Ron Edmondson » Church Planting

3 Ways To Remove The Pain From Preparing A Weekly Sermon

Ron Edmondson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:00:33 +0000

This is a guest post by my friend Casey Graham. Casey is one of the most innovative church leaders I know. He is passionate about Kingdom building and helping those who desire to Kingdom build. I haven’t seen any project of Casey’s yet I can’t support.

Here’s a word from Casey about a new project to help pastors:

After talking to hundreds of preachers, we’ve found most preachers love preaching, but the grind of preparation can often become a pain. Here are three things we’ve seen.

Here are 3 Ways To Remove The Pain From Preparing A Weekly Sermon:

1. Great preaching comes from a great preparation system. Perry Noble doesn’t prepare in a vacuum. He has a team at NewSpring Church that helps him prepare. Perry will talk about how this works at the PreachBetterSermons.com FREE online event on March 15th.

2. A Preparation day is better than feeling like you have to prepare all the time. Andy Stanley sets aside every Wednesday to prepare messages, and his team helps him keep this time guarded. While Andy is gifted, his commitment to preparation helps make his messages memorable. Andy will talk about the structure of his preparation day on the Preach Better Sermons online event.

3. Developing a sermon planning system takes the pain out of preparation. There are things you can do on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis that will dramatically improve your preparation time and help you deliver better messages. Helping you put something like this into place will be a part of the free online event.

Make a commitment to be a better preacher. Sign up for the free online conference. Here are the details.

Date: March 15, 2012
Time: 1pm – 4pm EST
Speakers: Andy Stanley, Perry Noble, Louie Giglio, Dr. Charles Stanley, Vanable Moody, Jeff Foxworthy. The event is being hosted by Jeff Henderson.
Registration: Free sign up at preachbettersermons.com

Are you there? I am. Thanks Casey!

5 Steps to Discern if God is Changing a Ministry Assignment

Ron Edmondson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:50:45 +0000

How do you know when God is stirring your heart for a change in ministry assignment?

I work with pastors every week who are asking this question. I previously posted my answer to this question, but after several conversations recently I thought it was time for a revision to strengthen some of the points based on what I’m currently learning and observing. This can be one of the most grueling decisions a Christian leader makes. Because most of us feel we are in positions God has called us to do, it is often more difficult to leave one called position for another called position.

Several times in my ministry, first as a layperson and since then in vocational ministry, God has called me to leave one ministry and begin another. It can be a scary place to face the unknown, yet know that God is up to something new in your life. In sharing my experience, I am hoping it can help others process through what God may be doing in their life. Please realize that God uses unequaled experiences in each of our lives, but at the same time there are some common patterns I think each of us may experience, while the details remain unique.

Here are 5 steps I have experienced as God has led me to something new:

Wonderful sweet success – Each time the door of a new opportunity opened it began opening (looking back) when things were going well in my current ministry.

Inner struggle – I usually have not been able to understand what God is up to, but there is something in me (and usually in my wife at the same time) where I know God is doing something new. It could be a growing dissatisfaction, consistent unexplained frustrations, or just an uneasiness where I am currently. While I do not know what it is, and often not even if it involves a change in my place of ministry, I know God is working something new in my heart.

Closeness to Christ – Brennan Manning calls it a Dangerous love of Christ. During the times leading up to a change of ministry assignment I will be growing in my relationship with Christ, usually in new depths of trust and abandonment. Again, looking back I can see this clearly, but at the time I usually am just enjoying the closeness to Christ not expecting anything.

Opportunity presents itself – An opportunity seems to come from nowhere. In some seasons there has been multiple opportunities at the same time. Reflecting back, I can see this is the pattern that has occurred each time. It is only after these first three experiences that God brings a new opportunity my way. This is probably because my spirit must be totally aligned with His Spirit in order for me to trust the new work He calls me to, because I have yet to feel completely “ready” for the next step in my journey with Christ. New steps of obedience always involve a leap of faith on my part. I’m always stretched in my trust beyond where I’ve been previously, but this process prepares me to be ready to say “Yes Lord…Here am I…send me.”

