Click through to the Resurgence if you can't see the video.

At the recent Acts 29 AMBITION conference at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY, I had the opportunity to sit down with Matt Chandler and talk about a number of topics.

In part two of our conversation, we discuss celebrity, diversity, burnout and the “one thing” he would tell church planters. As you would expect, Chandler does not disappoint.

Listen, learn, and link, tweet, facebook, blog…whatever. Help us get this great content out there to as many folks as we can. Don’t forget, there are 15+ more great interviews with church planters and movement leaders coming soon, including Dave Harvey, Ed Stetzer, and Darrin Patrick. I am humbled to have been entrusted with this amazing content.

Click here to watch Part 1 of this interview.

For more from Dustin Neeley, check out his ministry Church Planting for the Rest of Us.

Re:Train

We are launching The Resurgence Training Center (Re:Train) to prepare leaders for ministry locally and around the world. Additional details and downloadable application form here.

At the recent AMBITION conference in Louisville, I had the opportunity to sit down with Matt Chandler and talk about a number of topics. In part one of our conversation, we discuss success in church planting, preaching, and leadership. As you would expect, Chandler does not disappoint. Listen, learn, and link, tweet, facebook, blog…whatever. Help us get this great content out there to as many folks as we can. There's more coming from this interview, so stay tuned.

In addition to pastoring Crossing Church and writing for the Resurgence, Dustin is also the founder of "Church Planting for the Rest of Us," a ministry aimed at encouraging and equipping small and medium-sized church planters and pastors. For more information, please visit www.cp4us.org.

Resurgence Literature

Re:Lit is a ministry of Resurgence. There you will find a growing line of books to help guide the resurgence of the new reformed. Find out more.

5 Hard Truths for Planters series: Click | View Series

Emergency Room

Christmas Day of 2006 I received an odd present—I went to the emergency room.

My sweet wife sat quietly and pensively in the corner, while my two kids crawled around on the ER floor. Doctors and nurses poked me like a pin-cushion while they performed a battery of bloodwork and tests. They thought it was my gall bladder in revolt. The pain continued for days.

A week later I was sent to get an ultrasound. This made me feel more like a pregnant woman than the bullet-proof church planter I thought I was.

When the dust settled, the ailment was not my gall bladder. It was stress.

Stress Kills

Stress kills many marriages, ministries, and the men who lead them; and it was on its way to killing me. And if you don't kill it, it will eventually kill you. WebMD says that 75–90 percent of all doctor's office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints. Deadly stress is an all-too-real reality for the typical church planter.

4 Steps to Kill Your Stress

Kill your stress before it kills you. Here are four ways:

1. Live your Bible.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matthew 6:33-34).

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).

"Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases" (Psalm 115:3).

We believe these Scriptures. We teach these Scriptures. But do we live these Scriptures? The reality is that most of us don't.

In seasons of stress, meditate specifically on passages that remind you of the truth and not your perceived reality. Look for the sins behind the sin for why you can't relax—sins like control, unbelief, or your worth rooted in your identity as a church planter. As you see the discrepancy between what you believe and how you live, confess, repent and pray for God's help.

Make it your goal to live the goodness of the gospel and not just believe it.

2. Listen to your body.

You know that burning in your chest at the top of your stomach? That's not supposed to be there! That, and other symptoms, are the “God-installed” ways your body has of telling you to slow down and trust him. Listen to your body’s signs, and let them be a reminder to trust him with your life, family, and church. You don't want somebody else raising your kids. If your body is telling you to slow down, do it.

3. Listen to your wife and kids.

If you are married, your spouse is likely your best ally in your ongoing battle with stress. Chances are, she and the kids (if you have them), are going to be who God uses to make you laugh, go to bed, and take a day off. Don't ignore them! If she thinks you are stressed, you probably are, even if you don't. If your kids make comments about why daddy is so tired or mad, listen to them and make changes.

