Is There (Still) a Place for Barnabas?

[NOTE: I've expanded this from the original post that I made earlier today]

Soon after Saul's conversion in Acts 9, many apostles were perhaps confused and fearful that his life change was for real. Barnabas took the risk to take Saul around to the believers and make a case for why he was authentic in his new found faith.

I'm reminded of this passage because I wonder if the role of Barnabas is one that is often overlooked in the starting of new churches. It's been almost ten years since we completed our church planting experience and just over four years since I last served full-time in a church setting. I share that because there may be resources that are available now with which I am unfamiliar that address this topic. But, from my brief research I have not been able to find much that explores the significant role that a "Barnabas" could play. I'm not thinking strictly of a team-based ministry approach - that has been tried, written about, and over-conferenced for a long time. I'm thinking specifically of someone who is well-connected in a community who serves as a person of influence who takes the planter around to introduce him/her to various community leaders to explain away confusion and fear over the new church start.

I'm interested in this topic for a very specific reason: our current church is looking to add a third campus over the next year or so and I am researching some items to pass along. I have no idea what role (if any) we will play in this project, but I want to make use of any insights that I can pass along.

If my memory serves me correctly, when the Crossroads Community Church was planted in Sullivan, IN, in the late 1990s, the planting pastor (Eddie Hammond) had someone from the community who served as a strong support for the initial planting phases. Thank you to Brian for adding after the earlier post:

"Crossroads was launched with two staff people. One was a seasoned pastor, who served as a people magnet. One was a local businessman, who served as the administrator/organizer.I thought the model worked very well. Most Planting Organizations strongly encouraging planting in teams and to find a partner who has strengths where you are weak."

Here are a few questions I am pondering:

1. Is this model (church planter moving to community with established partner) a recurring pattern in church plants?



2. Are there organizations or trainings that address this topic?



3. Are there better biblical examples than Barnabas for this approach?



4. Do you have any thoughts or insights about the whole notion of multi-site church starts (as opposed to straight up church plants)?



5. Are there geographic regions that would be more receptive to this approach than others?



6. Could a person serve as a Barnabas (as I'm desribing him here) and simply be the "#2" in a new church/multi=site ministry and serve this role repeatedly for different planters?

I appreciate any feedback you have.

Exponential Conference 2010

My friend Tom Toner asked me my thoughts on the conference I just attended. I thought it might be worth reposting them here.

Tom,

The conference is refreshing. It gives me time to stop and ponder and listen to thoughtful speakers spur my imagination.

That being said, it was a weird collection in some ways. Several speakers seemed to have attained all they wanted to attain and now hated it. Two examples are Francis Chan and Matt Chandler. Chan has become a very popular speaker and wrote the book Crazy Love. Chandler planted a church with Chris Tomlin as his worship leader so duh, people loved the worship.

They both planted churches, crowds showed up, people loved their churches, and now they want to do something that feels more dangerous and real, like helping poor people. There was a powerful feeling from the organizers (my impression at least) that this was really, really wonderful. And it is... But there is still that feeling of we want to accomplish the success first (lots of people, lots of adoration) and then we will listen to those guys say we should help the poor.

On the other hand, they did have Shane Claiborne speak, who is a Tennessee boy who now lives in a Philadelphia commune in a slum area, who said, "Don't plant churches! Well, ok, plant a church, but live there for 5 years first. And maybe instead of starting a new church, go to a church that is already there." People think that is really cool and admirable, but the church planters at Exponential aren't going to do that. So why did they bring Claiborne in? To challenge our thinking a bit, but not to channel us down that path. To give a shout out to the crazy Jesus lovers, but not to give up the need for a trailer to store all your portable church planting stuff and to hire a payroll company to do all your payroll (these were a few of the sponsors of the event).

It's almost like they (the organizers) have one hand on the golden goal of a big successful church and one on what it would look like for the church to be a dynamic wildfire spread. The breakout speakers all had churches over 1000 in attendance (I didn't check every bio so I could be wrong.) And I'll sinfully admit I want the same thing.

