Learning (about God) from Church Planters

Today the District Superintendent of the Lower Pacific District in the EFC Canada and I held back-to-back meetings with two men. One is a church planter in Vancouver, BC whose new church is one year old, and the other who is a potential church planter I met at the recent Church Planting Bootcamp class at Trinity Western Seminary. I have introduced one of them, Sammy, to you before. The other’s name is Sam. Here’s what I learned today about God from them.

God honors faith. It’s possible to be resource rich, yet faith poor. Far better to be like these men and their families who being rich in faith rely on God rather than human resources including their own. A bold and realistic faith trumps money, facilities, equipment, experience, education, human knowledge, skills, etc. “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.” (Jer. 9:23-24)

When God puts a dream or vision in your heart, go for it. God lives within his servants and he gives to them his vision and dreams for ministry. These two church planters and others like them want more than anything to do what they believe God is calling them to do, each in a unique way and with different people. Let’s call it obedience to the Great Commission so that all nations and people groups on earth will be reached with the Gospel of the Kingdom. (Matt. 28:18-20)

Lost people matter to God, and therefore lost people matter. The church planters I know and coach have a compelling desire to .Like the Son of Man, they believe that they have come “to seek and save the lost.” (Lk. 19:10) God is in the business of seeking after and saving the lost, and so should we. And so should I.

God does not work alone. He uses people in his work and he works in community, first within the community of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and then within the community of the church. The church planters I met with today desire to work with others in association with other church planters and other churches. The church planters I know and coach want to work together in Kingdom ministry, encourage one another and partner in God’s work with other pastors and churches. "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23)

So what are you learning about God from church planters?

The Church Planting Bootcamp Experience

Nineteen students participated in the Church Planting Bootcamp training held on the campus of ACTS Seminaries at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, Canada on April 26-30th.

The Bootcamp was an intensive five-day experience designed to equip potential and active church planters and district leaders for what normally happens in the first two years of a church plant. This Bootcamp was sponsored by the Evangelical Free Church of Canada and ACTS seminaries. It was led and taught by three national leaders in the church planting ministry of the Evangelical Free Church of America - George Klippenes, EFCA Church Planting Director, Dave Page and Ray Chang.


A total of 27 modules or sessions were taught over the five days. The content and individual sessions are the product of 10 plus years of experience in hosting and leading Church Planting Bootcamps across the USA. This was the first Evangelical Free Church Bootcamp offered in Canada with the intent that more will be held on Canadian soil in the Canadian context.


Day one of the Bootcamp covered six foundations. Day two included training in six dream dynamics (Mission, Vision and Values). Day three focused the students on six gathering strategies. Day four was all about five disciple-making stages, steps and classes. And Day five concluded the training with equipping for critical startup ministries.

What follows are some of my personal opinions and observations based on this Church Planting Bootcamp experience.

This experience is essential for the church planter and church planter wannabe. And that includes district or denominational church planting team leaders.

The genius of the Bootcamp experience is found in a combination of factors. There is teaching by experienced church planters and coaching by the trainers and other church planting leaders in attendance.
Small group interaction and fellowship throughout the event plus practical in-class assignments based on the content being presented add value. Combine that with hands-on personal and practical application of the content and the awareness that one is learning survival skills in church planting ministry. Many of the ideas and principles can be put to immediate use. Some models are presented and analyzed, but the important exercise is discovering the principles that can apply whatever the model chosen. Most importantly, the Bootcamp experience depends heavily on prayer and the leading of the Spirit of God in applying what is taught.


Some of the content needs more work on making it more adaptable in the Pacific Northwest and Canadian cultural settings. There was some apparent pushback when the concept of launching large and large church sizes and growth. The Pacific Northwest and Canada are more “post-Christian” and therefore need more tools to adjust church planting vision, strategy and tactics. More work needs to be done on identifying the principles behind missional/incarnational church planting.

The Bootcamp experience will be most effective and successful when it is combined with individualized assessment of potential planters and on-going coaching.

This Bootcamp is a good example of how partnerships between countries, denominations and districts can be used by God to advance His kingdom and build His Church.

