Don’t let 2021 overwhelm you, stay with the basics, the irreducible minimums of ministry and take joy in leading your congregation and loving your people. The guys are back at it, discussing how you can excel at Engaging the Community. (also Jimbo shares a pretty incredible story right up front)
Personal
To engage the community you have to love the community – to grow in your love for the community you have to be in the community
Get involved and go to the civic events, parades, sports events etc
Go to the coffee shops, diners, firehouses, feed stores-get out and be a part of the community
Interpersonal
Get to know the people right around your church.
Engage your neighborhood, invite people over for time around the firepit
Throw a neighborhood party
Set up in a coffee shop-put out a sign letting people know you are willing to pray for them.
Team
Engage the community together as a small group or church
Trunk or Treat at the Elementary School
Serve a youth sports team
Organizationally
Serve in the community as a church-get out and serve on others turf not your own
Cast a strong vision for your church members to engage in whatever arena they are active in
Serve a like minded organization
Serve with your city by engaging with the city leaders.
Episode #43 - The Heart of a Replanter: Gospel Orientation, Missional Focus, Emotional Intelligence, and Spousal Perseverance
/
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed
Jimbo is back from vacay and the guys break down the characteristics of a Replanter under the category of heart of a Replanter. Stay tuned all the way through from some helpful nuggets and book recommendations by the guys at the end of the podcast.
Gospel Orientation refers to aligning the culture and practice of the church in such a way that the core doctrine of the gospel drives its mission and practice in preaching, managing conflict, and leading organizational change.
Replanters with a Missional Focus make it a priority to equip and mobilize the congregation to live their life on mission in their community and beyond for the sake of Christ and his gospel.
Emotional Intelligence is “the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s own emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.”
Spousal Perseverance: The replanter’s wife possesses a love for Jesus and the Church. She is emotionally and spiritually prepared for the challenges that come with replanting a dying church.
Replanter are you married? Encourage your spouse to join the private Facebook group by emailing replantwives@gmail.com
The guys recommend you and your wife consider Christian counseling, if you need help feel free to email us and request some recommendations.
Here are some helpful book recommendations to study more on these topics.
Episode #24 - ?Jason Rumbough Boots on the Ground Highlight?
/
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed
**Show Note** Early Wednesday morning East Nashville TN was it with a severe tornado. Many business and homes in the area were impacted, 24 lives were lost and the community is in great need. Jason’s church, Hope Church was undamaged yet just blocks from the church the damage was severe. Pray for Jason and his church as they provide much needed support, care and the hope of the Gospel to those impacted by this storm.
Here are some of the show highlights
Jason Rumbough is the Replant Pastor of Hope Church Nashville, a Replant from Eastland Baptist Church
Eastland Baptist Church was 106 years old, down to 40 people, average age of the congregation was 72 years.
As a Replant from within, this is the most difficult type of Replant.
One Sunday, the attendance was 13, six of which were Jason’s family. This was a low point and also a turning point.
Things began to turn around-God began brining people to the church, assembling a team of unlikely people who formed the Replanting core group.
Jason began doing the work of an Evangelist, people came to faith and the Church has grown.
In a Replant people may not know exactly what the Gospel means, how it informs us and how it leads us on mission. It’s important define the Gospel.
When you preach the Gospel, people may leave.
Replanting from within is difficult, it’s hard. One of the things that helps, is being honest about where you are with yourself and the church.
One of the long time members at Eastland said: “I knew we needed to change, I just didn’t know it would be this hard.”
Advice to Replanters: Love your people, preach the gospel, take care of your family.
Episode #23 - Using the Fourfold Panorama with Keelan Cook
/
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed
Keelan Cook, of the Union Baptist Association stopped by the bootcamp to give us some great insights on how to understand your church and its context.
It is important for Replants and Revitalizations to know themselves and their communities-one of the reasons why they are in decline is that they no longer understand themselves and their context.
Every church needs to understand
The Biblical Mission
The Congregation itself
The Context in which it exists
The church usually understands the Biblical mission, they may have blindspots in knowing themselves and knowing their community.
The Fourfold Panorama seeks to help churches understand themselves and their contexts from the view of the insiders and the outsiders.
A lot of churches are “nose blind” to their condition.
What is one reason why churches are in decline? They put their own preferences over cultural engagement.
An important question to ask: Do the activities of your church match the needs of the community?
A community is more than a geographical location-it is also a moment in time. Instead of a rock in the field-think a rock in the current of a moving stream.
If we struggle to gain traction-we may be aiming at the wrong target (meaning our understanding of the community)
What are some of the initial core actions we need to take in order to use the Panorama window?
Surveys
Community/Congregation Interviews
Data Discover (ACP, Demographics)
Churches often suffer from “aspiration bias” believing they are what they wish they were.
Can you do this assessment by yourself? What are my best next steps?
Most often it’s best to get someone outside the church to facilitate the process
Association staff, area pastors.
Build a team of influencers (a leadership team) inside the congregation.
Conduct the work and then unpack the information for the congregation in ever widening circles.
How do you handle the reality of people pushing back and disagreeing with the data of the discovery process?
Typically, if the church team is the one who presents the data their relational credibility and influence often help the rest of the church accept reality.