I surrendered to God’s call – After I receive confirmation in my spirit, review the journey God has had us on, and Cheryl and I agree where God is leading, I have yet to refuse the next assignment. That does not mean it is easy for us to leave our current ministry, but it has always been most rewarding to know we are in the center of God’s will for our life.

A special word to the spouse: Cheryl has never been “ready” to leave friends in our current ministry, but she has always lined with me in knowing God was calling us to a new work in our life. Cheryl has always had the same Spirit’s leading that I am having, often before me. God has never allowed us to be confused with differing messages. That’s part of our confirmation.

Discerning a change in ministry assignment can be a difficult task, especially when you are comfortable where you are currently. Perhaps my experiences can help.

Have you shared these experiences? What other experiences have you had that have led you to step out by faith into a new adventure with Christ?

Depending on your circumstances, you may want to read my post “When a Leader Gets Too Comfortable” or “10 Scenarios to Know It’s Time to Quit“.

SPECIAL NOTE to the people of Grace Community Church: I didn’t write this post for me. I use this blog to minister to other pastors and ministers and that is who I am addressing with this post. As of now, I am where I am supposed to be at Grace. It is important to always remember, however, that I do not work for Grace Community Church. I work for a person and His name is Jesus Christ. I keep thanking Him daily for allowing me to be a part of the work He is doing at Grace for such a time as this.

Residency in Ministry at Grace Community Church

Ron Edmondson — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:45:43 +0000

Grace Community Church has been looking for a way to raise up and develop future leaders. We wanted something that gave people real hands-on ministry experience and also helped them grow theologically . We believe in seminary education, but we also see the value in practical experience.

We are excited to introduce our Residency in Ministry Program

Similar to a medical residency, we view this as a post-college “residency” where those in the program will be doing real ministry alongside pastors who are a little further down the road. They’ll be entrusted not with making copies (though, as we all know, that is a small slice of ministry, too) but with life-changing ministry. They’ll be viewed as full-on staff members, and held to the expectations of the rest of our staff team.

In addition to doing the work of ministry, one major benefit of the program is that seminary tuition will be included. Clarksville is 45 minutes from the new Nashville campus of Southern Seminary. We’ve already had staff members who have worked full-time at Grace and attended classes concurrently. We believe that this is a great way to learn and do ministry: in the classroom and in the “lab.”

We’re receiving applications now, looking to have residents in place by August, 2012.

If you’re interested, just click HERE and start the application process. If you know someone who would fit the bill, send this info along. If you have any questions, we’ve tried to answer the most frequently asked HERE.

We’re excited about this program and are convinced it will be a great benefit to a number of young leaders.

If you were at the right stage in life, would this program entice you?

7 Ways Satan Tries to Destroy a Church

Ron Edmondson — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:10:29 +0000

Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 1 Peter 5:8

I’m not a pastor who is constantly looking for Satan behind everything that goes wrong. I concentrate my attention on Jesus and encouraging others to follow Jesus and not to focus on the defeated one. Yet, I’m fully aware that Satan loves to destroy…or attempt to destroy…a church. Obviously Satan is a limited being and God’s church is secure. The gates of hell shall never overcome what God started, but Satan certainly loves to disrupt what God’s church is doing.

Here are 7 way Satan tries to destroy a church:

Church conflict – Satan loves business meetings that get out of hand or when two church members have disagreements outside of church. He loves when church members argue about trivial things, such as colors of the carpet or big things, such as whether to add another service. Doesn’t matter to him. Show him a good argument potential and he’s willing to stir the fire.

Burnout – Satan loves to burn out a church volunteer, staff member, or pastor. If he can make them feel they are no longer needed, their work is not appreciated, or that they no longer have anything to offer…he feels he’s winning part of the battle.

Rumors – Satan is the stirrer of dissension. He likes to plant little seeds of a juicy story, about someone in the church or community…sometimes even the pastor or staff…and watch them quickly spread through a church congregation or community. The version, of course, usually grows to a larger portion than reality. Satan likes that too.

Busyness – Satan loves to distract church goers with a plethora of activity that produces little results in Kingdom-building.

Lies – Satan attempts to interject what he calls a “half-truth”; just a hint of false doctrine and then watch it disrupt or divide a body. Of course, we all know that half-truth is really just a cleaned up version of a bold face lie, but Satan is clever enough to disguise a lie in a way where false teachers gain entry and do damage before being discovered.

