Category: Church Planting
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Linkage: What worked and what didn’t
I love learning from what others are doing. Here’s a list from Chris Elrod about what worked and didn’t at Compass Point in 2007… I’m beginning to realize just how different Compass Point is from other churches around Lakeland and the United States. What works everywhere else usually bombs here. 2007 was Compass Point’s third…
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Coffee Recon
Being a guy interested in church planting, if I’m near a church I’ve heard about, I have to visit and see what they’re up to. We had the chance to visit National Community Church’s service at Union Station and their coffee house this weekend. I’m a huge fan of NCC’s coffee shop/meeting space/office space approach…
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Challenged by action
I’m glad I am taking the time to go through seminary. It’s a chance to ask the big “God questions” before someone else asks me. It gives me the time and tools to consider what I really believe. It gives me a background and perspective on the Bible that enriches my ability to follow God…
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Study finds that most young non-Christians don’t like Christianity
LA Times: Christianity’s image taking a turn for the worse Christianity’s image in the United States is declining, especially among young people, according to a new study. A decade ago, an overwhelming majority of non-Christians, including people between the ages 16 and 29, were “favorably” disposed toward Christianity’s role in society. But today, just 16%…
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Throw a party!
glocalnet t-lounge: Throw More Parties!: “One of the best pieces of advice that I received early on was simply put, ‘Throw more Parties.’ Church planting really comes down to meeting people and connecting those people to one another. They may connect with you early on but if they don’t connect with one another they will…
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A power trifecta of amazing posts!
Every once in a while you need an over-the-top title, don’t you? But seriously, there are three bloggers who have has some amazing posts recently. And in my goodness, I’m going to point you right to them. First, recording artist extraordinarre Shaun Groves tells a story in three parts (one, two, and three) you’ve got…
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A network church – diversity and unity
When Grete and I fly into LAX from a trip, we typically take the Metro train back to Pasadena. Although it’s a much longer trip than taking a car, I love the experience. The crowd riding the Metro is incredibly diverse. You have high schoolers hopping on and riding one stop down together, men and…
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Learn from people with different perspectives
Maybe it’s not right to “rate” churches. Maybe it seems consumeristic. Maybe one visit to a service can’t get the feel of a community. But what if a view from the outside, from an atheist, shed some light on a few of your blind spots? What if it caused a little conversation? What if it…
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Do two things well
In one way of looking at it, church exists for two things: a message – to tell the world of God’s love. To share they have a way, a hope. a movement – to be the incarnation of that love in the world. Here and now. An exciting thing has happened over the past…
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My next steps (part four)
Here’s my final “next step” thought from the class I took with Alan. I’ll process more of the ideas from the class later, but these are simply a few of the things I need to apply from the time personally. As with any classroom environment, it’s easy to get stuck in the theory and never…
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My next steps (part three)
The third post in my series of next steps I’m taking after a class with Alan Hirsch. Read the first two here and here. Gospels – Most of the communities we talked about centered most of their learning around the Gospels. We get most of what we know about God from Jesus, so we need…
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My next steps (part two)
Continuing from the last post, here’s another next step I’m taking after finishing up The Forgotten Ways. Practices – The Western church is all about knowledge. If we KNOW enough, we’ll start DOING the right things, right? It hasn’t really worked, has it? I love how some churches we discussed have embraced practices instead of…
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My next steps (part one)
So I haven’t blogged much about The Forgotten Ways since last Monday’s class. The week flew by! But I will be writing more about some pieces soon. We finished with the classroom portion last Friday. I’ll just say it was a powerful week – listening to Alan, processing the ideas, hearing other people’s stories and…
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More traffic?
(This post originally ran here in May of last year. It’s re-running because it fits with some of the recent conversation. Consider it a “Best of.”) Check out these excerpts from Seth’s Blog: “So, here’s your choice: You can have a billboard in Times Square (seen by 2 million people a day), or you can…
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This week – a look at how we ‘do’ church
I’m taking a one-week intensive with Alan Hirsch here at Fuller. I thought a class meeting from 8:30 – 4:30 would be overwhelming and tiring, but I’m loving it! My biggest challenge is thinking critically enough to push back and engage well in conversation, because I honestly agree with most, if not all of what…
Jon Sampson 