Planting Space

I watched about 20 minutes of American Idol last night. I was struck by the similarities between the show and church planting assessment. Randy, Paula and Simon use their expertise to tell self-diluted idol hopefuls that they do or don’t have what it takes to be a pop star. Assessment is sort of like that, except for the self-diluted part.

Over the past eight years I’ve been able to participate in the assessment process on multiple levels: errand boy, potential planter, assessor. Next week I’ll be participating at the Church Planting Assessment Center in Johnson City, TN. The core assessors: Brent Foulke, Paige Mathews and Tom Jones could be viewed as the church planting world’s Randy, Paula and Simon. I’ll let you decide who Paula is.

Assessment is the single best way to confirm a calling to church planting. The number one reason church plants fail is because the wrong leader was selected. Many planters sense the calling, but unfortunately few take the step of formal assessment to get feedback from other experienced church planters. Assessment is designed to help you discern your calling to church planting by affirming your strengths and identifying your weaknesses. Most planters walk away from the demanding experience pumped up and affirmed that God is calling them to begin the amazing journey of planting a church.

Bottom Line: If you’re thinking about planting, go to assessment.

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