For example, I'm listening to Alan Hirsch say the problem with the Western Church is that it isn't easily reproducible. So he and his partner speaker said, "Here's a model of a reproducing church. It doesn't have services necessarily. But each time a person is baptized, they are an ordained minister. They look for people who are open to God and share the Gospel with them. They share a one page list of what it means to obey Jesus. And they start doing life together. Repeat."

A young man sitting in front of me explained to his friend, "Yeah, and then the theology becomes so messed up as it's passed around without enough explanation and thoroughness. Bad idea."

I suppose that is most of our problems. We each have something we think is essential that won't fit on one page or easily reproduce, and we won't give it up for the good of the Kingdom of God. It's either doctrine or style of music or preaching style or building needs or financial compensation standards or whatever it is. Hirsch says, "Get over all that and let God spread like wildfire."

One breakout I was really excited about was talking about reproducing leaders. I'm under the conviction that this is the single most important thing I am not currently doing and that it would change everything. Scott Hodge (www.scotthodge.org), a young pastor who helped his dad transition an older Assembly of God church in Aurora, IL spoke well on the subject of transition and leadership. He described exactly what I hope to do... except... I asked what size was your church when you started this leadership training. His answer? 600-700. What does that mean for our church of 80-100? He said, "Do it anyway." (Again all the speakers were pastors of huge churches.)

I waited around after the breakout to make a phone call, and a guy named Patrick Grach (www.lifehousechurcheast.org, which may be the coolest site I've ever seen) grabbed me (he's pretty intense though he didn't actually touch me) and told me how he does leadership development and what might work more at our size church. He said to do the same amount of preparation (in other words, prepare as much for this as you do to preach) and then take potential leaders out to breakfast early morning every other week and see how they respond. That was the most helpful thing I heard because he brought it down to my size level (which just happens to be the most common size church in America).

Pastor Brian Miller
The Crossover Church (www.thecrossover.org)
New Life for Haiti (www.newlifeforhaiti.org)
Midwest Church Planting

What will it take?

During Worlld War II Will Rogers was invited to a discussion by the War Department on the danger of submarines. As German U boats were getting closer to our shores the government was trying to come up with some ideas to stop them. Will Rogers asked this question, "Will a submarine stay under water if the water is boiling?" He was told that U boats would not stay under in boiling water. So Will then suggested, "Let's boil the water." He was asked how this could be done and he replied, "I come up with the ideas. You guys will have to figure out how to make them work".

I am not Will Rogers but I have an idea. I will leave it up to you to work it out. Any suggestions will be read and placed in the appropriate file. So here is the idea:

Let's reorganize the CGGC on the basis of Ephesians 4--Apostlles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers. ( I don't think the Granville Sharp Rule applies to this passage so it is pastors and teachers NOT pastor-teachers)

Just a few observations--Given my dispensational background I will have to accept there are modern day Apostles and Prophets (which I am willing to accept). Secondly, we will have to agree on a definition of evangelist that is more in keeping with First century meaning. I would suggest the modern equivalent is closer to church planter than itinerant preacher.

Then we would have to define the role of pastors and teachers. Pastor is a New Testament term but does it refer to a localized/stay in one place office or is there a sense in which pastor and teacher are gifts given to the whole church and there is therefore some itinerant idea? In other words, can the gifts of pastor and teacher be shared between churches.

One more observation, it would seem to me that even if a prophet had a ministry in one church his salary should come from denominational headquaters. It is difficult to be a prophet when your income depends on the giving of a local church.

So that is my idea. How can we boil the water to see if it floats?

Exponential Conference Podcasts

I've started listening to the podcasts under the heading:
Audio recorded prior to the conference

Here are some podcasts and some brief notes.

Dave Ferguson - New Thing Network - Dave talks about how they planted their church. They surveyed non-Christians and tried to give them church the way they wanted it without compromising the Gospel. That of course would hinge hard on your definition of the Gospel. If the Gospel is just grace, just salvation, just "getting saved" then this would be an excellent model. But if the Gospel includes justice and service and humbleness, then it might not be a good model.

