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Church Planting

sunday nights revisited

By Church Planting
Tonight I worshiped at Restoration Community Church near Denver University.  Restoration is a new church that is doing a fantastic job of reaching the neighborhood around DU.  As I looked around the crowd, it reminded me of those who attended our church plant (LifePoint!) in San Diego -- young people in their 20's and 30's. There is another church here in Denver, Pathways, that runs over 2,000 on weekends.  That includes two (2) Sunday night services. In San Diego, Flood Church holds two Sunday night services (they dropped two when they added two Sunday morning services). And I'm sure there are others who are using Sunday nights very effectively to reach people in their 20's and 30's. Tonight made me think: do we (the church) need to rethink Sunday nights if we are going to reach today's younger generation? Many of our churches dropped Sunday nights because attendance was poor…
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old buildings, new mission

By Church Planting
Restoration Community Church in Denver is a new church that meets in an old church building.  I don't mean that in a derogatory way; it's just true. RCC has remodeled, painted, and made several improvements to the building.  It's a very nice sacred space. The former church had declined and instead of shutting down and selling off the property, they made it available to Restoration. Across Denver there are many old church buildings in need of a new mission.  I often drive north on Broadway from Highlands Ranch to the Goodwill on Broadway and Ellsworth, about 12-15 miles.  Along the way I'll pass several church buildings (not to mention those that are on the streets just off Broadway).  The street could just as easily be Colfax or Alameda or University or Downing or Evans or Hampden.  There are church buildings everywhere. What if we could get people interested in working…
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networking for the good of all

By Church Planting
Yesterday I attended an area-wide gathering of a new grassroots network called "Breakthrough Leaders Network."  Their purpose is simple: how do we best stimulate the creation of new churches in Denver?  Depending on the part of Denver you might live in, only 5-10% of the population attends a church of any kind. When I first had coffee with Joe Beckler, BLN founder, I was impressed with his passion for helping all churches reach more people.  While the focus is on starting new churches, BLN offers principles all churches can benefit from. One aspect of BLN that I appreciate most is the diversity of people at their monthly coaching forum and quarterly gatherings.  Yesterday we had pastors from the Southern Baptist Convention, Independent Christian Churches, Disciples of Christ, Converge, Evangelical Free, Assemblies of God, and several others. At the coaching forums, you will find suburban pastors alongside urban pastors, black pastors…
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the difference a dollar makes

By Church Planting
I spent last night representing Church Planters of the Rockies at Valley View Christian Church's missions fair.  There were about 15 of us there ... ranging from a Bible translater in Africa to Camp Como to guys like me. Scott Bloyer was also there.  Scott is the lead pastor at Elevation Christian Church in Aurora, a church plant that started on October 10, 2010, and is doing really well.  Last year alone, they baptized over 60 people!  In December they moved to a larger school that would give them a greater potential for growth.  In less than two years they are averaging nearly 200 people a weekend.  In a few months they will be launching a video campus inside two of Colorado's prisons.  Did I mention things are going really well? They have done all of this with a barebones budget for marketing. Typical of a new church, they started…
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why start-ups fail

By Church Planting
David Feinleib has started five companies and works as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.  His book, "Why Startups Fail: And How Yours Can Succeed", offers good advice to anyone starting a business -- or a new church.  He has thirteen principles; I'll share just a few and direct my comments towards church planting.  (To read a good summary of all thirteen, click here). There's no place for your product.  On the one hand, there are few places in the United States that have too many churches.  We'll agree to that.  But what if you're answering questions no one (at least the non-believer) is asking?  What if your style of worship doesn't fit your neighborhood?  Then ... there's no place for your product. Your product stinks (OK, he said sucks).  This is not about performance or perfection; it is about doing the best you can with what you have.  In…
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