I anticipate more opportunities for offering the Church Planting Bootcamp and other good training venues in the Pacific Northwest and Canada. And my prayer is that God will use me to train and coach many more church planters and church planting leaders.

Care to share your thoughts about the Church Planting Bootcamp experience?

Helping Planters Prepare for the Harvest

This past week my ministry as Church Planting Coach took me to the Church Planters Bootcamp held on the campus of ACTS Seminaries at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, Canada. 19 students gathered for five days of intensive orientation and training in how to plant a church. It was my privilege to be the professor of record, help with administration, help teach two of the training modules, and help coach the students. These students were from across Canada and included Free Church District Superintendents, a district church planting team, church planters and seminary students interested in church planting.

During the week, it became obvious that God is up to something. Many years ago I served as a District Superintendent in the Canadian Free Church and dreamed about something like this happening. I believe God is about to send workers (church planters) into the harvest fields of Canada in response to prayer (Matthew 9:36-38).

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Students worked hard on such subjects such as "Prayer Foundation: Prayer Driven Planting," "Vision Doorway: Where are You Going?," "Evangelism: Win the Lost," "Leadership: Developing Leaders," "Managing Growth and Change," and "Worship." In all, 30 modules covering the nuts and bolts of the beginning stages of church planting were presented.

I had the personal privilege of helping coach a district church planting team in how to develop a strategy for multiplying churches. God also used me to encourage church planters and apply what they were learning. Several EFC Canada leaders are now thinking and praying about having another church planting bootcamp next year so that many more can come. The excitement grows for kingdom expansion through planting missional churches that multiply believers, groups and churches for the glory of God.

Preparation for Bootcamp

I am just finishing my preparations for the Church Planting Bootcamp class that is being held on the Trinity Western University campus in Langley, BC, Canada beginning tomorrow and running through Friday for 8 hours each day.

The Bootcamp is a relatively new training tool for church planters, sponsoring churches and denominational leaders. The goal of the instruction and Bootcamp experience is to train church planters and candidates in the essential steps that a new church progresses through as it begins, develops, launches and grows into maturity. Experienced church planters take the students through a number of different modules of instruction. The nineteen students who will be there will have read three key church planting books. I will be there as the Professor of Record to grade papers of students who take the class for credit.

While I enjoy the academic interaction, I am most looking forward to coaching the students as they interact in small group discussions and in-class application assignments. This means I will be asking them questions rather than providing answers. My goal in coaching is to help them develop the church that God has already planted in their heart. I go as a Barnabas, an encourager and helper who, like the character in the New Testament, helped Paul become the great Apostle, New Testament author and church planter.

What a great privilege it is to be a helper in the ministry of multiplying new churches that will reach new people who will become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

You can read more about the Church Planting Boot camp experience at http://www.efcastartchurches.org/boot-camp/

Church Planters I Know

As I develop my new ministry as a church planting coach, it’s encouraging to know the “who” of my work in God’s kingdom. Here’s a new and growing list of “front line” warrior-servants in God’s army with whom I am beginning to work.

Chad is a young 30something who is attempting to plant a church in British Columbia. He is married with two little sons and another child on the way. After serving as a youth pastor in existing churches, he sensed it was time to begin working on a dream that God has put in his heart years ago, a vision for a new church that will reach those who long for true community and a life-changing experience with God. Chad is sacrificing the security of an established ministry with its accompanying salary and benefits for a low-paying, part-time job, some personal support raising and lots of faith and courage. He and his wife are very appreciative to have a coach to come alongside them in their faith-stretching journey.

Mike is another 30something who is currently in seminary, but looking forward to planting a new church in the Seattle area. He is married with a small child and another on the way. Mike probably won’t move to the Seattle area until summer of 2011 but he is responding to coaching as if his future depended on good preparation, and it does! He too is discovering the church that God has planted in his heart. We had our first coaching session this morning in which we talked about laying a good spiritual foundation for planting, his assessment needs, how he might support his ministry and why he is thinking about a certain part and people of Seattle as his future ministry focus. This is foundational stuff for planters.

