We are about to turn 3 years old as a church. It has been a wild ride and God has rocked our world. I was thinking today about some things I have learned in doing this thing of planting a church.

So here are my thoughts in random order:

• At year 3 you finally realize the type of church you are going to be, not the type of church you want to be.
• Do whatever you can to get momentum and then fight, kick, and scream NOT to lose it.
• It is easy in year 3 to get comfortable. Don’t let that happen.
• People you started with leave. Let them.
• We should have developed volunteer leaders a lot sooner.
• Church Planters tend to get bored. Keep it fresh or you will leave.
• Take Sundays off. I didn’t do this near enough the first two years. I learned my lesson towards the end of this year.
• Take off during the week. I didn’t do this nearly enough the first two years.
• Stay flexible.
• The people you put on your team are important. Take people you love to be with over experience any day.
• We should have gotten systems in place earlier. At least it is better late then never.
• Don’t be scared to preach on giving. It is biblical and you owe it to your people to teach them what God’s word says on the subject.
• It is about Jesus and people. Nothing else.
• Learn and Return. I have had people pour into my life and therefore I pour into the lives of others.
• If you lose your church, God might give you another one. You lose your family, you’re done.
• Every pastor should have an assistant and an executive pastor.
• Push your people to live lives that reflect the Bible.
• Go after the unwanted people. You CAN build a church with those no one else wants.
• We are a lot more impressed with our “cool stuff” then the people in our communities are.
• Other Churches in our area are NOT our competition.
• Christians are not a bad thing. I thought they were for the first two years.
• When it quits being fun, step back and figure out why.
• Lead as God tells you, not as others think you ought too.
• There are times you have to do what others think is crazy and do it standing alone. That is called being a leader.
• I’m here to impact my community not impress other bloggers.
• You need friends in the ministry. They have been there, done that, got the T-Shirt to prove it.
• If you can do anything else and be happy then do it. I can’t. I love this thing.
• Don’t be afraid of shaking it up.
• Hire ahead of your growth.
• If you wait until you can afford to hire, you will never do it.
• Know the vision God has given you and let nothing or no one change it.
• I am never 100% about any decision I make. If I can get to about 85%, I’m good.
• Small groups that work are an amazing and powerful thing.
• You might need to cross those bridges you burned your first two years.
• Find one or two mentors then shut up and learn from them.
• Three years into it your mentors will probably change. You outgrow them or are at a different phase in life and need different people pouring into you.
• Enjoy the ride. Far too many guys miss out the awesomeness of the ride.
• There is nothing sweeter then a changed life.
• I’m as excited and sold out to this thing as I was the day we held our first service. Honestly, I am the luckiest person in the world to pastor this church.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 at 8:35 pm and is filed under Ridge Stone Church. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.