great stuff on the 100 barrier anyone?

Leaders,

Does anyone have any truly great stuff on breaking the 100 barrier?

I have a number of leaders in my network who are up against this barrier, and are seeking any and everything I have on it. I am considering a conference on it at some point in the next 6 months, and would like to explore any great stuff you-all have found on it.

Thanks!

Gerry
717-398-9033

Leadership Principle

1. Do for ONE what you can't do for ALL

Often times leaders are reluctant to do anything when they cannot do it for anyone. This is a recipe for mediocrity in your organization and it will ultimately remove the leader from the very things that they need to be close to.

Here's how I apply this principle:
*I went and visited a church member in the hospital this morning even though I can't visit every member. I did for one what I can't do for all.
*I will perform only 5 marriages this year but that's all. I'll do some, but not all.
*I once gave a staff member a car who was in desperate need of transportation. I can't give all my staff vehicles, but I was in position to give one to one of them.

These are just a few examples of how this principle works. Don't let the naysayers and the masses determine what you do. Do for one what you can't do for all.

VFCC URBAN MINISTRY COURSES

Brian Bolt, Brad Leach, and Jeff Leake will be teaching two modular classes his fall. The dates are:
September 17-19 (Pittsburgh)
October 29-31 (Philadelphia)
November 19-21 (Pittsburgh)
December 3-5 (Philadelphia)

Urban Evangelism and Church Planting
Strategies for evangelism and church development are examined and applied through case studies, field trips, contacts with resource persons, and student-led projects. The course will incorporate practical application of evangelism and church planting in the urban context.

The City and Missions
This course is an overview and analysis of the urban
context, with attention given to the biblical theology of mission to the city. Old and New Testament themes are explored.

In these classes you will discover how much God really cares for our cities in a variety of outreaches, care and share God’s Good News one-on-one, introduce Jesus to those living on the streets, pray for the sick, believe God for transformational miracles, serve nourishing food to the hungry, accompany seekers to a brand-new church, capture a glimpse of God at work in the cities, and allow God to instill a new vision for reaching the cities of America through your time with Brian, Brad, and Jeff.

Go to www.vfcc.edu/urbanministry for more information.

ARE YOU WIRED TO PLANT A CHURCH?

If you are interested in knowing if you may be wired to plant a church I encourage you to check out the Church Planter Pre-Assessment Center to help you discern your aptitude and readiness for church planting quickly and easily in an online environment.

Here is the web link: http://churchplanterprofiles.com
The Agency you should select is: Pennsylvania-Delaware Assemblies of God

This FREE Online Initial Screening Assessment will help assess your readiness in the areas of Church Planting Experience, Entrepreneurial Leadership, Ministry Experience and Relational Evangelism.

LifeStone Church Grand Opening

LifeStone Church is celebrating a tremendous Grand Opening this past Sunday. Church Planter Jack Thomas says, "The energy was high, the excitement was off the charts, and the journey has just begun!"

Here are some key statistics that are worth celebrating from today’s service:

* 230 people in attendance
* 44 kids in our KidsLife Ministry
* 10 DECISIONS FOR CHRIST (GO GOD!)
* Many new faces from their community and surrounding communities!
* Many comments from people saying they loved church and are coming back next week!

Way to go Jack!

Click here to check out Jack's Blog.

Ideas so dumb somebody oughta be shot at sunrise

I know fully that we all care about the 83% of our communities that are lost. I believe we all love Jesus, and that there is no way to love Him without caring deeply about the lost.

But maybe we gave up. Maybe we don't believe that we can make a difference anymore. Maybe in our lack of ideas to fix it, we try not to think about it. Maybe we just try to quiet the raging sound of screaming souls slouching into Hell, by telling ourselves that we are doing our best. I know that I have personally struggled with each of these emotions.

But try as I may, I cannot keep myself from trying one more time to get something done about reducing the 83% to something less. I just can't. I hope you who are impatient with me, can forgive me for it.

So recently, I ask several more astute thinkers than me, to sit with me and help me come up with 10 crazy ideas that would create the sea change that would cause us to believe again, and get the job done with more efficiency.

I don't know that any of these ideas are great. But maybe if we start kicking around some reasonably bad ideas, God will have mercy on us and give us one truly great idea that has the potential to get it done. In that spirit, I offer some crazy stuff. You should know that the good ideas on this list, (if there are any) were not mine.

1. All of our churches gave at least 1% of their income to church planting

2. Re-structure our district slightly by creating an executive presbytery whose sole job was church planting and Kingdom growth.

