year.

* Prepare your launch team
For those of us who live and breath church planting we always hear stats, stories, and myths about what the next month will look like.  We know that usually the week after you launch your crowd isn’t going to look the same.  Most stats say you will only have 50% return (Capstone had about 75%).  But over the next few weeks the numbers won’t increase – they decreased.   This can be culture shock for your team.  But it is the nature of the beast.  People will be in and out for about six weeks.  If your team isn’t prepared you can lose all that momentum you had on launch day. Just let them know this is a natural trend in church planting.

More thoughts on Launching later this week…

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Four Year Anniversary

This past week Betsy and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary.  It is hard to believe it has been that long since we said I do on August 6, 2005 at Brushy Creek Baptist Church.  I am sure I will say the same thing at 10 15 and 25 years.  It is amazing how fast our time together as flown by.  To celebrate we went to Bone Fish Grille and ate way too much.  As we waited for our meal we talked about the things we have been a part

of since we got married.  Check out our list below.

* Betsy graduated from University of Georgia Law School
* Helped with a church plant in North Augusta, SC – TrueNorth Church
* Stepped out in faith to begin an new church plant in Fountain Inn, SC – Capstone Church
* Moved 5 times (Thompson, GA / North Augusta, SC x 2/ Fountain Inn, SC x 2)
* Purchased two homes
* Totaled one car
* Had 4 cars
* Done a good bit of traveling (Charleston, Fripp Island, Boston, Montana x3, Venezuela, Israel and Turkey)
* Had Luke Caleb Tanner – May 17, 2005
(update: Luke was born in 2008)

It has been an amazing journey together and I look forward to what will be down the road.