Rookies in Nascar have a yellow stripe on their bumpers. Yellow in Nascar is symbolic of caution. It tells the other drivers, “Watch out! Rookie driver.” The majority of church planters are rookies. I find that most church planters only start one church. Like rookie drivers, they are inexperienced and can have trouble navigating unfamiliar territory. For rookie drivers, a good crew chief and a good spotter are essential. The crew chief coaches the driver through the race. The spotter gets a bird’s eye view and tells the driver what’s coming up so that they can avoid wrecks. A project manager functions much like the spotter. They have been around church planting for a long time and can help the church planter navigate through the tough spots. They can also alert the driver to what’s coming up and any red flags along the way. OK enough Nascar analogy.
The Project Manger helps the church planter create a plan that will accomplish the vision for the new church. Because the project manager has been a part of planting several churches, they have a unique insight into the planning process and what it takes to plant a healthy church. Then the project manager oversees the plan and lets the church planter know what key tasks need to be worked on when. For example, every church planter knows they need to purchase equipment. But few know when to purchase it and where to get the best deals. The role of the project manager is to understand that if the church is starting in September and the first preview service is at the end of August then equipment needs to be purchased in June, assembled at tested at the beginning of August. To do that a facility must be chosen in May and an equipment list developed. To do that the church planter must network in the community and do demographics to determine the best meeting locations. The project manager also is responsible to find the right solutions at the best prices from trusted vendors.
Remember the mission of a project manager: Keeping church planters focused on people.
Tags: church planting · new churches · passion 4 planting · Project Management4 Comments
I did not quite understand the relevance of what Nascar has to do with project management and church planting. Is there a way in which you can elaborate further. I would really love to know. Thanks in advance.
Hi it is a nice informative article it gives lot of knowledge about rookie driver. It is nice reading your post, thank you. it is good to know project manager are now helping church in their management.
Not every post on our blog deals directly with project management, but is, in our opinion, useful and beneficial to church planters. Our focus is project management, though we hit other topics as well.
Hans,
Here’s the analogy. Most pastors only plant one church, at least in my experience. Thus, they may be well seasoned pastors, but are rookie church planters. In Nascar, a spotter is someone who is perched above the track and can see things happening from a bird’s eye view. They are typically experienced with racing and understand what is happening on the track. They communicate directly with the driver and tell him what is happening around him. They let him know when drivers are coming up from behind, when a wreck has happened and how to avoid trouble. A project manager in church planting also has the bird’s eye view of what is going on. They typically have experience working with lots of different church plants. Thus they can help the church planter see trouble coming and how to avoid it. For instance, the project manager may work with the church planter on creating launch plan. Part of that plan may be to raise $100,000 in outside funding by a certain time. When those funds aren’t being raised, the project manager can help the church planter see how that lack of funding impacts the plan as a whole. They can “spot” the trouble before it comes and help the church planter avoid it. Hope that helps. Maybe the NASCAR analogy was a bit of a stretch.