4. Learn your limits.

Pastor Wayne Cordeiro has a great principle called "The Plate." Every leader has a certain-sized plate based on their skills, gifts, life season, health, etc. Not all our plates are the same size, and that is the way God designed it. Trust that God made you who you are to do what you can do and leave it at that. Realize that a lot of your stress comes from the fact that you have a salad plate stacked with a buffet plate's amount of food. Repent. Resize. Repeat.

To be continued.

Re:Sound

The musical arm of the Resurgence offers music that is theologically unified, stylistically diverse, and musically excellent. Find out more.

From the free e-book Grow: Reproducing Through Organic Discipleship.

Empower People to Serve

One way to help people connect with Christ-centered community is by empowering people with the gospel to serve God and others. Serving is one of the greatest things that Christians can do as disciples. We should be committed to helping people grow as disciples by using their gifts and talents for God in a way that will bless others and make the community a better place. The Bible tells us that God gave each of us the ability to do certain things well (Romans 12:6‐8). The Holy Spirit gives gifts to believers to be used for the building up of the body of Christ. As a church, we need to help people find and use these gifts for God. Serving is a powerful connection point that many churches ignore or simply overlook.

Serving others is certainly not encouraged in our individualistic society. To be a servant means that we must look after the interests of others. It means selflessness as opposed to selfishness. A servant asks, “What can I do for others” instead of “what can they do for me?”

Serve Like Jesus

Christians must strive to be like Jesus, our perfect example. Jesus set the example of being a servant by saying, “For even the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). This scripture beautifully embodies the task of Christian ministry. Disciples are to serve and give their lives for others. Serving is the example that Jesus gave, and his followers should follow it. Jesus met both the physical and spiritual needs of the people he ministered to in the Gospels. As the Body of Christ, we become his representatives to a lost world.

Create Pathways for Service

A servant revolution in our churches will reach our community and show the love of Christ. Each week and month, our church provides dozens of different opportunities for people to make a difference through service projects that touch peoples’ lives in the community. These pathways of service help people connect to their community with their God-given ability to serve. Serving is one of the major connection points in our church. The church should be an army of servants who are making a positive difference in their families, their community, and the world. Help find creative pathways for people to connect to your church through serving.

Read Winfield Bevins’ free e-book Grow: Reproducing Through Organic Discipleship.

Resurgence On Facebook

Become a fan of the Resurgence on Facebook, get connected with other fans, and stay current on all the latest updates. Find out more.

From the free e-book Grow: Reproducing Through Organic Discipleship.

Converts vs. Disciples

Some churches focus on evangelism at the expense of discipleship by seeking to win converts instead of making disciples. The goal of evangelism is disciple making. The Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28 is to make disciples who will follow Christ rather than simply win converts. When Jesus said, “make disciples” the disciples understood it to mean more than simply getting someone to believe in Jesus and they interpreted it to mean that they should make out of others what Jesus made out of them. Robert Coleman explains the Great Commission in the following way:

“The Great Commission is not merely to go the to the ends of the earth preaching the gospel (Mark 16:15), nor to baptize a lot of converts into the name of the triune God, nor to teach them the precepts of Christ, but to ‘make disciples’—to build people like themselves who were so constrained by the commission of Christ that they not only follow, but also led others to follow his way.”

Superficial Discipleship

The Great Commission compels Christians to focus on keeping people through discipleship as much as they focus on reaching people through evangelism. With the rise of the modern evangelical movement in North America in the 20th century came an over-emphasis on evangelism at the expense of discipleship. At the First International Consultation on Discipleship, John R.W. Stott called attention to the “strange and disturbing paradox” of the contemporary Christian situation. He warned, “We have experienced enormous statistical growth without corresponding growth in discipleship. God is not pleased with superficial discipleship.”

Bill Hull also addresses this issue by saying, “The church has tried to get world evangelization without disciple-making.” The church must once again make discipleship a priority for a new generation of believers. The consequences are evident. Statistics show that the average church in North America loses 74 percent of people between the ages 18‐24. According to one of the most recent statistical surveys of the top 25 churches, many of the denominations in North America are in decline rather than growing.

