The “Hole” in Our Support Raising: A Case for Values Based Support Raising

Support raising is a tricky subject for many people. For some, it is an enjoyable part of their ministry, for others it is a terrifying and dreadful requirement. Others see it as an annoying distraction from their “main ministry work,” while others see it as part of their call to make disciples. For many who raise support, the process is …

Forming a 5-Fold Leadership Team Immersion

A 4-week Immersion in How to Awaken and Assemble an Elder Team or Church Planting Team Using the APEST w/ Aaron and Karrie Thomas About this Immersion In partnership with The V3 Movement and Seeds & Water Collective: Somewhere along the line, humanity has become clouded in our understanding of leading together: whether at work, home, or church, we’ve got …

Why Planters Are Equipped for Racial Justice

“If you are doing ministry in America and you don’t understand race, you’re not going to be an effective missionary.” – David Bailey As we witness this volcanic eruption of racial unrest spill out across the country, the urgency to end systemic racism has never felt greater. Yet the Church has never seemed so ill-equipped to live out God’s vision …

The 5-Fold Church Startup: A Resilient Planting Approach

God has wired all of us for ministry. When we uncover and awaken the five-fold typology (apostles, prophets, evangelist, shepherds, and teachers mentioned in Eph. 4) in our faith communities and our neighborhoods, we will not only be able to live out our calling, but also help others discover theirs.  If you want to plant churches that are resilient and …

Mutual Movemental Leadership

Re-imagining New Scaffolding In planting a missional-incarnational church you will collide with the big question “How do we do leadership in this new but old way of being the church?” Re-imagining and reconstructing leadership scaffolding are essential for being a movemental church in Post-Christianity, but it can be hard to find templates. I confess that my own history in leadership …

Five-Fold Proclamation

I was trained by one of the 20th Century’s “Princes of Preaching.” And, “no” that isn’t an exaggeration.   In 1996, Haddon Robinson was named in a Baylor University poll as one of the “12 Most Effective Preachers in the English Speaking World.” In 2006, he was recognized by Christianity Today in the top 10 of its “25 Most Influential Preachers of …

Feelings vs Commitments

If you’re a church planter like me, then you’re aware that there’s been a growing emphasis on the 5-fold person gifts found in Ephesians 4:11-16: And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the …