Ephesians 3:20 - Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

1 Corinthians 2:9 – However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”–

What an amazing thought! Whatever we ask for or even think of, God can do more! It is easy to think of God doing more than what we ask for, but more than we think? Are we often times dreaming too small? I believe that God is waiting for us to ask for and think larger than we ever have.

He is waiting for us to break the box that surrounds our thinking, and believe for the greater things He has for us. Often times we under-ask God when we go to Him in prayer. Don’t under-ask; think and ask BIG!

God wants more for you and I than we think we want for ourselves.

I am a big fan of helping people become all that God wants them to be. One of those ways is to help people grow their relationship with God in a deeper way.

Over the last several years I have been exposed to different ways of helping with my own personal spiritual growth. I feel that having a plan in life is key; if you don’t know where you are going (plan), you won’t know when you get there (goal). That is why I see the benefit of having some sort of spiritual growth plan. Now, I have to say that everyone is different, so you may not like the ideas that I have and that is OK. The reality is that you and I need to have a plan of how we are going to be different and how our relationship with God will be better a year from now.

Since we are coming to an end of a year and many people take on some new year resolutions, I think that developing a plan of how you will grow yourself spiritually should be one of them. Below are 2 ways that I have developed my plans over the years. Feel free to adapt or borrow any of them. None of them are my original ideas.

#1. Develop a Spiritual Growth Plan – This plan is a written (a must for any plan) that encompasses the following categories:

• Spiritual
• Relational
• Physical
• Personal

Each one of these areas are written down and then a plan on how you would like to grow in the next year. For example: Relational – I want to get to know my wife on a deeper level this year. (This is your goal) – To do this I want to set aside 1 day each week to spend as date night with her (This is your plan). You would do this for each of the areas.

#2.  Develop 3 Goal Words – This is a smaller task, but effective as well. Here is a link to last years blog post on my 3 goal words. This is simply boiling down what you would like to see happen this year into a small concise manner.

Whatever your plan works out to be, I would encourage you to have a plan. You will have something that you can look back on and to benchmark your growth.

Recently I have been challenged by the Holy Spirit to think about my priorities. I was challenged to think about how much time I am spending really digging into His word compared to leisure reading. Here is what I came away with:

1. A good book, no matter the content, should take the place of His Word. – Being a church planter has led me to some great resources. Now don’t get me wrong, I think we should always read something that will challenge us and teach us something new. But reading “Christian” material in lieu of His Word should never happen.
2. Personal reading time (reading that happens to grow our knowledge) should not have a higher priority that reading God’s Word. – We all have to read something beyond God’s Word, but if we are spending 1-2 hours reading something and then 15-30 minutes reading God’s word for our “devotion” time, something is wrong.  This is something that God really convicted me of. I was spending an hour reading for personal growth and 30 minutes in my devotional time with God.

By no means am I saying that you have to read a certain amount of time, but just a challenge to say “look at your priorities”.

This week at Relevant Church we will be talking about simplifying our lives in the midst of our chaos. If you are in the Charlotte NC area, come and check us out!

This is part 5 of my top 5 church planting lessons. This one is all too real to me. I have had to learn this lesson the hard way. Our vision for Relevant Church came to us over 5 years ago and we are now on the starting line of our launch.

The greatest thing that I have learned is that God will do things in His time, not mine. This does not only apply to church planting, but to everything in our lives. I had to release my time table to Him and allow God to work the process. This was not an easy thing to do since I like to be the one driving, but what I have come to learn is that when He is driving, I always get to where I need to be.

Are you waiting for something? Does it feel like God is taking His sweet old time? Just know that God is never late and never early, He is always right on time.

Over the last year and a half that we have been in the process of planting Relevant Church, I have understood that it takes stepping out and taking risks. By nature I am not a risk taker. I like to calculate the costs and make sure everything is in place. But sometimes God calls us to step out and take a risk for Him. Understand that the risk is not something that will harm us, but stretch us in our faith.

I have seen this in our dealing with the financial piece of planting this church. We have had to take risks and purchase items that were necessary only to see God provide something on the other side. A risk may also be bringing in a leader that may not be real proven, but someone you feel God has called to do the work.