3. Free school church planting school for those who are gifted to plant! Many of our college grads are simply too indebted to take a risk.

4. All Presbyters must have mothered a church in the past 3 years to be a presbyter.

5. New standards for 'sovreign' churches; missions giving, baptizing new converts every year, and supporting church planting. Otherwise they go back to Home Missions status until these things are solved.

6. Create a District Church Planting school to equip great church planters

7. District Superintendent's job is restructured to allow him to be a full-time Pastor. His job would be vision and leadership by example. District staff under him would serve the district at his direction, in the same way that as a worship leader or youth pastor serve the church under the direction of their Senior Pastor.

8. Only tithes of Senior Pastor would go to the District- all staff Pastor tithes would go to church planting.

9. All churches would be required to financially support a specific church plant. No exceptions.

10. No credential holders could renew credentials if they had not personally brought in and baptized a new believer themselves (apart from their leadership role) int he past year.

Do you think any of these might help us get going toward reaching the lost 83% of our communities? Which ones should be discussed further? Are any of them so bad that the person who thought them up should be shot at sunrise? What could you offer as an idea to help?

Tulsa World published about our church plant (site) there

An article in The Tulsa World newspaper today...


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Freedom Valley hopes to attract church dropouts

By BILL SHERMAN World Religion Writer Published: 5/29/2010 2:20 AM

Nine households in Gettysburg, Penn., 33 people in all, left their homes and jobs several months ago and moved to Tulsa to start a church.

They are the second group of people who have moved to Tulsa in recent months to start an Assemblies of God church, part of a national emphasis on church planting in that denomination.

"My philosophy is, if you're going to live for God, it's going to be an adventure," said the Rev. Jason Fitch, founding pastor of the Freedom Valley Church in Tulsa, a church plant of the Freedom Valley Church in Gettysburg.

"It's scary, but it's fun," he said.

The church meets at 10 a.m. on the first Sunday of the month at the Tulsa Cinemark Theater, 10802 E. 71st St., where they rent three theaters, one for an adult service and two for children's services.

(In July, they will meet on the 11th to avoid the July Fourth holiday.)

Fitch said he fell in love with Tulsa in the 1980s when he lived here from ages 6 to 16 and always felt drawn to move back.

He graduated from Valley Forge (Penn.) Christian College in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in Bible and went to work immediately at his own church, Freedom Valley, first as a youth pastor and then as executive pastor.

Freedom Valley's primary focus is starting other churches, he said, with about 30 church plants in that area. In March 2009, he said, he felt God told him it was time to start a church in Tulsa. As he told his plans to people in his home church, several families decided to come with him as part of a start-up team.

Team members are committed to helping launch the church, he said. When weekly services begin Sept. 12, the members will be free to leave. However, he expects many to remain, especially those who moved here with children.

The Gettysburg church provides financial help to the Tulsa church, their most-distant church plant.

Why start a church in Tulsa, which already seems to have a church on every corner?

"Tulsa has some of the best churches in the country," Fitch said. "I'm blessed and honored to be here.

"But we want to reach people who have given up on church, who have had bad experiences with church."

The Rev. Frank Cargill, superintendent of the Oklahoma district of the Assemblies of God, said the denomination has a renewed emphasis on church planting, a challenge that came down from the national office.

"It's our feeling that, in order to reach this generation, we must be renewed in our focus for evangelism and outreach," he said.

"We do our best to connect with the societal needs of the community so that we become, hopefully, the church that Jesus built, which was more concerned about people than about buildings," he said.

Cargill said both Freedom Valley Church and the new City Church, meeting at the Tulsa Ballet building in Brookside, were in communication with his office as they developed their plans to move to Tulsa.

Steve Pike is coordinator of the Assemblies of God's Church Multiplication Network, a new organization charged with equipping, funding and networking church planters and those who help them.

"Church planting has always been a part of our culture as a movement," he said, "but now it's more intentional."

"We've seen an uptick in plants" since the initiative started, he said.

For decades, the denomination has started about 270 churches in the U.S. each year. The goal is 500.

"We're not there yet, but we're starting to see acceleration," he said.

And new churches partnering with the network tend to be stronger in attendance, giving and numbers of baptisms, he said.

Pike said at least 70 percent of Americans are not involved in a worshipping community, and every study shows that the best way to reach those people is to start churches.

There are exceptions, he said, but generally in older, established churches, relationships are more developed, people know and love each other and reaching new people becomes more difficult, he said.