Sammy is from the Congo in Africa by way of an Uganda refugee camp. He and his wife now live in Vancouver, BC, Canada, with their six children. Yesterday Marty and I attended the first anniversary of his new church named Jesus Grace International Church, a small but growing Pentecostal church plant. I have known Sammy and his family for over a year. This is a man of God with a heart for lost people. Tomorrow we have our first coaching session. I look forward to helping him evaluate his new church and discover the knowledge and resources he needs to be a successful church planter in his new Canadian context.

We can’t wait to see who else God will connect with us and how he will use us in his kingdom. Whoever these dear people will be, they will be an answer to prayer (Matt. 9:36-38).

Making Progress in Building a Ministry Support Team

The first responses from my letter of invitation to join our Ministry Support Team are beginning to come in for which we praise the Lord.

One friend in Missouri sent us a one-time ministry support gift of $500 and a commitment to pray regularly for us. Another friend in Nebraska sent us the first installment of $25 toward a monthly support commitment and a commitment to pray regularly for us. Still another friend in Nebraska sent us their response card indicating they were not able to financially support us but would pray for us on a regular basis. And, as I mentioned in my last Blog entry, our 5-year old granddaughter gave $.35 out of her piggy bank to help support us. We know she is praying for us!

To date we have sent 122 invitation letters to people in 19 states. I am hoping to be able to add friends in Canada and to recruit friends from the church we have just started to attend.

This week I hope to begin making phone calls to follow up the letters and responses.

Enlisting Support Team members who will pray on a regular basis, especially daily or weekly, is of utmost importance. My goal is to have 100 people who will pray for us and our ministry.

We need friends, like the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8, who won’t stop knocking on heaven’s door on our behalf and for those whom we serve in kingdom ministry. Here are some ideas on how to pray for us right now:

1.Ask the Lord of the harvest with us to send workers into his harvest fields of the Pacific Northwest and Canada (Matt. 9:36-38).

2.Pray for Marty to find a good job that fits her gifts and talents and will provide health insurance for us.

3.Pray for God to lead people to support us in our ministry as a Church Planting Coach through their prayers and finances.

4.Pray for me and other trainers and students as we make the final plans for the Church Planting Bootcamp to be held on the Trinity Western University and Seminary campus on April 26-30th.

Thank you for your prayers and your support.

Why Are You Doing This?

Last week I was asked a question by a church planter that I was coaching. The question was simple, “Why are you doing this?” Now that’s a good question and one that forces some healthy reflection.

My first attempt to answer his question went something like this: “Because I heard your story and wanted to help you.” I meant it. My heart and passion is to help church planters do well what God is calling them to do. That was the heart of Barnabas in the New Testament as he “adopted” Paul in order to disciple him in the faith and ministry and help him do what God had called him to do. And that’s why I welcome the opportunity to be a church planting coach in the Pacific Northwest. I want to be a Barnabas.

Then I added something like this, “Because I love church planters.” Marty and I have “been there and done that” and we know that church planters and their families need lots of love and understanding. Church planters and other missionaries are often targets for Satan’s attacks and for criticism by God’s own people. Those who are called by God to start and multiply new churches have to deal with the dark clouds of discouragement, depression, loneliness and unrealistic expectations. They need lots of love and encouragement. I want to be there for church planters, the pioneers of the kingdom.

But I’m writing this on Good Friday. As I reflect on the meaning of this day, I am reminded of the most important reason for why I am doing this. Jesus died for sinners like me because he loves us enough to pay the awful price of sin - my sin, and the sins of millions of people who do not yet know him personally.

Church planters are those people who carry the message of Good Friday and Easter Sunday to other people who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. As this wonderful message of the gospel spreads throughout the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada, followers of Jesus are being multiplied and new churches are being planted.

In the end, it’s all about Jesus and his kingdom. Jesus crucified, Jesus buried, Jesus raised from the dead and Jesus’ church. That’s why I do what I do. To God be the glory!

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

- Charles Wesley 1738