All risk taking should be giant leaps of faith. Don’t step out in your own thinking and take a risk, step out in the calling of God and take a step of faith. It may stretch you, but that is what God is in the business of doing with us.

Here is the third part of a top 5 list of lessons I have learned planting a church. For those that need a review…

#1. Church planting takes a calling.

#2 Church planting takes time.

#3  – Church planting takes God.

Now I know that most of you might think “well, isn’t that obvious?” But the reality of it is, God must be at every turn you make. I have seen this at work in the last few months especially. God has to be in the big things as well as the small things. I have often seen myself focusing on the tasks that need to be done and pulling God in on the big stuff. The one lesson that I take away from this is that God cares so much about the vision He has given me, that He wants to be involved in the smallest details of the work. To be truthful, it is His plan and we are the workers He has chosen to complete it. So the plans and details all come from Him anyway.

Don’t lose sight of the “plan maker”.

Yesterday, I started my post on the top 5 things that I have learned planting Relevant Church.

Let’s review..

#1. – Church planting takes a calling.

And now #2 – Church planting takes time!

Now I know, everything takes time. But what I have learned is that planting a church takes an extraordinary amount of time. As a lead pastor your time is spent casting vision (the fun part), designing budgets, raising funds, recruiting a team, and the list continues. What I have learned is that if I don’t prioritize my time, then the things that suffer are usually my family and walk with God. Too many times have I found myself replacing the “being” with the “doing”. As a church planter it is vital that my walk with God stays the priority. The reality is, there is stuff that needs to get done. Learn to prioritize and delegate. The key to longevity.

Over the next several days I am going to post my top 5 things that I have learned as I have been on the journey of planting Relevant Church. Now let me say that this is not in any particular order, nor is it an all encompassing list. There has been a ton of things that I have learned along the way, and there is a ton that I still need to learn. So, for the first installment…

#1. – Church planting takes a calling.

Not everyone is called to be a church planter. 6 years ago I would have said that I was not one of them. Hearing the call from God, we pursued the calling. Along the way there have been detours, bumps, and distractions that have caused us to go back to the calling that God gave to us. Knowing that we were called and given an assignment, gave us the foundation and the faith to keep moving forward. I really believe that if you are called to plant a church, God will give you the strength to go through anything. Know this, church planting is not for the faint of heart. It is hard, grueling, stressful, but very exciting and rewarding.

Stay tuned for the rest of the list.

I just started a new book and study entitled “Lead Like Jesus” you can check out the study here. As a pastor I know that one of the most important things is to love the people. Jesus gives us a great example in the life that He led on earth. He was the forerunner and model for servant leadership.

Matthew 20:25-28Matthew 20:25-28 ()Close

states that Jesus came into this world to serve and not to be served. What a powerful statement!

How are you being a servant in the areas that you lead?

What will you do today to model your leadership style after Jesus?

Craig Groeschel from Lifechurch.tv posted this blog about small groups. I am a firm believer in doing small groups in a church and this post is a great reminder on what not to do.

Tons of churches have attempted small groups only to abort shortly after takeoff. I’ll share the top 10 ways to ensure the failure of your group.

Today we’ll cover the first 5 and finish the others tomorrow.

1. Make sure the senior pastor isn’t in a group. If small groups aren’t modeled by the pastor, they won’t have much of a chance for success. (Amy and I host two small groups in our home.)
2. Make sure the senior pastor doesn’t talk about small groups. If small groups don’t ever find their way into a sermon, it will help reduce the likelihood of success.
3. Make sure small groups are not staffed or resourced properly. To guarantee your groups fail, don’t staff them, buy them curriculum, announce them, or get your best volunteers involved.
4. Make sure small group leaders aren’t trained. When you do get some small group leaders, don’t train them. Let them figure it out on their own.
5. Make sure the church doesn’t address childcare needs. Pretend like all small groups don’t have any child care needs. Don’t open the church one or two nights a week to provide child care. Don’t pay for childcare like I’ve heard North Point does. Ignore childcare needs completely.

Have you seen churches that are handling these issues effectively? If so, how?