Not only are churches in North America not growing through evangelism, they are not keeping believers through discipleship. One example is The Southern Baptist Convention. In 2004, they reported more than sixteen million members. Only 6,024,289 or 37 percent of their membership are present for the average Sunday morning worship service. Where are the other ten million people? Lack of discipleship and not just evangelism is one of the growing contributing factors for church decline in North America.

The church needs to bring evangelism and discipleship together. Christians have viewed discipleship as something they do on one hand and evangelism on the other, which is a false dichotomy. The church needs to rediscover the integration of evangelism and discipleship in order to fulfill the Great Commission and make 21st century disciples of Christ.

Read Winfield Bevins’ free e-book Grow: Reproducing Through Organic Discipleship.

Resurgence RSS Feed

Subscribe to the Resurgence syndicated feed and have all our content delivered straight to your feed reader. Find out more.

5 Hard Truths for Planters series: Click | View Series

Good Guys, Bad Guys

Yes or no? Black or white? Football or Polo?

Most of us prefer a world in which the good guys wear white hats and the bad guys wear black hats, but that's usually not the case. The truth usually lies somewhere in between.

I believe the same is true when it comes to church planting.

In today's world where interest in church planting has exploded, many movements and denominations market their brands as "the way" to get the job done. However, because of our fallen world, none of us are entirely right about anything.

Additionally, church planters are notorious for sizing each other up. At any given gathering, it is not unusual to hear guys ask one another, "So are you a Piper guy or an Andy Stanley guy?" or "Are you a house church guy or a big church guy?" Once these types of questions are answered, we immediately form an opinion of our brother and the "legitimacy" of his ministry in light of our own presuppositions, and consequently cast doubt on anything else he might have to say.

I believe the Scriptures set appropriate boundaries for what is and isn't acceptable in the name of gospel ministry. And we could all debate the legitimacy of pulling a tank out on stage to illustrate one’s point. But my fear is that we spend so much time figuring out which "tribe" we belong to that we fail to listen and learn from tribes other than our own. Sure, you may be against certain elements of another pastor's ministry, but does that mean that anything that comes from his ministry is automatically discounted because of its point of origin?

Think Hybrid

I would encourage taking a different path: THINK HYBRID.

Dictionary.com defines a "hybrid" as "anything derived from heterogeneous sources, or composed of elements of different or incongruous kinds. For example, a hybrid of the academic and business worlds."

I believe we can effectively employ this kind of thinking in nearly every area of life and ministry—from contextualization, methodology, and philosophy of ministry to preaching and small groups. “Thinking hybrid” is about drawing from a number of wells instead of just one. In doing so, we are able to maximize the strengths of our heroes while minimizing their weaknesses, instead of reproducing them in our own ministries.

For example, my own church planting method has been influenced by everyone from Mark Driscoll to John MacArthur to Andy Stanley to Mark Dever to Neil Cole. These are names that you typically do not hear in the same sentence, unless it includes "in a steel-cage death match," but all of these brothers have something to teach us and we would be wise to consider and heed their counsel.

Be Humble and Learn from Others

To move in the direction of "thinking hybrid," I would encourage the following disciplines:

1. Read and listen widely.

Church planters and pastors tend to only listen to those they agree with. While this may seem initially gratifying, it can stifle creativity and reproduce the same kind of "blind spots" in ministry that are held by our heroes. Be bold. Read a book or subscribe to a podcast by someone outside your tribe to see what God might teach you. Draw what you can and leave the rest. As you do, allow the process to sharpen your own convictions and thinking.

2. Befriend someone from another "tribe."

It's one thing to disagree with a book written by someone you will not meet until heaven; it is another thing to have breakfast with a guy like him. Schedule breakfast with a guy in your city who you know is not like you, and see what God might teach you through that encounter.

3. Be humble.

The men I respect most are those who have great conviction, but who are also open to correction. Could that be said of you? Or is your own insecurity so strong that you couldn't be questioned? If so, read Philippians 2 and pray for humility in your life and root yourself in gospel reality.

