Pastor or Doormat?

I love the church. I grew up in the church. I have very fond memories of different churches that my dad pastored over the years. I can still smell the musty basements. I remember the flannel-graph story boards. I remember the “birthday bank”. Did you ever have the birthday bank at your church? On your birthday, you would have to go up front, put money in the “church bank” and you got to pick a pencil or a kazoo out of the box. Then everybody would sing a “christianized” version of happy birthday. I never understood why they made you pay on your birthday? I guess to recoup the money for the pencils and the kazoos? Anyway…as many great memories as I have, I also have some not so good memories of the unhealthy expectations that some of the churches would place on the pastor.

Some churches expect their pastor to do everything. In fact, I just had a conversation with a pastor this week. His church expects him to cut the grass at the church, print the bulletins, clean the church, fold the bulletins, unlock the church doors, lock up after church is over, visit everyone in the hospital, and oh yeah…prepare a good sermon too. Not just on Sunday morning, but Sunday night and Wednesday night too! No wonder many churches are not growing! 

Ephesians 4:12 is my job description. My job is to prepare God’s people for works of service. Nothing more…Nothing less! In my opinion, this job description involves three things…

• Preaching God’s Word
• Equipping & Empowering people for ministry
• Casting Vision

There are many things that I like to do, that I shouldn’t do. That is…unless we don’t want to grow as a church. As a church planter there are many things that you might have to do in the beginning, that you need to work yourself out of as quickly as possible! Things like…set up/tear down, administrative duties, graphic design, planning events, etc…

I appreciate the people in my life that hold me accountable and often ask me…Mike, is that something that you need to do? Isn’t there someone else that can do that?  I’m thankful to serve alongside of people that “get it”!

Attention Church Planters!

If you are a church planter and have planted a church within the past 10 years or you will be launching within the next year listen up, this is for you.

Do you ever feel like you’re in this alone? Do you ever wish you had other church planters to share ideas with? To help you stay focused? To keep you sharp? To honestly speak into your life? I am heading up a Church Planting Network in cooperation with Go2 Church Planting.

The Network will meet monthly and will last for 9 months. For more details and to download the registration information…click here. 

In order to have a healthy dynamic within the network, there will be no more than 14 planters in each Network. We already have several signed up at various stages in the planting process. The deadline to sign up is 8/15 or until we have 14 planters registered.

Email me if you have any questions. After if receive your completed registration form, I’ll call you or email you to discuss the network with you in more detail.

 

Announcement This Sunday

I’ll be making a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT this Sunday in regards to our new meeting location.

To hold you over until then…here is a picture of the auditorium where we will be meeting. This place is awesome. I’m really excited about this new location. God absolutely opened the door for us. I can’t wait to share the story with you on Sunday!

Pssst…Best Leadership Resource Secret Revealed!

If you are a church planter, pastor, ministry leader, or business leader (I guess that means anyone in leadership), I want to share an outstanding leadership resource with you.

Buddy Cremeans, pastor of Northway Church in Upstate NY has launched a new and improved weekly leadership interview with some of the most influential church leaders in the Country.

It’s called Cremeans Couch, and it comes out every Monday. Head on over to Buddy’s blog and check it out. For the next three weeks Buddy sits down with Craig Groeschel, Pastor of Lifechurch.tv and offers some great leadership insight about relying on God and not ourselves.

I am so thankful for leaders like Buddy that pour their energy into providing resources that help God’s kingdom! Make sure to leave a comment on Buddy’s blog, thanking him for launching out with Cremeans Couch!