Ferguson is a sharp guy and while I don't want to model a church exactly as he does it, it would be a mistake to not listen carefully. He talks about the essentials of coaching, not just the pastor but all church leaders and gives the five questions most used by coaches.

1. How are you doing? (Relational question)
2. What are your current challenges?
3. What are you going to do about it? (Teach them to solve their own problems.)
4. How can I help you?
5. How can I pray for you?

When is the last time somebody asked you those questions?

Ron Sylvia - Purpose Driven Planting - Sylvia is a church planting coach trained by Rick Warren. Sylvia made this comment right off the bat -- "A lot of coaching is just asking questions to get the planter to think through what he needs to do. That isn't what we do. We tell you what to do and hold you to it." That is NOT an exact quote but it is the jist. I do think there is a place for this. In our experience, we've let planters make all of the final decisions and we've watched them set their ministries back by doing so. But at the same time, Sylvia struck me a little too "hard charging."

Ed Stetzer - NewChurches.com - It wasn't that memorable.

Catalyst - Gabe Lyons & Brad Lomenick These two guys plan and oversee the Catalyst conference at Andy Stanley's church. It was interesting about developing a conference.

Dan Smith - Church Planter - Smith is famous for the Baby Got Book video which a lot of people thought was hilarious, and I really didn't. He's planted a church in Cleveland. It wasn't that memorable either, but if I remember, he did talk about being innovative and creative as a key to reaching the culture. Do we over emphasize this? Do we plan just so people won't get bored?

Church Planting Spouses - This is an interview with three young women whose husbands are about to plant. They are nervous and excited. It might have been better if it had a couple of women who had been in it for a while to reflect back.

Mark Batterson - National Community Church - Batterson planted a church in a movie theater. He is big on creative/innovative production. He said they have 40% turnover in their church per year, and that 85% of the people in his church have invited five or more people in the last year, which helps them to maintain their size and even growth. I thought they had some interesting things to say about what they measure.

Mark Driscoll with Ed Stetzer - For me, this was one of the better ones. Driscoll was just real honest about his faults through his time planting a church. I found it very refreshing and helpful.

More Exponential Conference Podcasts

I listened to two more podcast interviews - one with Pastor Bob Roberts and the other with Pastor Andy Stanley. If you are looking for something to engage and challenge you, I would recommend both of these 30 minute interviews. Below are links and some notes. I think I'll listen to both of them again, and make further notes in comments.

Bob Roberts -- A few years ago, I actually felt some prompting from the Holy Spirit to seek this guy out. At the time, I knew nothing about him. And he has become very influential in my thinking.

I'll have to listen again but he said traditionally, we start with the gospel, find a church planter, start a church, and look for people to convert. But Biblically and what they do in the East (think China as opposed to Philadephia) is start with the gospel, find a disciple, engage their domain (work, family, ...), and then they see a conversion within that domain. Then they start churches because they have so many Christians rather than the other way around.

This doubled my desire to emphasize discipleship over anything else.

Andy Stanley - First, I appreciated his honesty about how his church started. (Roberts too. These guys didn't make their church starts sound like the immaculate conception as I've heard other pastors do.)

Stanley talked mostly about systems, though he didn't describe any specific system in their church. If you don't have systems, you can't multiply. I first heard about systems from Steve Ogne at a CMTC Bootcamp. I had not remembered ever hearing anything like that before. The idea of systems sounded too manipulative for my closer to postmodern ears. I didn't want to "funnel" anyone into anything. But after 15 years of experience, systems don't funnel, they give opportunity, and without them, people are confused.

Glenn Smith sat with me at Texas Roadhouse and wrote out on a 'Rate our Restaurant' card three systems that every church must have. I don't have the card in front of me so I may not be using his terminology.

<-------------Prospecting - Inviting Unchurched People --------->
<-------------Assimilating - Finding a place the new person --------->
<-------------Leadership Development --------->

People jump from one system to the next, though not everyone will of course. And churches that have become the most reproductive have learned that their leaders have to come out of the other systems or else they are sterile.

Stanley said his staff read "The Fifth Discipline" early on. Also the E-Myth.