As you do, I believe you will be more able to “think hybrid” for the glory of God and the good of the world.

To be continued.

Mars Hill Global

Serving the church and spreading the gospel. Help support this effort by giving to the Global Fund. More info at MarsHillGlobal.com.

From the free e-book Grow: Reproducing Through Organic Discipleship.

Grow Disciples Naturally

Many churches have a linear discipleship program where they try to funnel everyone through the same process. Sadly, many times churches simply use the latest program or book in hopes that what works for a large church across the country in a different context will work for them. I have learned that discipleship is usually the opposite. What works in California or New York might not work in Tennessee. You need to find out what works in your culture and context. Being organic means that you begin with the gospel and let the people grow naturally, right where they are. This is growing disciples naturally.

Why Organic?

You may be asking yourself the question, “Why organic?” The answer is in the Bible. The Old and New Testaments are based on an organic worldview. The Bible uses various organic metaphors to describe spiritual growth such as sowing and reaping (John 4:37; 2 Cor. 9:6) planting and watering (1 Cor. 3:6), growing (1 Pt. 2:2; 2 Pt. 3:18) and bearing fruit (Mt. 7:17‐20; John 15:1‐16; Gal. 5:22). The church is spoken of as a family (for example the use of terms such as brother, sister, mother, father, bride, etc.). The church is also the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:12‐27 Paul talks about the whole body as a distinct metaphor for Christ’s church. In Paul’s body metaphor, every part has an important role to play in the whole.

The Body of Christ

Nowhere in the New Testament do we find the word church referring to a building. In its earliest expression, the church meant a group of individuals who had come together in the name of Jesus Christ. The Greek word for church is ecclesia, which literally means “the called out ones.” Interestingly enough, the English dictionary describes church as, “A place of public worship.” Over the ages, the concept of church has shifted from being a body to becoming a building. People have gotten it backwards. Followers of Jesus must get back to an organic understanding of what it means to be the church.

The church is the spiritual and living Body of Christ. Like all healthy organisms, it requires numerous systems and structures that work together to fulfill its intended purpose and overall health. Just as the physical body has to have an organic structure to hold it together while allowing it to grow and develop, likewise the body of Christ must have an organic structure that can do the same. As a new church continues to grow and change, it will outgrow its old systems and structures. Leonard Sweet says, “We must develop ministries that continually adjust and change with our continually changing culture.” In a similar way, a church’s discipleship strategy must be structured enough to maintain order, but organic enough to change with the ongoing needs of the church as it grows or it will hinder its growth. Therefore, the church’s discipleship strategy must be organic.

Organic Discipleship

Organic Discipleship is an organic understanding of spiritual formation that begins and ends with the gospel. Organic means growing or developing in a manner of living organisms. An organic understanding of the discipleship will require church leaders to rethink current church systems and structures in Biblical terms. Alan Hirsch argues that an organic image of the church and mission is theologically richer than any mechanistic and institutional conceptions of church that we can devise. Organic discipleship is not a program or curriculum; rather it is about learning the natural rhythms of discipleship within your church context.

Read Winfield Bevins’ free e-book Grow: Reproducing Through Organic Discipleship.

Advance 09 Media

Video, audio, and images from the Advance 09 conference in Raleigh-Durham, NC, June 2009. Find out more.

Jesus sends his disciples ahead of him

Jesus is comfortable leading passively from a distance at times, and lets his disciples go out before him on their own. We don't have a clear description of what they are doing when they go out before him, but you can infer that they are living the life that Jesus is teaching them about outside of the structure of Jesus physically being present with them.

When they are on the boat after the miraculous feast of 5,000, they were most certainly processing what just occurred. Jesus wasn't there to tell them explicitly, but he gave them a framework to understand the sovereignty of the Father over something as simple as the conservation of mass—yeah there were two pounds of bread, but God can make it into two tons and feed an army.

We can see Jesus' intentionality in giving his disciples time to synthesize what they are learning. The lessons are becoming more than head knowledge, and becoming part of who they are.