Scandal – Satan loves a good, juicy, gossipy news headline in the local paper. If it will split, divide or destroy a church body…even better. If it will destroy someone’s Kingdom calling or work…he’ll take that too.

Marriage and family disruptions – Satan loves to destroy any relationship, but he also goes after key leader’s marriages; even the pastor’s marriage. He likes to encourage prodigal children. He wants to cause families to fight within the church and fight with the church. Satan knows if he can destroy a home, he has a better chance of destroying a church.

Thankfully, there is good news:

You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

What other ways have you seen Satan try to destroy a church?

Dreams, Goals and Plans

Ron Edmondson — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 13:36:37 +0000

Dream

Far reaching, seemingly impossible, worthwhile, dependent on faith and huge personal risk, with no guarantee of success.

Goals

Defined aspects of realizing the dream. Attainable, stretching and measurable.

Plans

Action steps written to systematically complete goals. Assigned, scheduled and accountable.

It won’t be easy, there may be moments of despair, disappointments and setbacks along the way…you’ll need to learn prayer and patience like never before…but sometimes breaking down the terms makes the path seem clearer. Perhaps that dream is possible after all.

What’s the dream God is birthing in your heart?

You may now want to read 7 Steps to Achieving Your Goals or 7 Reasons You May not be Achieving Your Goals.

One sign you’re doing effective work…

Ron Edmondson — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:35:44 +0000

People oppose you!

“But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door of effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.” 1 Corinthians 16:8-9

Few people worry about the people doing nothing.

Have you noticed the more you do for good the more opposition you receive?

10 Random Thoughts about Following God

Ron Edmondson — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:19:55 +0000

For the last 25 years or so, I’ve attempted to listen to, obey and follow the voice of God. It’s been a long road, and I’m still a pilgrim in the process, but I’ve learned a few things.

Based totally on my personal experience…

Here are 10 random thoughts on following God:

I’ve never been able to see very far down the road.
Sometimes I get a clear vision of a big goal God has for me, but I usually have no clue at the time how to get there.
The road to following God has never seemed to be easily paved. (This requires faith.)
There are often several options available of “how” to proceed towards what God is calling me.
I am often tempted to quit.
God doesn’t give up…people do.
The greatest obstacles, all of which God can overcome, are usually other people, resources and the battle within my own mind.
Satan is the great disrupter.
The more I know God and the closer our relationship, the clearer I hear His voice.
God calls people to impossible tasks.

Have you had similar experiences? I’d love to learn from and be encouraged by you.

What have you learned or experience about following God?

7 Things I Wouldn’t Do Again if Planting Another Church

Ron Edmondson — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 11:50:47 +0000

I’m a church planter. I love the process of planting. I love the energy and the enthusiasm a new church brings to a community.

Now in my second church plant, I’ve learned a few things. Some of the things I’ve learned are things I wouldn’t do again if were were planting another church.

Here are 7 things I wouldn’t do again if planting a church:

Limit God’s vision – We started as a church to reach one section of town. Now we are in two locations, reaching two entirely different segments of our community. God has continued to refine and shape our path as a church.

Fail to challenge people to grow in their walk with Christ – I don’t know that I shied away from this; it certainly was my heart and our vision, but in the early days, I was very conscious of reaching the lost, so I may not have been as bold as I wish I had been in saying what needed to be said. I wrote more about this HERE.

Shy away from money talk – So many people think all a church does is talk about money. We avoided this stigma from day one. In the process, we neglected to develop our core givers, we put ministries on hold we should be pursuing, and we robbed people of the opportunity to become generous givers and consequently to feel the reward of trusting God completely.

Resist leaders from other churches – We wanted to plant a church for non-believers, but we needed leadership to do that. When leaders from other churches came, however, we were hesitant to plug them in for fear we’d be seen negatively by other churches. In the process, we missed out on quality leadership and we denied people the right to follow their heart.

Expect everyone to be as excited a few years in – The fact is, life changes. Some are starters and some are finishers. Some of the original people grew bored with things as they were. They had a great impact in our beginning, but sought opportunities elsewhere in later years…and that’s okay.

