Around the Blogosphere

• How The Started: (A Break Story) March 12, 2010
  (My friend Eric gave me permission to tell this story in the book, which I share with great sensitivity...)A good friend from seminary moved to Ashburn, Virginia to start a church one year before I did. Eric was an incredible communicator; I know because I shared a preaching class with him. It was all we classmates could do to keep up with him. He was so goo […]
• 10 Church Planter Qualities March 11, 2010
  By Scott ThomasActs 29 President and Director The qualities of a successful basketball player are consistent. He or she can dribble, shoot, pass, play defense, rebound, play as a team, think, move quickly and work hard. They don't have to do all of these at the same level but all of the qualities characterize a succesful player at the highest level. Chu […]
• Three March 11, 2010
  WE PASSED OUR FINAL INSPECTION and got our Certificate of Occupancy! Thank you so much for praying; it really took a miracle for this to happen.Now that we have the Certificate we can start putting in the lights and furniture! There is so much to be done; thankfully we have tons of help!Here's my advice for the day: don't start a church and do a bu […]
• How They Started: The Well, Tallahasee March 11, 2010
  Dean Inserra started The Well in Tallahassee, Florida three years ago, and they're now reaching 600 people each week. They had 1,200 for Christmas and are expecting 2,000 for Easter.But you need to know the back-story. Because there are conditions that make or break a new church before it starts.Dean was born and raised in Tallahassee. He grew up in a M […]
• Send Your Best Men Out on Mission March 11, 2010
  By Scott ThomasActs 29 President and Director It won’t hurt the church if people are called away to go and make disciples elsewhere. It will hurt the mission if they stay. As I read about the church in Jerusalem and Antioch, I see them identifying, equipping and sending men to plant churches. In Acts 11:19-26, the Jerusalem church sent Barnabas to the city o […]
• Four March 10, 2010
  Can I just say that I love mission teams. 45 people from 6 churches are coming this week to help us! They are working on our building, passing out thousands of door hangers, serving and supporting us. I literally have no idea what we would do without them.I spent the evening at Sam's Club buying all kinds of stuff for the building. We have our Certifica […]
• Should I Use a Launch Team Covenant March 10, 2010
  By guest blogger: Doug Foltz Launch Team Covenants (as well as membership covenants) are about one thing: Expectations. In part 3, I talked about filters for deciding who should be on the launch team. The first two filters were beliefs and values. Early on, beliefs and values are merely words on paper. Unless the staff, leadership team and launch team live o […]
• Who Should Be Excluded from the Church March 10, 2010
  By guest blogger: Doug Foltz In this post, we take a look at who should be included and excluded from the launch team. Some of you may be saying, wait did you say exclude? I thought we wanted big launch teams. The answer is yes, you do want a big launch team, but without a few important filters you won’t have a launch team, you’ll have a group of disconnecte […]
• How They Started: Quest Church March 10, 2010
  In 2002, Paul Gillmore started Quest Church in Centreville, Virginia with just five other families.Paul didn't have many connections in the area. When he approached a local mega-church pastor for help, he abruptly ended the meeting and dismissed Paul from his office.But eight years later, Quest is reaching over 300 people each week and doing an amazing […]
• Should I Use a Launch Team Covenant? March 10, 2010
  Pt. 1 Building a Launch Team is Priority One. Pt. 2  How Big Should the Launch Team Be? Pt. 3 Who Should Be Excluded from the Church? Launch Team Covenants (as well as membership covenants) are about one thing: Expectations.  In part 3, I talked about filters for deciding who should be on the launch team.  The first two filters were beliefs and values.  Earl […]