It's About Meeting People

Today Denise and I had a blast working as volunteers at this year's Mayfaire Kid's Art Pavilion, sponsored by the Polk Museum of Art. The head of education at the museum is a Compass Point member and we had some other church folks working as volunteers. As you can see I was in charge of the hat making booth where we used rolled up grocery bags and art supplies. I met a ton of folks, made great contacts with city leaders and got to invite several dozen to Compass Point.

I once heard a church plant "expert" say that the planting pastor's job was to spend forty hours a week preparing a sermon and letting the core team build the relationships. That's just CRAP!!! The shepherd should be leading the flock by example! You can't sit in your study or office and build a church! Anyone that tells you different has never actually been a church planter.

That's not to say you should punk out on sermon preparation. There have been many Saturday nights of no sleep so I could go back over my sermon notes for Sunday. God created Sunday afternoons for three things; the NFL, NASCAR and a chance for night-owl pastors to grab a nap.

For a church planter sleep is optional, not a necessity. If you can't occasionally make it on three hours of sleep (or less), then take a cush job at an established church - don't plant. If you don't like to be around people . . . great big gatherings of people - don't plant. If you wife needs you home by 6:00 PM every night of the week to feel secure in the marriage - don't plant. If you have to have a minimum of thirty hours a week of preparation to preach a sermon on Sunday - don't plant.

Church planting is about meeting people wherever and whenever you have to. It's kind of like selling insurance . . . every person you meet could possibly be a candidate for salvation and in need of a church home.

Some days it may take a conversation with a stranger over a cup of coffee. Other days it might be wearing goofy grocery bag hats at the local park.

Whatever . . . whenever - the church planter's creed!