Exponential Conference

I was considering going to this conference, but it didn't work out for me, so I found some podcasts and have been giving them a listen. Some are interesting to me, and some aren't. Here are links to what I've listened to and my notes. If you listen to one, feel free to make some comments.

To download, you should right click, and then click "Save Target As". I rename them to something that makes more sense like "EXP - Greg Hawkins.mp3".

Direct link to mp3's

2008 Podcast Season
Greg Hawkins - Greg Hawkins is the executive pastor of Willow Creek, and he discusses the Reveal Study. Of all that I've listened to, this one intrigued me most (maybe cause I like math and stats) and made me want to buy the book.

Nothing he said was new, but of course, like ancient Israel, we need to be constantly reminded of "The Way."

He said the four key elements of Discipleship are (these are my descriptions of what he said, not his words):
1. A connection to the authority of Scripture
2. A connection to prayer as a skill
3. A connection to community - deeper friendships
4. A connection to a life of service

And rather than great programming, what people want is a way to deepen their connection in one of the four way areas.

He also talked about four levels of discipleship... different people are different places. Sounded like Rick Warren stuff. But also was a good reminder.

They are moving from presenting Willow practices to presenting Best practices.

Dave Ferguson - Dave is the pastor of Community Christian Church in the Chicago area. It is famous for being multi-site.

Dave talked about how multi-site was ok, but poly-site is the future. Although, he did mention that they really aren't doing it yet. Multi-site is one church, same basic format, multiple locations. Poly-site is one church, varying formats and cultural styles and organizational structures.

When asked for examples, he talked about reaching a wealthy gated community.

This may be a little mean, but Ferguson and Hawkins both are basically saying, "We've done some amazing things at our church, but we don't think this is the future. We want to teach you what the future is... and we'll tell you as soon as we figure it out."

Conference audio

Plenary Session 1 with Wayne Cordeiro - I listened to about 5 minutes. Wayne believes you. You can do it. Live the dream. Be the ball. This is the last chapter, and God put you here. Swing for the fence.

Plenary Session 2 with Ed Stetzer - Stetzer starts by interviewing a guy trying to reach the Hip Hop generation. They asked him, "How can we pray for you?" His answer: Write me a check. Stetzer instead prayed that the man would be anointed. It seemed a little odd.

Stetzer than began to give Biblical proof we need to keep the cross at the center of the Gospel. Not that I disagreed, but at Easter, I'm not in need of that reminder. At some point, you have to make a commitment of some sort to Jesus.

I stopped listening at this point.

Plenary Session 3 with Dave Ferguson - You might check my note above -- "We've done some amazing things at our church, but we don't think this is the future. We want to teach you what the future is... and we'll tell you as soon as we figure it out." Dave has no idea what to say. I gave up after they brought out hundreds of live bunnies.

One interesting thing he said as I was shutting him off - "In our small groups, we tell them to treat them like Christians until they figure out they aren't." I don't know if I agree with him, but that is a significant question.


Plenary Session 4 with Bill Hybels - Hybels talks to potential planters. Pretty inspiring. Gives some things to think about if you're going to make this sacrifice.

One thing Hybels mentions about sacrifice is that they sold tomatoes door to door to start their church, and he isn't the least bit ashamed about it. This is something planters have to understand. You must be willing to humble yourself and sacrifice more than you may expect.


The main reason I was interested in going was the Alan Hirsch and Neil Cole are going to be there. But there are no podcasts of these guys here.

We've found a space!

For the last six months we've been on the look-out for meeting space that our church plant, Via Christus, could grow into. When we only had 15-20 gathering we were fine meeting in our living room. But now that we regularly have between 20-35 adults, we are busting the seams our home. We've needed space to grow, but we were unable to find something that was affordable and the right size. In addition, many of the spaces we looked at were far too institutional, or would require thousands of dollars in renovation to be usable for church services. We've been praying desperately that God would provide space for us at the right time.

That's why I'm so excited to say that we've finally found and confirmed a space that we can meet in and grow into! If you want to know more about it, I've posted about it over at my blog.