Episode 327 - One Year Citylight KC Church Plant Progress with Jason Wilson and Eric Carpenter7/11/2019
What a great couple of guys, actually pastors, we got to talk with on this episode! Jason Wilson and Eric Carpenter are co-pastors of a new church plant in Kansas City MO, Citylight Kansas City! We spoke with these guys in 2018 on Episode 276, so check that episode out if you haven't listened to it yet.
Enjoy this episode, learn, think new thoughts, get fresh inspiration, etc! This episode is our gift to pastors, and we love sharing these gifts with you! Check out Citylight Kansas City right here! Share this episode with other pastors you think would benefit from it! [This is a guest post by Greg Atkinson. It is a brief excerpt from Greg Atkinson’s new book Strange Leadership: 40 Ways to Lead an Innovative Organization. Go to the book’s website for more info and to download the free Team Discussion Guide: http://strangeleadership.com/] Greg encouraged us at 200churches by joining us on the 200churches Podcast, episode 25, way back in July of 2013 to talk about how to turn around a messy church. Greg has just released this new book, and we encourage you to check it out! Read an excerpt below: When I teach on this subject of desperation, I share a couple ways that I see desperation in the Church. The first way that I see a sense of desperation is with church plants (new works).
For a while, I coached church planters through the ARC, a church planting organization. I got to attend the church planter’s initiation and first training, their assessment process, and their one-week intensive basic training. As I interacted with church planters in person at these events or on the phone through my coaching, I picked up on their sense of desperation. They were so nervous, so full of excitement mixed with fear; that it made them extremely teachable, which is key to growth and opens the gates for innovation to occur. Teachability is something that comes pretty naturally to church planters. I just recently returned from a church planters conference, and I again was reminded of just how hungry and teachable they are. I’m not just talking about hungry to grow and survive, but a hunger for God and His hand on their ministry. [RESOURCES BELOW] As Shawn Lovejoy, senior pastor at Mountain Lake Church and cofounder of ChurchPlanters.com, said at the Velocity Conference in 2010, “Church planting is hard business. If you can do anything else, do it.” The good news is that with great organizations out there, such as ARC, NewThing Network, The Launch Network, ChurchPlanters.com, NAMB, Acts 29, Stadia, The Orchard Group, Exponential as well as coaches, consultants and writers, such as Ed Stetzer, Nelson Searcy, and Stephen Gray, there is plenty of help and guidance for church planters. Ed Stetzer told me that “68 percent of church plants survive after four years,” which is an encouraging number compared to some of the urban legends I’ve heard of church planting statistics. Still, church planting is an extremely difficult task and not something to be taken lightly. I’ve heard it called the “extreme sport” of pastoring. Because everything in church planting is so new and there are so many firsts, it is like my son, Tommy, saying, “Daddy, hold me.” Church planters are very dependent upon the Holy Spirit. You could say they lead, serve, and act out of a sense of desperation that leads to a dependency on the Holy Spirit. The second way that I see desperation in the Church is through older, established, and dead or declining churches. I used to teach on two ways that I saw desperation in the Church and a nice older man came up to me after I was speaking to Church leaders in Dallas, TX, and gently suggested I consider older, declining churches. He said, “Just as church plants are in ‘survival mode,’ older churches are also in survival mode. They’re trying not to close the doors and become extinct.” God used that older man to speak straight to my heart, and his words resonated with my spirit. I knew what he was saying was true. Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I’m not making a blanket statement about older churches in general (First Baptist Name Your City, First United Methodist, First Pres, etc.). I’m talking specifically about established churches that are in decline, which sadly, most churches in the US are in plateau or decline. Many of these churches started out with a burning vision, passion, mission, and other things I’ve shared in this book. Like the church in Ephesus in Rev 2, they have somehow forsaken their “first love.” This goes back to the decision we talked about in the second chapter. You have to decide to grow, decide to try new things and dare to follow God wherever He leads. This takes great faith, courage, obedience and a tremendous amount of intentionality. Andy Stanley says, “Vision leaks.” We all if we’re not careful will drift off course and find ourselves in maintenance mode, too scared to try anything new. It’s the old we’ve-always–done-it-this way mindset. For this second group of the Church that I watch, somewhere along the way, they wake up, they get mad, they have a God-moment, they have revival—something occurs, and they return to their dependency upon the Holy Spirit. Maybe it’s a pastor, deacon, or elder with a burden. Something leads them to attempt to be vibrant and full of life again. They start seeking God like they used to and this sense of desperation comes about. I’m watching it happen right now with the local First Baptist Church in my very own city. Only God can revive a dead church, but you must be desperate for Him. I remember several years ago hearing TD Jakes say, “Some of you need to fight. Don’t give up.” When the leadership of a declining church wakes up to the reality that if something doesn’t change soon they are going to close their doors forever, they start to become desperate again, and it’s a beautiful thing. If you don’t believe God can turn around a dead church, you haven’t met our Redeemer who raises the dead. As a matter of fact, raising the dead is kind of His specialty—He’s actually pretty famous for it. I don’t care how old your church is, how many people are attending and how far behind budget you are, I simply want to encourage you to never put God in a box and to be totally desperate for Him to move. Let your desperation lead to a dependency on the Holy Spirit and you’ll be in a good place. Greg Atkinson is an author, speaker, consultant and the Editor of Christian Media Magazine. Greg has started businesses including the worship resource website WorshipHouse Media, a social media marketing company, and his own consulting firm. As a consultant, Greg has worked with some of the largest and fastest-growing churches across the United States. Greg is the author of Church Leadership Essentials and Strange Leadership.