Assume everyone is “happy” – I love what God is doing. I love watching lives change. God is doing something amazing among us. Some people just don’t get that excited. It’s not that they don’t care or love our church, they just haven’t received the same call on their lives I have.

Wait long to reproduce – We were 5 years old when we launched our second campus. I see churches do this in their second full year. There are so many in our city who need hope. Taking a risk on my own comes easy. Sometimes I’m too careful when representing God…as if He can’t handle something so large. When God leads, I want to move.

And the bonus…very practical one…

Wait too long to hire a business administrator – With a background in business I was a natural to do this, but I hated it and didn’t do it as well as it could be done. If a church is 400 or 500 hundred in attendance this becomes a full-time job. We were running well over 1,000 before we hired someone to do this and it crippled me in leadership. (Thanks Dennis for making my life better!)

WANT MORE? I wrote similar thoughts about what I’ve learned as a church planter in THIS POST. I also wrote a shorter post on what I would and wouldn’t do in a church plant HERE. Finally, HERE is a post on planting in a new community.

Have you ever been part of a church plant? Anything you could share with us?

Helping Church Leaders Fund Their Vision

Ron Edmondson — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:03:41 +0000

You may have seen the news recently that Joe Sangl has acquired the stewardship company Injoy Stewardship Solutions (ISS) – the company founded by Dr. John C. Maxwell. For the past five years, Joe has focused on helping equip people to become personally financially free through his I Was Broke. Now I’m Not. ministry. Joe is a great friend and I’m excited to support him in his new venture. I believe in his heart and ability to help the church. He is a Kingdom-builder.

Joe and his team is passionate about helping church leaders fund their vision and equipping church attenders to win with their money God’s way. Recently, the Injoy team released a free e-report titled “5 Mistakes That Will Kill Your Church Fund Raising.”

Here is an excerpt from that free report:

#1 – Making It All About The Money

THE ISSUE

One big mistake that many churches make when raising money is to make it all about the money. Something has gone terribly wrong if the entire conversation becomes all about how much money is going to be raised and the topic consumes the vast majority of the conversation amongst church leadership and members. When this happens, people are more likely to feel manipulated and guilted into giving. This violates II Corinthians 9:7 (NIV) – “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

THE SOLUTION

Focus on the major initiative as a spiritual journey. Whenever God has called people to take huge steps of faith, it always resulted in spiritual growth when people actually took those steps. Imagine the spiritual growth that Joshua and the Israelites experienced as they crossed the Jordan River in the middle of flood season, and they walked across on dry land!

Instead of focusing just on the amount of money that needs to be raised for this next step, focus people on what this next step will allow your church to accomplish and the life change that will result from their faithful, generous, and sacrificial giving.

Obtain the entire e-report by filling out the form below. It literally takes five minutes to read it, and it could substantially impact the next major phase of ministry that your church embarks on.

Javascript Snippet (recommended):

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My “Favorite” Questions as a Church Plant

Ron Edmondson — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 11:00:18 +0000

I don’t know if we are still considered a church plant at 6 years into this, but we still get some of the same questions today as when we started.

Here are my “favorite” questions as a church plant:

“When are you going to build a church?” – Well, that’s what we are doing now. (Oh, you mean a building…but, of course, you’d also agree the church is not the building…right? )

“Are you going to keep doing this?” – For whatever reason, it seems that some believe a church plant is temporary. (Until a “real church” comes along I guess )

“What’s your other job?” – I realize all pastors get this one, but many plants start with bi-vocational pastors. Not all do though and sometimes this IS our job. Trust me, there’s plenty to do.

“When you get a building will you quit having small groups?” – This usually comes from someone who is accustomed to Sunday school, but it’s funny their tradition leads them to believe that a lack of space would be our only reason to do church this way. (Meeting in homes during the week…that’s so first century )

“How did this thing get started?” - Many times this is an innocent question. I’ve learned, however, mostly because of follow up questions, that sometimes this is a question looking for some inside scoop, a scandal of sorts, a church split…that kind of thing. There’s almost an expectation that a “story” exists with any church plant. In my experience, and in our personal experience, a church plant is far more about what God is calling someone to, not about what someone is running from.

Have you been part of a church plant? What type questions do you receive the most?