In some cases when you have someone on the team who disagrees or rejects the realities-discover the real reason behind their disagreement. It’s usually something related to control, preference or fear of change.
Treat this as a discipleship moment; “Help me understand…” asking why they are having a difficult time hearing the report.
Are there people who shouldn’t be on your Panorama Team?
You want the team to be diverse in perspectives and social circles
Use caution in choosing “gatekeepers” and “stakeholders” who may want to be guardians of the present and their preferences.
Consider saying; “If you are not able to consider ideas or opportunities outside of your preferences-this may not be the team for you.”
Often, fear mitigation is an important part of this discovery process. Communicating that the initial steps in this process are devoted to trying to understand the realities of the church and its condition and that recommendations will follow may help.
Call the congregation to understand the beauty of the Great Commission-help them rekindle a love for the mission of the church. When that happens fear often subsides.
Key Resource: Pick out a key third place ( a coffee shop, a restaurant etc.) and get to know the people in that space and learn about them and the community. Engage them through conversation and relationship.
Background: Kyle was called to Replant/Revitalize a church with 60 people that was in 900K in debt.
Q: How do you deal with debt in a Replant?
Be certain of your call: the call to Replant a church is a necessity-especially when that church is in a difficult situation.
Commit to the church: Kyle says; “We bought a house to show the congregation that we were all in, we put ourselves on the line, I knew I needed to do that so I wouldn’t have an out.”
Find/Partner with a friendly lender and communicate with them regularly. FBC had the benefit of their note being with their denominational lender.
Be open and honest about your situation with those who are coming to be part of your church.
Look for ways to reduce your debt: we’ve been praying and seeking sell our land but also exercising patience.
Steady consistent and faithful leadership is important to create a positive attitude and culture among your people.
We are confident that God is not surprised by our circumstances-and we’re trusting him to provide and lead.
Define Reality and provide hope, and understand the thing that brings hope is the Gospel.
Ask the community: “If our church was to be an asset to this community what could we do?”
Consider your church’s history: repent and make reconciliation where possible.
Own and repent of past sins.
Process with your people the findings of your community assessments about your church’s reputation.
A name change is not a strategy to jettison your church’s bad reputation.
Keeping the name is at times, a more powerful picture of the Gospel and the power of forgiveness and redemption Jesus brings to us and the church.
Salvation doesn’t erase our past, it changes it.
Changing a church’s reputation involves changing the church’s culture.
The Pastor’s leadership is key in helping to change the church’s reputation.
Pastoral involvement in the community along with some church members is key. As your people engage in the community people get a new image and experience with your church.
Utilize your church’s facilities to bless the community.
Changing the image or reputation of your church takes a long time.
At times, you may need to help correct mis-information about your church in the community proactively.
Let God be your defender, it’s His church.
You will rarely win over the critics who will not engage with you. You can win over the folks who will interact with you as you patiently help them see what God is doing in your church.
Episode #9 - The Luter Replant Legacy Part 1 with Dr. Fred Luter (Boots on the Ground Highlight)
/
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed
This is the first episode of a 2-part ? BOOTS ON THE GROUND HIGHLIGHT ?about Dr. Fred Luter Jr. and his son Fred “Chip” Luter III. In part 1 we will hear from Dr. Fred about his replanting journey at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans and in part 2 we will hear from Chip and his journey to replanting with Idlewild in Tampa.
Dr. Fred Luter starting pastoring Franklin Avenue Baptist church 33 years ago when most people suspected the church was about to die. Local ministry leaders even told Pastor Fred that he was the wrong choice and he just needed to bury the church. Years later Franklin Avenue is a powerful testimony to God’s faithfulness through Dr. Fred who eventually became the first African-American President of the Southern Baptist Convention.
33 years of pastoral ministry has given Pastor Fred some great wisdom and we are excited to share it with you. Here are a few highlights:
The key to pastoral ministry is faithfulness to who God has called you to be and where he has called you to serve.
One of the greatest challenges in many dying churches is to remind them that the WORD of GOD works. Pastors must be faithful to the Word.
Replanters must be VISIONARY SHEPHERDS that have TACTICAL PATIENCE: Pastor Fred shares about taking 2-3 years to move Franklin Avenue from funding their church through selling chicken suppers to faithful and biblical giving.
Replanters must have a MISSIONAL FOCUS and GOSPEL ORIENTATION: Fred shares how he had a creative and missional strategy to engage the men in his community that were not coming to church through watching a pay-per-view boxing match. He then followed this up with personal evangelism and discipleship.
Replanters must make their families a priority. Pastor Fred has held hard to regular time off on a weekly basis to invest in his marriage and his kids.
If you enjoyed this episode please share it with your friends, subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform, and leave us a rating.
Our sponsor, One Eighty Digital, just launched two new products that we think could really help your church. The first is called Launchpad, it’s an all-in-one custom branding and website bundle developed specifically for planters, replanters, & revitalizers who need to get things moving quickly. The second is Church Quicksite. It was created for churches working with tight budgets and can help get them an amazing new church website in as little as 1 week at a really affordable price. Check out OneEighty.Church to learn more about these special new offerings and how OneEighty can help your church Move Forward!