Kevin Pringle is our guest on today's podcast, Episode 66! Kevin is very candid with us as he talks about his leadership of his current 5-year ministry in Lincoln, NE. Kevin hit the ground running with this church plant, but it is in a very active community with many needs. After his first year, Kevin found himself on the brink of burnout, again. Recognizing those telltale signs of burnout, and not wanting to go to that party again, he took concrete steps to avoid it. He details his journey in this episode.
Today, Kevin has close friends within his church leadership, who support and encourage him, joining him in leading the ministries of the church. Kevin's wife, Beth, is her husband's partner as his Administrative Assistant. Kevin says Beth is the only paid staff that can actually fire him - as per a loophole in the church bylaws! Maybe not, but Beth keeps him honest, and together they lead and love their sons and daughters as together they form - TEAM PRINGLE!
Jonny and I had a blast with Kevin at our denomination's conference. He is a husband, father, pastor, leader, friend, and inspirer/encourager without our denomination! You will be encouraged and inspired as you listen to Kevin share his story of God's goodness in his life. Kevin joins all of you as a real, live, 200church pastor making a big difference in his community for the Kingdom! This week on Wednesday's podcast, Episode 56, we have Brandon Cox, a church planter in Arkansas. In one part of our conversation, he talks about how he was doing too many things at once, answering to too many people, and how his life had become unmanageable. That reminds me of what Dave Jacobs was saying recently about pastors scheduling a 35 hour work week, which reminds me that the next six months of my life will be given to breathing and finishing my Master’s Program, which reminds me how Jonny and I have recommitted ourselves to prayer as the main power of our ministry, which reminds me that Jesus is the one who grows the church, which reminds me I have to put the finishing touches on the agenda for our Elder’s meeting in two days, which finally reminds that no, I am not A.D.D.!
Many of us hyper-relational, attention deficient pastors will be calmed and encouraged just to listen to Brandon talk. He has a very easy way about him that brings ease and peace to your soul. He talks about learning to focus strongly on just a few things, to bring his life back into balance. What? Who is Brandon Cox, you ask? Glad you asked! He is the pastor/church planter of Grace Hills Church in Bentonville, Arkansas. He also oversees the content and online community at Pastors.com and Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox. Those are his two major roles, and with Grace Hills, he is the pastor of a 200church. Brandon is going to talk with us about his roles, challenges, church plant/community, and the need to balance life and ministry. It’s much harder to be a pastor in 2014 America than it was in 1975 America. With the rise of technology and the Internet, with social media, the number of things we have to consider, read, think about, and remember is breathtaking! Which reminds me of Brandon’s new book, which we’ll talk about on Wednesday. Funny thing, most authors do a book tour announcing their book. I “booked” Brandon on the podcast a number of weeks ago, and it was not until the end of the conversation that he mentioned he even had authored a book – we almost had to beat the information out of him. We sensed that Brandon is quite a humble person. You will enjoy him on the podcast. Brandon also talks about the challenges of church planting in a multicultural setting, and how his church is doing after two years. So how are you doing Pastor? The big game is over, you’ve got the Superbowl hangover, hopefully your team won, your evening service or small group will return to its normal time period next Sunday, your church is still small, and you’re still the pastor! The people, whether they number 50, 100, or 300 have all decided to make your church their church, and you their pastor. Jonny and I hope that you are doing well. If you are subscribed to our blog we might already have you on our radar. Little by little we are identifying each of our subscribers, connecting you with your church, and getting to know you. It may take a little while, but you should get an email from one of us. If you get a minute, email us first and tell us about you and your ministry. We are excited about Wednesday, to share the podcast with you, and to encourage and affirm you as a 200church pastor! We ask one thing of you in the next two days… love your spouse and children – and then… LOVE YOUR PEOPLE. |
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