Jesus prays for his disciples

Jesus cares deeply about his disciples. He speaks of them as his sheep and of himself as the shepherd who will gladly die for their safety, cries when his friend dies, and spends his last minutes praying for them in his high priestly prayer.

Jesus doesn't just trust that they will be okay, but pleads with the Father that he would continue the work that has begun.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

Advance 09 Media

Video, audio, and images from the Advance 09 conference in Raleigh-Durham, NC, June 2009. Find out more.

Jesus brought the disciples out of their comfort zone

When Jesus walks on water his disciples are horrified. They've seen Jesus break the laws of nature several times over, but this miracle pushes them outside of their level of comfort. Jesus reassures them, and they take comfort in God's sovereignty by seeing that his power has no bounds—he can do literally anything, even walk on water.

Jesus also puts the disciples in situations where danger is imminent. The Jews wanted to stone Jesus because he kept saying that he was God, and the disciples thought it prudent to hunker down and let the mob's anger pass. When Jesus hears of Lazarus' death, the disciples protest going back to Judea in hopes to save their own tails. Jesus responds by telling them that if they are doing good before God, why hide before men? They are putting their safety before the saving of Lazarus' life, and Jesus pushes them through their fear gently—not in a rebuking manner, but in a clear, focused, and resolved manner.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

Pastor Dad

Every dad is a pastor. The important thing is that he cares for his flock well. Pastor Mark Driscoll's new eBook offers spiritual insights on fatherhood. Get it here.

5 Hard Truths for Planters series: Click | View Series

I can't tell you how much time I’ve wasted in the first five years of our church plant comparing myself to others. If I could have preached like Driscoll or Chandler or led like Darrin Patrick…The comparisons were endless—and deadly.

This kind of un-redemptive comparison is dangerous on several levels:

• First, it causes us to undervalue what God is doing in our midst and not rightly praise him for his sovereign work.
• Second, it opens the door for greater discouragement (as if there isn't enough in planting already), which is a serious hazard for all parties involved.
• Third, comparison can lead us to have unrealistic expectations, which can lead to additional stress and toxicity in our relationships. Having served as an elder at another successful church in our city, I naturally assumed that I would simply do what I knew worked there and see similar results in my context. This was not the case. This kind of false thinking neglects the obvious truths that I am not that church's leader, we don't have that church's resources and that our context is different. To expect two churches to see the same results is like expecting one of your boys to be exactly like his brother. None of us would counsel that kind of parenting, because we know the kind of dysfunction it produces. The same is true in church planting.
• Fourth, and perhaps the most dangerous, comparison reveals our deeper idolatry. When we are comparing ourselves to others, we are looking for something other than Jesus to satisfy our souls, namely our own success. If outreach goes well, we feel good. If giving goes down...massive crisis. If our spiritual and emotional health fluctuates based on "how things went on Sunday," then our ups and downs likely indicate that we are searching for our identity in our role as a church planter and not in the cross.

So you may be saying, "I get it, comparison is bad. In fact, it is a sin. But it seems almost innately human. How can I prevent it?" Consider the following alternatives.

When you are tempted to compare yourself to someone else or their ministry:

• Praise God for what he is doing there. Pray for that leader, church or ministry. Pray that God would continue to bless them and purify your heart for your own jealousy towards them.
• Allow it to expose your idolatry for what it is. We all too often try to rationalize away the gravity of our sin in the name of leadership development. But the fact is, if we are coveting the gifting and success of another, we are in sin and must repent.
• Preach the gospel to yourself. This is not just a pithy saying people use since Keller became a household name—it is a matter of life and death for a church planter. Get Growing Your Faith by Jerry Bridges. Study gospel-centered discipleship. Memorize gospel-identity Scriptures. Do whatever it takes to replace the enemy's lies with the truth.

If we stop trying to be someone else and simply be who God has made us to be, it will bring him more glory and help us be more effective in serving our cities.

To be continued.

Vintage Jesus

A theological journey chasing Jesus through Scripture and pop culture. Timeless answers to timely questions about the most important man who has ever lived. Find out more.